Awards and Relevant Achievements

2024

  • (April 2024). Congratulations to Dr. Zeda Yin for successfully defending his PhD Thesis. Great opportunities ahead Zeda!
  • (April 2024). Congratulations to Dr. Pratik Mahyawansi for successfully defending his PhD Thesis. Pratik will join the University of Illinois at Chicago as a Post-doctoral Research Associate.

2023

  • (September 21, 2023). Dr. Leon delivered an invited presentation titled "Towards minimizing sewer overflows" in the St. Louis Section of ASCE-EWRI's Monthly Speaker Series Event.
  • (June 2023). Congratulations to Hector Mayorga for successfully defending his MS Thesis.
  • (June 2023). Congratulations to William Campbell for successfully defending his MS Thesis and for getting a job with the US Army Corps in Jacksonville, Florida.
  • (May 24, 2023). Congratulations to our PhD student Zeda Yin for winning First Place in the Graduate Student Paper Competition of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The awarded paper was entitled "Physic-Informed Neural Network Approach Coupled with Boundary Conditions for Solving 1D Steady Shallow Water Equations for Riverine System". See Zeda's award here.
  • (April 2023). Congratulations to Dr. Sumit Zanje for successfully defending his PhD Thesis. Exciting opportunities ahead Sumit!
  • (February 23, 2023). Congratulations to our PhD student Pratik Mahyawansi for being awarded the third-place award in the Oral Presentation category at the 2023 FIU-MME Graduate Symposium. The title of Pratik's presentation is "Investigation of Velocity profile in Stratified Flows using Experimental and Analytical Methods". See Diploma here and award photo here.

2022

  • (November 30, 2022). Dr. Leon presented "Towards minimizing overflows in combined sewer systems" in the IX Seminario Internacional de Ingenieria Civil, Ayacucho, Peru (virtual) (See certificate here).
  • (November, 2022). Congratulations to Hector Mayorga for receiving the 2022 Florida Section of the American Water Works Association (FSAWWA) Roy Likins Scholarship. This award was given for successful academic achievements, determination, and involvement in drinking water industry-related technical activities. See award here.
  • (August 11, 2022). Dr. Leon participated in the Water Roundtable of the MITRE Miami Innovation Hub (iHub) (See Group photo).
  • (April 12, 2022). Congratulations to our PhD student Sumit R. Zanje for being awarded travel funds from the FIU Graduate and Professional Student Committee to attend the 2022 World Environmental and Water Resources Congress that will be held in Atlanta, Georgia from June 5 to June 8 (2022).
  • (April 04, 2022). Congratulations to our PhD student Sumit R. Zanje for being awarded a Dissertation Year Fellowship (DYF) from the FIU University Graduate School. See award here.

2021

  • (November-December 2021). Congratulations to Dr. Linlong Bian for successfully defending his PhD Thesis. Great job Linlong! See graduation photos here and here.
  • (July 2021). Our PhD student Sumit R. Zanje was awarded the 2021 EPIC/Chittaluru Family Scholarship from the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Florida Section. See award here.
  • (July 2021). Congratulations to Dr. Vivek Verma for successfully defending his PhD Thesis. Way to go Vivek!
  • (June 2021). Congratulations to Dogukan Ozecik for successfully defending his MS Thesis. Great job Dogukan!
  • (June 07, 2021). Our group members were awarded the First Place in the Graduate Student Paper Competition of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The awarded paper was entitled "A Feasibility Study on Harvesting Rainwater from Large Solar Panel Canopies to Supplement Makeup Water for Cooling Towers by Using Remotely Controlled and Self-Cleaning Rain Cistern". Our graduate student Linlong Bian served as the team leader of this competition. See the Awards for Linlong Bian and Dr. Leon.

