Kshitij Dahal
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777 E University Dr Mail 3005 Tempe, AZ 85287
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Kshitij is a PhD candidate in Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering at Arizona State University. His research focuses on using data science, machine learning, and satellite imagery to better understand and manage water resources. He is passionate about developing tools that can help communities make informed decisions, especially in the face of environmental challenges like floods, droughts, and landslides.
Kshitij received his MS in Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering from ASU in August 2025. Before coming to ASU, Kshitij received his Bachelor's in Civil Engineering from Tribhuvan University in Nepal. His early career as a researcher at the Himalayan Risk Research Institute and as a lecturer gave him direct experience with the impacts of natural hazards, which continues to drive his work today. His projects have included improving streamflow forecasting, natural hazards in Himalayas and sustainable development.
Beyond his primary research, Kshitij is dedicated to bridging the gap between science and society. As a Community Science Fellow with the American Geophysical Union (AGU), he collaborates directly with communities to help them address local environmental issues. He also enjoys sharing his insights through public writing and has served as a teaching assistant for several engineering courses at ASU. Ultimately, Kshitij aims to produce research that is not only scientifically sound but also practical and accessible for real-world application.
Detailed CV
PhD, Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Arizona State University, Arizona, USA (Expected 2026)
MS, Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering, Arizona State University, Arizona, USA (Aug 2025)
BE, Civil Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal (2015 - 2019)
water resources, natural hazards, remote sensing, machine learning, sustainable development
Dahal, K., Gupta, A., Bokati, L. & Kumar, S. (2025, in minor revision). Improving Streamflow Forecasting with Bayesian Model Averaging Over Multiple Loss Functions. Applied Soft Computing.
Bishui, C., Priyadarshi, S., Ghosh, P. & Dahal. K. (2025). Developing a framework for assessment of the school’s exposure to flood-depth scenarios. Natural Hazards. In Press.
Dahal, K.*, Talchabhadel, R., Pradhan, P., Parajuli, S., Shrestha, D., Chhetri, R., Gautam, A. P., Tamrakar, R., Gurung, S., & Kumar, S. (2025). Nepal's carbon stock and biodiversity are under threat from climate exacerbated forest fires. Information Geography. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infgeo.2025.100003
Pradhan, P., Joshi, S., Dahal, K., Hu, Y., Subedi, D. R., Putra, M. P. I. F., Vaidya, S., Pant, L. P., Dhakal, S., Hubacek, K., Rupakheti, M., Roberts, D., & van den Hurk, B. (2025). Policy Relevance of IPCC Reports for the SDGs and Beyond. Resources, Environment and Sustainability (Invited Editorial). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resenv.2025.100192
Pradhan, P., Subedi, D. R., Dahal, K., Hu, Y., Gurung, P., Pokharel, S., Kafle, S., Khatri, B., Basyal, S., Gurung, M., & Joshi, A. (2024). Urban agriculture matters for sustainable development. Cell Reports Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crsus.2024.100217
Dahal, K.*, Sharma, S., Shakya, A., Talchabhadel, R., Adhikari, S., Pokharel, A., Sheng, Z., Pradhan, A. M. S., & Kumar, S. (2023). Identification of groundwater potential zones in data-scarce mountainous region using explainable machine learning. Journal of Hydrology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.130417
Dahal, K.*, & Gnyawali, K.R., (2023) Mapping landslide susceptibility and critical infrastructure for spatial decision-making, Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23789689.2023.2181552
Talchabhadel, R., Maskey, S., Gouli, M. R., Dahal, K.*, Thapa, A., Sharma, S., Dixit, A. M., & Kumar, S. (2023). Multimodal multiscale characterization of cascading hazard on mountain terrain. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, 14(1), 2162443. https://doi.org/10.1080/19475705.2022.2162443
Gnyawali, K., Dahal, K., Talchabhadel, R., & Nirandjan, S. (2023). Framework for rainfall-triggered landslide-prone critical infrastructure zonation. Science of the Total Environment, 872, 162242. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162242
Teck, V., Poortinga, A., Riano, C., Dahal, K., Legaspi, R. M. B., Ann, V., & Chea, R. (2023). Land use and land cover change implications on agriculture and natural resource management of Koah Nheaek, Mondulkiri province, Cambodia. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, 29, 100895. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2022.100895
Bera, S., Gnyawali, K., Dahal, K., Melo, R., Li-Juan, M., Guru, B., & Ramana, G. V. (2023). Assessment of shelter location-allocation for multi-hazard emergency evacuation. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 84, 103435. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103435
