omar abdul-aziz: 1/15. date: 05/07/14 omar i. abdul … abdul-aziz: 1/15. date: 05/07/14 omar i....
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Omar Abdul-Aziz: 1/15. Date: 05/07/14
OMAR I. ABDUL-AZIZ, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Ecological-Water Resources Engineering,
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Florida International University,
10555 W. Flagler Street, Miami, FL 33174; Phone: +1 305 348 3653; Fax: +1 305 348 2802;
Email: [email protected]; Research website: http://www.ewrel.fiu.edu/about/
EDUCATION
Ph.D. (2008), Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, U.S.A.
Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory, Minneapolis, MN. GPA: 3.87/4.00.
Dissertation: Ecohydrology of Unit River Ecosystems: Scaling and Critical Responses of
Stream Health Indicators to the Environmental Drivers.
Committee: Bruce N. Wilson (advisor), John S. Gulliver (co-advisor), Heinz G. Stefan,
and Efi Foufoula-Georgiou (chair).
M.A.Sc. (2004), Civil Engineering, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
GPA (percent grading): 89%.
Thesis: Climate Change Impacts on the Hydrological Regime in the Mackenzie River
Basin.
Advisor: Donald H. Burn.
B.Sc. (2002), Civil Engineering, Bangladesh Univ. of Engineering and Technology (BUET),
Dhaka. Degree awarded with the highest HONORS. GPA: 3.80/4.00.
Project: Risk Assessment and Economic Evaluation of Health Hazards Resulting from
Environmental Pollutions.
Advisor: M. Ashraf Ali.
APPOINTMENTS
2011 – present: Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering,
Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
2010 – 2011: Staff Scientist (contractor), USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science
Center, Sioux Falls, SD, USA.
2008 – 2009: Research Associate, School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, and Joint Institute
for the Study of the Atmosphere and Ocean, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
2004 – 2008: Research/Teaching Assistant and Graduate School Fellow, Dept. of Civil
Engineering, and the Dept. of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of
Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA.
2003 – 2004: Research/Teaching Assistant and Graduate Fellow, Dept. of Civil Engineering,
University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Sept – Dec 2002: Research/Teaching Assistant, Civil Engineering, Dalhousie University, Nova
Scotia, Canada.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 2/15. Date: 05/07/14
RESEARCH AND TEACHING INTERESTS
Ecological-Water resources engineering; Ecohydrological and green infrastructure
designs for a sustainable built environment; Scaling & self-organizations of hydrological,
biogeochemical, and ecological processes; Robust modeling and predictions of
ecohydrological, water quality and aquatic health (e.g.,TMDL) variables; Predictive data-
analytics and biogeochemical modeling of wetland and forest greenhouse gas fluxes &
carbon sequestrations; Ecological-water resources big data informatics and modeling.
Climate change impacts on water resources & ecosystems; Modeling of coastal-urban
stormwater flooding, water quality, and drainage sustainability; System dynamic
modeling of water resources and related infrastructure; Developing multi-disciplinary
decision-support systems for adaptation/mitigation under extreme climate and sea level
conditions.
RESEARCH GRANTS
Have prepared 14 scholarly grant proposals as PI or Co-PI; submitted to NSF, NOAA, Sea
Grant, Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative, State of Florida, Inter-American Institute, etc.
Funded Projects
1. Funding Agency: National Science Foundation (NSF) Environmental Sustainability
(NSF Award No. 1336911; FIU Account No. 800002870).
PI (single): Omar I. Abdul-Aziz.
Project Title: Investigation of Wetland Biogeochemical Similitudes and Scaling for
Robust Predictions of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Carbon Sequestration.
Award Amounts: $146,169.
Award Duration: 09/01/2013 to 08/31/2015.
2. Funding Agency: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s
National Estuarine Research Reserve System Science Collaborative Program (NOAA
Grant No. NA09NOS4190153; NERRA Agreement No. 3-2011; FIU Account No.
800001756).
Collaborative PIs: Omar I. Abdul-Aziz (FIU); Jianwu Tang (Marine Biological
Laboratory, MA); Kevin Kroeger (USGS Woods Hole, MA); Serena Moseman-Valtierra,
(University of Rhode Island); Stephen Emmett-Mattox (Restore America’s Estuary).
Project Title: Carbon Management in Coastal Wetlands: Quantifying Carbon Storage
and Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Tidal Wetlands to Support Development of
a Greenhouse Gas Protocol and Economic Assessment.
