The Grainger College of Engineering
Civil & Environmental Engineering

Murugesu Sivapalan

Murugesu Sivapalan
Murugesu Sivapalan
  • Chester and Helen Siess Endowed Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering
  • Professor
(217) 333-2675
2028 Civil Eng Hydrosystems Lab

Primary Research Area

  • Water Resources Engineering and Science

Research Areas

For More Information

Biography

Murugesu Sivapalan holds a B.S. in Civil Engineering (University of Ceylon 1975), M.Eng in Water Resources Engineering (Asian Institute of Technology Thailand 1977), and M.A. (1983) and Ph.D (1986) in Civil Engineering, with a major in hydrology, from Princeton University.

Between 1978 and 1981, Dr Sivapalan worked as a consulting civil engineer in Nigeria. During the period 1986-1988 he served as a Research Associate at Princeton University. He spent the next 17 years at the University of Western Australia, Perth, joining as a Lecturer in 1988 before being promoted to full Professor in 1999. He joined the University of Illinois in 2005. Dr Sivapalan has also served as Visiting Professor at the Vienna University of Technology, Austria, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, Tsinghua University, China, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, and the University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Dr Sivapalan was founding chair of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) Decade on Predictions in Ungauged Basins (PUB) initiative. He has been a member of the editorial boards of several international journals and was Executive Editor of the European Geosciences Union's Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS) journal for 10 years.

Dr. Sivapalan has been elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering, Fellow of the Modeling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand, and Life Member of the International Water Academy. He is the recipient of the International Hydrology Prize from the International Association of Hydrological Sciences, the John Dalton Medal from the European Geosciences Union, the Biennial Medal (for Natural Systems) from the Modeling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand, and the Hydrological Sciences Award from the American Geophysical Union. He has also received the prestigious Robert E Horton Medal from the American Geophysical Union, and the Alfred Wegener Medal from the European Geosciences Union (EGU), one of three equally top Union medals awarded by the EGU. In 2003 he was awarded the Centenary Medal by the Australian Government "for service to Australian Society in Hydrology and Environmental Engineering" and in January 2012, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. In 2018 he received, jointly with Professor Guenter Bloeschl of the Vienna University of Technology, the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (Creativity Prize) for his role in founding and growing the new field of socio-hydrology.

Education

  • Dr. h.c. (Honorary Doctorate), Delft University of Technology, 2012
  • Ph.D, Civil Engineering and Operations Research, Princeton University, 1986
  • M. A., Civil Engineering and Operations Research, Princeton University, 1983.
  • M.Eng., Water Resources Engineering, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. 1977
  • B.Sc.Eng. (Hons), Civil Engineering, University of Ceylon, 1975

Academic Positions

  • Honorary Professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, 2020-2022
  • Satish Dhawan Visiting Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 2019-2020
  • Distinguished Visiting Professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China: 2017-2019
  • Visiting Professor, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria, January 1 - July 31, 2016
  • Distinguished Visiting Professor, University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia, June-August 2011
  • Visiting Professor, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, From May 1, 2008 - June 30, 2010
  • Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Professor of Geography, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. August 16, 2005 to present
  • Visiting Professor, Technical University of Vienna, Austria, June 1, 2001 - July 15, 2001
  • Visiting Professor, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands, From December 1, 2000 to May 31, 2001
  • Head, Department of Environmental Engineering, Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia. June 1, 1996 - June 30, 1997
  • Visiting Professor/Lise Meitner Fellow (sabbatical visitor), Institute of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Water Resources, Technical University of Vienna, Austria. July 15, 1995 - February 10, 1996
  • Professor of Environmental Engineering, Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia. November 23, 1999 - August 15, 2005
  • Associate Professor (with tenure) of Environmental Engineering, Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia, August 15, 1995 - November 22, 1999
  • Lecturer and Senior Lecturer, Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia, September 1, 1988 - August 15, 1995
  • Research Associate/Research Staff Member, Department of Civil Engineering and Operations Research, Princeton University. July 1, 1986 to August 31, 1988
  • Civil Engineer/Senior Consultant, Rocks & Stones (Nig) Ltd., Ibadan, Nigeria. July 1978 - June 1981

