Aditya Sood
Nationality
Year of birth
American
1969
KEY QUALIFICATIONS
Aditya Sood has a diverse research and professional background that comprises over ten years in
watershed modeling, three years in civil and environmental engineering, and seven years in software
development. This interdisciplinary professional background along with educational degrees in Civil
Engineering, Environmental Engineering and Energy and Environmental Policy puts him in a unique
position to work on broad range of water and socio-economic projects. Currently, he is working as a
senior researcher at International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Colombo, Sri Lanka, where he is
involved in multiple water-related projects dealing with hydro-economic model development and river
basin level studies. He is also conducting field level hydrological studies using GIS and remote sensing.
Before joining IWMI, he worked as a post-doctoral fellow at University of Maryland, College Park, USA,
where he implemented Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model in Chesapeake Bay study that
linked weather forecasting model with estuary model. While in US, he did consulting work for
international and US based organizations. His areas of expertise include watershed and water quality
management/modeling,
GIS-based
decision-support
and
planning,
and
integrated
(water/energy/environment) policy analysis. His software programming skills include database
development, data processing, programming in object oriented languages, web development, GAMS and
FORTRAN in Windows and UNIX environment. Dr. Sood's research objectives include integrating
fundamentals of science, engineering and policy to understand hydrological processes at watershed scale
and within complex ecosystems. He is interested in analyzing impact of anthropogenic activities (such as
land use changes and water usage) and of natural changes (such as climate change) on hydrological
processes and vice versa.
EDUCATION
2009
1997
1991
Ph.D. Energy and Environmental Policy, University of Delaware, Delaware, USA.
M.S. Environmental Engineering, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, IL, USA
B. Tech. Civil Engineering, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, India
LANGUAGE SKILLS
Level of Proficiency (Mother tongue, Excellent, good, fair, poor)
Language
Speaking
Reading
Writing
English
French
Hindi
Punjabi
Excellent
Poor
Mother tongue
Good
Excellent
Fair
Mother tongue
Fair
Excellent
Fair
Mother tongue
Poor
SELECT PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2015 – To date | Senior Researcher – Integrated Hydrological Modelling – Sri Lanka | International
Water Management Institute – Leading an effort to develop basin scale Hydro-Economic Modelling
(HEM) within a framework of Water-Energy-Environment-Food (WEEF) Nexus framework.
CV of Aditya Sood, December 2013
IWMI
P.O.Box 127
Phone: +941 12 880000
1
Colombo
Fax: 941 12 786854
Sri Lanka
Email: a.sood@cgiar.org
2013 – To date | Contact point from IWMI for Policies, Markets and Institutions (PIM) research
program, International Water Management Institute (IWMI) – Responsible for managing portfolio
related to PIM activities in IWMI.
2012 – 2014 | Researcher – Integrated Hydrological Modelling – Sri Lanka | International Water
Management Institute
Responsible for modeling and analyzing hydrological processes at different watersheds in Asia and
Africa. Also involved in cross theme modeling activity that links hydrology with economics at country
level and global scale.
2010-2011 | Post-Doctoral Fellow – Hydrological Modelling – Sri Lanka | International Water
Management Institute
Did research related to climate change induced variability in available crop water, loss and wastage of
food within the context of global food trade, and consider the impact of water shortage on food
availability and affordability.
2009 to 2010 | Post-Doctoral Fellow, Earth System Science Interdisciplinary Centre (ESSIC) – US |
University of Maryland, College Park.
Conducted research in an interdisciplinary effort between University of Maryland and National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to build a fully integrated biogeochemical model of the
Chesapeake Bay watershed and estuary. This involved linking atmospheric, watershed and coastal water
models to the satellite data to simulate climate related impacts in the watershed.
2008-2009 | Consultant – US | International Resources Group (IRG)
Prepared a concise technical memo on the existing scientific knowledge and understanding of impact of
large scale biofuel production on water resources, fertilizer use and on the biodiversity within the
context of South and South East Asia.
1997-2004| Software Developer/Database Analyst – US | Genisys Consulting Inc.
Developed various web and client/ server applications using technologies such as Oracle DBMS,
PLSQL, Visual Basic, VB COM, Microsoft Transaction Server, Active Server Pages, HTML, DHTML,
VBScript, Java Script, Java, and Actuate reports.r Asia.
1991-1994| Field Civil Engineer/ Structural Design Engineer – India | M/S Larsen and Tubro Ltd./
Jayant Gandhi Associates, New Delhi
Worked as a field engineer during the construction of a cement plant. Duties included studying and
implementing the layout; scheduling and quantity take off; concrete testing and quality control. Designed
reinforced cement concrete and steel structures for industrial and residential projects.
Publications and technical reports:
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Sood, A., Seidou, O, Forkuor, G., Annor, F., Seidou, O., McCartney M. (2015). Simulating Current
and Future Volta Basin Water Development Scenarios. CABI Climate Change Series. CABI
Publishing, UK. (in press)
Bekchanov M., Sood, A., Pinto, A., Jeuland, M. (2015). A Systematic Review of Hydro-economic
Modeling Studies. Water Resources Research (Under Review).
Muthuwatta, L.P., Amarasinghe, U.A., Sood, A., Surinaidu, L. (2015). ‘Ganges Water Machine’:
Where and how much? Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (Under Review).
CV of Aditya Sood, December 2013
IWMI
P.O.Box 127
Phone: +941 12 880000
2
Colombo
Fax: +941 12 786854
Sri Lanka
Email: a.sood@cgiar.org
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Sood, A. (2015). Global Water Requirements of Future Agriculture: Using WATERSIM. In: Chu
Thai Hoanh, Vladimir Smakhtin and Robyn Johnston (Editors). Climate change and agricultural
water management in developing countries. CABI Climate Change Series. CABI Publishing, UK.