Award Amounts: $114,172 (Total award is $1.3 million).
Award Duration: 11/15/2011 to 06/30/2015.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 3/15. Date: 05/07/14
3. Funding Agency: Florida State Legislature through the Office of Insurance
Regulations (OIR) and International Hurricane Research Center (FIU Account No.
800003613)
Subproject PI: Omar I. Abdul-Aziz; Lead PI: Shahid Hamid (FIU School of Business)
Project Title:“Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model: Enhancements to Estimate Losses
from Storm Surge and Flooding.” Dr. Abdul-Aziz is responsible for the freshwater flood
modeling to predict stormwater flooding of urban watersheds during extreme climate
events.
Award Amounts: $267,546.
Award Duration: 08/01/2013 – 06/30/2015.
PUBLICATIONS
Peer Reviewed Journal Publications (published/in press/accepted)
1. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Ishtiaq, K.S. (2014). “Robust empirical modeling of dissolved
oxygen in small rivers and streams: Scaling by a single reference observation.” Journal of
Hydrology, 511: 648–657. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.02.022.
2. Al-Amin, S. and Abdul-Aziz, O.I. (2013). “Challenges in mechanistic and empirical
modeling of stormwater: Review and perspectives.” Irrigation and Drainage, 62: 20–28.
doi: 10.1002/ird.1804.
3. Huang, S., Young, C., Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Dahal, D., Feng, M. and Liu, S. (2013).
“Simulating water budget of a Prairie Potholes complex from LiDAR and hydrological
models in North Dakota, USA.” Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (7), 1–11.
4. Dorner, B., Holt, K.R., Peterman, R.M., Jordan, C., Larsen, D.P., Olsen, A.R., and
Abdul-Aziz, O.I. (2013). “Evaluating alternative methods for monitoring and estimating
responses of salmon productivity in the North Pacific to future climatic change and other
processes: a simulation study.” Fisheries Research, 147: 10 – 23.
5. Wu, Y., Liu, S. and Abdul-Aziz, O.I. (2012). “Hydrological effects of the increased CO2
and climate change in the Upper Mississippi River Basin using a modified SWAT.”
Climatic Change,110 (3-4): 977-1003, doi: 10.1007/s10584-011-0087-8.
6. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Mantua, N.J. and Myers, K.W. (2011). “Potential climate change
impacts on thermal habitats of Pacific salmon in the North Pacific Ocean and adjacent
seas.” Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 68:1660-1680,
doi:10.1139/F2011-079.
7. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Wilson, B.N. and Gulliver, J. S. (2010). “Two-zone model for stream
and river ecosystems.” Hydrobiologia, 638 (1): 85-107, doi: 10.1007/s10750-009-0011-7.
8. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Wilson, B.N. and Gulliver, J. S. (2007). “An extended stochastic
harmonic analysis (ESHA) algorithm: Application for dissolved oxygen.” Water
Resources Research, 43(8),W08417, doi: 10.1029/2006WR005530.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 4/15. Date: 05/07/14
9. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Wilson, B.N. and Gulliver, J. S. (2007). “Calibration and validation of
an empirical dissolved oxygen model.” Journal of Environmental Engineering, 133(7):
698-710.
10. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Burn, D. H. (2006). “Trends and variability in the hydrological
regime of the Mackenzie River Basin.” Journal of Hydrology, 319(1-4): 282-294.
11. Burn, D. H., Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Pietroniro, A. (2004). “A comparison of trends in
hydrological variables for two watersheds in the Mackenzie River Basin.” Canadian
Water Resources Journal, 29(4): 283-298.
Papers submitted to journals for consideration
1. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Al-Amin, S. (2014). “Climate, land use and hydrologic sensitivities
of stormwater quantity and quality in a complex coastal-urban watershed.” Urban Water
Journal, in revisions (total 48 pages in double space).
2. Ishtiaq, K.S. and Abdul-Aziz, O.I. (2014). “Relative linkages of canopy-level CO2 fluxes
with the climatic and environmental variables for US deciduous forests.” Environmental
Management, under review (total 54 pages in double space).
Other completed journal papers
1. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Ishtiaq, K.S. (2014). “Comparative linkages of climate and
environmental variables with the net ecosystem exchanges of six diverse US ecosystems.”
To be submitted to the journal, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology.
Articles
1. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. (2013). “NSF funded project examines whether wetlands can mitigate
global warming.” FIU Civil & Environmental Engineering (CEE) Fall 2013
Newsletter/Magazine, available online at http://www.cee.fiu.edu/2013/10/nsf-funded-
project-examines-whether-wetlands-can-mitigate-global-warming/ (last accessed on
February 7, 2014).
