Environmental and Health Sciences Faculty & Staff

Ph.D., Auburn University
Master of Civil Engineering,Auburn University
Bachelor of Civil Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal

Dr. Nirajan Dhakal is an Assistant Professor of Environmental and Health Sciences program at Spelman College. He completed his PhD in Civil Engineering (specializing in Water Resources) from Auburn University, Alabama in May 2012. For his PhD work, he developed a hydrologic model that can be used for hydrological analysis and design, for example, to derive runoff hydrographs from a watershed for detention pond design using design storms.  

After completion of his PhD, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow for the Sustainability Solutions Initiative at University of Maine from 2012 – 2014. The underlying premise of his postdoctoral research at University of Maine was that changing weather and climate patterns result in local and regional changes in extreme event magnitude and frequency; in turn, engineering design based on historical data might not provide desirable levels of service and protection. His research directly attended to the current knowledge gap in engineering design and practice.

Before joining Spelman College in 2015, he worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow for the Northeast Climate Science Center (NECSC) at University of Massachusetts from 2014 - 2015 where he performed research on the impacts of climate change on water resources in the Northeast including impacts on natural and manmade systems.

His current research is focused on the development of novel approaches to understanding hydrologic variability and change and developing predictive tools for proactive environmental and water resources management in the face of climate change.

Dr. Dhakal enjoys teaching and he believes that “teaching is the only profession that keeps your brain young, allowing you to continue your own journey as a student and a lifelong learner.” He loves teaching and developing a class in which a student enjoys learning new things as well as gets some hands-on experience on how to use the knowledge she/he learned in-class to solve problems related to the environmental issues in the real world.

Research interests:

• Hydrological and Hydraulic Analysis and Modeling
• Hydroclimatology
• Sustainable Water Resources Management
• Coupled human–environment system
• Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing
• Risk analysis and Decision Making

Dr. Dhakal is a hydrologist and his research focuses upon two major areas: (a) developing innovative and efficient methods for hydrological analysis and modeling, and (b) developing new methods to understand the time varying nature of precipitation extremes and their implications on infrastructure design (especially, stormwater). The goal of Dr. Dhakal's research work is to help communities develop more sustainable ecosystems for their future.

Research work involves:
Hydrological and Hydraulic Analysis and Modeling
Hydroclimatology
Sustainable Water Resources Management
Coupled human–environment system
Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing
Risk analysis and Decision Making

Nirajan Dhakal*, Shaleen Jain, Alexander Gray, Michael Dandy, and Esperanza Stancioff, 2015. “Nonstationarity in seasonality of extreme precipitation: A nonparametric circular statistical approach and its application.” Water Resources Research, DOI: 10.1002/2014WR016399.

Nirajan Dhakal*, Xing Fang, David B. Thompson, and Theodore G. Cleveland, 2014. “Modified Rational Unit Hydrograph Method and Applications.” Water Management Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, DOI: 10.1680/wama.13.00032

Nirajan Dhakal*, Xing Fang, William H. Asquith, Theodore G. Cleveland, and David B. Thompson, 2013. “Return Period Adjustments for Runoff Coefficients Based on Analysis in Texas Watersheds.” ASCE Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 139(6): 476-482.

Nirajan Dhakal*, Xing Fang, William H. Asquith, Theodore G. Cleveland, and David B. Thompson, 2013. “Rate-based Estimation of the Runoff Coefficients for Selected Watersheds in Texas.” ASCE Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, 18(12):1571-1580.

Nirajan Dhakal*, Xing Fang, Theodore G. Cleveland, David B. Thompson, William H. Asquith, and Luke J. Marzen, 2012.  “Estimation of Volumetric Runoff Coefficients for Texas Watersheds Using Land-Use and Rainfall-Runoff Data.” ASCE Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 138(1):43-54.

Nirajan Dhakal Receives NSF Grant to Study Precipitation-related Hazards