Francina Dominguez

Professor, Department of Atmospheric Sciences

Biography

As a hydroclimatologist, my work is focused on the interactions between the land and the atmosphere, and more specifically, on changes in hydrology and climate due to human modification of the land surface and greenhouse gas emissions. The two primary lines of research in my group look at land-atmosphere interaction from two perspectives: 1) the effect of climate variability and change, primarily extreme events, on surface hydrology and 2) the effect of changes in surface hydrology on climate. 

Education

  • Ph.D. Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006
  • M.S. Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2003
  • B.S. Civil Engineering, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia

Additional Campus Affiliations

Associate Head, Climate, Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Professor, Climate, Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences
Professor, Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment
Professor, Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies

Recent Publications

Chen, C. C., Dominguez, F., & Matus, S. A. (2026). The Impact of Large-Scale Land Surface Conditions on the South American Low-Level Jet. Geophysical Research Letters, 53(1), Article e2025GL116905. https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL116905

Norman, L. M., Pollock, M. M., Dominguez, F., Crimmins, M. A., Lawrence, D., & Dettinger, M. (2026). Restoring dryland water cycles for precipitation feedback and climate stability; a review. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 14, Article 1796710. https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2026.1796710

Tran, V. N., Alexander, G. A., Huan, X., Cheng, C., Dominguez, F., Jewett, B., Gray, K., Kim, J., Wright, D. B., & Ivanov, V. Y. (2026). Designing an inundation monitoring and real-time urban flood forecasting system: a synthetic study. Journal of Hydrology, 674, Article 135520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135520

Tran, V. N., Huan, X., Antar, A. D., Banovic, N., Bednar, J. H., Bergt, S. M., Cheng, C., Dominguez, F., Fatichi, S., Gonzalez, R., Gray, K., Jewett, B., Kim, J., Le, P. V. V., Lu, D., Prabhudesai, S., Putri, D., Rath, S., Sargsyan, K., ... Ivanov, V. Y. (2026). Reimagining How Flood Warnings Can Inform Decision-Making and Community Actions. Earth's Future, 14(6), Article e2026EF008857. https://doi.org/10.1029/2026EF008857

Bieri, C. A., Dominguez, F., Miguez-Macho, G., & Fan, Y. (2025). Implementing deep soil and dynamic root uptake in Noah-MP (v4.5): Impact on Amazon dry-season transpiration. Geoscientific Model Development, 18(12), 3755-3779. https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-3755-2025

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