Field Scientist
Bio:
Alkhalil Adoum was born on New Year's Day, 1957 in Aboudia, Republic of Chad. He married in 1986 and is the father of seven children. In June 1977, Alkhalil graduated from Lycee Ahmed Mangué High School in the city of Sarh. He then attended the University of Chad (Department of Applied Sciences, Biology) from 1977-1979 but stopped due to civil war. Alkhalil studied meteorology at the Institut Hydrometeorologique de Formation et de Recherches (IHFR) in Oran, Algeria with a WMO scholarship from 1980-1984 and returned to Chad after graduation to hold the position of Head of the Climate Service at the Water Resources and Meteorology Directorate from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, Adoum earned a USAID AFGRAG III scholarship, which afforded him the opportunity to pursue an M.Sc. in meteorology in 1990 and a Ph.D. majoring in agricultural meteorology in 1994 from Iowa State University. He then returned to Chad and held the position of FEWS Country representative from 1995 to 2000. From the year 2000 to present, Adoum has been the FEWS NET Regional Scientist for Sahel/West Africa based at AGRHYMET Regional Center in Niamey, Republic of Niger.
Currently, Adoum's research focuses on the development of robust indicators to monitor growing season and assess its outcome. Such indicators should take into account both rainfall quantity and time distribution, the seasonal history of the vegetation such as MODIS-NDVI temporal profiles.