The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine awarded a FAMU-FSU College of Engineering faculty member a Gulf Research Program Early-Career Research Fellowship, which recognizes researchers who demonstrate exceptional leadership and promise for contributions to the fields of offshore energy system safety, community health or environmental stewardship.

Fellowship honoree Ebrahim Ahmadisharaf, an assistant professor in the college’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Resilient Infrastructure & Disaster Response Center, or RIDER, focuses his work on predicting floods and nonpoint source pollution under a changing climate and land cover. His research supports decisions related to civil infrastructure design, flood mitigation and water pollution control.

“I’m very honored and thankful for the recognition of my work,” he said. “Through complex technical analyses and computational models, I hope this research will inform better decisions aimed at protecting human health and enhancing community resilience against the climatic hazards of flooding in regions across the Gulf.”

Ahmadisharaf is the third faculty member in Florida State University history to be awarded this prestigious national fellowship.

“Professor Ahmadisharaf is helping to make communities safer, healthier and more resilient through his research,” said Suvranu De, dean of the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. “This recognition is a testament to his hard work and to the impact it has on the Gulf Coast and the nation.”

The fellowship supports emerging scientific leaders as they take on new research, pursue unique collaborations and build a network of colleagues working to improve the resilience of coastal communities and ecosystems. The fellowship provides support for scientists, engineers, and health professionals at the critical pre-tenure phase of their careers. Fellows receive a two-year grant to fund research expenses and professional development.

The program funds researchers whose work aims to improve the well-being of coastal communities and ecosystems with the goal of generating long-term benefits for the Gulf of Mexico region and the nation. The program features four tracks: human health and community resilience, environmental protection and stewardship, education research, and offshore energy safety.

For the 2024-2026 application cycle, the human health and community resilience track focused on work that contributes to understanding the role that resilience-based interventions play in addressing the root causes of climate, disaster and/or health vulnerability that are associated with health disparities in communities throughout the Gulf of Mexico region.

Ahmadisharaf’s research centers on creating quantitative frameworks that enhance the predictive capabilities for characterizing flooding and surface water quality, as well as their impacts on human health under climate change. Recent projects have helped to quantify how flooding after hurricanes contributes to mold growth in homes and examined how pesticide and fertilizer transport, water pollution and threats to groundwater impact South Florida waterways.

“Although this work starts with modeling environmental systems, the ultimate purpose is to better understand how those systems impact human health,” he said. “That understanding informs decisions that can improve health and quality of life for millions of people.”

Ahmadisharaf joined FSU as a research faculty member in 2020 and was named an assistant professor in 2024. He earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree from Sharif University of Technology in Iran and a doctorate in civil and environmental engineering from Tennessee Technological University.

Visit Ahmadisharaf’s research website to learn more about his work. Visit the National Academies website to learn more about the Early-Career Research Fellowship.

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Atlantic hurricane season is nearing its peak, raising alarms for mold outbreaks triggered by flooding and the respiratory health issues to follow.

Ebrahim Ahmadisharaf, an assistant professor and researcher at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering’s Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response Center, or RIDER, is shedding new light on the indirect effects of flood damage on residential buildings and human health.

His interdisciplinary team of hydrologic engineers and public health scientists explores how flooding after hurricanes contributes to mold growth in homes and the subsequent impact on indoor air quality and respiratory health.

Their research focuses on water-damaged homes in flood-stricken areas such as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, South Florida, New York City and Philadelphia, where they analyzed mold proliferation and its connection to respiratory illnesses. The team aims to uncover the key factors driving mold growth, such as flood depth and roof age, and their correlation with asthma and allergy symptoms. This study addresses critical knowledge gaps and offers insights into the long-term health effects of living in flood-impacted environments.

What is the relationship between flooding and mold growth?
Numerous studies have focused on predicting floods and assessing their impact on fatalities and structural damage. However, when it comes to the indirect and less visible consequences, like mold growth, there has been little quantitative research — particularly in measuring total mold spore counts.

Flood-related conditions, such as excessive dampness and humidity, create an ideal environment for mold to thrive, which can lead to significant respiratory health issues. Mold-related problems don’t necessarily require standing water in the building. Depending on the building materials, water can remain trapped, fostering conditions for mold growth. In severe cases, invisible mold can develop, which often goes unnoticed by residents.

We aimed to collect data on the factors that contribute to mold proliferation and assess its impact on respiratory health, particularly asthma and allergies. Our goal was to predict these outcomes using machine learning algorithms.

What is invisible mold, and how does it pose a threat without people realizing it?
When most people think of mold, they picture black spots on walls or around exhaust fans. But there are other types of mold that are invisible to the naked eye. These unseen mold spores can cause the same respiratory issues as visible mold, and in some cases, may lead to more prolonged health problems.

The challenge with invisible mold is that people often don’t realize it’s present, so they don’t take steps to remediate it. As part of our study on the mid-term impacts of mold growth, we interviewed residents to understand what actions they had — or hadn’t — taken to address mold and whether they had experienced any respiratory issues. This gave us insight into the long-term health effects associated with invisible mold.

