Voices From The Community (CUAHSI)
When I had my first interview for my Ph.D. at the University of Alabama (UA), my current advisor, Dr. Hamed Moftakhari, mentioned the National Water Center (NWC) summer institute and highlighted the numerous opportunities that could come my way if I chose UA for my graduate studies. He was right. Involvement with the Civil Engineering Department, closely connected to NWC, and collaboration with the Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research at UA have provided fantastic opportunities, strengthening my research and enhancing my skills for future endeavors. Currently, I am a Ph.D. candidate, focusing on assessing compound coastal flood hazards through an integrated approach that combines hydrodynamic simulations, remote sensing data analysis, and statistical techniques, leveraging high-performance and cloud computing resources.
Throughout my graduate studies, I have had the privilege of making several contributions to CUAHSI. My first involvement was associated with attending the 2022 NWC Summer Innovators Program as a research fellow. During the summer institute (SI), we arranged a research group with various skills, knowledge, and abilities from the graduate fellows in SI to work on projects aligned with the NWC mission. Although we experienced seven weeks of challenges and ups and downs, with the guidance of theme leads and the support of NWC scientists, we concluded the summer institute with fantastic outcomes developing a coastal-inland couple model to the Next Generation National Water Model Framework. During the SI, CUAHSI provided the fellows with a variety of scientific workshops and meetings as well as social fun events to make a strong bond between research fellows, theme leads, NWC, and CUAHSI researchers. This unique environment was well-designed for graduate students to go further than their comfort zones, and tightly collaborate with pioneer researchers in the advanced water community.
During the SI, CUAHSI introduced several opportunities available at their institution such as the Hydroinformatics Innovation Fellowship (HIF). Based on the foundation I made during the first two years of my Ph.D. studies on flood mapping using remote sensing data, I found the program a good opportunity to examine the idea of making a “Multi-Source and Multi-Temporal Google Earth Engine App for Emergency Flood Mapping” in collaboration with Dr. Brad G. Peter. Astoundingly, CUAHSI supported the project and I was honored to have been awarded the 2023 HIF. The project’s message is “leveraging scientific products, make the world a safer and sustainable place for human beings to live and evolve”.
My collaboration continued a year later when I was invited to work with CUAHSI as one of the course coordinators, assisting the 2023 SI fellows in their research journey. During this program, talented graduate students from universities across the U.S. came together and assembled six research groups. Guided by theme leads, they developed research questions and adopted a multi-task strategy approach to manage comprehensive research projects. Despite the research challenges encountered throughout the program, the fellows successfully concluded the summer institute with remarkable research projects in the capstone presentations. The fellows returned to their routine schedule with new outstanding experiences, cutting-edge knowledge, a broader scientific community network, and a friendship circle. The success of the fellows in this short period is significantly guaranteed by the support and guidance from NWC, CUAHSI, Alabama Water Institute (AWI), and CIROH. As course coordinators, Mark Wang and I had several responsibilities, including arranging SI meetings and workshops, addressing fellows’ needs, and ensuring theme leads’ expectations aligned with CUAHSI standards. Collaboration with CUAHSI staff, such as Deanna McCay, Jordan Read, Julia Masterman, Veronica Sosa-Gonzalez, and Dr. Sagy Cohen from CIROH, significantly eased this burden. I believe the invaluable knowledge and leadership experience acquired throughout this program will contribute significantly to my professional growth.
Indeed, CUAHSI stands as one of the cornerstones in the advancement of water science, and I am honored to contribute to this vital endeavor while serving the community to which I belong. I appreciate CUAHSI’s support and enthusiasm in encouraging researchers and students seeking new opportunities and experiences through education, funding, collaboration, and infrastructure.