Post Doctoral Students
Shishir Basant (Post Doctoral Researcher, 2022 – ; PhD student, 2014–2021)
Shishir is currently working as a post doctoral researcher on a project looking potential for increasing groundwater recharge through savanna and grassland restoration in Post Oak savanna, Texas. For his PhD, Shishir did his field work in the South Texas mesquite shrublands where he investigated interaction of lateral redistribution of water with vegetation patterns and sap flux rates in the dominant woody species. For a part of his PhD work, he also studied the effect of thicketization in oak woodlands in Post Oak savannas on chloride accumulation in soils and soil moisture/water storage which was the basis for our most recently awarded grant (USDA-NIFA) of $ 750,000.
Prior to his graduate school in Texas, Shishir worked with startups and NGOs in India until 2014. He acquired his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Nagpur, India in 2009. He worked in the energy sector till 2011 before switching to working on natural resource management issues in rural and semi-urban environments.
Shishir enjoys field work in ecology and hydrology and investigating questions related to connection between water resources and land management. He is broadly interested in producing science relevant for improving management and helping with better policy making.
Doctoral Students
Xiangmin Sun (PhD, 2013 – 2019)
Xiangmin’s main research interests are Evapotranspiration partioning, Soil moisture modeling, Remote Sensing, ET modeling on heterogeneous landscapes. His current research is based in Oklahoma and includes studies on ecohydrology wherein he is incorporating isotopes, remote sensing (LIDAR) and Eddy-covariance Flux.
Before joining A&M in 2013, Xiangmin acquired his Bachelor in Hydrology and Water resources engineering from Lanzhou University in China and MS in Environmental Engineering at Chinese academy of Sciences.
Other interests includes ArcGIS, R, Powerpoint Design, Infographics, Critical thinking, History. Sam enjoys listening to music and playing volleyball.
Cynthia Wright (PhD, 2014- 2019)
Cynthia’s current research seeks to understand how hydrology and water resources are affected by land use change in the Caatinga biome of northeastern Brazil. Moreover, she is intrigued by the effect of seasonality on soil water, corresponding shrub responses, and land use strategies, and how these dynamics manifest at larger catchment and landscape scales.
Cynthia earned a B.Sc. in Environmental Geoscience at Texas A&M and an M.Sc. in Ecohydrology at the University of the Algarve, Portugal and UNESCO-IHE, Netherlands
Visiting Scholars
Furkan Atalar (PhD. 2019 – current)
Furkan was a visiting scholar in our lab for one year looking to study the effects of woody plant encroachment on hydrological processes in Texas. He is a researcher for the Research Institute for Forest Soil and Ecology at the General Directorate of Forestry in Turkey and is currently pursuing his PhD at Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa in Turkey.
His doctoral research focuses on the influence of vegetation manipulation on rainfall partitioning, soil moisture, and soil water. In 2018, he completed his MS thesis on the effects of forest thinning-burning treatments on runoff and sediment yield in a northern New Mexico forest. He received his bachelor’s degree in forestry engineering from Karadeniz Technical University in Turkey in 2012 and worked for a while at the General Directorate of Forestry before moving to the USA for his masters.
He enjoys being in nature, camping, snowboarding, and playing soccer. His other interests are visiting historical sites and learning about history.