Hello, I'm Azhar.

I'm a climate scientist at the Center for Climate Systems Research (CCSR), Columbia Climate School. My work focuses on understanding the dynamics of climate variability — especially in the tropics — and on advancing prediction across subseasonal, seasonal, and decadal timescales.

I grew up watching monsoon skies decide whether a season would feed a family or break one. That memory still shapes the questions I ask: how predictable is our climate, who benefits when we forecast it well, and how do we make that science useful to the people on the frontline of change?

Beyond the lab, I love mentoring students, communicating climate science to broader audiences, and building bridges between modelers, forecasters, and decision-makers across agriculture, water, and disaster-risk sectors.