2020

  • (April 29, 2020). Dr. Leon served as the lead faculty advisor (with Prof. Ebru Ozer as co-advisor) of the FIU team that won the first place in the 2019 EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge, Master Plan Category. See Dr. Leon's award here. The video of our winning team can be seen here. Dr. Matt King who oversees this USEPA national competition stated in his award notification email the following: "Your entry is the best reviewed entry we've received in the history of the competition."
  • (March 26, 2020). Dr. Leon was interviewed by the Sun Sentinel on why sewer line breaks have stopped during Corona Virus in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. See more at this link

2019

  • (December 06, 2019). Congratulations to our PhD students Sumit Zanje, Aditia Rojali and Linlong Bian for winning a travel grant from The Graduate & Professional Student Committee to attend the 20th World Environmental & Water Resources Congress to be held in Henderson, Nevada.
  • (December 02, 2019). Our Research Assistant Professor, Dr. Mohammad Reza Safaei, has being listed as one of the two most highly cited researchers of FIU by the Web of Science (https://recognition.webofsciencegroup.com/awards/highly-cited/2019/). The list identifies scientists who produced multiple papers ranking in the top 1% by citations for their field and year of publication, demonstrating significant research influence among their peers.
  • (December, 2019). Congratulations to Salome Montoya for receiving the 2019 “Roy W. Likins Memorial Scholarship”, which was presented to her by the American Water Works Association (AWWA)–Florida Section.
  • (November 13, 2019). The supplement for our NSF proposal Dynamic Management of Water Storage in Watersheds for Reducing the Magnitude of Floods was funded. Investigators: Arturo Leon (PI), Vivek Verma (PhD student funded with the supplement).
  • (July 15-19, 2019). Dr. Leon taught a one-week long course on Steady and Unsteady River Flows in the Winter School Program at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC) in Lima, Peru. See recognition here.
  • (May 10, 2019). Our Post-doc, Dr. Mohammad Reza Safaei, was selected as the winner of the JTACC-V4 Young Scientist Award. This award recognizes outstanding contributions in the field of thermal analysis and calorimetry of young researchers under the age of 35. Dr. Reza will receive his award plaque in Budapest on June 18-21, 2019. Dr. Reza will present his lecture at one of the Plenary Sessions.
  • (April 23, 2019). Dr. Leon served as the lead faculty advisor of the FIU team that won the second place in the 2018 EPA Campus RainWorks Challenge, Master Plan Category. The EPA Press release announcing the winners of the 7th Annual Campus RainWorks Challenge can be seen here. See Dr. Leon's award here. The video of our winning team can be seen here.

2018

  • (October 20, 2018). Our Research Associate Dr. Mohammad Reza Safaei is serving as a Guest Editor for the special issue "Fluid Flow, Heat and Mass Transfer through Passages with Complex Geometries for Advanced Technological Applications", which will be published in the International Journal of Numerical Methods for Heat and Fluid Flow.
  • (October 2018). Our cooperative agreement with Dankook University (South Korea) and the University of Maryland Demonstration of modeling and intelligent operation of stormwater systems for flood control was funded. Investigator: Arturo Leon (PI).
  • (July 2018). Our NSF proposal Wetland facility for the University of Houston Coastal Center (August 2018-July 2019) was funded. Investigators: Steven Pennings (PI), Arturo Leon (co-PI), Stacey Louie (co-PI).
  • (June 06, 2018). Graduate student Taher Chegini was awarded the Third Place in the Graduate Student Paper Competition of the Environmental and Water Resources Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). The awarded paper was entitled "Comparison of various turbulence models for violent geysers in vertical pipes". See Award here.
  • (April 2018). Our NSF proposal Dynamic Management of Water Storage in Watersheds for Reducing the Magnitude of Floods (August 2018-July 2021) was funded. Investigators: Arturo Leon (PI), Craig Glennie (co-PI), Steven Pennings (co-PI).
  • (April 26, 2018). Congratulations to Ahmet Yolcu for successfully defending his MS Thesis. Great job Ahmet!
  • (March 08, 2018). Congratulations to Dr. Yunji Choi for successfully defending her PhD Thesis. Way to go Yunji!
  • (January 30, 2018). Dr. Leon was interviewed on solutions for Houston's flooding problems. See more at Link 1 or Link 2.

