Research Expertise and Interest

environmental planning, fluvial geomorphology, hydrology, flood risk management, river restoration, urban rivers, environmental impact assessment, river corridor management, sediment management, hydropower, strategic dam planning, integrating energy planning and river management

Research Description

G. Mathias Kondolf is a fluvial geomorphologist and Professor of Environmental Planning in UC Berkeley’s College of Environmental Design.  He has served as Co-Director of Global Metropolitan Studies, twice as Chair of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, Chair of the Faculty of the College of Environmental Design, and Chair of the Portuguese Studies Program.  Prof Kondolf teaches courses in environmental planning, environmental science, and river restoration.  He researches human-river interactions, including managing flood-prone lands, urban rivers, sediment in rivers and reservoirs, and river restoration.  His more than 200 scientific articles and books have received over 21,000 citations as documented on google scholar.  Prof Kondolf has provided expert testimony before the US Supreme Court, US Congress, California legislature, California Water Resources Control Board, International Court of Justice (the Hague), Permanent Court of Arbitration (the Hague), and other legal proceedings in the US.  He has served on two National Academy of Science panels, the Calfed Ecosystem Restoration Science Board, and the Environmental Advisory Board to the Chief of the US Army Corps of Engineers. He was appointed as the Clarke Scholar at the Institute for Water Resources of the US Army Corps and as a fellow of the Landscape Architecture Foundation. He received the Award of Distinction from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, two awards from the Fulbright Commission (for research in France and Portugal), a senior research fellowship from the EURIAS Fellowship Programme and the European Commission (Marie-Sklodowska-Curie Actions - COFUND Programme - FP7), and the Aspen Italia Institute Award for collaborative research US-Italy.