Picture of                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Amin Haghnegahdar

Amin Haghnegahdar Program Manager, Intergrated Modelling Program for Canada (IMPC)

Global Institute for Water Security, University of Saskatchewan, National Hydrology Research Centre, 11 Innovation Blvd., Saskatoon, SK S7N 3H5 Canada

Welcome!

I am currently the Program Manager for Integrated Modelling Program for Canada (IMPC), a multidisciplinary comprehensive program funded under Global Water Futures (GWF), the largest university-led freshwater program in the world.

I joined Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS), as a post-doc in Winter 2015 with over 10 years of experience in Hydrology & Water Resources in Canada, USA, and Iran. I am a member of Watershed Systems Analysis and Modelling Lab conducting fundamental and applied research on advanced watershed modelling and analysis with a focus on investigating the impact of climate and environment change in the cold regions of Canada. I am the founding chair of the committee on Large Scale Watershed Modelling and Analysis for CGU-Hydrology section. I hold a PhD from University of Waterloo in Canada and two MSc degrees from Iran and the United States. I have extensive experience in application of the MESH model to major river basins of Canada including Great Lakes and Nelson-Churchill river basins. I have led several sessions at top national and international scientific conferences and have coordinated, for 2 years, the so-called ExpecTAtions workshop, which was the biggest (~200 people) workshop at the University of Waterloo for training engineering teaching assistants. I love teaching and possess extensive teaching experience and training including a certificate for university teaching.

Research Areas

My primary research area is Integrated Watershed Systems Modelling and Analysis. In particular, I am involved with:

  • Hydrology and Water Resources
  • Large-Scale Distributed Land surface-Hydrological Modelling
  • Model Diagnostic, Sensitivity, and Uncertainty Assessment
  • Model Calibration/Validation

I use novel and efficient systems analysis tools and strategies to enhance environmental modelling practices. In particular, I contribute to developement and application of a newly-developed variogram-based efficient sensitivity analysis technique, VARS, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the model behaviour, reduce model prediction uncertainty, and increase calibration efficiency. Most of my work is centered around MESH, a distributed physically-based coupled hydrology-land surface modelling system, developed by Environment & Climate Change Canada. My work involves using High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems, GIS softwares, and Big Data to develop, apply, and evaluate watershed models at various spatio-temporal scales.

My secondary areas of research, rooting back in the good old days, include Soil Moisture variability and its relationship with Evapotranspiration, Stochastic Streamflow Forecasting, and Effect of Large-scale Climate Signals on streamflows including floods.

Education

  • Ph.D., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Environmental Modelling and Analysis Group, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada (2015)

  • M.Sc., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hydrologic Science and Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA (2009)

  • M.Sc., Civil and Environmental Engineering, Water Resources Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran (2003)

  • B.Sc., Civil Engineering, School of Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran (2001)

