The Grainger College of Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering

Hongbo Ma

Hongbo Ma
Hongbo Ma he/him/his
  • Assistant Professor
+1-217-300-2515
2018 Civil and Environmental Engineering Building

Primary Research Area

  • Water Resources Engineering and Science

Research Areas

For More Information

Biography

Dr. Hongbo Ma is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), a position he has held since June 2025. He earned his B.S. and Ph.D. in Hydraulic Engineering from Tsinghua University, China, in 2009 and 2014, respectively. Following postdoctoral appointments at several U.S. universities, he returned to Tsinghua University, where he served as an Assistant Professor and later as an Associate Professor. Dr. Ma's research focuses on environmental fluid mechanics, sediment-laden flows and their geomorphic expressions across diverse environments, including both mountain streams and fine-grained depositional systems. He has extensive experience in engineering projects involving flash/dambreak flood prediction, sediment yield evaluation, river management, river delta restoration, and reservoir sedimentation mitigation. His first- and corresponding-authored research has been published in PNAS, Science Advances, and Nature Communications, among other leading journals, and he has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed papers in mainstream outlets. Dr. Ma received the Leopold Early Career Award and the Rob Sharp Lecture Award from the American Geophysical Union (AGU). He also serves on the AGU Earth and Planetary Surface Processes (EPSP) Honors and Awards Committee and as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface.

Education

  • 2009-2014 Ph.D. in Hydraulic Engineering, Dept of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. (Graduated with the Best Thesis Award)
  • 2011-2012 Visiting Ph.D. Student in Environmental Hydraulics, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland.
  • 2006-2009 Dual B.S. in Computer Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
  • 2005-2009 B.S. in Hydraulic Engineering, Dept of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. (Graduated with the Best Dissertation Award)

Academic Positions

  • 2025.06- present           Assistant Professor, Dept of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), USA
  • 2024.01-2025.06            Associate Professor (without tenure), Dept of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua Univ, Beijing, China
  • 2022.07-2023.12            Assistant Professor, Dept of Hydraulic Engineering, Tsinghua Univ, Beijing, China

Journal Editorships

  • Associate Editor, Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface
  • Associate Editor, ARC-Geophysical Research, a Diamond Open-Access Journal.

Professional Societies

  • 2024-present Member of the Awards Committee of AGU Earth and Planetary Surface Processes Section 
  • 2012-present Member of American Geophysical Union

Research Interests

  • Environmental Fluid Mechanics
  • Sedimentology
  • Geomorphology
  • Hydraulic Engineering

Primary Research Area

  • Water Resources Engineering and Science

Research Areas

Selected Articles in Journals

  • Chen, X., Wang, T., Wang, J., Ma, H.B.*, Hassan, M., Fu, X.D. A unified flow resistance formula for open-channels with natural and engineered submerged obstacles. Water Resources Research. WRCR70363, 2025. DOI: 10.1029/2024WR039242. (in press)
  • Ma, H.B., Parker, G., Cartigny, M., Viparelli, E., Balachandar, S., Fu, X.D., Luchi, R. Two-layer formulation for long-runout turbidity currents: theory and bypass flow case. Journal of Fluid Mechanics, 1009:A19, 2025. DOI:10.1017/jfm.2025.246
  • Ma, H. B., Nittrouer, J., Fu, X. D., Parker, G., Zhang, Y. F., Wang Y, Wang, Y. J., Lamb, M., Cisneros, J., Best, J., Parsons, D. and Wu B. S. Amplification of downstream flood stage due to damming of fine-grained rivers. Nature Communications, 13, 3054, 2022. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30730-9
  • Ma, H. B., Nittrouer, J., Wu B. S., Lamb, M., Zhang, Y. F., Mohrig, D., Wang Y. J., Fu, X. D., Moodie, A.§, Naito, K.§, Wang, G., Hu, C., and Parker, G. Universal relation with regime transition for sediment transport in fine-grained rivers. PNAS, 2020, 117(1), 171-176. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1911225116
  • Ma, H. B., Nittrouer, J., Naito, K., Fu, X. D., Zhang, Y. F., Moodie, A., Wang Y. J., Wu B. S., and Parker, G. The exceptional sediment load of fine-grained dispersal systems: example of the Yellow River, China. Science Advances, 2017, 3: e1603114. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1603114 
  • Ma, H. B., Heyman, J., Fu, X. D., Mettra, F., Ancey, C. and Parker, G. Bedload transport over a broad range of time scales: determination of three regimes of fluctuations. Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface, 2014, 119(12): 2653-2673. DOI: 10.1002/2014JF003308
  • Ma, H. B., Fu, X. D. Real time prediction approach for floods caused by failure of natural dams due to overtopping. Advances in Water Resources, 2011, 35:10-19. DOI: 10.1016/j.advwatres.2011.08.013

Honors

  • Excellence in Mentoring Award of Beijing City, China (2024)
  • Robert Sharp Lecture, American Geophysical Union (2023)
  • Luna B. Leopold Early Career Award, American Geophysical Union (2023)
  • Excellent Early-Career Scientists Award of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.  (2022)
  • Best Paper Award to Ma et al. PNAS (2020) by the International Association of Chinese Youth in Water Sciences (CYwater) (2019)
  • Outstanding Ph. D. Thesis Award of Tsinghua University  (2014)
  • Outstanding Graduate Student of Beijing City, China (2014)
  • Outstanding Young Researcher Award from the Ministry of Education of China (2012)
  • National Scholarship for Outstanding Graduated Students (2012)
  • China National Fellowship for International Joint-education of Graduate Students (2011)
  • Best Student Research Presentation Award in the Research Symposium of Tsinghua University  (2010)
  • Pan Jiazheng Hydraulic Engineering Scholarship (2010)
  • Best Bachelor Dissertation Award of Tsinghua University  (2009)