He Xiaogang

Biography

Xiaogang He is a Princeton-trained Ph.D. A hydrologist with experience in economics, machine learning, and environmental policy. His research interests focus on the fundamental understanding of how climate change, variability, and human interventions affect drought and flood risk across scales, and how to implement an integrative framework (e.g., hydrological modelling, remote sensing, artificial intelligence, nexus approaches) to reduce their societal impact. Before joining NUS, he is a Water in the West Postdoc Fellow at Stanford University working on sustainable groundwater management. Xiaogang received his M.A. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Princeton University in 2016; M.E. in Civil Engineering from the University of Tokyo in 2013; B.Eng (Major, with honours) in Hydraulic Engineering, and B.Sc (Dual) in the School of Economics and Management from Tsinghua University, China, in 2011.

Qualifications

• Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, 2019
• Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP) Certificate, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, 2019
• M.A., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University, 2016
• M.E., Civil Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 2013
• B.Sc. (Dual), School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, 2011
• B.Eng. (Major, with honours), Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, 2011

Selected Honours & Awards

• Outstanding Early Career Award, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore (Inaugural winner) (2023)
• 2020 Editors’ Citation for Excellence in Refereeing for Geophysical Research Letters, American Geophysical Union (2021)
• School of Engineering and Applied Science Award for Excellence, School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), Princeton University. “This award is given to SEAS advanced graduate students who have performed at the highest level as scholars and researchers.” (2018)
• Mary & Randall Hack ’69 Award, Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University (2018-2019)
• Perkins Fellow in Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy (STEP), Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University (2017-2019)
• Princeton Energy and Climate Scholars (PECS), Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University (2017-2019)
• Young Scientists Summer Program Fellowship, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) (2017)
• Princeton Graduate Fellowship, Princeton University (2014)
• Nishino Akiyo Prize for Japanese Language Study, Civil Engineering, The University of Tokyo (2012)
• Monbukagakusho Scholarship, Japanese Government (MEXT) (2011-2013)
• Best Bachelor’s Thesis, Tsinghua University (2011)

Professional Activities

• Editorial Board, Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences (2019-current)
• Member, American Geophysical Union (AGU) (2012-current)
• Member, European Geophysical Union (EGU) (2016-current)

Research Interests

• Terrestrial hydrology
• Computational hydraulics and hydrodynamics
• Climate risk assessment
• Water-food-energy nexus
• Complex adaptive human-earth systems
• Nature-based climate solutions
• Sustainable groundwater management
• Stormwater management
• Machine learning applications in hydrometeorology

Publications

1. Cheng, Yanyan, David M. Lawrence, Ming Pan, Baoqing Zhang, Peter J. Lawrence, Zhongfang Liu, and Xiaogang He* (2024). A Bioenergy-focused versus A Reforestation-focused Mitigation Pathway Yields Disparate Carbon Storage and Climate Responses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121(7), e2306775121.
2. Liu, Xinyue, Dongxiao Zhang, and Xiaogang He* (2024). Unveiling the Role of Climate in Spatially Synchronized Locust Outbreak Risks. Science Advances 10(7), eadj1164.
3. Liu, Zhanwei and Xiaogang He* (2023). Balancing-oriented Hydropower Operation Makes Clean-energy Transition More Affordable and Simultaneously Boosts Water Security. Nature Water 1, 778-789.
4. Xu, Bo and Xiaogang He* (2022). A Physics-informed Bayesian Storyline Approach to Assess Sediment Transport in the Mekong. Water Resources Research 58(11).
5. Cheng, Yanyan*, Maoyi Huang, David M. Lawrence, Katherine Calvin, Danica Lombardozzi, Eva Sinha, Ming Pan, and Xiaogang He* (2022). Future Biofuel Expansion Could Alter Carbon Accumulation Potential and Exacerbate Water Stress in the United States. Science Advances 8(18), doi:10.1126/sciadv.abm8237.
6. He, Xiaogang, Benjamin P. Bryant, Tara Moran, Katharine J. Mach, Zhongwang Wei, and David L. Freyberg (2021). Climate-informed Hydrologic Modeling and Policy Typology to Guide Managed Aquifer Recharge. Science Advances 7(17), doi:10.1126/sciadv.abe6025.
7. He, Xiaogang and Justin Sheffield (2020). Lagged Compound Occurrence of Droughts and Pluvials Globally Over the Past Seven Decades. Geophysical Research Letters 47(14), e2020GL087924
8. He, Xiaogang, Ming Pan, Zhongwang Wei, Eric F Wood, and Justin Sheffield (2020). A Global Drought and Flood Catalogue from 1950 to 2016. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-18-0269.1.
9. He, Xiaogang, Kairui Feng, Xiaoyuan Li, Amy B Craft, Yoshihide Wada, Peter Burek, Eric F Wood, and Justin Sheffield (2019). Solar and Wind Energy Enhances Drought Resilience and Groundwater Sustainability. Nature Communications 10(4893).
10. He, Xiaogang, Lyndon Estes, Megan Konar, Di Tian, Daniela Anghileri, Kathy Baylis, Tom P Evans, and Justin Sheffield (2019). Integrated Approaches to Understanding and Reducing Drought Impact on Food Security Across Scales. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 40, 43–54.
11. He, Xiaogang, Jillian Student, and Carolien Kroeze (2019). From Sustainable Drinking Water to Tsunami Hazards: Modeling Water Science for Impact. Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences 16(1), 157–161.
12. He, Xiaogang, Yoshihide Wada, Niko Wanders, and Justin Sheffield (2017). Intensification of Hydrological Drought in California by Human Water Management. Geophysical Research Letters 44(4), 1777–1785.
13. He, Xiaogang, Yang Hong, Humberto Vergara, Ke Zhang, Pierre-Emmanuel Kirstetter, Jonathan J Gourley, Yu Zhang, Gang Qiao, and Chun Liu (2016). Development of a Coupled Hydrological-geotechnical Framework for Rainfall-induced Landslides Prediction. Journal of Hydrology, 543, 395–405.
14. He, Xiaogang, Nathaniel W Chaney, Marc Schleiss, and Justin Sheffield (2016). Spatial downscaling of precipitation using adaptable random forests. Water Resources Research 52(10), 8217–8237.
15. He, Xiaogang, Hyungjun Kim, Pierre-Emmanuel Kirstetter, Kei Yoshimura, Eun-Chul Chang, Craig R Ferguson, Jessica M Erlingis, Yang Hong, and Taikan Oki (2015). The Diurnal Cycle of Precipitation in Regional Spectral Model Simulations Over West Africa: Sensitivities to Resolution and Cumulus Schemes. Weather and Forecasting 30(2), 424–445.