Ximing Cai, Ph.D.
Ben Chie Yen Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Ximing Cai, UCOWR’s 2024 Warren A. Hall recipient, is recognized nationally and internationally for his groundbreaking work addressing complex water resources management challenges through systems approaches employing human and natural sciences and engineering. Dr. Ana P. Barros, NAE (Donald Biggar Willett Chair, Head and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois) writes in her award nomination letter, “Ximing’s efforts have brought up holistic river basin modeling as a new school of thought, highlighting coordination of economic efficiency, hydrologic variability, engineering, and policy sciences in developing realistic solutions for river basin management…His persistent work over many years has illustrated the importance of modeling the coupling of natural and human systems for both understanding of system complexity and solution development for real-world water management problems.” Further, Dr. Cai has decades of research in the nexus of food, energy, and water, where his multi-disciplinary approach has “shown an entire generation of water scientists the way in which hydrology, climate, environment, food, energy and water resources are connected and can be systematically approached” (from letter of support for award nomination by Dr. Upmanu Lall, Alan & Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering, Dept. of Civil Eng. & Eng. Mechanics, Director, Columbia Water Center, Columbia University). He has impacted water management research and practices across the world through his work in China and other countries, as well as with multiple international organizations. Notably, Cai’s consulting efforts have contributed significantly to water use conflict management and other water-related initiatives developed through the World Bank, the United Nations, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and the International Food Policy Research Institute.
Dr. Cai holds his B.S. in Water Resources Engineering (1990) and M.S. in Hydrology and Water Resources (1994) from Tsinghua University, China, and his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (1999) from the University of Texas at Austin. Before joining the faculty of the University of Illinois in 2003, Professor Cai was Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research (IFPRI) Institute and International Water Management Institute (IWMI). Over the course of his career so far, Cai has graduated more than 20 M.S. students and 30 plus Ph.D. students, authored or co-authored over 200 peer reviewed journal papers, 3 books, and several monographs. He was named a 2019 American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fellow for forging a new science of hydrologic change accounting for human interaction and using it to advance water resources management, and received the 2023 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Julian Hinds Award in recognition of his outstanding professional contributions.
