Aris Georgakakos

Biography

Dr. Aris P. Georgakakos holds a civil engineering Diploma from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and Masters and Ph. D. degrees in water resources from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Georgakakos is currently a Professor at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Georgia Tech and Director of the Georgia Water Resources Institute. He has also served as CEE Associate Chair for Research and as Head of the Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Resources Program for 17 years. Dr. Georgakakos’ research and technology transfer activities aim to develop and implement prototypical information and decision support systems for integrated water resources assessment, planning, and management. These systems combine data from conventional and remote sources, GIS, and models from various disciplines (including climate, hydrology, agricultural science, water resources, wetland and river ecology, hydro-thermal power systems, economics, statistics, and operations research). Dr. Georgakakos has been involved in several world regions and his decision support systems are currently used for river basin planning and management in Georgia and the southeast U.S., California, several African countries, Brazil, Jordan, Greece, and China. His research and technology transfer activities have been sponsored by U.S. and foreign organizations including the U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation, Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Bank, U.S. and European International Development Agencies, and several domestic and foreign electrical and water utilities. Dr. Georgakakos publishes extensively, is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Hydrology, and serves in various national committees advising the U.S. Government on critical climate adaptation and water resources policy issues. Dr. Georgakakos is a Convening Lead Author for the water resources chapter of the 2014 National Climate Assessment.

Education:

National Technical U. of Athens, Greece, Civil Engineering, Water Resources, B.S., 1980

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil & Env. Eng., Water Resources, M.S., 1983

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Civil & Env. Eng., Water Resources, Ph.D., 1984

Appointments:

Special Federal Employee, Federal Advisory Committee for the National Climate Assessment, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), 2010-

Director, Georgia Water Resources Institute (GWRI), 1997-

Head, Environmental Fluid Mechanics and Water Res. Program, Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), Georgia Tech, 1994-2012

Associate Chair for Research, CEE, Georgia Tech, 1994-2005

Professor, CEE, Georgia Tech, 1996-

Associate Professor, CEE, Georgia Tech, 1990 – 1996

Assistant Professor, CEE, Georgia Tech, 1984 – 1990

Selected Professional Activities:

Member, Advisory Committee on Water Information (ACWI), 2012-present. ACWI advises the Federal Government on activities and plans related to federal water-information programs.

Convening Lead Author for the Water Sector Chapter, US National Climate Assessment, 2012-

Member, Federal Advisory Committee for the National Climate Assessment, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), 2010-

Congressional testimonies on water resources and energy issues (1997, 2007)

NRC Committees 

Frequent keynote and invited speaker in international conferences and workshops; Ministerial briefing.

Associate editor (Journal of Hydrology, Advances in Water Resources, Water Resources Research)

Development and transfer of decision support systems funded by various US and international organizations, including USGS, NOAA, NASA, EPA CALFED, UN-FAO, World Bank, and various foreign ministries for water resources and energy.

Conference co-chair and session organizer (Georgia Water Resources Conference; AGU, ASCE, various international organizations); Numerous US and international training workshops on decision support systems. 

Recent Book and Journal Publications:

Georgakakos, A.P., P. Fleming, M. Dettinger, C. Peters-Lidard, T.C. Richmond, K. Reckhow, K. White, and D. Yates: Water Resources Chapter, 2014 National Climate Assessment Draft, http://ncadac.globalchange.gov, 2014.

Kistenmacher, M., and A.P. Georgakakos, “Ensemble Forecasting of Water Resources Systems, Water Resources Research, in review, 2014. 

Sharif, H.E., J. Wang, and A. P. Georgakakos, “Modeling regional crop yield and irrigation demand using SMAP type of soil moisture data,” Journal of Hydrometeorology, accepted, 2014.

Georgakakos, A.P., H. Yao, and K.P. Georgakakos, “Upstream Regulation Effects on Ensemble Streamflow Prediction,” Journal of Hydrology, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.06.044, 2014.

Kim, D.H., and A.P. Georgakakos, “Hydrologic River Routing using Nonlinear Cascaded Reservoirs,” Water Resources Research, doi: 10.1002/2014WR015662, 2014.

Chen, C-J., and A.P. Georgakakos, “Seasonal Prediction of East African Rainfall,” International Journal of Climatology,, doi: 10.1002/joc.4165, 2014.

