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Dr. Masoud Negahban-Azar

Associate Professor

Associate Professor

Environmental Science & Technology 1426 Animal Science/Agricultural Engineering Building 8127 Regents Drive College Park, Maryland 20742
301-405-1188
Water Security and Sustainability Lab

About

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.

Research

Our research activities in Water Security and Sustainability Lab can be categorized into three major areas:

1- Watershed Hydrological Modeling

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.

2- Water Reuse and Nontraditional Water Sources

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.

3- Diagnostic Decision Support Systems

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.

 

Teaching

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.

 

ENST 689P

Publications

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

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

Group Members

Group Photo
Group Photo of Lab Members, Dec 2018.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Current Members:

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

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