Sivapalan Receives International Hydrology Prize

Presentation of the 2010 International Hydrology Prize in Paris, France, July 7, 2010.  Left to right: Gordon Young, IAHS President; Professor Murugesu Sivapalan; Tommaso Abrate, World Meteorological Organization representative; Alberto Tejada-Guibert, Director UNESCO Division of Water Sciences. Photo courtesy of IAHS, http://www.iahs.info/.

Professor Murugesu Sivapalan was presented with the International Hydrology Prize from the International Association of Hydrological Sciences on July 7 in Paris, France. He was cited, “For outstanding contributions to watershed hydrology and global leadership in advancing predictions in ungauged basins.”

“I have great pleasure in presenting Professor Murugesu Sivapalan of the University of Illinois as this year's recipient of the International Hydrology Prize,” said Gordon Young, president of the IAHS, who presented the award, calling Sivapalan one of the greatest hydrologists of our time. “Professor Sivapalan is eminently worthy of this award for truly outstanding contributions to the science of hydrology, having shaped modern hydrology in a most distinct way. He has been a key player in formulating a new hydrological theory at the watershed scale and having contributed immensely to a wider inter-disciplinary view of hydrology as an Earth Science. His publication output is exceptional … but it is not only this productivity that has elevated his profile. More important are the new concepts he has introduced. It is by these that he has imprinted his vision on the shape of modern scientific hydrology, making a permanent impact."

Sivapalan joined the University of Illinois faculty in 2005. He has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in watershed hydrology, engineering hydrology, stochastic hydrology and water resources engineering.

“I am truly humbled by the honor and recognition that IAHS has bestowed on me through this prestigious award, and I am delighted to be receiving it in the presence of friends and family,” he said. “This day will remain one of the happiest days of my life.”