Climate of the Southeast United States: Variability, Change, Impacts, and Vulnerability, co-author of Chapter 10, “Impacts of Climate Change and Variability on Water Resources in the Southeast USA,” Island Press, Washington DC, 341p, 2013. 

Chen, C-J., and A.P. Georgakakos, “Hydro-Climatic Forecasting Using Sea Surface Temperatures—Methodology and Application for the Southeast U.S.,” Journal of Climate Dynamics, doi: 10.1007/s00382-013-1908-4, 2013.

Zhang, F. and A.P. Georgakakos, “Joint Variable Spatial Downscaling,” Climatic Change, 111(3), Page 945-972, 2012.  Also, on line reference doi.org/10.1007/s10584-011-0167-9, 2011.

Georgakakos, A.P, Yao, H., Kistenmacher, M., Georgakakos, K.P., Graham, N.H., Cheng, F.-Y., Spencer, C., Shamir, E., “Value of Adaptive Water Resources Management in Northern California under Climatic Variability and Change: Reservoir Management,” J. Hydrology, Vol. 412-413: p. 34-46. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.04.038.  January 2012.

Georgakakos, K.P., Graham, N.H., Cheng, F.-Y., Spencer, C., Shamir, E., Georgakakos, A.P, Yao, H., and Kistenmacher, M., “Value of Adaptive Water Resources Management in Northern California under Climatic Variability and Change: Dynamic Hydroclimatology,” J. Hydrology, Vol. 412-412: p.47-65. doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.04.032.  2011. 

Koutsoyiannis, D., H. Yao, and A.P. Georgakakos, “Multiyear Behavior and Monthly Simulation and Forecasting of the Nile River,”J. of Hydrological Sciences, 53(1), 142-164, 2008.

Brumbelow, K. and A.P. Georgakakos, “Optimization and assessment of agricultural water sharing scenarios under multiple socio-economic objectives,” ASCE Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, 133(3), 264-274, 2007.

Brumbelow, K. and A.P. Georgakakos, “Determining crop-water production functions using yield-irrigation gradient algorithms,” Agricultural Water Management 87(2), 151-161, 2007.

Georgakakos, K.P., N.E. Graham, A.P. Georgakakos, and H. Yao, “Demonstrating Integrated Forecast and Reservoir Management (INFORM) for northern California in an operational environment,” IAHS Publ., pg. 439-444, 2007.

Georgakakos, A.P., “Decision Support Systems for Integrated Water Resources Management with an Application to the Nile Basin,” in “Topics on System Analysis and Integrated Water Resources Management,” eds. A. Castelletti and R. Soncini-Sessa, Elsevier, 2007.

Georgakakos, K.P., Graham, N.H., Carpenter, T.M., Georgakakos, A.P., and H. Yao, “Integrating Climate-Hydrology Forecasts and Multi-Objective Reservoir Management for Northern California.” EOS, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, Vol. 86, No. 12, pages 122-127, March 2005.

Georgakakos, A.P., and H. Yao, “Implications of Climate Variability and Change for Water Resources Management,” The Climate Report, 3(4), 9-13, 2002.

Yao, H, and A.P. Georgakakos, “Assessment of Folsom Lake Response to Historical and Potential Future Climate Scenarios,” Journal of Hydrology, 249, 176-196, 2001.

Keynote and Distinguished Lectures:

“Value of Climate Forecasts for Water Resources Planning and Management Decisions,” GEWEX-IAHS Workshop on Water Resources Applications, Sapporo, Japan, July 3-4, 2003.

“Decision Support Systems for integrated water resources management,” International Federation for Automatic Control Workshop on Modeling and Control for Participatory Planning and Managing Water Systems, Venice, Italy, September 29 – October 1, 2004.

“Decisions Support Systems for Water Resources Applications: State of the Science Review and Applications in the Nile Basin,” Conference on “Enhancing equitable livelihood benefits of dams using decision support systems,” sponsored by the UN CGIAR Challenge Program on Water and Food and the International Institute of Water Management, Nazareth, Ethiopia, January 23 – 26, 2006.

“Decision Support Systems for Hydropower Planning and Management with an Application to the Three Gorges Dam,” First International Conference on Hydropower, Beijing, China, October 26 – 31, 2006.

