Bio
Bharat Sharma is a Research Scientist in the Computational Urban Sciences Group within the Computational Sciences and Engineering Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His work centers on the intersection of computational Earth system modeling and critical infrastructure systems, with a focus on advancing the representation and prediction of complex environmental–infrastructure feedbacks by leveraging big data, machine learning, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing.
Currently, Bharat is engaged in several multidisciplinary projects, including:
- Investigating the resiliency of transportation networks under targeted and potential climate change disruptions (in collaboration with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville)
- Developing a domain-specific large language model (LLM) for Earth system data
- Modeling forest stand CO₂ and nutrient interactions in the demographically enabled ELM-FATES to improve predictions of terrestrial carbon dynamics under changing environmental conditions
Previously, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Environmental Sciences Division at ORNL. Bharat holds a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Engineering (Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) from Northeastern University, where his research focused on detecting extreme events in carbon fluxes and attributing them to individual and compound climate drivers using observations and Earth system models. During his Ph.D., he was an exchange graduate student at the Climate Change Science Institute at ORNL, studying the impacts of climate change on the terrestrial carbon cycle. His academic background includes a Master’s in Transportation Systems from the Technical University of Munich and a Bachelor’s in Civil Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur. Bharat has also gained industry experience at Obermeyer and New Delhi International Airport. Beyond research, he enjoys cooking, reading, and connecting with friends and family.
Publications
Other Publications
Aliza Sharmin, Bharat Sharma, Mustafa Can Camur, Olufemi A. Omitaomu, and Xueping Li (2026). Dynamic Disruption Resilience in Intermodal Transport Networks: Integrating Flow Weighting and Centrality Measures. Transportation Research Record. Manuscript Accepted, in production. Preprint: https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.00906.
Bharat Sharma, Abhilasha J. Saroj, Evan Scherrer, and Melissa R. Allen-Dumas (2026). Modeling Disruptions to Urban Metabolism using Interconnected Networks. Cities. Manuscript under review: JCIT-D-26-01489.
Bharat Sharma, & Kumar, J. (2025). Variational AutoEncoders Reveal Intensifying GPP Extremes in Continental United States based on CESM2 Simulations. 2025 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining Workshops (ICDMW). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDMW69685.2025.00102. Citation bib. Citation text. Download.
Saedi Nia, D., Massoud, E. C., Bharat Sharma, Kumar, J., Collier, N., & Hoffman, F. M. (2025). ESGF-Assistant: A Domain-Specific Large Language Model for Navigating Earth System Data. 2025 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining Workshops (ICDMW).https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDMW69685.2025.00100. Citation bib. Citation text. Download
Scherrer, E., Allen-Dumas, M., Bharat Sharma (2025). Analyzing Infrastructure Interdependencies Using Network-Of-Networks Modeling. In the 3rd ACM SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Advances in Urban-AI (UrbanAI ’25), November 3–6, 2025, Minneapolis, MN, USA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3764926.3771946. Citation bib. Citation text. Download.
Rahimitouranposhti, M., Bharat Sharma, Camur, M. C., Omitaomu, O. A., & Li, X. (2025). Investigating Resiliency of Transportation Network under Targeted and Potential Climate Change Disruptions. Transportation Research Record, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981251355510. Citation bib. Citation text. Download.
Massoud, E. C., Collier, N., Bharat Sharma, and Hoffman, F. M. Enhancing Photosynthesis Simulation Performance in ESMs with Machine Learning-Assisted Solvers (2024). 2024 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (BigData), Washington, DC, USA, 2024, pp. 4351-4356 https://doi.org/10.1109/BigData62323.2024.10825207. Download
Bharat Sharma, Kumar, J., Ganguly, A. R., & Hoffman, F. M. (2023). Carbon cycle extremes accelerate weakening of the land carbon sink in the late 21st century. Biogeosciences, 20, 1829–1841, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-1829-2023. Download
Bharat Sharma, Kumar, J., Collier, N., Ganguly, A. R., & Hoffman, F. M. (2022). Quantifying Carbon Cycle Extremes and Attributing Their Causes Under Climate and Land Use & Land Cover Change from 1850 to 2300. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 127, e2021JG006738. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006738. Download
Bharat Sharma, Kumar, J., Ganguly, A. R., & Hoffman, F. M. (2022). Using Image Processing Techniques to Identify and Quantify Spatiotemporal Carbon Cycle Extremes. 2022 IEEE International Conference on Data Mining Workshops (ICDMW), Orlando, FL, USA, 2022, pp. 1136-1143. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICDMW58026.2022.00148. Citation bib. Citation text. Download. Presentation link.
Bharat Sharma, Jitendra Kumar, Auroop R. Ganguly, and Forrest M. Hoffman. Investigating Variability in the Intensity, Direction, and Spatial Distribution of Carbon Cycle Extremes and Attribution to Climate Drivers Using Observations and CMIP6 Earth System Models. Manuscript in Preparation
Sharma R. K., Khandelwal, T. and Bharat Sharma*. (2013). Compaction and Subgrade Characteristics of Clay Soil Modified with Beas Sand, Fly Ash, and Waste Ceramic. Recent Trends in Civil Engineering & Technology. STM Journals. Volume 3, Issue 2, ISSN: 2249–8753. Download
Khandelwal, T., Bharat Sharma*, Thareja, P. and Sharma R. K. (2013). Comparative Study of various Commer- cially Available Programs in Slope Stability and Simulation of Dynamic Loading. Recent Trends in Civil Engineering & Technology. STM Journals. Volume 3, Issue 2, ISSN: 2249–8753. Download