Research idea, first result in hand
Flood modelling for Kerala
Kerala floods most years. I wanted to know whether technology could stop that, and the answer surprised me: prediction is already good, but nobody controls the dams with it.
What I found, and what is next
Google Flood Hub already forecasts every major river in India seven days out. Its own line is "move people, not water". So the gap is not warning, it is deciding when a reservoir should release. I built a simple reservoir-operation model and it gave an asymmetric answer: releasing water early helps in long, slow floods and makes things worse in short cloudbursts. That turns the whole problem into telling the two kinds of event apart early enough to act differently.
Next step: write to the academics whose group has studied exactly that distinction, leading with a question only they can answer rather than a request for data. The draft is ready. No emails sent yet.