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Curriculum Vitae

Guta Wakbulcho Abeshu, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Associate · Atmospheric, Climate & Earth Sciences Division
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory · Richland, WA

Research Overview

Postdoctoral Research Associate at PNNL — computational hydrology, AI for water systems, and climate science.

2022 PhD Year
$250K Funded Grant
4+ Countries
7+ AGU Sessions

Research Interests

Physics-informed AI for water systems Hydrological extremes & cascading disasters Water infrastructure resilience Catchment ecohydrology Global water sustainability & equity Multi-scale hydrological modeling Water resources systems Remote sensing & data assimilation

Biography

I am a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Atmospheric, Climate, and Earth Sciences Division at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). I hold a PhD in Civil Engineering (Hydrosystems) from the University of Houston (2022), a Master of Advanced Studies from ETH Zurich (2016), and earlier degrees from Addis Ababa University and Arba Minch University in Ethiopia.

My research develops hybrid physics-based and deep learning frameworks for global hydrological modeling — advancing our understanding of the water cycle across scales and enabling resilient, equitable management of water resources under climate change. I am currently involved in the GCIMS, ICoM, and WACCEM projects at PNNL, working closely with the E3SM earth system model team.

Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Richland, WA 99354
Phone
+1 (346) 262‑8731

Education

Four degrees across three continents — Ethiopia, Switzerland, and the United States.

Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (Hydrosystems)
May 2022
University of Houston
Houston, TX, USA
Dissertation: Understanding catchment ecohydrological processes and their interactions across multiple spatiotemporal scales: A Darwinian Perspective
Master of Advanced Studies in Sustainable Water Resources
Feb 2016
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich)
Zürich, Switzerland · Scholarship: Oeuvre St Justin
Thesis: Remote Sensing-Based Evaluation of Hydrogeological Surplus in the Drought Prone Regions of East Africa
M.Sc. in Water Resources Engineering and Management
Jul 2013
Addis Ababa University
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia · USAID-HED Fellowship
Thesis: Hydrological and Hydrogeological Characterizations and Classifications using Remote Sensing Datasets and Models
B.Sc. in Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering
Jul 2009
Arba Minch University
Arba Minch, Ethiopia
Thesis: Developing Rainfall-Runoff Model for Upper Omo-Ghibe River Basin and Understanding of the Cause of 2006 Flood at Omorate, Omo-Ghibe Basin, Ethiopia

Research Experience

From Ethiopia to Montana to Houston to PNNL — advancing hydrology across scales.

Jan 2024
— Present
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)
Atmospheric, Climate & Earth Sciences Division · Richland, WA
  • GCIMS Project: Developing hybrid physics-based and deep learning approach for global lake modeling (with T. Wild, M. Zhao, H-Y. Li)
  • ICoM Project: Utilizing transfer learning and meta-learning for hydrological signature regionalization across continental United States (with H-Y. Li, Z. Tan, L.R. Leung)
  • WACCEM Project: Developing numerical water tracer model for E3SM land component to track water sources and pathways (with H. Hu, L.R. Leung)
  • Regional Climate Research: Investigating connections between East African drought spatial patterns and African Monsoon System dynamics (with S. Koriche, University of Alabama)
  • Book Authorship: Co-authoring second edition of Aspects of Climate and Water Budget in Ethiopia (Gemechu, 1977), updating seminal work with contemporary data assimilation and modeling approaches
  • Student Mentoring: Supervising 2 PhD students at University of Houston and junior researchers at Addis Ababa University / Ethiopian AI Institute on physics-informed deep learning for national streamflow modeling in Ethiopia
GCIMS ICoM WACCEM E3SM
Jul 2022
— Sep 2023
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
University of Houston
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering · Houston, TX
  • Developed a global lake modeling module for a global hydrologic model
  • Mentored graduate students in hydrological modeling and machine learning
Aug 2018
— May 2022
Graduate Research Assistant (PhD)
University of Houston
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering · Houston, TX
  • Conducted theoretical analysis in catchment ecohydrology
  • Developed modeling and machine learning approaches for Xanthos-W and MOSART-Sediment projects
Jan 2017
— Aug 2018
Graduate Research Assistant
Montana State University
Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences · Bozeman, MT
  • Theoretical analysis in catchment ecohydrology
  • Modeling contributions to Xanthos and MOSART projects
Sep 2009
— Dec 2016
Assistant Lecturer / Lecturer
Arba Minch University
Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering · Ethiopia
  • Taught: Hydraulics, Open Channel Hydraulics, Engineering Hydrology, and more
  • Supervised Bachelor's Projects and served as academic program advisor

Teaching Experience

Courses in hydrology, watershed modeling, and climate science across three institutions.