Conference Proceedings
1. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Wilson, B.N. and Gulliver, J. S. (2008). “Food web models for stream
ecosystems.” Proc., World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2008,
Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil
Engineers (ASCE), Honolulu, Hawaii, May 12-16, pp. 1-10, doi:
10.1061/40976(316)224.
2. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Wilson, B.N. and Gulliver, J. S. (2007). “Comparative
parameterization of dissolved oxygen by an extended stochastic harmonic analysis
(ESHA) algorithm.” Proc., World Environmental and Water Resources Congress 2007,
Environmental & Water Resources Institute (EWRI) of the American Society of Civil
Engineers (ASCE),Tampa, Florida, May 15-19, pp. 1-11, doi: 10.1061/40927(243)112
3. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. (2004). “Climate change impacts and flood risk analysis in the
Mackenzie River basin: A modeling based comparative study considering and not
considering trends in hydrologic variable.” Proc., 6th
International Conference on
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 5/15. Date: 05/07/14
Hydroinformatics, Singapore, June 21-24. (CD-ROM)
4. Burn, D. H., Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Pietroniro, A. (2004). “Trends in hydrological
variables for two watersheds in the Mackenzie River basin.” Water and Climate
Change: Knowledge for Better Adaptation, Proc., 57th Canadian Water Resources
Association Annual Congress, Montréal, Qc, June 16-18. (CD-ROM)
5. Aziz, O.I.A. (2004). “Developing control rules in operating single reservoir system: Use
of micro-genetic algorithm.” Proc., 2nd
BSME-ASME International Conference on
Thermal Engineering, Dhaka, Bangladesh, January 2-4. (CD-ROM)
PRESENTED PAPERS AND LECTURES
Presentations at Major International and National Conferences
1. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Ishtiaq, K.S. (2014) (INVITED). “Empirical modeling and
predictions of greenhouse gas fluxes from coastal wetlands: A multivariate data-analytics
approach.” To be presented at the Joint Aquatic Sciences Meeting 2014, Portland,
Oregon, May 18-23, 2014.
2. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Al-Amin, S. (2014) (INVITED). “Hydro-climatic and land use
sensitivities of stormwater in complex coastal-urban environments: A case study for the
Miami River Basin of Florida, U.S.A.” To be presented at the 15th
World Lake
Conference, Perugia, Italy, September 1-5, 2014.
3. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Ishtiaq, K.S. (2013). “Relative linkages of climatic and
environmental drivers with net ecosystem exchanges of six diverse terrestrial
ecosystems.” American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA,
December 9-12.
4. Ishtiaq, K.S. and Abdul-Aziz, O.I. (2013). “Quantitative linking of dominant
environmental drivers and fluxes with vertical CO2 fluxes of eight deciduous forests.”
American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 9-12.
5. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Wilson, B.N. and Ishtiaq, K.S. (2013). “Application of scaling in
ecological engineering.” Ecological Society of America (ESA) Annual Meeting,
Minneapolis, MN, August 4-9.
6. Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Ishtiaq, K.S. (2012). “Scaling for robust assessment and
predictions of aquatic ecosystem health.” American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall
Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 3-7.
7. Al-Amin, S. and Abdul-Aziz, O.I. (2012). “Responses of stormwater runoff to climate
variability and urban land uses.” American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, San
Francisco, CA, December 3-7.
8. Ishtiaq, K.S. and Abdul-Aziz, O.I. (2012). “Application of scaling for robust modeling
of dissolved oxygen in streams and rivers.” American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall
Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 3-7.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 6/15. Date: 05/07/14
9. Byrd, K., Ratliff, J., Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Bliss, N., Wein, A., Sleeter, B. and Sohl, T.
(2012). “Quantifying maximum wetland carbon sequestration potential in the great plains
for three greenhouse gas emission scenarios”. 9th
INTECOL International Wetlands
Conference: Wetlands in a Complex World, Orlando, FL, June 3-8.
10. Liu, S., Li, Z., Liu, J., Chen, M., Gleason, R., Grangaard, L, Young, C.J., Schmidt, G.,
Oeding, J., Davis, B., Zhu, Z., Dahal, D., Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Sohl, T.L., Hawbaker, T.J.
and Sleeter, B.M. (2011). “Impacts of disturbances, management and climate change on
carbon dynamics and N2O and CH4 emissions from 1992 to 2050 in the US great plains.”
