Mississippi State University

EXPERT PROFILE: Dr. Farshid Vahedifard

Associate Professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering

Newswise — With the impacts of Hurricane Harvey continuing and flooding wreaking historic havoc in Texas, Dr. Farshid Vahedifard is available to discuss infrastructure vulnerabilities. A Mississippi State University associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in the Bagley College of Engineering, Vahedifard has been published multiple times in Science magazine regarding the resilience of critical infrastructure under extreme climatic events such as drought, heavy rainfall and flooding.

Vahedifard notes that catastrophic floods commonly occur due to compounding effects of multiple drivers such as terrestrial flooding and ocean flooding. “We need to better understand the interactions between these drivers and take them into consideration for proper estimation of flooding risks in coastal areas,” Vahedifard said. He adds that urban development and other anthropogenic activities may intensify the impact of natural hazards on infrastructure and increase the likelihood of substantial damage during climatic events. He also has been cited in the media regarding issues with California’s dam and levee systems.

Education:

Ph.D., Civil Engineering, University of Delaware, 2011

Graduate Certificate, Geographical Information Science (GIS), University of Delaware, 2011

MCE, Civil Engineering, University of Delaware, 2009

M.Sc., Civil Engineering, Bu-Ali Sina University, 2005

B.Sc., Civil Engineering, K.N. Toosi University of Technology, 2001

Research interests:

Geotechnical engineering; resilience of critical geotechnical infrastructure to extreme events under a changing climate, geomechanics in energy applications (e.g., carbon sequestration, CO2-EOR), induced seismicity, Thermo-Hydro-Mechanical modeling of geo-materials, remote sensing and GIS applications in natural and man-made hazard assessment and health monitoring of geo-systems (dams and levees), geosynthetics-reinforced slopes and MSE walls, embankment dams and levee systems, mobility modeling in soil.

To schedule an interview, contact Allison Matthews at [email protected] or 662-325-7457 or Harriet Laird at [email protected] or 662-325-7460. The MSU TV Center has high definition satellite uplink capabilities, suitable for live and live to tape two way interviews or feeds.