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Abhinav Wadhwa

Hydrologist building real-time flood forecasts and nature-based resilience for cities facing a changing climate.

Postdoctoral Fellow, Discovery Partners Institute — University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Madison, WI

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Portrait of Abhinav Wadhwa

About

Abhinav is a hydrodynamic model developer and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Discovery Partners Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, working with the DPI Climate R&D Hub led by Dr. Ashish Sharma. His research pairs physics-based and machine-learning hydrological models with satellite data, GIS, and community science to build real-time, city-scale urban flood forecasting systems and nature-based solutions for flood-prone communities across the U.S. Midwest, U.K. and India.

He holds a PhD in Hydrology from the Vellore Institute of Technology and has contributed to climate vulnerability assessments for the Quad Cities region and a flood resilience story map for the Chicago community area of Cicero, developed through AGU Thriving Earth Exchange.

  • 29peer-reviewed publications
  • 10+years in hydrology & climate research
  • 3institutions across 2 countries

Research focus

  • Urban flood forecasting & digital twins

    Coupling physics-based hydrologic-hydraulic models with GPU-accelerated computing and weather forecasts for real-time, city-scale flood prediction.

  • Nature-based solutions

    Evaluating stormwater gardens, permeable pavement, and floodplain restoration as climate-resilient alternatives to grey infrastructure.

  • Climate change & extreme rainfall

    Quantifying how shifting precipitation and land-use patterns reshape flood risk, from small urban catchments to river basins.

  • Remote sensing & GIS

    Using satellite imagery and geospatial analysis to track land-use change, land surface temperature, and urban sprawl.

  • Regional partnerships

    Partnering with residents and community scientists to map environmental stressors in under-resourced neighborhoods.

  • Stormwater & low-impact development

    Assessing storm-control measures and LID interventions for rapidly urbanizing catchments under a shifting climate.

Toolkits & Applied Projects

Experience


  1. Postdoctoral Fellow

    Discovery Partners Institute, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. With Dr. Ashish Sharma, Climate and Sustainability Lead.


  2. Research Associate

    Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru. With Prof. Pradeep P. Mujumdar.


  3. PhD Researcher & Research Assistant

    Vellore Institute of Technology. With Prof. K. Pavan Kumar.

Education


  • PhD in Hydrology

    Vellore Institute of Technology, Tamil Nadu, India · 2016–2021

    Thesis: The impact of climate change and land-use change on the performance of storm control measures.


  • M.Tech in Construction Engineering & Management

    SRM University, Chennai, India · 2014–2016


  • B.Tech in Civil Engineering

    Jaypee University of Information Technology, Solan, India · 2010–2014

Selected publications

     
  1. 2026

    GPU-accelerated city-scale urban flood forecasting for real-time decision-making

    Wadhwa, A., Sharma, A., et al. — Natural Hazards

    2.  
  2. 2025

    FlowsDT: a geospatial digital twin for navigating urban flood dynamics

    Mandal, D., Lee, Z., Wadhwa, A., et al. — Computers, Environment and Urban Systems

    3.  
  3. 2026

    Landslide hazard zonation using heuristic and machine learning approaches for steep terrains

    Kubendiran, I., et al., with A. Wadhwa — Environmental Research: Communications

  4. 2026

    Centenary patterns of soil erosion and future trends in the Godavari River Basin: climate-driven risks and vegetation dynamics

    Jessica, A.K., et al., with A. Wadhwa — Quaternary International

  5. 2026

    An event-based analysis of extreme rainfall and historical trends in southern Tamil Nadu

    Devaraj, S., et al., with A. Wadhwa — Scientific Reports

  6. 2025

    Nature-based solutions: an effective approach for flood mitigation and resilience in Quad Cities under a changing climate

    Wadhwa, A., Sharma, A., et al. — Hydrological Sciences Journal

  7. 2025

    Effectiveness of nature-based solutions to reduce flooding in the Quad Cities Metro Area using a coupled SWMM–HEC flood model

    Wadhwa, A., Sharma, A., et al. — Frontiers in Earth Science

  8. 2025

    A coupled high-resolution forecasting model for urban floods

    Likhitha, P., Wadhwa, A., et al. — Urban Water Journal

  9. 2023

    Low-impact development (LID) control feasibility in a small-scale urban catchment for altered climate change scenarios

    Wadhwa, A., Budamala, V., et al. — Hydrological Sciences Journal

See the full list of 29 publications and citation metrics on Google Scholar.

In the news

  • KARE 11 — Chicago scientists create new tool to personalize severe-weather forecasts (2025)
  • WQAD News 8 — A new climate report predicts a warmer, wetter future for Quad Cities (2024)
  • The Gazette — Quad Cities will be “warmer and wetter” in future decades (2024)

Also featured in KWQC News, Dispatch Argus, OurQuadCities, River Action, and CGTN.

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Abhinav is a member of the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union and the European Geosciences Union. He also serves as a community scientist with AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange in Cicero and Berwyn, Illinois.