CUNY CREST Institute welcomes Professor Kaveh Madani, former Vice President of UN Environment Assembly Buerau as a new member

CUNY Remote Sensing Earth Systems Institute is pleased to announce that Dr. Kaveh Madani has joined this institute as a Research Professor. He brings to CUNY CREST, a unique combination of experience in high-level policymaking, prominent practice-relevant research, and high-impact societal interactions.

An international authority on modeling and managing complex human-nature systems, Dr. Madani has previously served as the Vice President of the United Nations Environment Assembly Bureau and the Deputy Head of Iran’s Department of Environment. He has been involved in global climate change negotiations and has been a consultant to the United Nations on inclusive and just green recovery.

He has an outstanding record in bridging the gap between academic theory and practice by addressing progressive and socially significant problems and by communicating his findings not only to other researchers and policy makers, but also to the public, in order to raise awareness around key environmental issues around the world.

Professor Madani’s research portfolio spans the areas of engineering, natural sciences, systems analysis, economics, public policy, politics and behavior. He is working at the interface of science, policy and society on complex human-nature problems involving water, energy, food, climate and environment. His interpapillary research in North America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Middle East covers issues such as water management, environmental policy, diplomacy and justice, energy systems, food security, climate change impacts and adaptation, sustainable development, green recovery and transboundary conflicts and negotiations.

He is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI). He has received a number of awards for his research, teaching, as well as outreach and humanitarian activities, including the New Face of Civil Engineering (ASCE), Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Scientist Award (AGU), Arne Richter Award for Outstanding Young Scientists (EGU), Walter Huber Civil Engineering Research Prize (ASCE), and Ambassador Award (AGU). He was one of the six climate change scientists featured by Reuters in 2021 in its Hot List of Climate Scientists.

He has a PhD from the University of California, Davis. He has worked at different leading academic institutions around the world and prior to public service, he held a tenured faculty position at Imperial College London.