American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, December 5-9.
11. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Mantua, N.J., Myers, K.W. and Mitchell, T. (2011). “Scenarios for
climate change impacts on thermal high seas habitats of Pacific salmon in the North
Pacific Ocean and adjacent aeas.” American Fisheries Society 141st
Annual Meeting,
Seattle, WA, September 4-8.
12. Huang, S., Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Young, C.J., Dahal, D. and Liu, S. (2011). “Simulating
spatio-temporal water dynamics of landscape wetland complex for ecosystem services
evaluation in Prairie Pothole Region, USA.” South Dakota Water Conference, Rapid
City, SD, April 28.
13. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Liu, S., Young C.J. and Huang, S. (2010). “Regional-scale
biogeochemical modeling of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wetland
ecosystems.” American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA,
December 13-17.
14. Huang, S., Liu, S., Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Young, C., Dahal, D., Feng, M., Rover, J., Ji, L.
and Wu, Y. (2010). “Monitoring and predicting spatial-temporal water surface dynamics
of topographic depressions in the Prairie Pothole Region from remote sensing
and hydrologic models.” A Community on Ecosystem Services (ACES) Conference,
December 6-9, Phoenix, Arizona.
15. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Mantua, N.J. and Myers, K.W. (2010). “Climate change impacts on
the ocean distributions of Pacific salmon.” International Symposium on Climate Change
Effects on Fish and Fisheries, Sendai, Japan, April 26-29.
16. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Mantua, N.J. and Myers, K.W. (2010). “Potential climate change
impacts on the ocean thermal habitat area and ranges of Pacific salmon.” American
Geophysical Union (AGU)’s Ocean Sciences Meeting, Portland, Oregon, February 22-26.
17. Abdul-Aziz et al. (2008). “Future stream temperature projections for the US Pacific
Northwest: Potential implications for salmon habitat.” American Geophysical Union
(AGU) Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, December 15-19.
18. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Wilson, B.N. and Gulliver, J. S. (2008). “Food web models for stream
ecosystems.” ASCE EWRI World Environmental and Water Resources Congress,
Honolulu, Hawaii, May 12-16.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 7/15. Date: 05/07/14
19. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Wilson, B.N. and Gulliver, J. S. (2007). “Ecohydrological modeling of
food webs in stream ecosystems.” American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting,
San Francisco, California, December 10-14.
20. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., Wilson, B.N. and Gulliver, J. S. (2007). “Comparative
parameterization of dissolved oxygen by an extended stochastic harmonic analysis
(ESHA) algorithm.” ASCE EWRI World Environmental and Water Resources
Congress, Tampa, Florida, May 15-19.
21. Abdul-Aziz, O.I., and Wilson, B.N. (2006). “Dissolved oxygen (DO) interpolation and
extrapolation.” 14th National Nonpoint Source Monitoring Workshop: Measuring Project
and Program Effectiveness, Minneapolis, Minnesota, September 24-28.
22. Burn, D. H., Abdul-Aziz, O.I. and Pietroniro, A. (2004). “Trends in hydrological
variables for two watersheds in the Mackenzie River basin.” Water and Climate
Change: Knowledge for Better Adaptation, 57th Canadian Water Resources Association
Annual Congress, Montréal, Qc, June 16-18.
Invited Talks and Seminars at Other Institutions/Departments
1. “Ecological Engineering at local to global scales: Approaches for sustainable water
resources and infrastructure.” Presented at the South Florida Water Management
District, West Palm Beach, FL, October 3, 2012.
2. “Ecological Engineering for sustainable water resources at variable scales.” Presented at
the Broward County Environmental Lab, Devi, FL, July 17, 2012.
3. “Sustainable developments for coastal communities under the changing environment.”
Presented at the Department of Ocean & Mechanical Engineering, SeaTech, Florida
Atlantic University, February 14, 2012.
4. “Ecological Engineering for sustainable water resources: A trans-disciplinary approach.”
Presented at the Department of Earth & Environment, Florida International University,
January 18, 2012.
5. “Ecological Engineering for sustainable water resources.” Presented at the CNR-
Princeton workshop series: Next Frontiers in Hydrology conference, Miami, FL, January
9-11, 2012.
6. “Ecological-hydrological Engineering at local to global scales: Approaches for
sustainable water resources and infrastructures.” Presented at the Department of Civil &
Environmental Engineering, Florida International University, April 27 and September 2,
2011.