2019
— Present
Guest Lecturer
University of Houston
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering · Houston, TX
  • Hydrology — 2 semesters
  • Watershed Hydrology & Modeling — 2 semesters
  • Global Climate: Physical Models — 3 semesters
2017
— 2018
Teaching Assistant
Montana State University
Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences · Bozeman, MT
  • Developed lab teaching materials and taught laboratory sessions for the Watershed Analysis course
Sep 2009
— Dec 2016
Assistant Lecturer / Lecturer
Arba Minch University
Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering · Ethiopia
  • Courses: Hydraulics, Open Channel Hydraulics, Engineering Hydrology, Fluid Mechanics, Groundwater Hydrology, Irrigation Engineering, and more
  • Supervised Bachelor's Final Projects
  • Served as academic program advisor

Publications & Presentations

Peer-reviewed papers, conference presentations, and invited talks.

Invited Talks
  • Surface Water Storages in Coastal Zones — University of Houston Coastal Sustainability Workshop, April 9, 2025
  • Multi-Scale Links Between Catchment Water Balance and Vegetation Dynamics — Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, February 11, 2022
  • Drought Propagation through Coupled Water-Human System: A Darwinian Perspective — Department of Land Resources and Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, December 4, 2017

Auto-updated: The complete publication list on the Publications page is automatically synchronized from Semantic Scholar every week via GitHub Actions.

Professional Service & Activities

Committee memberships, AGU session organizing, peer review, and professional society roles.

Committee Membership
Convened Sessions at Scientific Conferences
  • Primary ConvenerUnderstanding and Modeling Lakes Within the Hydro-Human-Ecosystem-Climate Nexus Across Local to Global Scales, AGU 2023
  • Primary ConvenerAdvances in Understanding Climate, Vegetation, Soil, and Topographic Controls on Hydrologic Patterns, Processes, and Functions at the Watershed and Larger Scales, AGU 2023
  • Primary ConvenerAdvances in Understanding Climate, Vegetation, Soil, Topographic, Precipitation Processes, and Their Subgrid-Scale Parameterization at the Watershed and Larger Scales, AGU 2021
  • Session Chair — H104, Soil, Plant, and Climate Interactions in the Critical Zone under Varying Land Use, Ecosystem Management, and Climatic Forcing III eLightning, AGU 2020
  • Session Chair — H130, Human Influence on the Regional/Natural Hydroclimate, AGU 2019
  • Session Chair — H221, Water–Soil–Vegetation Dynamic Nexuses and Equilibriums in Changing Climate, AGU 2018
Peer Review
  • Water Resources Research (WRR)
  • Geophysical Research Letters (GRL)
  • Journal of Hydrology (JoH)
  • Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
  • Geoscientific Model Development
  • Journal of Open Source Software (JOSS)
  • NSF Water, Landscape, and Critical Processes (WaLCZ) Program
Professional Memberships
  • American Geophysical Union (AGU)
  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
  • European Geophysical Union (EGU)
  • Ethiopian Geoscience Union International (ETGUI)

Grants & Funding

Research funding secured as PI and Co-PI.

Funded $250,000
Hydropower Reservoir Modeling Powered by Deep Reinforcement Learning
Agency: U.S. Department of Energy — Water Power Technologies Office (WPTO) Role: Co-PI & Lead Proposal Writer Summary: Developing a Multi-Agent Deep Reinforcement Learning-powered, adaptive model for cascading, multipurpose reservoir systems at the basin scale.

Technical Skills

Programming, modeling frameworks, remote sensing tools, and computational infrastructure.

Programming Languages

Python (proficient) MATLAB (proficient) FORTRAN (medium) Bash / Shell R

AI / Machine Learning

Deep Learning (proficient) Reinforcement Learning TensorFlow PyTorch scikit-learn LSTM / Transformers

Hydrological Models

VIC MOSART E3SM Xanthos SWAT MOSART-Sediment

GIS & Remote Sensing

ArcGIS (proficient) QGIS (proficient) Google Earth Engine GRACE / GRACE-FO MODIS Landsat / Sentinel

Computing & Infrastructure

Linux (proficient) Parallel Computing NERSC / Perlmutter Slurm MPI / OpenMP Git / GitHub

Data Science

xarray NetCDF Pandas NumPy Matplotlib Jupyter

Honors & Awards

Fellowships, scholarships, and academic recognition across career stages.

Best Dissertation Award

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Houston, 2022

Graduate Student Teaching Award for Merit

Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA — 2018

Honor Award

Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources, Addis Ababa University — July 2013

WaterSmart Innovations and Exposition Travel Scholarship

Las Vegas, NV — 2017

Oeuvre St Justin Scholarship

For MAS study at ETH Zurich — September 2014 to September 2015

USAID-HED Fellowship Award

For M.Sc. study at Addis Ababa University — June 2011 to July 2013

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