How did you incorporate machine learning into your research, particularly with modeling work?
We employed a range of methods to gather data. First, we conducted online questionnaires and surveys to gather information on building characteristics, such as roof conditions and ventilation systems. Then, we visited the properties and collected indoor and outdoor air and dust samples.

After analyzing the samples in the lab, we identified more than 40 species of mold. In addition, we used hindcast data related to flood conditions, along with machine learning algorithms and public domain datasets. Before combining all the data, we took steps to validate it. For instance, we cross-referenced our flood models with stream gauge data and high-water marks.

We also gathered details from participants about the flood levels around their homes and how long the water remained. We then fed this data into machine learning models to predict total mold spore counts based on variables such as roof age, flood depth and ventilation.

The algorithms revealed key factors influencing mold growth, which we used to predict mold levels under certain conditions. In addition to our mold growth model, we developed a classification model to predict asthma exacerbations. By analyzing participant data on symptoms and hospital visits post-flood, the model helped identify the conditions under which asthma symptoms worsened. These insights can inform remediation and prevention efforts.

What is the concept of hindcasting, and how does it fit into this study?
Hindcasting is similar to forecasting but works in reverse — it recreates past events using models and historical data to predict future scenarios. It’s especially useful when we don’t have flood data from every affected building. Hindcasting helps fill those gaps and enhances the spatial coverage, providing insights into how flooding evolved, the maximum flood depth, how long the water remained and how it receded. This technique supports both historical analyses and future flood predictions, offering more complete temporal coverage across different locations.

What does the future of this research look like?
Several avenues could expand our current research. In terms of flood modeling, high-resolution models at the building level could enhance the accuracy of flood depth predictions. For flood characteristics, gathering more detailed data on flood duration, velocity and rate of rise would help validate models and improve the reliability of our conclusions. To better understand flood impacts, we could track data over time for each affected building, capturing both immediate and long-term effects.

While our current focus is on extreme hurricane-related flooding, smaller flood events, such as those caused by heavy rainfall, should also be studied. In some cases, minor flooding could have an equal or even greater impact due to prolonged wetness and saturated conditions from back-to-back storms.

More research in this area would help educate communities about flood preparedness for both major and minor events, provide useful insights for building design, and inform occupational health science and public health policy. We hope that our research efforts will generate more awareness about indoor mold proliferation and the impacts on respiratory health, especially in communities at high risk for allergy and asthma symptoms.

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Near the Florida-Georgia border, the Chattahoochee and Flint rivers meet and become the Apalachicola River, which carries freshwater and nutrients downstream to the Apalachicola Bay.

New research led by FAMU-FSU College of Engineering Assistant Professor Ebrahim Ahmadisharaf examined how drought and water volume in the Lower Apalachicola River watershed affect nitrogen and phosphorous, crucial nutrients for a healthy aquatic ecosystem. The study was published in Water Research.

“In watershed systems like this, that are subject to regulations upstream, knowing how the ecosystem reacts to changes helps us manage it effectively,” said Ahmadisharaf, who is also a researcher at the Resilient Infrastructure & Disaster Response Center, or RIDER. “We can regulate the system to avoid negative consequences, including some that have the potential to be long-lasting.”

The research team examined 20 years of nutrient data collected by the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve, a nationally protected natural organization funded by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and managed by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

The researchers also analyzed streamflow data from a U.S. Geological Survey gauge to characterize drought and river flow conditions, which they compared to records of nutrients in the water using statistical analyses. That allowed them to investigate the impact of droughts and river flow patterns on nutrients in different phases of droughts and in short- and long-term periods after droughts ended.

Phosphorous levels
One of the nutrients researchers examined was dissolved inorganic phosphorus. When droughts first begin, phosphorus levels tend to increase slightly, and the range of these levels usually narrows. As droughts continue and get worse, the variability in phosphorus levels increases and the average level goes down. After droughts, when water flow increased, phosphorus levels in streams bounced back quickly because of the “flushing” effect, in which nutrients washed into the streams from the land. Three back-to-back streamflow droughts within the 20 years posed long-term consequences for the export of phosphorus. For example, phosphorus level increased in high flows by 35% from 2003 to 2021, which threatened the downstream estuary with excessive nutrient levels, increased microorganism growth and lower levels of dissolved oxygen.

Nitrogen levels
Researchers also examined changes in dissolved inorganic nitrogen. The impact of drought on nitrogen levels varied more, with the changes more linked to the severity of the drought, and its timing in wet or dry seasons. Nitrogen levels bounced back after droughts finished, but their dynamics within the stream flow patterns changed. For example, nitrogen levels in low flows became higher than those in high flows. Before and during droughts, researchers saw the opposite pattern.

In an ecosystem, as in medicine, the right dose makes all the difference. Nitrogen and phosphorous are essential nutrients for the growth of plants and animals. But too much of those nutrients causes problems such as harmful algae blooms, which deplete dissolved oxygen and produce toxins.

