HMEI-STEP Topic: Indicators of Soil Erosion and Landscape Sustainability with Implications for Land-Use Policy

HMEI-STEP Advisers: Simon Levin, Timothy Searchinger

Thesis Topic: Landscape Dynamics as a Co-Evolution of Ecohydrological and Geomorphological Processes

Thesis Adviser: Amilcare Porporato

Shashank works in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. For his doctoral work at Princeton, he is performing theoretical and numerical analysis of the process-based model in conjunction with the available observations to describe the role of ecohydrological and geomorphological processes on runoff erosion and the emergence of landscape channelization patterns. With HMEI-STEP fellowship research, he plans to conduct a thorough statistical analysis of landscape topography in conjunction with land cover data to gauge the effectiveness of different land covers and farming practices on landscape resilience to degradation. The developed framework will be helpful for policymakers in sighting early warning signals of land degradation and formulate more sustainable land-use policies.