Journal Editorships

  • Member, Editorial Board: Hydrological Processes (John Wiley & Sons), 1996-2004
  • Associate Editor: Journal of Hydrology (Elsevier Science), 1996-2004
  • Member, Editorial Board: Environmental Modelling & Software (Elsevier Science), 2000-2006
  • Member, Editorial Board: Nordic Hydrology, 2004-2007
  • Associate Editor: Water Resources Research (American Geophysical Union), 2006-2008
  • Member, Editorial Board: Advances in Water Resources (Elsevier Science), 2001-2009
  • Section Editor (Hydrology and Water Resources), Geography Compass (Blackwell Publishers), 2006-2009
  • Member, Editorial Board: Hydrological Sciences Journal (IAHS), 2004-2009
  • Member, Editorial Board (Hydrology & Water Resources): Geography Compass (Wiley-Blackwell), 2009–2012
  • Associate Editor: Encyclopaedia of Hydrological Sciences (John Wiley & Sons), 2001-present
  • Member, Editorial Board: Ecohydrology (John Wiley & Sons), 2008-2020
  • Executive Editor, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (European Geosciences Union), 2004-2012

Professional Societies

  • Alfred Wegener Medal Committee Member (2017-2019), Chair (2020-2022) European Geosciences Union
  • Member, Union Honors and Recognition Committee (2015-2017), American Geophysical Union
  • Chair, Robert E. Horton Medal Committee, American Geophysical Union: 2013 to 2014, 2017-2019
  • Chair, John Dalton Medal Committee, European Geosciences Union: 2011 to 2015
  • Member, Early Career Award Committee, American Geophysical Union Hydrology Section (2011-2012)
  • Chair, PUB Science Steering Group (SSG): 2002-2005, IAHS Decade on Prediction of Ungauged Basins: 2003-2012, International Association of Hydrological Sciences: 2003-2005.
  • Member, International Association of Hydrological Sciences
  • Member, European GeosciencesUnion
  • Member, American Geophysical Union

Service on University Committees

  • Chair, Environmental Hydroscience Discipline Group, University of Western Australia (2003-2005).

Service on Department Committees

  • Postgraduate Coordinator (Director of Graduate Studies), Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia (1997-2003).
  • Head of Department of Environmental Engineering, Centre for Water Research, University of Western Australia (1996-1997)

Other Outside Service

  • External Examiner (PhD): R. Gowri, Department of Civil Engineering. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. Understanding Catchment Scale Processes: Hydrological Modelling and Information-Theoretic Approaches, 2022
  • External Examiner (PhD): Ansir Ilyas, Department of Electrical Engineering. Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan. Title: Integrating Local Behavioural Feedbacks to Identify Sustainable Pathways for Natural Resource Management, 2022
  • External Examiner (PhD): Titih Titisari Danielaini, School of Science and Health, Western Sydney University. Title: Analysis of socio-ecohydrological factors affecting water security, liveability and sustainability: A case study of the Cirebon Metropolitan Region, West Java, Indonesia, 2019
  • External Examiner (PhD): Emma White, Department of Infrastructure Engineering, University of Melbourne. Title: A quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of groundwater management plans, 2019
  • External Examiner (PhD): Linda Kuil, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Vienna University of Technology, Austria. Title: Towards a sustainable water future? Understanding the interactions between humans and their environment in response to water scarcity, 2018.
  • External Examiner (PhD): Juan Carlos Castilla-Rho, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Title: Agent-Based Modelling of Groundwater Systems, 2018
  • External Examiner (PhD): Margaret Garcia, Tufts University. Title: Modeling Coupled Hydrological-Human Systems: Assessing the Impact of Infrastructure Choice on Water Demand, 2017
  • External Examiner (PhD): Benjamin K. B. Abban, University of Tennessee Knoxville. Title: Capturing the role of the co-play of land use and rainfall on the non-stationarity of water and sediment fluxes across different spatiotemporal scales in intensively managed landscapes, 2017
  • External Examiner (PhD): Galatia Terti, PhD thesis, University of Grenoble, France. Title: Towards Probabilistic Prediction of Flash Flood Human Impacts, Risk Analysis, 2017
  • External Examiner (PhD): Mesgana Gizaw, PhD thesis, University of Alberta, Canada. Title: Global warming impacts on hydrologic extremes in North America and Africa, 2016
  • External Examiner (PhD): Ekkamol Vannametee, PhD thesis. Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Title: Hydrograph Prediction in Ungauged Basins: Development of the Closure Relation for Hortonian Runoff, 2014
  • External Examiner (PhD): B. Venkatesh, PhD thesis. National Institute of Technology Karnataka, India. Title: Measurement and Modelling of Hydologic Regimes Under Different Land Covers in Sahyadri Mountains, India, 2011
  • External Examiner (PhD): Ype van der Velde, PhD thesis. Wageningen Agricultural University, The Netherlands. Title: Climate Change Impact on a Groundwater-Influenced Hillslope Ecosystem, 2010
  • External Examiner (PhD): Reinder Brolsma, PhD thesis. Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Title: Climate Change Impact on a Groundwater-Influenced Hillslope Ecosystem, 2010
  • External Examiner (PhD): Guoping Zhang, PhD thesis. Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands. Title: Application of the REW Approach to Physically Based Distributed Watershed Modeling in Groundwater Dominated Catchments, 2007
  • External Examiner (PhD): Stephen Tan Boon Kean, PhD thesis. Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Title: Rainfall-Recharge Characteristics of an Unconfined Sandy Aquifer, Changi Reclaimed Land, Singapore, 2006
  • External Examiner (PhD): Lucy Marshall, PhD thesis. University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. Title: A Bayesian Framework for Hydrologic Model Implementation and Choice: Development of the Hierarchical Mixture of Experts Rainfall-Runoff Models, 2006
  • External Examiner (PhD): Ferdinand Diermanse, PhD thesis, Technical University of Delft, The Netherlands. Title: Physically Based Modelling of Rainfall-Runoff Processes, 2001.
  • External Examiner (PhD): Mai Chun Zhou, PhD thesis, University of Hong Kong. Title: Modified Xinanjiang Model and Its Incorporation with GIS and TOPMODEL, 2000.
  • External Examiner (PhD): Hemantha Jagath Perera, PhD thesis, University of Newcastle. Title: Hydrogeomorphic Modelling of Saturation Excess Runoff Generation, 1998.

