CREST Faculty Receive Grants From National Science Foundation &  U.S. Geological Survey

CREST Faculty affiliate and Professor of Civil Engineering at CCNY, Naresh Devineni received two grants this fall. 

The first grant is entitled ‘Accelerating Research through International Network-to-Network Collaborations (AccelNet)’ and is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). For this project, researchers from North Carolina State University, City University of New York (CUNY), Columbia University, Texas A&M University (TAMU) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) collaborate to build international network of networks to bolster sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) forecasts (NSF AccelNet), which will help protect infrastructure and natural resources in a changing world.

 
Dr. Devineni looks forward to working with a diverse team from countries such as India, Brazil, Africa to conduct productive exchange of workshops, data & research on S2S, and ideas on how to use forecasting methods and its application. The applied research element of the project excites Dr. Devineni the most. He is also thrilled to work alongside Dr. Sankar Arumugam who has previously served as his Ph.D. advisor.

CREST Director, Dr. Reza Khanbilvardi is key personnel on this project. Drs. Devineni and Khanbilvardi aim to leverage the remote sensing expertise and capabilities of the CREST institute. Dr. Khanbilvardi and Devineni elaborated, “This new NSF grant fosters international collaboration by bringing together scientists from diverse universities and countries to build a robust network dedicated to advancing the use of cutting-edge technologies in studying and understanding Earth’s complex systems.”  

Read more about this project here. 

The second grant is titled ‘A Global Synthesis of Flood Impacts: Understanding the Country- Level Vulnerability and Causes’ and is sponsored by the United States Geological Survey. Dr. Devineni co leads one of the USGS Class of 2025 Powell Center Synthesis Working Groups with Dr. Stacey Archfield from the USGS Water Resources Mission Area. International teams for this project include researchers from Brazil, Canada, Australia, India etc. Over the next three years, researchers will meet to conduct focused studies. The funding also supports a Powell Center fellow who can help with elements such as synthesis research and data assembly. Learn more about the groups here. 

Dr. Devineni said, “Together with Dr. Stacey Archfield, we plan on conducting a comprehensive synthesis of how flood impacts vary globally across different demographics and as a function of flood risk exposure and protection levels. It is an unparalleled opportunity to assemble a multidisciplinary group from around the world to develop a synthesis of flood damages globally and communicate the findings to high-level decision-makers in governmental organizations.” 

Dr. Devineni hopes to leverage CREST’s access to remote sensing data and its products to conduct the synthesis research on flooding. 

CREST congratulates Dr. Devineni on his achievements.