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: oabdulaz@fiu.edu; 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)