PNNL

Hassan Niazi is an integrated human-Earth systems researcher who is working as an Earth scientist at the Joint Global Change Research Institute within Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). He specializes in discovering and leveraging multi-scale, multi-sector energy-water-land dynamics to address complex problems under socioeconomic, technological, and natural drivers of future global change. Using AI/ML, integrated assessment, and coupled human-Earth system models with a focus on water systems, his work informs global system resilience, sustainability, and resource security. He also researches nature-based engineered systems to enable ecosystem services and disaster risk reduction for inland and coastal waters using probabilistic and process-based numerical models. Collectively, his contributions have advanced the understanding of fundamental dynamics among multiple anthropogenic and natural sectors, including water supply and demand, energy production and use, agriculture, biogeochemical cycles, and emerging technologies. For regional work, he has collaborated with stakeholders across the United States, as well as Europe, the Middle East, South Asia, Australia, and Latin America. He is active in several professional societies and holds two master's and a bachelor's degree in civil engineering with the highest honors.

• Global change, integrated assessment, and multi-sector dynamics 
• Nature-based solutions and disaster risk reduction 
• Water resources, energy systems, agriculture, and biogeochemical cycles 
• Data science, AI/ML, and probabilistic modeling

• MSc in civil engineering (water resources), Delft University of Technology (with distinction)
• MSc in coastal and marine engineering and management, University of Southampton
• BSc in civil engineering, National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences

• American Geophysical Union 
• American Association for the Advancement of Science

• Best Paper of the Year for Peak Groundwater Withdrawals, PNNL-GCD, 2024
• Country Scholarship, Erasmus Mundus Joint Master’s Degree, EU Commission 
• Magna Cum Laude, Rector's and Dean's list, BSc Civil Engineering, FAST-NUCES

2025

• Niazi, H., Ferencz, S. B., Graham, N. T., Yoon, J., Wild, T. B., Hejazi, M., Watson, D. J., and Vernon, C. R. 2025. “Long-term hydro-economic analysis tool for evaluating global groundwater cost and supply: Superwell v1.1.” Geosci. Model Dev., 18(5), 1737-1767. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-1737-2025 

2024

• Niazi, H., Wild, T. B., Turner, S. W. D., Graham, N. T., Hejazi, M., Msangi, S., Kim, S., Lamontagne, J. R., and Zhao, M. 2024. “Global peak water limit of future groundwater withdrawals.” Nature Sustainability, 7(4), 413–422. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01306-w 
• Zhang, X., Sabo, R., Rosa, L., Niazi, H., Kyle, P., Byun, J. S., Wang, Y., Yan, X., Gu, B., and Davidson, E. A. 2024. “Nitrogen management during decarbonization.” Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, 5(10), 717-731. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-024-00586-2 
• Zhao, M., Wild, T. B., Graham, N. T., Kim, S. H., Binsted, M., Chowdhury, A. F. M. K., Msangi, S., Patel, P. L., Vernon, C. R., Niazi, H., Li, H. Y., and Abeshu, G. W. 2024. “GCAM–GLORY v1.0: Representing global reservoir water storage in a multi-sector human–Earth system model.” Geosci. Model Dev., 17(14), 5587-5617. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-5587-2024 

2023

• Kyle, P., Ollenburger, M., Zhang, X., Niazi, H., Durga, S., and Ou, Y. 2023. “Assessing Multi-Dimensional Impacts of Achieving Sustainability Goals by Projecting the Sustainable Agriculture Matrix into the Future.” Earth's Future, 11(10). https://doi.org/10.1029/2022EF003323

2021

• Niazi, M. H. K., Morales Nápoles, O., and van Wesenbeeck, B. K. 2021. “Probabilistic Characterization of the Vegetated Hydrodynamic System Using Non-Parametric Bayesian Networks.” Water, 13(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/w13040398  

2020

• Niazi, M. H. K., Morales-Nápoles, O., and van Wesenbeeck, B. K. 2020. “Vegetated Hydrodynamic System: Parameterization and Stochastic Dependence Modelling.” Coastal Engineering Proceedings(36v). https://doi.org/10.9753/icce.v36v.waves.25