Dr. Hamed Moftakhari – College of Engineering

Assistant Professor

Center for Complex Hydrosystems Research, Center for Sustainable Infrastructure, Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering

1068 Cyber Hall
(205) 348-0239
(205) 348-0783
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Education

Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Portland State University, 2015
M.S., Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, 2010
B.S., Civil Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, 2007

Biography

Dr. Hamed Moftakhari is an assistant professor at the Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, in The University of Alabama.

His research interests are in the area of coastal hydrology, and involves multi-hazard risk analysis, management and modeling, and integrated coastal/estuarine hydrodynamic modeling. He explores how the interaction between inland hydrologic processes and coastal ocean processes would affect resources such as food, energy and water in the low-lying coastal regions, and how the response of affected communities would mitigate/intensify the impacts.

His research is mainly focused on two categories of processes: i) extreme events with multiple underlying drivers, and ii) minor repetitive events (i.e. nuisance flooding) which their chronic impacts would pose considerable cumulative costs over time. His research sheds light on the projected risk associated with compounding effects of natural hazards due to human activities and sea level rise.

Dr. Moftakhari is an associate editor at Journal of Hydrologic Engineering (ASCE), and an editorial board member of Scientific Reports (Nature). He is a recipient of National Academies’ Early-Career Research Fellowship in 2020, Cronin Award – Early Achievement from Coastal and Estuarine Research federation 2021, and Maseeh Graduate Fellowship in 2012. He has been recognized as an outstanding reviewer for the journal of Earth’s Future (AGU 2018), Journal of hydrology (Elsevier 2017) and Journal of Sustainable Cities and Society (Elsevier 2017). Dr. Moftakhari is a registered professional engineer in the State of Alabama.

Honors and Awards

Early-Career Research Fellowship, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine – Gulf Research Program (9/2020 – 8/2022)
Cronin Award – Early Achievement, Coastal and Estuarine Research federation 2021
Maseeh Graduate Fellowship, Portland State University, academic year 2012 –2013
Editor’s Citation: AGU 2018 Earth’s Future Editor’s Citation for Excellence in Referee
AGU Research Spotlight & Editor’s Highlights: 2017

Areas of Research

Latest Publications

1. Muñoz, D.F., Muñoz, P., Moftakhari, H. R., & Moradkhani, H. (2021). From local to regional compound flood mapping with deep learning and data fusion techniques. Science of The Total Environment, 782, 146927, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146927.
Moftakhari, H. R., Shao, W., Moradkhani, H., AghaKouchak, A., Sanders, B., Matthew, R., Jones, S., & Orbinski, J. (2020). Enabling Incremental Adaptation in Disadvantaged Communities: Polycentric Governance with a Focus on Non-financial Capital. Climate Policy, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2020.1833824.
Muñoz, D.F., Moftakhari, H. R., and Moradkhani, H. (2020) Compound Effects of Flood Drivers and Wetland Elevation Correction on Coastal Flood Hazard Assessment. Water Resources Research, 56, e2020WR027544, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020WR027544.
Moftakhari, H. R., Salvadori, G., AghaKouchak, A., Sanders, B. F., & Matthew, R. A. (2017). Compounding effects of sea level rise and fluvial flooding. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(37), 9785–9790. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1620325114.
Moftakhari, H. R., AghaKouchak, A., Sanders, B. F., Allaire, M., & Matthew, R. A. (2018). What is Nuisance Flooding? Defining and Monitoring an Emerging Challenge. Water Resources Research. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018WR022828.