Dr. Naresh Devineni Appointed 2025-2026 University Faculty Leadership Fellow at CUNY Office of Research

CREST faculty affiliate and Professor of Civil Engineering at The City College of New York (CCNY) and the Earth and Environmental Sciences Program at the CUNY Graduate Center, Dr. Naresh Devineni is serving as a 2025-26 University Faculty Leadership Fellow in the CUNY Office of Research. This fellowship fulfills the Office of Academic Affairs’ (OAA) goals to grow faculty development and strengthen ties with the University Faculty Senate. Dr. Devineni’s contributions will help drive key research initiatives and strengthen the university’s mission.

Reflecting on what motivated his application and the journey to this fellowship, Dr. Devineni said, “I was intrigued by the prospect of contributing to university-wide research initiatives and its development.”

 As a Fellow, Dr. Devineni will strengthen CUNY’s research development capacity. His track record of securing more than $6 million in external awards, a strong record of building interdisciplinary teams, and a systems-level approach to strategy will help him in achieving this objective. His primary responsibilities include mapping CUNY’s research expertise and exploring strategic funding opportunities.

Working at the nexus of water security, climate resilience, and data science, Dr. Devineni identifies and connects researchers across disciplines and campuses to advance CUNY’s research mission. Describing the best part of the fellowship so far, Dr. Devineni said, “The fellowship gives me the scope of taking a systems level approach to develop a landscape of possible research networks CUNY-wide and leveraging those networks for near-term to future collaborative projects. Working with other fellows is exciting as I am learning from them every day on the kinds of interesting problems they are solving for overall CUNY growth.”

By the end of this fellowship in July 2026, Dr. Devineni hopes to help position CUNY as a leader in convergent research.