Publications

PEER-REVIEWED PAPERS

  1. Sheikholeslami, R., Razavi, S., and Haghnegahdar, A.: What do we do with model simulation crashes? Recommendations for global sensitivity analysis of earth and environmental systems models, Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2019-17, in review, 2019.
  2. Razavi, S., Sheikholeslami, R., Gupta, H. V., Haghnegahdar, A., (2019), VARS-TOOL: A Toolbox for Comprehensive, Efficient, and Robust Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis, Environmental Modelling & Software. 112,2019, 95-107, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.10.005
  3. Sheikholeslami, R., Razavi, S., Gupta, H.V., Becker, W., and Haghnegahdar, A. (2018), Global Sensitivity Analysis for High-Dimensional Problems: How to Objectively Group Factors and Measure Robustness and Convergence while Reducing Computational Cost, Environmental Modelling & Software, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.09.002
  4. Haghnegahdar A., Razavi S., Yassin F., and Wheater H. (2017), Multi-criteria sensitivity analysis as a diagnostic tool for understanding model behavior and characterizing model uncertainty, Hydrol. Process., 1-15, https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.11358
  5. Haghnegahdar A. and Razavi, S. (2017), Insights into Sensitivity Analysis of Environmental Models: On the Impacts of Parameter Perturbation Scale and Model Metric Choice, 95, 115–131 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2017.03.031
  6. Saghafian B., Haghnegahdar A. & Dehghani M. (2017): Effect of ENSO on annual maximum floods and volume over threshold in the southwestern region of Iran, Hydrological Sciences Journal, doi: 10.1080/02626667.2017.1296229
  7. Haghnegahdar A., Tolson, B. A., Craig, J. R., Paya, K. T. (2015), Assessing the Performance of a Semi-distributed Hydrological Model under various Watershed Discretization Schemes. Hydrol. Process., 29, 4018–4031 doi:10.1002/hyp.10550
  8. Xiaoyong X., Tolson B.A., Li J., Staebler R.M., Seglenieks F., HaghnegahdarA., Davison B. (2015), Assimilation of SMOS soil moisture over the Great Lakes basin. Remote Sensing of Environment, 169, 163-175 doi:10.1016/j.rse.2015.08.017
  9. Haghnegahdar A. , Tolson, B. A., Davison, B., Seglenieks, F. R., Klyszejko, E., Soulis, E. D., Fortin, V. and Matott, L.S. (2014): Calibrating Environment Canada's MESH Modelling System over the Great Lakes Basin, Atmosphere-Ocean, Atmosphere-Ocean, Volume 52, Issue 4, 281-293, DOI: 10.1080/07055900.2014.939131
  10. Haghnegahdar A. (2013), Alternatives to Heavily-Weighted Final Exams in Engineering Courses, Teaching Innovation Projects: Vol. 3: Iss. 1, Article 2. http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/tips/vol3/iss1/2
  11. Haghnegahdar A., B. Saghafian and R. Akhtari (2008), Effect of El Nino-Southern Oscillation on Annual Maximum Flood in South-western Iran, Journal of Water and Wastewater, 18(64), 66-78. (In Persian)

INVITED TALKS

  1. Advances in Modelling and Management of Water Resources in Canada, Water Research Center, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman, April 15, 2019.
  2. System Identification and Sensitivity/Uncertainty Analysis in Science and Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran, September 1st, 2018.
  3. Overview of the Integrated Modeling Program for Canada (IMPC), School of Civil Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran, August 23, 2017.
  4. Advances in Addressing Challenges Facing Water Resources in Canada under a Changing Climate and Environment, Water Crisis Symposium- Tehran, July 18-19, 2017.
  5. Towards improved environmental model applications using multi-criteria global sensitivity analysis, The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra, Italy, May 3rd, 2017.
  6. Advances in Watershed Systems Analysis and Modelling in Canada. Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany, April 15, 2016.
  7. Advanced Streamflow Prediction: A Canadian Perspective, School of Civil Engineering. School of Civil Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran, January 5, 2016.