7. “Ecological Engineering: Platform for a holistic approach towards sustainable water
resources and green watershed infrastructures.” Presented at the Department of
Bioresources Engineering, University of Delaware, May 13, 2010.
8. “Ecohydrology of unit river ecosystems.” Presented at the USGS Earth Resources
Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Sioux Falls, SD, March 16, 2010.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 8/15. Date: 05/07/14
9. “Large-scale biogeochemical modeling of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from wetland
ecosystems.” Presented at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
(NCEAS), University of California, Santa Barbara, March 25, 2010.
10. “Ecohydrology and ecological engineering: Concepts towards obtaining sustainable water
structures and watershed infrastructures.” Presented at the Department of Civil,
Construction, and Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh,
NC, October 21, 2009.
11. “Biogeochemical modeling: A tool for guidance under changing climate, population, land
use, etc.” Presented to the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS)
Center, Sioux Falls, SD, October 29, 2009.
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
1. Based on Dr. Abdul-Aziz’s research on “Wetland carbon sequestration and greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions modeling and management” with a NOAA funded project, a
YouTube video was published in order to increase scientific and public awareness and
knowledge of wetland carbon sequestration as a global warming mitigation strategy. The
video is available at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRgUSE6dTg4 (last accessed on
February 10, 2014).
2. Dr. Abdul-Aziz’s NOAA-NERRS funded project “Wetland carbon sequestration and
greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions modeling and management” has developed a high
school STEM curriculum on “Bringing Wetlands to Market”. The curriculum includes
the topics of carbon sequestration and carbon cycle, salt marsh values including the
concept of Blue Carbon, the nitrogen cycle, and sea level rise. It has engineering
activities as well as a whole write up on doing an “Adopt-a-Wetland” stewardship/field
study activity. See http://wbnerrwetlandscarbon.net/teachers/ for details.
3. Based on Dr. Abdul-Aziz’s and other collaborative investigators’ NOAA funded project
of “Carbon Management in Coastal Wetlands”, an article entitled “Waquoit Bay
National Estuarine Research Reserve Awarded Grant” was published in the October
2011 issue of the American Society of Civil Engineers’ Environmental & Water
Resources Institute (EWRI) newsletter. The article highlighted the goal and objectives of
the project to collect field data, as well as to compute and predict the carbon storage and
GHG fluxes of coastal wetland ecosystems, examining their role in climate change
mitigations.
4. Based on Dr. Abdul-Aziz’s and other collaborative investigators’ NOAA funded project
of “Carbon Management in Coastal Wetlands”, a press release entitled “NERRS Grant
Funds Critical Research into Salt Marshes, Climate Change” was published in the
October 2011 by the reputed NGO, Restore America’s Estuary (RAE) (available online at
http://myemail.constantcontact.com/NERRS-Grant-Funds-Critical-Research-into-Salt-
Marshes--Climate-Change.html?soid=1101973164694&aid=yv7ELsAJEbI; last accessed
on February 10, 2014). The article highlighted the goal and objectives of the project to
collect field data, as well as to compute and predict the carbon storage and GHG fluxes of
coastal wetland ecosystems, examining their role in climate change mitigations.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 9/15. Date: 05/07/14
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Aug 2011 – present: Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Florida International
University, Miami, FL.
Summary: Developed a highly interdisciplinary research and teaching platform,
“Ecological and Water Resources Engineering Lab (EWREL)” at FIU (see
http://www.ewrel.fiu.edu/about/), incorporating topics related to the coupled human-
natural systems and sustainability sciences/engineering from at-site to regional to global
scales. The research emphasizes the hydrological, biogeochemical, and ecological
aspects of water resources engineering. Specific research activities include developing
robust, user-friendly models to predict and assess (i) wetland and forest greenhouse gas
fluxes and carbon sequestration; (ii) stream/river water quality and ecosystem health; and
(iii) urban stormwater flooding and drainage sustainability under extreme climates.
Specific educational activities include development and teaching of inductive learning
based graduate and undergraduate courses, involving graduate, undergraduate and high
school students (and teachers) into the cutting edge research of ecological-water
resources engineering. The long term research goal is to formulate appropriate
Ecological Engineering principles and guidelines by incorporating biological, ecological,
and socio-economical sciences into the traditional physical/chemical science based water
resources engineering for achieving sustainability at variable time and space scales under
a changing climate, sea level, population, land use/cover, and socio-economic scenarios.