2017

  • (October 25, 2017). Dr. Leon was interviewed on the releases of the Barker and Addicks reservoirs. See more here.
  • (October 3, 2017). Dr. Leon was interviewed by HoustonPress on the controlled release of the Addicks and Barker Dams by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. See more here.
  • (September 21 and 22, 2017). Dr. Leon was interviewed on the replacement of Addicks and Barker Dams in Houston. See more at Link 1 or Link 2.
  • (September 01 2017). Dr. Leon's PhD students Taher Chegini and Erfaneh Sharifi were named CACDS Fellow. Way to go Taher and Erfaneh! See more here.
  • (August 31 2017). Dr. Leon was interviewed by over ten national and international magazines and radio and TV networks with regard to the Hurricane Harvey flooding in Houston. Some of the articles can be seen at Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4 or Link 5.

2016

  • (November 2016). Congratulations to Parnian Hosseini for successfully defending her PhD Thesis. Way to go Parnian!
  • (September 2016). Arturo discusses the world's largest indoor waterfall with WIRED Magazine (September 2016 issue). The waterfall, called the Rain Vortex, is scheduled to open inside of Singapore's Changi Airport in 2018. See more at Link 1 or Link 2
  • (January 2016). Our project was featured as a success PacTrans story: "PacTrans Technology Transfer Success Story 2015 #4: How Green is your Green Infrastructure? A Field-Scale Testing Facility to Investigate Efficiency of Roadside Stormwater Technologies". Investigators: Meghna Babbar-Sebens (OSU) and Arturo Leon (OSU). The complete article can be found here.

2015

  • (August 2015). Our $1.2M proposal Framework for Quantification of Risk and Valuation of Flexibility in the FCRPS (November 2015-October 2018) submitted to DOE-BPA was funded. The results of this research will allow BPA to balance capabilities and resources in the Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) by providing the flexibility to better utilize resources to maximize revenue, without wasting resources due to uncertainties in operation or the market. The accurate quantification and valuation of flexibility will provide guidance to BPA on when to optimally move electricity generation from one period to another, which would allow BPA to maximize revenue while increasing the reliability of the operation of reservoirs in the FCRPS to meet the electricity demands in the Pacific North West. Investigators: Arturo S. Leon (PI), Nathan Gibson (Co-PI, Mathematics, Oregon State University, Corvallis), Christopher Hoyle (Co-PI, MIME, Oregon State University, Corvallis), Yong Chen (Co-PI, Economics, Oregon State University, Corvallis) and Claudio Fuentes (Co-PI, Stats, Oregon State University, Corvallis)
  • (July 2015). Ali Alnahit obtained his MS degree. Congratulations Ali!
  • (June 2015). Dr. Leon gave a Keynote Talk at the Pacific Northwest Waterways Association (PNWA) Summer Conference, Hood River, OR. The title of his presentation was “Development of a Computational Framework for the Optimal Control of Multi-Reservoir Systems Under Uncertainty: Application to the Columbia River System”.
  • (June 2015). Yunji and Parnian passed their prelims. Congratulations Yunji and Parnian!
  • (March 04, 2015). Parnian Hosseini received the Runner-up Award (School of Civil and Construction Engineering) at the OSU College of Engineering Research Engineering Expo (2015). Parnian's poster title was “Flexible Multi-Objective Optimization of Reservoir Operation Considering Uncertain Decision Variables.”

