Amir Aghakouchak
Director, Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS)
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Chancellor's Professor, Civil & Environmental Engineering
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering
Ph.D., University of Stuttgart, 2010, Civil and Environmental Engineering
M.S., K.N.Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, 2005, Civil Engineering - Water Resources
B.S., K.N.Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, 2003, Civil Engineering
M.S., K.N.Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, 2005, Civil Engineering - Water Resources
B.S., K.N.Toosi University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, 2003, Civil Engineering
ORCiD: 0000-0003-4689-8357
University of California, Irvine
5300 Engineering Hall
Mail Code: 2175
Irvine, CA 92697
5300 Engineering Hall
Mail Code: 2175
Irvine, CA 92697
Research Interests
Hydrology, Climate Extremes, Remote Sensing, Natural Hazards, Drought, Flood, Wildfire, Heatwave, Compound and Cascading Hazards, Risk, Resilience
Websites
Academic Distinctions
2023, UC Irvine Chancellor’s Professor
Professional Society Fellowships
2023, Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
2023, Fellow, ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI)
2019, Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Senior Fellow (Honorary), United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-IWEH)
Professional Society Fellowships
2023, Fellow, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
2023, Fellow, ASCE Environmental and Water Resources Institute (EWRI)
2019, Fellow, American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Senior Fellow (Honorary), United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-IWEH)
Awards and Honors
2026, Plinius Medal, European Geosciences Union (EGU)
2026, Robert E. Horton Lecturer in Hydrology, American Meteorological Society (AMS)
2025, Samueli School of Engineering, Faculty Excellence in Research Awards
Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher Award Recipient, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
2022, ASCE Norman Medal (for research on climate-infrastructure nexus)
2020, ASCE Huber Prize, 2020.
2019, AGU James B. Macelwane Medal.
2019, International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) Early Career Scientist Award "for developing new methods for the study of hydrological extremes by combining societal relevance and scientific novelty".
2019, Mid-Career Faculty Innovation in Teaching, Samueli School of Engineering, UC Irvine.
2017, AGU Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award “for fundamental and innovative contributions to the study of hydrologic extremes including droughts, coastal floods and compound natural hazards".
2017, IAHS/STAHY Best Paper Award” for 2017 (Cheng, L., Aghakouchak, A. Nonstatlonary precipitation intensity-duration-frequency curves for infrastructure design in a changing climate (2014) Scientific Reports, 4, art. no. 7093).
2016, Outstanding ASCE Faculty Advisor
2016, Orange County Engineering Council (OCEC) Distinguished Educator Award.
2014 United States Frontiers of Engineering (FOE), National Academy of Engineering (NAE) of the National Academies (“The FOE program brings together a select group of emerging engineering leaders from industry, academe, and government labs to discuss pioneering technical work and leading edge research in various engineering fields and industry sectors”).
2013-14 Hellman Fellowship Award.
2012 Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) Award, National Academy of Engineering (NAE) of the National Academies (“The FOEE program brings together some of the nation’s most engaged and innovative engineering educators in order to recognize, reward, and promote effective, substantive, and inspirational engineering education through a sustained dialogue within the emerging generation of innovative faculty”).
2009 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Educational Partnership Program Award
2026, Robert E. Horton Lecturer in Hydrology, American Meteorological Society (AMS)
2025, Samueli School of Engineering, Faculty Excellence in Research Awards
Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher Award Recipient, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020
2022, ASCE Norman Medal (for research on climate-infrastructure nexus)
2020, ASCE Huber Prize, 2020.
2019, AGU James B. Macelwane Medal.
2019, International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics (IUGG) Early Career Scientist Award "for developing new methods for the study of hydrological extremes by combining societal relevance and scientific novelty".
2019, Mid-Career Faculty Innovation in Teaching, Samueli School of Engineering, UC Irvine.
2017, AGU Hydrologic Sciences Early Career Award “for fundamental and innovative contributions to the study of hydrologic extremes including droughts, coastal floods and compound natural hazards".
2017, IAHS/STAHY Best Paper Award” for 2017 (Cheng, L., Aghakouchak, A. Nonstatlonary precipitation intensity-duration-frequency curves for infrastructure design in a changing climate (2014) Scientific Reports, 4, art. no. 7093).
2016, Outstanding ASCE Faculty Advisor
2016, Orange County Engineering Council (OCEC) Distinguished Educator Award.
2014 United States Frontiers of Engineering (FOE), National Academy of Engineering (NAE) of the National Academies (“The FOE program brings together a select group of emerging engineering leaders from industry, academe, and government labs to discuss pioneering technical work and leading edge research in various engineering fields and industry sectors”).
2013-14 Hellman Fellowship Award.
2012 Frontiers of Engineering Education (FOEE) Award, National Academy of Engineering (NAE) of the National Academies (“The FOEE program brings together some of the nation’s most engaged and innovative engineering educators in order to recognize, reward, and promote effective, substantive, and inspirational engineering education through a sustained dialogue within the emerging generation of innovative faculty”).
2009 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Educational Partnership Program Award
Short Biography
Amir AghaKouchak is a Chancellor’s Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California, Irvine. He also serves as director of UC Irvine’s Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS), where his team develops innovative tools for monitoring and modeling hydrologic extremes. Professor AghaKouchak has published over 270 peer-reviewed journal articles and has received numerous honors, including the AGU James B. Macelwane Medal, AGU Fellow, ASCE Fellow, EWRI Fellow, ASCE Norman Medal, AMS Robert E. Horton Lecturer in Hydrology, European Geosciences Union (EGU) Plinius Medal, and ASCE Huber Research Prize. He is also the recipient of the prestigious Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher Award in recognition of “individuals who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields of research”, for 6 consecutive years 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020. His research focuses on natural hazards and climate extremes, bridging the disciplines of hydrology, climatology and remote sensing. A central theme of his work is the study of interactions among climatic and nonclimatic hazards, particularly compound and cascading events.
CHRS has organized meetings and international training workshops in the US, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Latin America for the U.S. State Department, US Army Research Office, NOAA, UNESCO, The Abdus Salem International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the U.S. Army Engineer Institute for Water Resources (IWR) International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM).
CHRS has organized meetings and international training workshops in the US, Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Latin America for the U.S. State Department, US Army Research Office, NOAA, UNESCO, The Abdus Salem International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the U.S. Army Engineer Institute for Water Resources (IWR) International Center for Integrated Water Resources Management (ICIWaRM).
Grants
Principal investigator and co-principal investigator on over $29 million by various agencies, such as NSF, NASA, NOAA, DOD, DOE, US Army Research Lab (ARL), Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Energy Commission (CEC), Caltrans, UNESCO, World Bank.
Other Experience
Professional Licensed Civil Engineer in the State of California (License Number: 78586)
Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=7336
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=7336
Last updated
11/25/2025
11/25/2025