AREAS OF RESEARCH / INTERESTS

My overall research objective is to understand how soil moisture organizes across different spatial and temporal scales, and in particular how the interactions with the atmosphere, vegetation and landscape constrain this organization.

    - Land-Atmosphere interactions

    - Hydrometeorology/hydroclimatology

    - Ecohydrology
    - Remote sensing, data-assimilation (filtering) of remote sensing measurements to estimate soil moisture and surface heat fluxes
    - Land-surface models

    - Stochastic processes in hydrology and atmospheric sciences

EDUCATION

2007-2009   Doctor of Science

                    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

                    Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

                    Thesis: “Spectral analysis of a linearized coupled land-atmosphere system”

                    Advised by Prof. Dara Entekhabi

2004-2006   Master of Science

                    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

                    Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

                    Thesis: “Analysis of the diurnal behavior of Evaporative Fraction”

                    Advised by Prof. Dara Entekhabi

1999-2002    Bachelor of Science (Ingénieur Degree)

                     SupAéro (French Space and Aeronautical School)

                    Major: Applied Mathematics

WORK EXPERIENCE

2011-now:   Assistant Professor (tenure-track)

                    Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering
                    Columbia University

2009-2011:   Assistant Professor (non-tenure-track)

                    Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics
                    Columbia University

2006-2007: Engineer at NATIXIS (4th largest French Investment Bank)

                    IT/Quantitative Analyst in the Security Derivative Team

2002- 2004: Engineer at the French Space Agency (CNES)

                    Research Center for Remote Sensing of Biosphere (CESBIO)
                    under supervision of Dr. Abdelghani Chehbouni.

Took part in a French-Moroccan cooperative effort to improve water management in south-eastern     Morocco. (SUDMED project)

1. •Developed and adapted land surface hydrologic model for semi-arid conditions.
   

2. •Performed field studies (turbulent and radiative fluxes, soil moisture).
   

3. •Dialogue with governmental agencies and local water managers.
   

 

GRANTS/PROPOSALS

1. •NSF-AGS grant (self: $259,000, total: $500,000) with Benjamin Lintner (Rutgers) and Kirsten Findell (NOAA-GFDL): "Quantifying the impacts of atmospheric and land surface heterogeneity and scale on soil moisture-precipitation feedbacks"
   
   

2. •Alliance Columbia-Ecole Polytechnique grant ($3,500): "Soil moisture-precipitation feedback"
   
   

3. •NSF-AGS proposal (submitted) with Upmanu Lall (Columbia University) and others: "Meltdown in the Himalayas, Asia's Water Tower: International Research Networks for Interdisciplinary Risk Prediction and Response"
   

AWARDS

2004-2005: Shoettler-MIT fellowship based on academic/professional performance

DEVELOPED MODEL

    - ICARE-SVAT (Interactive CAnopy Radiative Exchange - Soil Vegetation Atmosphere Transfer Model). Used at the French Space Agency (CNES) - Research Center for Remote Sensing of Biosphere (CESBIO)

        Description of the model in Gentine et al. 2007 pdf

Publications

    See here

TEACHING

    Undergraduate: linear algebra.

    Graduate: land-atmosphere interactions, principle of applied maths.