Ajit Govind, PhD

A broadly trained Environmental Physicist who is interested to study various biogeochemical and biogeophysical interactions on the Earth’s surface. He was born and raised in Kerala, India. His academic training consists of a Bachelor’s degree in Agricultural Sciences (TNAU, India, 1998), Master’s degree in Agricultural Physics (IARI, India, 2001), and Doctoral degree in ecohydrological-biogeochemical modeling (University of Toronto, Canada, 2008). Currently, he is working as a Climatologist at ICARDA based in Cairo Egypt. He has worked in areas such as (1) Boundary-Layer Meteorology, (2) Carbon and Water cycles using Ecohydrological-biogeochemical modeling, (3) Physics of Remote sensing in Optical, Thermal, Microwave, and Multiangular domains, (4) Canopy Radiative Transfer Modeling and (5) Environmental Physics, in both pristine and agroecosystems. He has previously worked in Canada (Canadian Carbon Program, FluxnetCanada), USA (AmeriFlux, North American Carbon Program), France (INRA), and India (University of Kerala) and has developed two spatially-explicit numerical models (BEPS-TerrainLab V2.0 and STEPS) that can simulate terrestrial Carbon, Water, Nitrogen and Energy cycles in coupled manner. Before joining ICARDA he was a senior scientist at the French National Institute of Agricultural Research [INRA] working on the above-mentioned topics in agroecosystems. At ICARDA as a Climatologist, he is responsible for climate change and modeling related research activities in the dryland agroecosystems and is involved as a CCAFS contact point. He is also responsible for the MENA-Grand Challenge of the CGIAR Two Degree Initiative.