SELECT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

  1. Haghnegahdar A., Razavi S., (2018), A novel global sensitivity analysis technique for multi-criteria sensitivity analysis of hydrological models, 71st CWRA National Conference, Victoria, Canada, May 28-June 1, 2018. (Oral presentation)
  2. Slaughter A., Haghnegahdar, A., Razavi S., Carlson H., Keshavarz K., Ali Shah S., (2018) Exploring water resources management models for achieving IWRM within Canada’s Major River Basins, 9th International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software, June 24-28 2018, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
  3. Haghnegahdar A., Razavi S., Pietroniro A., Pomeroy J., Wheater H., Gober P., (2018), The Integrated Modelling Program for Prediction and Management of Change in Canada’s Major River Basins (IMPC), EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 8-13 April 2018. (Oral presentation)
  4. Haghnegahdar A., Razavi S., Wheater H., (2018), Highlighting the importance of subsurface representation in Earth System Models, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 8-13 April 2018. (Poster presentation)
  5. Haghnegahdar A., Razavi S., and Sheikholeslami R., (2017), Dealing with model crashes in global sensitivity analysis, CGU/CSAFM joint scientific meeting, Vancouver, Canada, May 28-31, 2017. (Oral presentation)
  6. Haghnegahdar A., M. Elshamy, F. Yassin, S. Razavi, H. Wheater, and A. Pietroniro (2017), A comprehensive approach to identify dominant controls of the behavior of a land surface-hydrology model across various hydroclimatic conditions, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 23-28 April 2017 (Oral presentation)
  7. Haghnegahdar, A. and S. Razavi (2016), A novel and efficient Global Sensitivity Analysis Technique for an Enhanced Multi-criteria Analysis of the Behavior of Complex Environmental Models, AGU Fall meeting, San Francisco, California, 12-16 December 2016. (Oral presentation)
  8. Haghnegahdar, A. and S. Razavi (2016), An Efficient Approach to Analyze the Behavior of Hydrological Models Using Global Sensitivity Analysis, Joint CMOS-CGU Meeting, Fredericton, Canada, 29 May to 2 June, 2016. (Oral presentation)
  9. Haghnegahdar, A., S. Razavi, H. Wheater, H. Gupta (2016), Implications of a multi-criteria sensitivity analysis for understanding model structure and selecting calibration parameters, Joint CMOS-CGU Meeting, Fredericton, Canada, 29 May to 2 June, 2016. (Oral presentation)
  10. Haghnegahdar, A. and S. Razavi (2016), How to assess the Efficiency and “Uncertainty” of Global Sensitivity Analysis?, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 17–22 April 2016 (Poster presentation) 
  11. Haghnegahdar, A., S. Razavi, H. Wheater, H. Gupta (2016), A multi-model multi-objective study to evaluate the role of metric choice on sensitivity assessment, EGU General Assembly, Vienna, Austria, 17–22 April 2016 (Poster presentation)
  12. Haghnegahdar, A., S. Razavi, H. Wheater, H. Gupta (2015), Sensitivity Analysis and Insights into Hydrological Processes and Uncertainty at Different Scales, AGU Fall meeting, San Francisco, California, 14-19 December 2015. (Poster presentation)
  13. Haghnegahdar, A., B. Tolson, E. Gaborit, V. Fortin (2015), Streamflow Prediction in the Great Lakes Basin Using Two Watershed Discretization Schemes, AGU-GAC-MAC-CGU Joint Assembly, Montreal, Québec , 3-7 May 2015. (Oral presentation)
  14. Haghnegahdar, A., B. Tolson, J. Craig (2014), A Novel Framework to Assess Various Watershed Discretization Schemes in Distributed Models, CWRA 2014: Canada Water Resources Congress, 2-4 June 2014, Hamilton, Ontario. (Oral presentation by B. Tolson)
  15. Haghnegahdar, A., B. Tolson (2014), Towards Improving Streamflow Forecasts in the Great Lakes Basin, Healthy Climates workshop: Governance in the Water, Energy, Food and Climate Security Nexus, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, 24-25 March 2014. (Oral presentation)
  16. Haghnegahdar, A., B. Tolson, J. Craig, and K.T. Paya (2013), Assessing the Performance of a Distributed Land-Surface Hydrological Model (MESH) under various Watershed Discretization Schemes, Joint Scientific Congress of the CMOS, CGU and CWRA, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, 26-30 May 2013. (Oral presentation)
  17. Haghnegahdar A., B. Tolson, E.D. Soulis, B. Davison, V. Fortin, F. Seglenieks and E. Klyszejko (2012), Comparing two strategies for calibration of the Environment Canada’s MESH modeling system over the Great Lakes Basin, AGU Fall meeting, San Francisco, California, 2-7 December 2012. (Poster presentation)
  18. Tolson, B., A. Haghnegahdar and J. Craig (2012), Making landscape classification an integral part of the Watershed Calibration Process, Workshop on improving estimates of runoff for the Great Lakes, Burlington, Ontario, 9-10 May 2012. (Oral presentation by B. Tolson)
  19. Haghnegahdar, A., L.S. Matott and B. Tolson  (2011), Pre-emption-based Regional Sensitivity Analysis (PeRSA) to increase Watershed Model Calibration Efficiency, AGU Fall meeting, San Francisco, California, 5-9 December 2011. (Oral presentation by B. Tolson)
  20. Haghnegahdar, A., B. Tolson, F. Seglenieks, E. Klyszejko and V. Fortin (2010), Comparing the calibrated performance of the WATFLOOD and MESH distributed hydrological models in the Great Lakes Basin, Water 2010: 10th International Symposium on Stochastic Hydraulics and 5th International Conference on Water Resources and Environment Research, Québec City, Québec, 5-7 July 2010. (Oral presentation)
  21. Haghnegahdar, A. and J. D. Niemann (2009), Developing Efficient Sampling Strategies to Estimate Spatial-Average Soil Moisture in the Lower Arkansas River Valley, Colorado, 29th annual Hydrology Days, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 25-27 March 2009. (Oral presentation)
  22. Haghnegahdar, A. and M. Karamouz (2009), Modification of Streamflow Forecasts using ElNino-Southern Oscillation in south-western Iran, 29th annual Hydrology Days, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, 25-27 March 2009. (Oral presentation)
  23. Karamouz M., Sh. Araghinejad and A. Haghnegahdar (2004), Calibration and Validation of Long-term Streamflow Forecasting Models, World Water and Environmental Resources Congress, Salt Lake City, Utah, June 27-July1, 2004. (Oral presentation by M. Karamouz)
  24. Karamouz M. and A. Haghnegahdar (2003), Study of the Effect of El Nino-Southern Oscillations (ENSO) on Zayande-rud dam inflows using Spectral Analysis, 10th Students Congress of Civil Engineering (SCCE), Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, October 2003. (Oral presentation)