Research Statement

RESEARCH INTERESTS

My research is aimed at advancing hydrologic predictions (i.e., streamflow, including extremes, and stream water quality), at catchment scale through overcoming three major challenges to extrapolation: (i) across space (i.e., from small to large space scales); (ii) across places (i.e., across regional gradients of climate and topography); and, (iii) across time (e.g., in changing physical and/or physical environments).

With these in mind, the thrust of my fundamental research is to gain understanding of observed space-time variability of rainfall-streamflow-water quality processes, including extremes, at a range of time and space scales, and across places (i.e., across climate and topographic gradients both regionally and globally), and interpret these in terms of underlying climate-soil-vegetation-topography-human interactions and feedbacks.

Advances in hydrological understanding are then used to develop hydrological models, both top-down and bottom-up, that can be used to make predictions of water quantity and water quality at the catchment scale, regionally across places, and in the future under human-induced climatic and land use and land cover changes and other human interferences in the hydrologic cycle.

MAJOR RESEARCH THEMES

* Effects of Spatial Heterogeneity and Scale

* Predictions in Ungauged Basins and Hydrologic Similarity

* Catchment Co-evolution and Ecohydrology

* Coupled Human-Water Interactions and Socio-hydrology

* Modeling of Catchment Water Balance and Water Quality

Primary Research Area

  • Water Resources Engineering and Science

Research Areas

Books Edited or Co-Edited (Original Editions)

  • Blöschl, G., M. Sivapalan, T. Wagener, A. Viglione and H. H. G. Savenije. RUNOFF PREDICTIONS IN UNGAUGED BASINS: A SYNTHESIS ACROSS PROCESSES, PLACES AND SCALES. Cambridge University Press, 500p., April 2013
  • Sivapalan, M., T. Wagener, S. Uhlenbrook, E. Zehe, V. Lakshmi, X. Liang, Y. Tachikawa, and P. Kumar, PREDICTIONS IN UNGAUGED BASINS (PUB): PROMISE AND PROGRESS. Proceedings of the PUB Symposium, IAHS Scientific Congress, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil. IAHS Publication No. 301, IAHS Press, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, U.K., 520p. 2006.
  • Franks, S. W., M. Sivapalan, K. Takeuchi and Y. Tachikawa, PREDICTIONS IN UNGAUGED BASINS: INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVES ON STATE-OF-THE-ART AND PATHWAYS FORWARD, Proceedings of the Australia-Japan Workshop on PUB Working Groups, IAHS Publication No. 301, IAHS Press, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, U.K. December 2005.
  • Kalma, J. D. and M. Sivapalan, SCALE ISSUES IN HYDROLOGICAL MODELLING. John Wiley & Sons Inc., London, U. K., 489p.1995.