The long-term educational goal is to integrate ecological engineering research and
education to train engineering workforce with an interdisciplinary vision and skill-set for
promoting sustainable ecological/water resources and environment in the 21st century and
beyond.
Jan 2010 – Aug 2011: USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center,
Sioux Falls, SD, USA.
Team: ASRC Research and Tech. Solutions (ARTS). USGS Collaborator: Dr. Shuguang
Liu.
Project: National assessment of ecosystems for current carbon stocks and fluxes and
potential increases in capacity for carbon sequestration by considering a range of climate
change, policy and economic scenarios.
Sponsor: US Department of Interior through the United States Geological Survey
(USGS) in response to the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007.
Summary: Developed biogeochemical models to predict major greenhouse gas fluxes
(CO2, N2O, and CH4) from wetlands and coastal ecosystems under various climate, land
use/cover and management scenarios at plot to national scales. Conducted fundamental
research to simulate the wetland water storage and water table dynamics. Provided a
leadership role in model development, calibration, and validation to address the roles of
wetlands and coastal areas in national carbon sequestration and reduction of N2O and
CH4 emissions.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 10/15. Date: 05/07/14
July 2008 – Dec 2009: Univ. of Washington, Seattle Joint Institute for the Study of the
Atmosphere and Ocean, and School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences
Team: Climate Impacts Group. Collaborators: Dr. Nate J. Mantua & Dr. Katherine W.
Myers.
Project: Responses of Pacific salmon to climate change: Importance of evolutionary
versus plastic responses and mechanisms that limit geographic range.
Sponsor: Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation through the National Center for Ecological
Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), University of California, Santa Barbara.
Summary: Worked with regional-scale mechanistic, as well as statistical, models to
predict stream temperature in the Pacific Rim Basins under different future climate
scenarios, as projected by the GCMs. Downscaled and analyzed the global-scale sea
surface temperature data from history (NOAA) and GCMs. Defining the observed
warmest and coldest thermal limits as the reference limits, past-present-possible future
reference habitat areas were quantified to assess the potential climate impacts on the
salmon ecology in the North Pacific Ocean. Historical and potential ocean range changes
and distributions for six major species of Pacific salmon were mapped using ArcGIS 9.3.
Potential future changes were compared with the historical changes associated with the
natural inter-decadal climate variability of Pacific Decadal Oscillations.
Jan 2005 – Dec 2007: Univ. of Minnesota Dept. of Civil Engineering and Saint Anthony
Falls Laboratory, jointly with the Dept. of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering
Advisors: Bruce N. Wilson and John S. Gulliver
Project: Stream classification for total maximum daily load (TMDL) assessment using a
dimensionless reference reach approach.
Sponsor: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through a STAR Grant.
Summary. Conducted research in the emerging discipline of ecohydrology and ecological
engineering, which integrates concepts of ecological sciences with that of water resources
engineering to solve environmental problems within the context of ecosystem
sustainability. Developed an algorithm for robust scaling and predictions of
ecohydrological and water quality variables for a proper assessment of stream health. My
publications presented solutions, for the first time, to the fundamental problem of diurnal
variability in assessing stream health by collecting grab samples of total maximum daily
loads (TMDLs). Developed and calibrated a reach-scale, interacting two-zone (water
column and benthic zones) stream/river food web model to predict the long term
dynamics of key ecosystem players under different hydroclimatic and environmental
stressor scenarios.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 11/15. Date: 05/07/14
Jan 2003 – Aug 2004: Univ. of Waterloo, Canada Dept. of Civil Engineering
Advisor: Donald H. Burn
Funding: Mackenzie Global Energy & Water-cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Study.
Summary. Explored climate change impacts on the regional to sub-continental scale
hydrological and meteorological regimes and their inter-connections in the Mackenzie
River Basin of Canada. Also evaluated the appropriateness of a process-based
hydrological model, WATFLOOD to simulate streamflow trends. Published several well-
cited refereed articles in reputed journals and conference proceedings.
Sept – Dec 2002: Dalhousie Univ., Canada Dept. of Civil Engineering
Summary. Reviewed the potential effects of non-revenue water (water lost from
distribution networks through leaky and broken pipes) on roadway pavement. Also
reviewed the problem of sand production during operation of oil and gas wells in
petroleum industry.
