Qingyun Duan: Hydrologist, Optimization Pioneer & Climate Modeling Leader
Professor Qingyun Duan is a globally recognized hydrologist and climate scientist whose work has shaped modern approaches to water resource modeling, uncertainty quantification, and ensemble forecasting. He currently serves as Chair Professor at the College of Hydrology & Water Resources, Hohai University in China, and is a Scientific Steering Group Member of the WCRP Academy.
Dr. Duan earned his PhD in Hydrology from the University of Arizona, where he developed the influential SCE-UA global optimization algorithm—a breakthrough in calibrating hydrologic models. His work laid the foundation for robust parameter estimation in complex systems and has been widely adopted in climate and hydrology research worldwide.
He has held senior research positions at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, NOAA, and the University of California, Irvine, contributing to projects such as the North American Land Data Assimilation System (NLDAS) and the Yucca Mountain Safety Assessment. He also co-led the Model Parameter Estimation Experiment (MOPEX), advancing watershed modeling across scales.
🌍 Global Contributions & Leadership
- Editor-in-Chief – Reviews of Geophysics (AGU)
- Editor-in-Chief – Springer’s Handbook of Hydrometeorological Ensemble Forecasting
- Fellow – American Geophysical Union & American Meteorological Society
- Distinguished Lecturer – Asia Oceania Geosciences Society
- Scientific Steering Roles – GEWEX & HEPEX
📚 Research Focus
- Global optimization algorithms for hydrologic model calibration
- Bayesian ensemble prediction and uncertainty quantification
- Climate change impacts on water resources and land surface systems
- Precipitation data intercomparison and hydrometeorological forecasting
📈 Publications & Impact
- Author of 220+ peer-reviewed articles with over 40,000 citations on Google Scholar
- Highly Cited Researcher – Clarivate & Elsevier (2019–2022)
- Gold Award recipient – Yucca Mountain Safety Assessment Project
🔗 Learn more via his profiles on Google Scholar, and AOGS CV.