Chapters in Books

  • Savenije, H. H. G and M. Sivapalan (2013). Case studies. Chapter 11 in: G. Blöschl, M. Sivapalan, T. Wagener, A. Viglione, H. Savenije (Eds.) RUNOFF PREDICTIONS IN UNGAUGED BASINS: A SYNTHESIS ACROSS PROCESSES, PLACES AND SCALES. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 270-360.
  • Blöschl, G., M. Sivapalan, T. Wagener, A. Viglione, and H. H. G. Savenije (2013) Introduction. Chapter 1 in: G. Blöschl, M. Sivapalan, T. Wagener, A. Viglione, H. Savenije (Eds.) RUNOFF PREDICTIONS IN UNGAUGED BASINS: A SYNTHESIS ACROSS PROCESSES, PLACES AND SCALES. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 1-9.
  • Sivapalan, M., Pattern, Process and Function: Elements of a New Unified Hydrologic Theory at the Catchment Scale. Contribution to: Encyclopaedia of Hydrologic Sciences, M. G. Anderson (Managing Editor), Chapter 13 (Vol. 1, Part 1), pp. 193-219, John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
  • Sivapalan, M. and P. C. Young, Downward approach to hydrological model development. In: Encyclopaedia of Hydrologic Sciences, M. G. Anderson (Managing Editor), Chapter 134 (Vol. 3, Part 11), pp. 2081-2098, John Wiley & Sons, 2005.
  • Sivapalan, M., N. R. Viney and C. Zammit, LASCAM: Large Scale Catchment Model. Chapter 14, pp. 579-648, In: MATHEMATICAL MODELS OF LARGE WATERSHED HYDROLOGY (V. P. Singh and D. K. Frevert, Editors), Water Resources Publications, Highlands Ranch, Colorado, 2001.
  • Sivapalan, M. and E. F. Wood, Spatial heterogeneity and scale in the infiltration response of catchments. In: SCALE PROBLEMS IN HYDROLOGY, V. K. Gupta, I. Rodri­guez-Iturbe and E. F. Wood (Editors), Reidel Publ., Dordrecht, pp. 81-106, 1986.