“Decision Support Systems for Water Resources Planning and Management: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recent Experience,” International Workshop on Advances in Hydro-informatics, Niagara Falls, Canada, June 4 – 7, 2007.

Georgakakos, A., “Decision Support Systems for Water Resources Planning and Management: Challenges, Opportunities, and Recent Experience,” Keynote Address, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, June 15, 2007.

“Advances in Forecast-Decision Systems for Water Resources Planning and Management: Lessons from the Nile,” Distinguished Straub Award Lecture Series, Saint Anthony Falls, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, October 31, 2007.

“Water Management in an Era of Climatic and Demand Change,” Keynote Address, Hydrology Conference 2010, San Diego, CA, USA, 11-13 October 2010.

“The rivers are changing; what about water management?” Georgia Water Resources Conference, Athens, Georgia, 11 April 2013. 

“Adaptive Reservoir Regulation for Water, Energy, and Environmental Management,” Keynote Address, 2013 International Committee on Large Dams (ICOLD), Seattle, 13 August 2013.

Recent Sponsored Research Projects:

“US National Climate Change impact Assessment: Water Resources,” Principal Investigator and Coordinator, (7/1/1998 – 12/31/1999), mandated by the US Congress and sponsored by the US Geological Survey under the auspices of the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).

“Demand and Climate Change Impacts for the Nile Basin,” Principal Investigator, (1/1/1999 – 3/31/2000), sponsored by the US State Department.

“A Planning Model for the Acheloos River Basin, Western Greece,” Co-Principal Investigator, (6/1/1997 – 12/31/1998), sponsored by the Greek Ministry of Water Works and the Environment, and carried out jointly with the National Technical University of Athens, Greece. 

“Impacts of Biological Integrity Requirements on the Management of the Apalachicola- Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin,” Principal Investigator, (9/1/2000 – 8/31/2001), sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region IV.

“Lake Victoria Technology Development and Transfer Program,” Principal Investigator, (8/1/2000 – 12/31/2000), sponsored by the World Bank.

“A Decision Support Tool for the Nile Basin” Principal Investigator, sponsored by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy (2000-2003).

“Water Resources Training and Capacity Building for the Nile Basin Countries,” Principal Investigator, sponsored by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy (2003-2006).

“INFORM: Integrated Forecasting and Reservoir Management,” Co-Principal Investigator, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Global Programs (NOAA OGP), the California Energy Commission (CEC), and CalFed (2003-2006).  This project is carried out jointly with the Hydrologic Research Center in San Diego, California. 

“Satellite Precipitation Estimation and Use in River Basin Management,” Co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Christa Peters-Lidard, sponsored by NASA (2004-2007).

“ACF-ACT River Basin Assessments,” Principal Investigator, sponsored by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (Georgia EPD) (2005-2006).

“Decision Support System for the Huaihe River Basin,” Principal Investigator, sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources (2005-2007).

“Water Resources Assessment, Planning, and Management in the Southeast US Using Decision Support Systems Driven by Climate-Based Hydrologic Forecasts,” Principal Investigator, sponsored by the NOAA OGP Climate Prediction Program for the Americas (CPPA), NASA, NWS Southeast River Forecast Center, and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (2006-2009).

“Information and Planning Tools for the Zhejiang River Basin,” Principal Investigator, sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Water Resources (2006-2008).

“Technical Assistance for Water Resources Planning In Georgia,” Principal Investigator, sponsored by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (Georgia EPD) (2006-2009).

“INFORM: Integrated Forecasting and Reservoir Management, Phase II” Co-Principal Investigator, sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of Global Programs (NOAA OGP) and the California Energy Commission (CEC) (2009-2012).  This project is carried out jointly with the Hydrologic Research Center in San Diego, California. 

“Climate Change Implications for Managing Northern California Water Resources in the Latter 21^st Century” sponsored by the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER), California Energy Commission (CEC), (2010-2011).

“Climate Change Assessments for Georgia Basins,” Principal Investigator, sponsored by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (Georgia EPD) (2010-2012).

“National Weather Service Forecast Adjustment for Upstream Regulation Effects,” Co-Principal Investigator, sponsored by the National Weather Service (2011-2012).  This is a joint project with the Hydrologic Research Center, San Diego, California.        

“Development of an Integrated Water Resources Management Plan for the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) River Basin,” Principal Investigator, sponsored by the ACF Stakeholders Association (2011-2014).