Dr Negahban-Azar is an Associate Professor of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering. He leads the Water Security and Sustainability Lab. His research activities primarily focus on improvement of watershed hydrological models, water reuse and investigation of nontraditional water sources, and development of diagnostic decision support systems (DDSS) for sustainable water management. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, he was a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at Harvard University. He received his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Colorado State University, and his M.S. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from Tehran University.
Our research activities in Water Security and Sustainability Lab can be categorized into three major areas:
Hydrological modeling is essential to water quantity and quality management. By taking a multidisciplinary approach, our research aims at advancing watershed-scale modeling methodologies, and developing and improving the modeling frameworks.
When considering nontraditional water sources, there are various limiting factors that need to be considered including water quality concerns, technical feasibility, economic factors, social and environmental factors, and regulatory considerations. We are addressing these challenges by combining mathematical modeling with observational studies. The goal is to identify how these new water sources can be effectively incorporated into the water supply systems at the watershed scale.
It is critical to provide stakeholders with the tools they need to make the best decision in water resources management. At the interface of mathematical modeling, resource management and hydrological science, we develop innovative diagnostic decision tools for planning and managing water systems and evaluate their performance.
As the population increases and the number of large urban areas keeps growing, managing water in urban areas is becoming more challenging. Water must be supplied for domestic, commercial, and industrial use, as well as irrigation and maintaining and enhancing local environments (e.g., urban streams). In addition, stormwater must be managed to prevent flooding and environmental damage, and used water, which contains organic matter, nutrients, and other constituents that can be extracted and reused, must be collected and managed. In this course we take a systems approach to urban water planning and management. We will explore urban hydrology, urban water cycle and runoff, water supply and demand, stormwater collection and treatment, and design of stormwater best management practices.
This course offers a multidisciplinary investigation of water systems development and management through real-world case studies. We will examine the value and limitations of a series of real world case studies (6 of most important river basins in the world). This course will develop the concepts and skills needed to design effective management policies for developing and managing water resources and their derivative services. The case studies will reflect many of the major challenges associated with designing, planning, and implementing strategies governing the development and management of water resources and their derivative services (e.g., water supply and sanitation, irrigation, flood protection, navigation, hydropower, and environmental services) in the twenty-first century.
Mosleh, M., Negahban-Azar, M., and Pavao-Zuckerman, M. Stormwater Green Infrastructure Resilience Assessment: A Social-Ecological Framework for Urban Stormwater Management. (2023). Water. 15(9). 1786. https://doi.org/10.3390/w15091786
Shoushtarian, F., Negahban-Azar, M., and Crooks, A. Investigating the Microscale Dynamics of Water Reuse Adoption by Farmers, and the Impacts on Local Water Resources Using an Agent Based Model. (2022). Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling. 4, 18148. https://doi.org/10.18174/sesmo.18148
Mosleh, M., Negahban-Azar, M., and Pavao-Zuckerman, M. Convergence in Perceptions of Ecosystem Services Supports Green Infrastructure Decision-Making in a Semi-Arid City. (2022). Environmental Management. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-022-01738-0
Kim, S., Paul, M., Negahban-Azar, M., Micallef, S.A., Rosenberg-Goldstein, R., Hashem, F., et al. Persistent Spatial Patterns of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella enterica Concentrations in Surface Waters: EOF Analysis of Data from Maryland. (2022). Applied Sciences. 12(15), 7526. https://doi.org/10.3390/app12157526
Paul, M., Rajib, A., Negahban-Azar, M., Shirmohammadi, A., Srivastava, P. Improved Agricultural Water Management in Data-scarce Semi-arid Watersheds: Value of Integrating Remotely Sensed Leaf Area Index in Hydrological Modeling. (2021). Science of the Total Environment. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.148177
Paul, M., Negahban-Azar, M., Shirmohammadi, A. Assessing Crop Water Productivity Under Different Irrigation Scenarios in the Mid-Atlantic Region. (2021). Water. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13131826
Amereh, F,. Negahban-Azar, M., Isazadeh, S., Dabiri, H., Masihi, N., Jahangiri-Rad, and M., Rafiee, M. (2021). SARS-CoV-2 in Sewage Systems: A Review on State-of-the-Knowledge, Identification of Knowledge Gaps, Emerging Threats and Future Research Needs. Pathogens. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens10080946
Hanna, K., Paul, M., Negahban-Azar, M., and Shirmohammadi, A. (2021). Developing a Decision Support System for Economic Analysis of Irrigation Applications in Temperate Zones. Water. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13152044
Paul, M., Negahban-Azar, M., Shirmohammadi, A., Montas, H. Developing a Multicriteria Decision Analysis Framework to Evaluate Reclaimed Wastewater Use for Agricultural Irrigation: The Case Study of Maryland. (2021). Hydrology. https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology8010004
Mosleh. L. and Negahban-Azar, M. Role of Models in Integrated Urban Water Management Decision Making: A Critical Review. (2021). Water. https://doi.org/10.3390/w13091252
Paul, M., Dangol, S., Kholodovsky, V., Sapkota, A., Negahban-Azar, M., Lansing, S. Modeling the Impacts of Climate Change on Crop Yield and Irrigation in the Monocacy River Watershed, USA. (2020). Climate. https://doi.org/10.3390/cli8120139
Shoushtarian, F. Negahban-Azar, M. Worldwide Regulations and Guidelines for Agricultural Water Reuse: a Critical Review. (2020). Water. https://doi.org/10.3390/w12040971
Paul, M., Negahban-Azar, M., Shirmohammadi, A., & Montas, H. Assessment of Agricultural Land Suitability for Irrigation with Reclaimed Water Using Geospatial Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis. (2020). Agricultural Water Management. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2019.105987
Malayil, L., Negahban-Azar, M., Rosenberg-Goldstein, R., Sharma, M., Gleason, J., Muise, A., Murray, R., Sapkota, A. Zoom”ing Our Way Through Virtual Undergraduate Research Training: A Successful Redesign of the CONSERVE Summer Internship Program. Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education. https://doi.org/10.1128/jmbe.v22i1.2625
Paul, M. and Negahban-Azar, M. Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis for Streamflow Prediction Using Different Optimization Algorithms and Objective Functions: San Joaquin Watershed, California. Modeling Earth Systems and Environment. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s40808-018-0483-4
Manashi Paul, Postdoctoral Associate, 2020-present | |
Farshid Shoushtarian, Ph.D. Candidate, 2017-present | |
Mary Schmidt, M.S. Student
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