NISCHAL KAFLE

👨‍🎓 Ph.D. Candidate | 🌧️ Hydrologist | 🧠 Extreme Value Analyst | 🐍 Pythonista

University of Memphis | 🌐 From the high mountains of Nepal

📫 nkafle@memphis.edu | nkafle.29@gmail.com

About Me

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Civil Engineering at the University of Memphis, specializing in stochastic hydrology, meteorology, and engineering designs. My PhD research aims to enhance the understanding and modeling of extreme rainfall, particularly short-duration for urban infrastructure design, climate resilience and flood risk management.

Advisor: Dr. Claudio Meier

"Science, to me, is a process of decoding the unseen, especially where water and uncertainty meet." – Nischal Kafle

🧪 Current Research Areas & Highlights (Click to Expand)

📦 nsEVDx Python Library...

Open-source Python package for modeling non-stationary extreme value distributions – View on GitHub

📊 Trend detection in extreme rainfall...

Using Bayesian and frequentist approaches for trend detection in rainfall extremes.

🌦️ Remote Sensing + ML...

Integrating Remote Sensing and Transformers for drought and flood prediction.

🔍 Neighborhood-based Trend Detection...

A novel spatial method to enhance our ability to detect trend in extreme rainfall (Submitted)

📈 Effect of Minimum Interevent Time (MIT)...

Evaluating the effect of MIT choices on regional DDF curves (Submitted)

🎯 Extracting Spatially Independent Partial Duration Series...

Using radar reflectivity and simplified storm motion to extract spatially independent rainfall maxima (AGU 2024, manuscript in prep)

⛅ Rainfall Disaggregation with Transformers...

Disaggregating daily rainfall to sub-daily (n-minute) using transformers (In preparation)

🛰️ Impact of Rain-Gauge Network Density on DDFs...

Studying how spatial/temporal resolution of rain-gauge network affect the DDF estimates (AGU & ASCE-EWRI 2024)

🏙️ Urban Flood Modeling – Memphis...

Simulated flood events in the underserved South Memphis neighborhood using PCSWMM ; Created flood maps & animations for city planning.
Participated in community meetings, informing over 60 residents about flood risks and preparedness

📉 GCM Bias Correction & Downscaling...

Compared various statistical methods (e.g., QM, DQM, UQM) in Chilean basins under climate change scenarios

🧘 Non-dualistic Vedanta (Advaita)...

Investigating "Who is the Seer and what is actually Seen?" through personal experiments
Examining and experimenting with the logical frameworks mentioned in the Upanishads

🏆 Recognitions & Awards

World-Class Achiever — Honored by the Division of International Affairs, University of Memphis
$5000 Dissertation Completion Grant — Awarded for Summer 2025 by the Graduate School
Graduate Assistantship — Department of Civil Engineering, University of Memphis (Aug 2021 – Present)
Excellence in Engineering — Appreciation Award from the Department of Irrigation, Nepal (2018)
Leadership in Public Service — Recognition for conflict resolution as an Election Officer, Sindhupalchowk DAO (2018)
Full Merit-Based Scholarship — Secured Rank 26 in national IOE entrance exam among 10,000+ applicants (2010)

💼 Professional Experience

Gazetted Officer – Water Resources Engineer

Ministry of Irrigation, Department of Irrigation, Nepal | Aug 2015 – Aug 2021

Managed technical operations for 150+ irrigation and disaster mitigation projects
Led environmental impact assessments, hazard mapping, and community training programs
Collaborated with international partners (ADB, World Bank)
Conducted groundwater research in Lumbini Province