Jan – Dec 2001: Bangladesh Univ. of Eng. and Tech. Dept. of Civil Engineering
Summary. Based on ambient concentrations of groundwater pollutants (e.g., arsenic) and
air pollutants (e.g., particulate matter), census data and epidemiological studies, public
health risk and economic losses were quantified for different cities of Bangladesh.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Florida International Univ. Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering
New Courses: Developed 2 new courses at FIU: ‘Ecological Engineering’ (graduate) and
‘Ecohydrological Engineering’ (undergraduate). Also modified 1 existing graduate
course from ‘Statistical Hydrology’ to ‘Stochastic Hydrology’ to broaden the scope.
Courses Taught as the Professor:
CWR 5140C Ecohydrology. Fall 2012.
CWR 5251 Environmental Hydraulics. Fall 2011.
CWR 3201 Fluid Mechanics. Spring 2012, 2013, 2014.
CWR 3103/3540 Water Resources Engineering. Fall 2012, 2013.
ENV 5905/CGN 6905 Directed Independent Study. Spring 2012, 2014; Fall 2012, 2013;
Summer 2012.
CGN 4980 FE Review Seminar (Guest Lecturer). Spring and Fall semesters since 2011.
Student Evaluations: 88% of the students rated my teaching as ‘good to excellent’.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 12/15. Date: 05/07/14
Univ. of Minnesota Dept. of Civil Engineering
Role: Teaching Assistant (Sep – Dec 2006).
Course: Hydrologic Design.
Duties: Responsible for teaching recitation components of the class; assisted students
with homework and lab materials; graded lab assignments.
Univ. of Waterloo Dept. of Civil Engineering
Role: Teaching Assistant (Jan – Apr 2004).
Course: Probability and Statistics.
Duties: Responsible for teaching recitation components of the class; assisted students
with homework and lab materials; graded lab assignments.
Dalhousie Univ., Canada Dept. of Civil Engineering
Role: Teaching Assistant (Sept – Dec 2002).
Course: Transportation Systems.
Duties: Responsible for grading homework assignments.
STUDENT AND POST-DOCTORAL SCHOLAR SUPERVISION
Post-Doctoral Associate
Dr. Yongzhi Liu (FIU, July 2013 – present)
Ph.D. Students
Shakil Ahmed (FIU, 2014 – present);
Erfanul Huq (FIU, 2014 – present);
Khandker S. Ishtiaq (FIU, 2012 – present);
Sharon E. Surita (FIU, 2012 – present).
M.S. Students
Thesis: Mohammad S. Islam (FIU, 2014 – present); Tasnuva Mahjabin (FIU, 2014 –
present); Shams Al-Amin (FIU, 2012 – 13).
Non-Thesis: Nicole Anderson (FIU, 2012 – 13).
Undergraduate Students
Alysson Kildary (FIU, starting Intern for Summer 2014);
Sabrina Altmeyer Mendes (FIU, starting Intern for Summer 2014);
Felipe Monteiro (FIU, starting Intern for Summer 2014).
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 13/15. Date: 05/07/14
DISSERTATION/THESIS COMMITTEE (*other than own advisees)
Doctoral Dissertation Committees
Mohamed Ibrahim (FIU, current); Muhammad Saqib (FIU, current); Adelaide Hummel
(FIU, 2014); Farrukh Arif (FIU, 2013).
Master’s Thesis Committees
Lillian Mareo (FIU, 2013); Heidi Henderson (FIU, 2013); Juan Guillermo Londono
Lozano (FIU, 2011).
COLLABORATIONS
Kevin Kroger (USGS Woods Hole); Jianwu Tang (Marine Biological Lab/Brown Univ.);
Serena Moseman-Valtierra (Univ. of Rhode Island); Stephen Emmett-Mattox (Restore
America’s Estuary); Mark Green (Plymouth State Univ., NH); Ruth Yanai (SUNY ESF);
Arindam Chowdhury (FIU); Gail Hollander (FIU); Pallab Mozumder (FIU); David Bray
(FIU); Kenneth Feeley (FIU); Leonard Scinto (FIU); Shahid Hamid (FIU); Keqi Zhang
(FIU); Shaolei Ren (FIU); S.S. Iyengar (FIU); Sartaj Sahni (Univ. of Florida); My Thai
(Univ. of Florida); Manhar Dhanak (Florida Atlantic Univ., FAU); P. Ananthakrishnan
(FAU); John Callaway (Univ. of San Francisco); Jim Morris (Univ. of South Carolina);
Patrick Megonigal (Smithsonian Institution, DC); Richard Ambrose (Univ. of California,
LA); Nathan Mantua (NOAA Fisheries, CA); Katherine W. Myers (Univ. of Washington,
Seattle); Efi Foufoula-Georgiou (Univ. of Minnesota); Heinz Stefan (Univ. of
Minnesota); John Nieber (Univ. of Minnesota); Shuguang Liu (USGS EROS); Don H.