2014

  • (Nov 2014). Dr. Leon was interviewed by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) about top jobs in Hydraulic Engineering. The complete article can be found here.
  • (Sept 2014). Parnian Hosseini (PhD student) was awarded a NW Energy Prize scholarship from Oregon Best (BPA) (2014-2015)
  • (May 5, 2014). Arturo Leon, Ph.D., P.E, Assistant Professor in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University, has been named a Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer (D.WRE) of the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers (AAWRE), a subsidiary of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE).  The D.WRE certification is the highest post-license certification available in the water resources engineering profession and it is an accredited program by the Council of  Engineering & Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB).  The D.WRE represents strong professional ethics, a commitment to life-long learning and continuing professional development. Arturo will be inducted as Diplomate on June 2, 2014 at the 2014 ASCE-EWRI World Water & Environmental Resources Congress.

2013

  • (Dec 2013). Christopher Gifford-Miears obtained his MS degree. Congratulations Chris!

2012

  • (Dec 2012). Akemi Kanashiro obtained her MS degree. Congratulations Akemi!

  • (October 2012). Dr. Leon's proposal Development of a state-of-the-art computational framework and platform for the optimal control of multi-reservoir systems under uncertainty (October 2012-September 2014) submitted to DOE-BPA was funded. As part of this proposal, we will develop a robust and computationally efficient framework for the real-time operation of multi-objective and multi-reservoir systems that accounts for uncertainty and flexibility. In pursuit of this goal, we will devise a novel methodology for the incorporation of uncertainty into the system, investigate hybrid optimization approaches, allow for scalable parallelization in our numerical methods and combine all components into an integrated platform with a user-friendly graphical interface. Co-PI: Nathan Gibson (Dept. of Mathematics, OSU) (September 20, 2012)
  • (July 2012). Yunji Choi (MS Student of Arturo Leon) was awarded the “Arthur N. L. Chiu Endowed Scholarship” for the 2012-2013 academic year. This scholarship is awarded to a professional-level student majoring in civil engineering with a 3.3 GPA or higher who is active in leadership roles in the College of Engineering, other OSU honor societies or OSU organizations (Arthur Chiu's engineering legacy)
  • (March 2012). Christopher Gifford-Miears (MS student) was selected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Portland office, as a Fish Passage Engineer Intern. This appointment is for 10 weeks during the Spring of 2012. Chris will work on developing, constructing, and running hydraulic models of fish passage structures to aid project designers and resource managers to conceptualize, and monitor fish passage projects. See more here.

  • (January 2012). Dr. Leon was awarded an EPA Early Career Award. See more at: Link 1 or Link 2

2011

  • (December 5, 2011). Dr. Leon research was featured in the OSU College of Engineering site . See more here.
  • (November 2011). Dr. Leon was named honorary member of the Colegio de Ingenieros del Peru - CDA Ayacucho (Society of Peruvian Engineers). See Diploma here.
  • Dr. Leon newest flume was featured in the Daily Barometer newspaper. See the history here.
  • (Dr. Leon was recognized as one of the most successful professionals of all times of the Universidad Nacional San Cristobal de Huamanga. This recognition was given as part of the 332 anniversary of creation of this university. See more here.

2010 & Older

  • (Dr. Leon taught a short course (4 hours) entitled "Modeling of Flows in Combined Storm-sewer Systems" in the 2010 ASCE-EWRI conference in Rhode Island (May, 2010). This short course offered a hands-on interactive training on the use of the open source Illinois Transient Model (ITM) for analyzing the flow dynamics (transient and non-transient conditions) in combined storm-sewer systems. See more here.
  • (February 2010) - Dr. Leon was awarded a NSF grant to examine water and climate change issues. The project awarded is entitled "Engaging undergraduate students in the operation and management of regulated river systems. See more here.
  • (February 11, 2010) - BSU Graduate Student Akemi Kanashiro and Arturo Leon displayed their work at the "Boise State Day at the Idaho Statehouse (Capitol). See more here.
  • The third book of Dr. Leon has been published by Verlag in June 2009 (check out this book in Amazon here)

Website visitors since January 30, 2020

 

COPYRIGHT, ARTURO S. LEON