Masoud Negahban-Azar

Dr. Masoud Negahban-Azar is an Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering and Sustainability. He leads the Environmental Security and Sustainability Lab, where his research primarily focuses on environmental modeling and exploring innovative water reuse solutions, developing diagnostic decision support systems (DDSS) for resource management, and integrating sustainability analytics with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria to foster responsible and impactful decision-making across various sectors. 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.

My research activities can be categorized into three major areas:

1- Watershed Modeling and Water Reuse

Our research focuses on advancing watershed-scale hydrological modeling to improve water quantity and quality management. By integrating nontraditional water sources into these models, we address critical challenges such as water scarcity, water quality, technical feasibility, economic factors, and regulatory considerations. Through a multidisciplinary approach that combines mathematical modeling with observational studies, we aim to identify and incorporate new water sources into water supply systems, creating resilient solutions for sustainable water management at the watershed scale.

2- Diagnostic Decision Support Systems

Providing stakeholders with reliable tools is essential for effective water resources management. Positioned at the intersection of mathematical modeling, resource management, and hydrological science, our work develops innovative diagnostic decision tools that aid in the planning and management of water and environmental systems and evaluate their performance.

3- Sustainability Analytics and ESG

By integrating sustainability analytics with Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria, our research provides a quantitative framework to assess and sustainability practices across diverse contexts. Leveraging environmental science and data-driven insights, we aim to develop tools that reveal ecological costs and sustainability opportunities, empowering decision-makers to adopt responsible, science-based strategies that align with corporate and societal sustainability goals.

ENST 485 - Water Management in Urban Environment

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.

ENST 689P - Water and Development - A Global Challenge

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.

A selection of recent publications (Mentored students and postdocs are underlined):

Babaei, L., Niksokhan, M.H., Torabian, A. and Negahban-Azar, M. Sustainability Indicators for Evaluation of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus in Urban Agriculture.  (2024). International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 31(4), 466–480.

Okpa, K., Farahmandfar, Z., Negahban-Azar, M. Developing a Drought Resilience Matrix to Evaluate Water Supply Alternatives. (2024). Climate. 2(5), 66.

Rahman, A., Negahban-Azar, M., Shirmohammadi, A., and Karki, R. Evaluating the potential of recycled water use for irrigation in southern Maryland: impact on groundwater conservation and crop yield. (2024). Water Supply. 24 (7): 2451–2472

Zhang, Z., Montas, H., Shirmohammadi, A., Leisnham, P., Negahban-Azar, M. Effectiveness of BMP Plans in Different Land Covers, with Random, Targeted, and Optimized Allocation. (2023). Science of The Total Environment. 892, 164428

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

Current Members:

	Manashi Paul, Postdoctoral Associate, 2020-present
	Farshid Shoushtarian, Ph.D. Candidate, 2017-present
	Mary Schmidt, M.S. Student

Alumni:

International Visiting Scholars:

• Jiyun Han, Myongji University, South Korea. Mar - Sep 2020.

• Leila Babaei, Tehran University, Iran. Sep 2018 - Apr 2019.

Graduate Students:

• Manashi Paul, Ph.D., 2016 - 2020. Current position: Postdoctoral Associate at UMD.

• Leila Mosleh, Ph.D., 2016 - 2019. (former, advanced to candidacy under my supervision).

• Krystal Yhap, M.S., 2016 - 2018. Current position: Environmental Engineer at Applied Environmental Inc.

Undergraduate Researchers:

• Mairead Jones

• Christina Kundrat

• Mia Godbey

• Cody Lynes

• Christina Rogelio

• Madeleine Birny

• Rabiya Dar

• Larry Davis

• Mary Wakefield

• Alexander Echard