(in press)
Sood, A, Herath Manthrithilake, Salman Siddiqui, Rajah Ameer. (2015) Improving shallow aquifer
management by linking remote sensing to groundwater budgeting in the dry zone of Sri Lanka.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 187: 400.
Sood, A. and Smakhtin Vladimir (2015). Global Hydrological Models: A Review. Hydrological
Science Journal. 60 (4), 549-565.
Karimi, P., Bastiaanssen, W. G. M., Sood, A., Hoogeveen, J., Peiser, L., Bastidas-Obando, E., and
Dost, R. J. (2015) Spatial evapotranspiration, rainfall and land use data in water accounting – Part
2: Reliability of water accounting results for policy decisions in the Awash Basin, Hydrology and
Earth System Sciences, 19, 533-550
Muthuwatta Lal, A. Sood & B. Sharma (2014). Model to assess the impacts of external drivers on
the hydrology of the GRB. Evolving Water Resources Systems: Understanding, Predicting and
Managing Water – Society Interactions Proceedings of ICWRS2014, Bologna, Italy. IAHS Publ.
Vol. 364: 76-81.
Sood, A. and Smakhtin Vladimir (2014). Can Desalinization and Clean Energy Combined Help
to Alleviate Global Water Scarcity? Journal of American Water Resource Association. Vol. 50(5): 11111123.
Muthuwatta Lal, A. Sood & B. Sharma (2014). SWAT modeling for Ganges River Basin. Ganges
Basin Development Challenge project: G4- Assessment of the Impact of Anticipated external
drivers of change on water resources in the coastal zone. Project Report. IWMI.
Kam, S.P., Cai, X., Sood, A., Hoanh, C.T., Yen, B.T., Nagoli, J., Chijere, A. (2013). Decision
support for water management for integrating aquaculture in small-scale irrigation systems: a case
for the Chingale catchment in Malawi. WorldFish, Penang, Malaysia. Project Brief: 2013-40.
Sood, A., Prathapar, S., Smakthin, V. 2014. Green and Blue Water. Chapter 7 in: Lautze, J. 2014
ed. Key concepts in Water Management: A critical review. Earthscan.
M. Bala Krishna Prasad, Michael C. Maddox, A. Sood, Sujay Kaushal, Raghu Murtugudde (2013).
Nutrients, Chlorophyll and Biotic Metrics in the Rappahannock River-Estuary: Implications for
Urbanization in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Marine and Freshwater Research.
She, Dun-Xian, Jun Xia, Dan Zhang, Ai-Zhong Ye and A. Sood (2013). Regional extreme-dryspell frequency analysis using the L-moments method in the middle reaches of the Yellow River
Basin, China. Hydrological Processes. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.9930
Chartres, Colin and A. Sood (2013). The water for food paradox. Aquatic Procedia. Vol.1: 3-19.
Sood, A., Lal Muthuwatta, Matthew McCartney (2013). A SWAT Evaluation of the Effect of
Climate Change on the Hydrology of the Volta River Basin. Water International. Vol. 38 (3): 297311.
Matthew McCartney, Gerald Forkuor, Sood A., Barnabas Amisigo, Fred Hatterman and Lal
Muluwatte (2012). The Water Resource Implications of Changing Climate in the Volta River Basin.
IWMI Research Report 146.
Sood, A. and William F. Ritter (2011). Developing a Framework to Measure Watershed
Sustainability by Using Hydrological/Water Quality Model. Journal of Water Resource and Protection.
Vol. 3(11): 788-804.
Dutta, Sudarshan; Singh, Dhanwinder; Sood, A. (2011). Effect of Soil Chemical and Physical
Properties on Sorption and Desorption Behavior of Lead in Different Soils of India. An
International Journal on Soil and Sediment Contamination. Vol. 20: 249-260.
CV of Aditya Sood, December 2013
IWMI
P.O.Box 127
Phone: +941 12 880000
3
Colombo
Fax: +941 12 786854
Sri Lanka
Email: a.sood@cgiar.org
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Sood, A. and Mathukumalli, BKP (2011). Managing International River Basins: Reviewing IndiaBangladesh Trans Boundary Water Issues. The International Journal of River Basin Management. Vol. 9
(1): 43-52
Sood, A., Smakhtin Vladimir (2011). Simulating the Impacts of Desalination and Renewable
Energy Trends on the Availability of Water for Agriculture Globally. XIV World Water Congress,
Sep. 25th to 29th, 2011, Porto de Galinhas - Brazil
H. Meng, A. M. Sexton, M. C. Maddox, Sood, A., C. W. Brown, R. R. Ferraro, R. Murtugudde
(2010). Modeling Rappahannock River basin using SWAT- pilot for Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Applied Engineering in Agriculture. Vol. 26(5): 795-805.
Sood, A., William F. Ritter (2010). Evaluation of Best Management Practices in Millsboro Pond
Watershed Using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) Model. Journal of Water Resource and
Protection. Vol. 2(5): 403-412.
Prasad, M. Bala Krishna and Sood, A. (2010). Biogeochemical Modeling of the Aquatic
Ecosystems. Groundwater Monitoring and Management through Hydrogeochemical Modeling Approach, IK
international, New Delhi. ISBN 978-93-80578-16-3.
Sood, A. and William F. Ritter (2009). Using SWAT as a Tool for Sustainable Landuse Policy
Development. 2009 International SWAT Conference Proceedings. University of Colorado at Boulder,
Colorado
CV of Aditya Sood, December 2013
IWMI
P.O.Box 127
Phone: +941 12 880000
4
Colombo
Fax: +941 12 786854
Sri Lanka
Email: a.sood@cgiar.org