Selected Articles in Journals

  • Sivapalan, M. (2018). From Engineering Hydrology to Earth System Science: Milestones in the transformation of hydrologic science. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 22, 1665-1693, doi: 10.5194/hess-22-1665-2018, (highlighted article in HESS).
  • Sivapalan, M. and G. Blöschl (2015). Time scale interactions and the coevolution of humans and water. Water Resources Research (50th Anniversary Special Issue.), Vol. 51, No. 9, pp. 6988-7022 doi:10.1002/2015WR017896
  • Elshafei, Y., M. Sivapalan, M. Tonts and M. L. Hipsey (2014). A prototype framework for models of socio-hydrology: Identification of key feedback loops and parameterisation approach. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Volume 18, pp. 2141-2166, doi:10.5194/hess-18-2141-2014
  • Thompson, S. E., M. Sivapalan, C. J. Harman, V. Srinivasan, M. Hipsey, P. Reed, A. Montanari and G. Blöschl (2013). Understanding and predicting changing water systems: Use-inspired hydrologic science for the Anthropocene. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Volume 17, pp. 5013-5039, doi:10.5194/hess-17-5013-2013
  • Sivapalan, M., H. H. G. Savenije and G. Blöschl (2012). Socio-hydrology: A new science of people and water. Hydrological Processes, Volume 26, 1270-1276, doi: 10.1002/hyp.8426.
  • Wagener, T., M. Sivapalan, P. A. Troch, B. L. McGlynn, C. J. Harman, H. V. Gupta, P. Kumar, P. S. C. Rao, N. B. Basu and J. S. Wilson (2010), The future of hydrology: An evolving science for a changing world. Water Resources Research, Vol. 46, W05301, doi:10.1029/2009WR008906.
  • McGrath, G. S., C. Hinz, M. Sivapalan, J. Dressel, T. Putz, and H. Vereecken (2010), Identifying a rainfall event threshold, triggering herbicide leaching by preferential flow. Water Resources Research, Vol. 45, W02513, doi: 10.1029/2008WR007506.
  • Harman, C. J. and M. Sivapalan (2009), Similarity framework to assess controls on subsurface flow dynamics in hillslopes. Water Resources Research, Volume 45, W01417, doi: 10.1029/2008WR007067.
  • Schymanski, S. J., M. Sivapalan, M. L. Roderick, J. Beringer and L. Hutley (2008), An optimality-based model of coupled soil moisture and root dynamics. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, Vol. 12, pp. 913-932. www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/12/913/2008/.
  • Wagener, T., M. Sivapalan, P. A. Troch and R. A. Woods (2007), Catchment classification and hydrologic similarity. Geography Compass, Vol. 1/4, pp. 901-931, 10.1111/j.1749-8198.2007.00039.x.
  • McDonnell, J. J., M. Sivapalan, K. Vache, S. Dunn, G. Grant, R. Haggerty, C. Hinz, R. P. Hooper, J. W. Kirchner, M. L. Roderick, J. Selker, and M. Weiler (2007), Moving beyond heterogeneity and process complexity: A new vision for watershed hydrology. Water Resources Research, Vol. 43, W07301, doi: 10.1029/2006WR005467.
  • Sivapalan, M. (2003), Prediction of ungauged basins: A grand challenge for theoretical hydrology. Hydrological Processes, Vol. 17, No. 15, pp. 3163-3170.
  • Sivapalan, M., G. Blöschl, L. Zhang, and R. Vertessy (2003), Downward approach to hydrological prediction. Hydrological Processes, Vol. 17, pp. 2101-2111, doi: 10.1002/hyp.1425.
  • Sivapalan, M. (2003), Process complexity at hillslope scale, process simplicity at the watershed scale: Is there a connection? Hydrological Processes, Vol. 17, pp. 1037-1041, doi: 10.1002/hyp.5109.
  • Farmer, D., M. Sivapalan and C. Jothityangkoon (2003), Climate, soil and vegetation controls upon the variability of water balance in temperate and semi-arid landscapes: Downward approach to hydrological prediction. Water Resources Research, Vol. 39, No. 2, 1035, doi: 10.1029/2001WR000328
  • Reggiani, P., M. Sivapalan and S. M. Hassanizadeh (1998), A unifying framework for watershed thermodynamics: Balance equations for mass, momentum, energy, entropy and the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Advances in Water Resources, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 367-398.
  • Robinson, J. S., M. Sivapalan and J. D. Snell (1995), On the relative roles of hillslope processes, channel routing and network geomorphology in the hydrological response of natural catchments. Water Resources Research, Vol. 31, No. 12, pp. 3089-3101.
  • Woods, R. A., M. Sivapalan and M. J. Duncan (1995), Investigating the Representative Elementary Area concept - An approach based on field data. Hydrological Processes, Vol. 9, Nos. 3/4, pp. 291-312.
  • Blöschl, G. and M. Sivapalan (1995), Scale issues in hydrological modelling - A review. Hydrological Processes, Vol. 9, Nos. 3/4, pp. 251-290.
  • Sivapalan, M., K. Beven and E. F. Wood (1987), On hydrologic similarity. 2. A scaled model of storm runoff production. Water Resources Research, Vol. 23, No. 12, pp. 2266-2278.