Honors and Awards

  • First Prize Winner, World Water Day's poster competition, Postdoctoral Category, University of Saskatchewan (March 2016)
  • University of Waterloo Graduate Scholarship, University of Waterloo (Fall 2014)
  • Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarships in Science and Technology, University of Waterloo (Winter 2013)
  • Faculty of Engineering Graduate Scholarship, University of Waterloo (Winter 2012)
  • Golden Key International Honour Society (By invitation, 2008)
  • Borland Hydrology Advanced Graduate Student Scholarship, Colorado State University (2008)
  • Borland Hydrology Professorial Fellowship, Colorado State University (2007)
  • Borland Hydrology Advanced Graduate Student Scholarship, Colorado State University (2007)
  • Yevjevich Civil Engineering Graduate Fellowship, Colorado State University (2007)

Teaching Experience

Instructor:

  • Advanced Mathematics for Civil Engineers (CivE 331), Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, Winter 2012

Co-Instructor:

  • Surface Water: Theory and Modelling (CivE 681), Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, Fall 2014

  • Hydrology (CivE 486), Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, Fall 2012

Teaching Assistant:

  • Hydrology (CivE 486), Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, Fall 2012

  • Linear Algebra for Engineering (Math 115), Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, Fall 2011

  • Advanced Mathematics for Civil Engineers (CivE 331), Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, Winter 2010 & 2011

  • Differential Equations (EnvE 223), Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, Fall 2010

  • Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences (CivE 280), Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, Spring 2010

  • Basic Hydrology (CivE 322), Civil and Environmental Engineering, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, USA, Fall 2006

Workshop Instructor:

  • VARS-TOOL: A toolbox for Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analysis, School of Civil Engineering, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran, September 1st, 2018.
  • Do we  need a hefty final exam to assess engineering students’ performance?, Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo, Canada, November 2013
  • Calibrating MESH via OSTRICH using DDS algorithm, IP3 Network Final Results Workshop, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, 7-9 September 2011
  • Using HEC-HMS for rainfall-runoff modeling, 10th Students Congress of Civil Engineering (SCCE), Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, October 2003

Certificates

  • Certificate in University Teaching (CUT), Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada (November 2013)

  • Fundamentals of University Teaching, Centre for Teaching Excellence, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada (April 2010)

  • Student Leadership Certificate Program (SLP), Organizational & Human Development, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada (June 2012)

  • MITACS workshops: Practice Your Interview Skills, Practice Your Presentation Skills, Proactive & Practical Communication, Team Building Excellence, Effective Networking, Discovering the Entrepreneur Within, Skills of Business Etiquette, Career Professionalism, Project Management 1 (2013-2016)

Leadership & Professional Services

  • Member of the Academic Committee, Students of the Water Institute-Graduate Section (SWIGS), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada  (01/2013-04/2014)
  • Vice President-External, Civil and Environmental Engineering Graduate Association (CE2GA), University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada (01/2013-04/2014)