Pradhan, P., Callaghan, M., Hu, Y., Dahal, K., Hunecke, C., Reusswig, F., Lotze-Campen, H., & Kropp, J. P. (2023). A systematic review highlights that there are multiple benefits of urban agriculture besides food. Global Food Security, 38, 100700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2023.100700
Pandey, H. P., Gnyawali, K., Dahal, K., & Pokhrel, N. P. (2022). Vegetation loss and recovery analysis from the 2015 Gorkha earthquake (7.8 Mw) triggered landslides. Land Use Policy. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264837722002125
Sharma, S., Dahal, K., Nava, L., Gouli, M. R., Talchabhadel, R., Panthi, J., Roy, T., & Ghimire, G. R. (2022). Natural Hazards Perspectives on Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) Science. Earth and Space Science, 9(1), e2021EA002114. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021EA002114
Talchabhadel, R., Panthi, J., Sharma, S., Ghimire, G. R., Baniya, R., Dahal, P., Baniya, M. B., K. C., S., Jha, B., Kaini, S., Dahal, K., Gnyawali, K. R., Parajuli, B., & Kumar, S. (2021). Insights on the Impacts of Hydroclimatic Extremes and Anthropogenic Activities on Sediment Yield of a River Basin. Earth, 2(1), 32–50. https://doi.org/10.3390/earth2010003
Dahal, K. (2024, March 13). Explainable Machine Learning in Groundwater Potential Mapping Webinar at UNESCO GWYN. https://rb.gy/ue0vik
Dahal, K. (2023, September 19). Discussion Facilitator at Session 1 --Development of core use cases in environmental sciences. 5th NOAA Workshop on Leveraging AI in Environmental Sciences. https://noaaai2023.sched.com/event/1Q6Qa/session-1-development-of-core-use-cases-in-environmental-sciences
Talchabhadel, R., & Dahal, K. (2023, May 22). Remote Sensing, Big Data Analytics, and Cloud Computing: Application to Water Quality Modeling. Workshop conducted at the meeting of the Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) Congress 2023, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Henderson, NV.
Dahal, K. (2022, June 21). Landslide susceptibility and monsoon preparedness in Nepal: An engineering perspective. What Happened in Melamchi? Lecture presented at Khwopa College of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. https://fb.watch/kO9H0OeO2T/
Dahal, K. (2022, April 7). Introduction to Google Earth Engine for cloud computing. Discussion session conducted for S4W Nepal.
Dahal, K. (2022, April 6). Google Earth Engine and cloud computing. Lecture presented at Central Department of Geography, Tribhuvan University, Nepal.
Dahal, K. (Moderator). (2021, August 28). Chocolate Talk on DRR #3: Artificial intelligence (AI) for disaster risk reduction. Discussion conducted for U-INSPIRE Alliance. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHLaFQw-C7A
Dahal, K. (2021, July 30). DRR talk #1: The future of disaster risk governance in 2045. Talk presented at the Disaster Risk Reduction and Tsunami Information, UNESCO Office, Jakarta. https://fb.watch/kO9y3nBapv/
Travel grant, CIROH Developers Conference, The University of Vermont, USA, 2025
Community Science Fellow, Thriving Earth Exchange, American Geophysical Union (https://thrivingearthexchange.org/project/lumberton-nc/), 2024 – 2026
Outstanding Reviewer Award, Earth’s Future, American Geophysical Union, 2025 (awarded to ~1% of all reviewers)
Full Scholarship to the Snow Measurement Field School, CUAHSI, Mammoth Lakes, California (5 days residential school), 2025
HydroLearn Fellowship ($2500), Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology, 2024
University Graduate Fellowship ($2000), Arizona State University, 2024
Outstanding Poster Award on “A Framework to Improve Hydrological Forecasting with Deep Learning”, ASU Flow 2024, Arizona State University, AZ, USA, 2024
Travel grant, CIROH Developers Conference, The University of Alabama, USA, 2024
Travel Grant, Remote Sensing of the Water Cycle Chapman, HI, USA, 2024
University Graduate Fellowship ($415), Arizona State University, 2024
Water Quality Tiny Grant (HaikuYourResearch), AGU Fall Meeting 2023
Recipient of the Graphical Abstract Competition Prize, American Geophysical Union, 2023
Full Funding Award for Summer Graduate Writing Camp at Arizona State University, 2023
Hackathon Winner (1st place), SpaceHack for Sustainability, Arizona State University, 2023
Travel Grant, DRI Technical Conference 2022, India, 2022
Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) fellow, 2021 (CO-PI $10,000)
Hackathon Competition Winner (1st place), 3rd NOAA Workshop on Leveraging AI in Environmental Sciences, USA, 2021
Travel Grant, 36th IGC, India (The event was canceled due to COVID-19), 2020
Mahatma Gandhi Scholarship (100% scholarship for intermediate level study), 2011-2012
Consistently ranked first (on exam scores) in class from Grade 1 to Grade 10, 2001-2010
Editorial Advisory Board, Regional Environmental Change, Springer Nature
- Executive Committee, Young Earth System Scientists (YESS) Community, June 2025 – Now
- Community Science Fellow, American Geophysical Union, May 2024 – Present
- Regional Representative (South East Asia), Young Earth System Scientists (YESS) Community, Jan 2021 – Jan 2022
- Coordinator, Capacity Building, U-Inspire Alliance, May 2019 – Jan 2023
Co-advisor, Vanna Teck (MS), National University of Battambang, Cambodia, 2019-2021