The rapid increase in phosphorous after droughts could lead to a temporary excess in the downstream ecosystem that would cause algae blooms, fish kills, and lead to problems with human health, Ahmadisharaf said.

Their findings give researchers a more detailed understanding of the Apalachicola River and its watershed. The impacts of drought can be specific to a place, so examining the river in detail is key.

“These findings give us a better understanding of how to manage nutrient levels carefully, especially during and after droughts, to avoid ecological problems,” Ahmadisharaf said. “Because climate change affects timing, severity and duration of droughts, this study is important for addressing climate resilience from the coastal water quality perspective.”

Sumon Hossain Rabby and Leila Rahimi, researchers at the RIDER Center, were the first and second authors of this study; the other co-authors were Ming Ye, a professor in the Florida State University Department of Scientific Computing; Jason A. Garwood, a researcher with the U.S. Department of the Interior; Ethan S. Bourque, a researcher with the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve; and Hamid Moradkhani, the Alton N. Scott Professor of Engineering at the University of Alabama.

This research was supported by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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Parts of South Florida were underwater after a tropical storm dropped up to 20 inches of rain in 24 hours.

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency for several South Florida counties as officials dealt with flooding.

FAMU-FSU College of Engineering research faculty Ebrahim Ahmadisharaf is available to speak to media about tools to quantify and predict flooding and surface water pollution.

To arrange an interview, email eahmadisharaf@eng.famu.fsu.edu.

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Compound flooding — when two or more sources of flooding occur simultaneously or in close succession — can spread the reach of natural disasters beyond their normal scope.

A new study by Ebrahim Ahmadisharaf, a researcher at the Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response Center, or RIDER Center, in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, will help communities in the Pensacola Bay and Perdido Bay watersheds manage the threat posed by compound flooding.

Ahmadisharaf will map vulnerable critical infrastructure within the two western Florida watersheds and update estimates of rainfall intensity, duration and frequency under climate change. The work is supported by a $475,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.

“Improving community resilience is the motivation behind our work at the RIDER Center,” Ahmadisharaf said. “We have a good idea of how the communities we will examine are impacted by coastal flooding and by inland flooding, but we need a better understanding of how those two types of flooding work together and could place more people and infrastructure in harm’s way.”

WHY IT MATTERS: Official and municipal planners rely on detailed maps and predictions about weather and the impact of natural disasters to help decide where critical infrastructure should go and how to protect those investments. But climate change is altering the intensity of weather; for example, by making rainfall heavier. That means old predictions are outdated. Projects like this one can help update expectations and keep communities safe.

WHO’S INVOLVED: Ahmadisharaf is leading a research team that includes postdoctoral researchers and graduate students from the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.

STUDY LOCATION: Researchers will examine flooding in two watersheds: the Pensacola Bay watershed and the Perdido Bay watershed. The Pensacola Bay watershed covers about 6,800 square miles in Florida and Alabama, reaching into Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties. The Perdido Bay watershed in northwest Florida and southern Alabama drains to the Perdido River, which marks Florida’s western border. About 600,000 people live within the two watersheds.

WHERE THE MONEY IS COMING FROM: The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Resilient Florida Program is funding the study. The program protects inland waterways, coastlines and shores, which serve as natural defenses against sea level rise. The funding is distributed through the Pensacola & Perdido Bays Estuary Program.

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Floridians know to prepare for storms and the flooding that can accompany them.

A new study by Ebrahim Ahmadisharaf, a researcher at the Resilient Infrastructure and Disaster Response Center in the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering, will help residents in Bay County, Florida, to prepare.

Ahmadisharaf is leading a study to map infrastructure and assets that are threatened by flooding in the seaside county. He will examine the likelihood of inland and coastal flooding under historic conditions and projected sea-level rise. Researchers will use computational models to simulate flood characteristics under different flooding scenarios and perform geospatial analyses to identify at-risk areas. They’ll also complete outreach and education for the public and stakeholders.

“We aim to simulate flood characteristics such as depth and extent for different events such as a 100-year flood, which has a 1% annual chance of occurring, considering historic and future conditions, such as sea-level rise,” he said. “Using these simulations, we will identify at-risk areas in Bay County from inland and coastal flood types. This study will support the development of strategies and actions that mitigate flood risk and protect infrastructure and assets.”

WHY IT MATTERS: More than 175,000 people live in Bay County, and its location on the Gulf of Mexico puts it at risk for flooding from hurricanes. In 2018, Hurricane Michael killed more than two dozen people and caused billions of dollars of damage in the county. Knowing the areas where flooding is most likely to occur and what infrastructure will be affected allows residents and officials to develop plans to minimize harm.

WHO’S INVOLVED: The work will be led by Ahmadisharaf and Jessica Graham, executive director of the St. Andrew and St. Joseph Bays Estuary Program. A postdoctoral researcher and graduate student will be helping with this project.

WHERE’S THE MONEY COMING FROM: The Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s Resilient Florida Program is funding the $150,000 study.

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