Burn (Univ. of Waterloo, Canada); Randall Peterman (Simon Fraser University, Canada).
PROFESSIONAL HONORS, PRIZES, FELLOWSHIPS
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, USA
1. Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship 2007-08: The most prestigious University fellowship
awarded to the outstanding Ph.D. candidates through competition among departments.
2. Sommerfeld Fellowship 2004-05: Awarded by the Department of Civil Engineering to the
most qualified graduate students.
3. Tsai Award 2007-08, Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory, University of Minnesota.
4. Travel Grants 2006-07, 2007-08 from the Department of Civil Engineering.
University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
5. University of Waterloo Faculty of Engineering Scholarship 2004.
6. University of Waterloo Graduate Scholarship 2004.
7. University of Waterloo Millennium Graduate Student Bursary 2003.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 14/15. Date: 05/07/14
8. University of Waterloo International Graduate Student Award 2003-04.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh
9. Dean List and University Merit Scholarships
OFFICES HELD IN PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
1. Member, American Geophysical Union (AGU), 2007 – present.
2. Member, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), 2006 – present.
3. Member, Ecological Society of America (ESA), 2007 – present.
4. Member, American Ecological Engineering Society (AEES), 2014 – present.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND PUBLIC SERVICE
Reviewer of Manuscripts for Professional Journals
Water Resources Research (AGU), Journal of Water Resources Planning and
Management (ASCE), Natural Hazards Review (ASCE), Ecological Engineering
(Elsevier), Water Research (Elsevier), Ecological Modelling (Elsevier), Journal of
Environmental Management (Elsevier), Applied Water Science (Springer),
Environmental Management (Springer), Urban Water Journal (Taylor and Francis).
Participation in NSF Proposal Review Process
Hydrologic Sciences Competition - Spring Panel 2012; Atmospheric and Geospace
Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (AGS-PRF) 2013; Earth Sciences
Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (EAR-PRF) 2013
National committees
Member, EWRI Wetland Hydrology Technical Committee (WHTC), American Society
of Civil Engineers.
Invited member
(1) Additional panel member of the Selection Committee for the Miami-Dade Water and
Sewer Department’s Capital Improvement Plan Projects 2013; (2) “Tidal wetland carbon
sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions model” working group of the National
Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), University of California, Santa
Barbara, 2010-2011; (3) “Reader Advisory Panel” of the journal, Nature, 2008-2010.
Organizer
Fall 2006 and Fall 2007 seminar series at the Saint Anthony Falls Laboratory of the
University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. Responsible for planning, inviting and
communicating with the speakers, and maintaining the seminar schedules.
Omar Abdul-Aziz: 15/15. Date: 05/07/14
Selected Services at FIU
1. Fall 2013 – present: Serving as a member of the FIU “Global Leaning Curriculum
Oversight Committee (GLCOC)”. This is a high priority University committee composed
of 4 regular members and 1 ex-officio member. Responsibilities include the evaluations
and assessments of existing and newly proposed GLCOC courses for compatibility with
the GLCOC mission and objectives; recommending rejection, revision and
retention/acceptance of any course under review for the GLCOC program.
2. Fall 2013 – present: Serving as a member of the FIU Civil & Environmental Engineering
(CEE) “Graduate Program Advisory Committee (GPAC)”; contributed to the revisions of
the CEE Graduate Student Handbook.
3. Summer 2013: Contributed as a guest speaker to present Ecological & Water Resources
Engineering research-education activities to the middle and high school students of the
Miami region, participating in the FIU’s MIAMI PREP Summer Program and the best
STEM camp in the region.
4. Fall 2012: Provided students and teachers of the Miami Northwestern Senior High
School a physical tour of my Ecological and Water Resources Engineering Lab
(EWREL; http://ewrel.fiu.edu) and research group, demonstrating our research activities,
future prospect and relevance to society.
5. Fall 2011-Fall 2012: Served as an Engineering Faculty leader for developing a
University wide Interdisciplinary Research Network (IRN) on Climate and Society at
FIU.
LICENSES
Engineer In-Training (EIT) License # 139542, Minnesota.
IMMIGRATION STATUS/WORK AUTHORIZATION
U.S. Permanent Resident (Green Card)