Dr Yevjevich”s Faculty Award, Colorado State University, 2011

Dr. Mazdak Arabi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering as CSU. He is teaching and actively conducting research in the water resources management and planning and environmental engineering areas. After receiving his B.Sc. and M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran, Iran, Mazdak became a graduate research assistant and then a postdoctoral research associate at Purdue University, where he received his Ph.D. in August 2005. At CSU, Mazdak is currently an instructor for CIVE 576 "GIS and GPS for Engineering Applications". Coming from a semi-arid region of the world has contributed greatly to Mazdak’s passion for the sustainable management of water resources. His research primarily focuses on the development of scientific approaches and decision support systems for sustainable environmental planning and management. For example, Dr. Arabi is interested in investigating the impact of anthropogenic activities, such as land use change, and agricultural practices on the integrity of environmental systems, especially watersheds. Currently, Dr Arabi is involved with several projects sponsored by USDA, NRCS, and NSF to develop stakeholder driven multi-criteria watershed management support systems with purpose of enhancing decision makers’ capacity to evaluate a range of agricultural and environmental policy alternatives. These tools hinge on striking a balance between economic, environmental, and institutional criteria to identify the optimal set of management actions (i.e., best management practices) and their spatial placement within a watershed. Dr Arabi strongly believes that he has been given a tremendous opportunity here at CSU to pursue research and education in water-related issues, mainly due to the elite group of researchers, educators, and extension personnel found across the campus. He is currently in the process of establishing an integrated watershed management laboratory which will provide a platform for CSU’s faculty and students to collaborate on holistic water quantity/quality management of watershed systems. Mazdak Arabi also serves on the Surface Water Hydrology Committee of the American Society of Civil Engineers and is a member of America Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, American Geophysical Union, and American Water resources Association.