Other Publications

  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Sivapalan, M., M. F. P. Bierkens, J. P. Evans, P. Gentine, D. Lettenmaier, M. McCabe, R. Maxwell, L. Samaniego, B. Su, R. Uijlenhoet, A. I. J. M. van Dijk, and N. E. C. Verhoest(2013). OBSERVATIONS AND MODELING OF LAND SURFACE WATER AND ENERGY EXCHANGES ACROSS SCALES: SPECIAL ISSUE IN HONOR OF ERIC F. WOOD, Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.
  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Sivapalan, M., T. Troy, V. Srinivasan, D. Gerten, A. Kleidon and A. Montanari (2013-2015). PREDICTIONS UNDER CHANGE (PUC): WATER, EARTH and BIOTA in the ANTHROPOCENE, Joint Special Issue of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences and Earth System Dynamics
  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Packman, A. I., M. A. Hassan and M. Sivapalan (2012). LINKING PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND BIOLOGICAL PROCESSES IN WATERSHEDS FROM THE CELLULAR AND GRAIN SCALES TO THE RIVER NETWORK SCALE. Special Section of Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 117.
  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Sivapalan, M., APPROACHES TO SYNTHESIS: WATERSHEDS AS DYNAMIC, CASCADING, HIERARCHICAL, NON-LINEAR SPACE-TIME FILTERS. Special Section of Water Resources Research, In press, 2011.
  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Hinz, C., M. Sivapalan and G. Hancock, THRESHOLDS AND PATTERN DYNAMICS: A NEW PARADIGM FOR PREDICTING CLIMATE DRIVEN PROCESSES. Special Issue of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS). http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/special_issue69.html, 2006.
  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Blöschl, G. and M. Sivapalan, Theory, Scale and Organization: Chapter 1 (with 13 contributed articles), in: Encyclopaedia of Hydrological Sciences, M. G. Anderson (Managing Editor), J. Wiley & Sons, 2005.
  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Sivapalan, M., L. Zhang, R. Vertessy and G. Blöschl, DOWNWARD APPROACH TO HYDROLOGICAL PREDICTION. Hydrological Processes, Vol. 17, pp. 2099-2313, doi: 10.1002, 2003.
  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Sivapalan, M., P. Kumar and D. Harris, NONLINEAR PROPAGATION OF MULTISCALE DYNAMICS THROUGH HYDROLOGIC SUBSYSTEMS. Advances in Water Resources, Volume 24, Nos 9-10, pp. 935-1227, 2001.
  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Blöschl, G., M. Sivapalan, V. K. Gupta, K. Beven and D. Lettenmaier, SCALE PROBLEMS IN HYDROLOGY. Water Resources Research, Vol. 33, No. 12, pp. 2881-2999, 1997.
  • EDITED JOURNAL SPECIAL ISSUE: Kalma, J. D. and M. Sivapalan, SCALE ISSUES IN HYDROLOGICAL MODELLING. Hydrological Processes (two issues), Vol. 9, Nos. 3/4 & 5/6, pp. 237-728, 1995.

Honors

  • Tau Beta Pi Daniel C Drucker Eminent Faculty Award (Grainger College of Engineering) (2022)
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2021)
  • Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (Creativity Prize) (2018)
  • Alfred Wegener Medal and Honorary Membership: European Geosciences Union (EGU) (2017)
  • Doctor Honoris Causa (Honorary Doctorate): Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands (2012)
  • Robert E. Horton Medal: American Geophysical Union (2011)
  • Hydrological Sciences Award (HSA): American Geophysical Union (AGU) (2010)
  • International Hydrology Prize (IHP): International Association of Hydrologic Sciences (IAHS) (2010)
  • Centenary Medal: Commonwealth Government of Australia (2003)
  • John Dalton Medal: European Geosciences Union (2003)
  • Fellow: American Geophysical Union (AGU) (2003)
  • Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (2001)
  • Life Member, The International Water Academy, Oslo, Norway (2001)
  • Lise Meitner Fellow: Austrian Science Foundation (1995)

Research Honors

  • Sigma Xi, Scientific Research Honor Society (2020-)
  • Honorary Professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (2020-2022)
  • Satish Dhawan Visiting Chair Professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (2019-2020)
  • 2018 Water Resources Research Editor's Citation for Excellence in Reviewing (2019)
  • 2017 Water Resources Research Editor's Choice Award (Apurv et al.), American Geophysical Union (2018)
  • 2015 Water Resources Research Editor's Choice Award (Elshafei et al.), American Geophysical Union (2016)
  • Distinguished Visiting Professor, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China (2017-2019)
  • CAS President's International Visiting Fellow, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (2015)
  • International Visiting Research Scholar: Peter Wall Institute, University of British Columbia (2015)
  • Distinguished Alumni Award (Academic & Research Excellence), Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand) Alumni Association (2011)
  • Borland Lecturer: AGU Hydrology Days, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado (2007)
  • Fellow: Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand (MSSANZ) (2001)
  • Biennial Medal (Natural Systems): Modelling and Simulation Society of Australia and New Zealand (2001)