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 Climate and Sustainability team 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.

Get in touch

Open to collaborations on urban flood resilience, nature-based solutions, and community science — and happy to hear from prospective students, journalists, or municipal partners.

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Member of the American Meteorological Society, the American Geophysical Union, and the European Geophysical Union. Community Scientist with AGU’s Thriving Earth Exchange in Cicero and Berwyn, IL.

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