Eng. Samuel Ababu Faris

Professional Summary

Ethiopian water-resources and irrigation engineer, hydrologist, lecturer, and researcher with more than seven years of academic and applied professional experience. He specializes in irrigation and drainage engineering, surface-water and groundwater assessment, hydrological modelling, water-demand analysis, hydraulic structures, GIS, climate-change impacts, and sustainable water and land management. During his service at Assosa University, he taught and advised undergraduate students, supervised graduate research, supported laboratory and field investigations, and contributed to the planning, design, implementation, inspection, monitoring, and evaluation of water-resources and irrigation projects. His MSc research assessed surface-water potential and water demand in poorly gauged catchments of the Jemma Sub-Basin in the Upper Blue Nile Basin. His professional ambition is to advance climate-resilient, environmentally responsible and community-oriented water-management solutions in Ethiopia and internationally.

Key Expertise

Major Projects and Contributions

• Lecturer and Researcher – Assosa University
  Served in the Water Resources and Irrigation field at Assosa University from October 2018 to December 2025. Delivered undergraduate lectures, provided academic advising, designed and evaluated courses, supervised graduate research, supported laboratory investigations, and contributed to water-resources, groundwater, irrigation, and environmental-sustainability activities.
• Surface-Water Potential and Demand Assessment – Jemma Sub-Basin
  Completed MSc research entitled “Quantifying Surface Water Potential and Analysis of Demand in the Poorly Gauged Catchments of the Jemma Sub-Basin, Upper Blue Nile, Ethiopia.” The work involved hydrological-data preparation, modelling, surface-water potential assessment, hydroclimatic analysis, and evaluation of present and future water demand.
• Small-Scale Irrigation Design – Alelitu-Tiko River
  Completed a BSc engineering thesis involving the design of a small-scale irrigation project on the Alelitu-Tiko River. The study applied irrigation engineering, hydrology, hydraulics, surveying, hydraulic-structure design, and irrigation planning principles.
• Water Resources and Irrigation Project Planning and Implementation
  Participated in the planning, design, implementation, inspection, monitoring, supervision, and evaluation of water-resources and irrigation projects, integrating sustainable engineering practices, field assessment, water-management principles, and environmentally responsible solutions.
• Hydrological and Groundwater Modelling
  Conducted and supported hydrological-data analysis, hydroclimatic assessment, groundwater-resource evaluation, catchment modelling, water-demand analysis, and the application of SWAT, WEAP, MODFLOW, GIS, remote sensing, MATLAB, Python, R, and statistical tools.
• Irrigation-System Design and Performance Evaluation
  Applied technical knowledge in pressurized and surface-irrigation design, irrigation-system implementation, irrigation scheduling, performance assessment, hydraulic-structure design, and modelling with CROPWAT, AquaCrop, WinSRFR, SIRMOD, SURDEV, AutoCAD, and related engineering tools.
• Graduate Research Supervision and Academic Leadership
  Supervised and supported graduate-student research from proposal development through data collection, analysis, interpretation, reporting, and publication. He also gained academic leadership and coordination experience through graduate-project supervision and university teaching responsibilities.
• Climate-Resilient and Sustainable Water Management
  Promotes climate-resilient, environmentally sustainable and community-oriented approaches to water-resources development, irrigation, groundwater management, integrated natural-resources management, and responsible use of water and land resources.