Navaratnam Leelaruban, a civil engineering graduate student, presented a poster at the 18th Applied Climatology Conference held in conjunction with the 90th annual meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Atlanta, Jan. 17-21. Leelaruban placed third in the student presentation competition and received a certificate of appreciation.

The poster, titled “Geospatial Analysis of Drought Impact and Severity in North Dakota, USA Using Remote Sensing and GIS,” is co-written by his advisers G. Padmanabhan, professor of civil engineering; Adnan Akyuz, state climatologist; and his thesis committee member, Peter Oduor, assistant professor of geosciences. Leelaruban analyzed the spatial variance of drought within the state, ascertained drought severity and county-by-county frequency of impact level within the state using geographic information systems. He also analyzed the impact of drought on vegetation using remote sensing techniques.

Leelaruban says participation in the conference provided him a great opportunity for networking with professionals and to learn about ongoing research in his field.