Adel Shirmohammadi
Image Credit: Edwin Remsberg
In celebration of his 10-year legacy and countless contributions to the excellence of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES), the University of Maryland’s Adel Shirmohammadi has been selected as the Northeast regional nominee for the 2020 Experiment Station Section Award for Excellence in Leadership, presented annually by the Northeastern Regional Association of State Agricultural Experiment Station Directors (NERA).
From 2009 - 2019, Shirmohammadi served as the associate dean of research and associate director of MAES, where he worked closely with grant program directors from the federal agencies NIFA, NSF, NIH, DOE, and EPA to assist UMD's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) faculty in proposal development, submission, and award management totaling hundreds of millions of dollars. He brought those lessons to NERA and shared his expertise with his Northeast colleagues, helping to initiate conversations and institute strategies that set research priorities for multistate, multi-institutional projects. Shirmohammadi served as chair of NERA and led a period of change, as Northeastern institutions implemented strategies for hiring the next generation of new faculty.
“Adel has been the all-around player: professor, coordinator of undergraduate programs, associate department chair, and associate dean for research and associate director of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station (MAES)," said Rick C Rhodes III, NERA's executive director. "As a researcher, Adel assessed and quantified the impact of various agricultural management practices on water quality, overall watershed management, and ecosystem/human health. His work was supported by over $10 million in grants and resulted in numerous publications, books, and presentations.”
Shirmohammadi's colleagues at NERA describe him as a true, 360-degree agricultural engineer. He earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Rezaeiyeh (Urmia), Iran, in agricultural engineering, an MS from the University of Nebraska in agricultural engineering, and a PhD from North Carolina State University in biological and agricultural engineering. After graduating with his doctoral degree, Shirmohammadi worked as a post-doctoral fellow and assistant research scientist at the Coastal Plain Experiment Station in Tifton, Georgia. In 1986, Shirmohammadi joined the faculty of the University of Maryland, an institution that he has served for 34 years now.
“I am honored to receive this prestigious award and appreciate the recognition by my colleagues at NERA,” said Shirmohammadi. “Now more than ever, academic research must be placed on the shortlist of national priorities, as we work to navigate the complexities of animal to human disease prevention, and an array of other critical issues that can be remedied within US experiment stations. Even though I am no longer director of the MAES, I look forward to continuing to work with NERA colleagues as I resume my duties as a professor within AGNR.”
Additional accomplishments include mentorship of 15 Ph.D. and 16 MS students while serving on the graduate committees of more than 80 students in diverse disciplines. Shirmohammadi is a Fellow of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE). His research has greatly contributed to the efforts regarding the restoration of Chesapeake Bay and he has been serving in numerous state and regional committees including Chesapeake Bay Science and Technology Committee (STAC), Maryland Climate Commission’s Science and Technology Working Group (MCC-STWG), and led the formation of the Maryland Inter-agency Water Consortium. He organized and chaired the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers’ (ASABE) 1st Climate Change Symposium in 2015 where the Director of USDA-NIFA delivered the keynote speech per Shirmohammadi’s invitation. He also linked several of AGNR’s research and Extension faculty with the USDA’s Northeast Climate Hub.
