Soni Pradhanang and Pratik Singh Thakuri analyzing impact of recent events in their home country
KINGSTON, R.I. – Sept. 4, 2026 – A water scientist at the University of Rhode Island, Soni Pradhanang is balancing the professional and the personal, watching her home country of Nepal make news after the recent glacial collapse and flooding there.
As a hydrologist with expertise in environmental science and water quality, flooding, and hazard communication, the events in her home nation are the subject she has made her career in since she left Nepal in 2001. Pradhanang, in URI’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences, conducts research in runoff, flood, drought, and water quality modeling, and has served as a point of contact in URI’s prior work with Nepal. In 2022, during her Fulbright tenure, she served as an instructor for a hydrological modeling training program in Kathmandu, part of a project on “Modeling Hydrological Response to Changes in Climate and Glacier in a Data-Scarce Glacierized Region in Nepal Himalaya.” The training covered core concepts in hydrology, climate change, and cold-region hydrology, providing early-career professionals with the tools to study these issues. “This tragedy highlights the urgent relevance of this research,” she said.
This piece was originally published by URI News on Sept. 4, 2026. Read the full story!
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