Hoshin Gupta

Professor Gupta (PhD 1984) specializes in Systems Analysis and Modeling for environmental science. His team has made important contributions to hydrological and hydro-meteorological modeling for the National Science Foundation, National Weather Service, and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. In 1999, Gupta was part of a 46 investigator multi-institution team that won a NSF grant to form SAHRA, the first NSF Center in hydrological science. As Director of Science & Administration, Gupta helped build an organization coordinating 400 scientists and 110 students from 17 institutions. He also led a University of Arizona team integrating hydrology, ecology and economic models, co-led the WaterNet Water Cycle Solutions Network, and is co-developer of the first-ever graduate program in Hydrometeorology.
Gupta is internationally recognized as leader in methods for dealing with model identification and predictive uncertainty. His 1992 paper on stochastic optimization resolved a decades old problem in model calibration and is the 5th most cited paper in Water Resources Research (top ranked water journal in US). His 1998 paper on model error has been called a “benchmark paper leading to radical changes in perspective” (Beck 2008 NSF report). His 1995 paper on neural networks was among the first to introduce such methods to hydrology. He has addressed the British Royal Society (Flood Risk in a Changing Climate 2001) and British Hydrological Society (Penman Lecture 2000). He has worked on a Diagnostic Theory of Evaluation aimed at improved methods for reconciling complex models with observational data and developing methods for identifying improved model structures.  He now works on bridging the gaps between Information Theory, Machine Learning, and Physics-based Modeling of Geo-Environmental Systems.  For his work he has been listed by Clarivate as a "Highly Cited Researcher".

Gupta is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and of the American Meteorological Society, past Editor of Water Resources Research, past President of the IAHS Commission on Coupled Land-Atmosphere System (ICCLAS), past Chair of the American Geophysical Union Surface Water Committee, special Editor for Journal of Hydrology, and on the Editorial Board of Benchmark Papers in Hydrology.  He is a TEP Fellow of the UA Gallileo Circle, and received the John Dalton Medal of the European Geosciences Union, and the RE Horton Lecture Award of the American Meteorological Society.