Ana Paula Barros is an African-born American civil and environmental engineer currently the Donald Biggar Willett Chair of Engineering and Department Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and an Elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society. In 2019 she was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for "contributions to understanding and prediction of precipitation dynamics and flood hazards in mountainous terrains".. Prior to joining the University of Illinois, Professor Barros was the James L. Meriam Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Duke University.