Experience | home

Professional experience

Flood Modeler at Harris County Flood Control District, Houston, TX, USA (Jan 2017 - Present)

Projects: Flood Watch Support - Developing real-time flood prediction model

- Monitoring real-time flood situation and provide technical consultation for decision makers

Risk Mitigation - Devising plans involves gathering historical flooding data and perform hydrology and hydraulic models analysis, and analyze hydrologic risk

- Local Project review coordinator

Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Oklahoma - National Weather Center, Advanced Radar Research Center, Norman, OK, USA (October 2014 - Aug 2016)
Research topic: A Research Framework to Bridge the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission Core and Constellation Sensors using Polarimetric National Mosaic QPE
Research Associate, University of Washington, Seattle, USA (August 2013 - September 2014)

Research topics:

1) Development of Pre-SWOT Earth System Data Records for Global Surface Water Storage Dynamics

2) Evaluation of the Utility of Precipitation Measurement Mission Products for Hydrologic Prediction in Topographically

Complex Region

NASA's Earth and Space Science Fellow (August 2012 - August 2013)

Research topic: Satellite Rainfall Uncertainty Estimation across the Globe for Diverse Hydrologic Applications Using Readily Accessible Geophysical Features

Graduate Research Assistant in Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tennessee Technological University, USA (2008 – August 2012)

Research projects:

1) Hydrologically-Relevant and Optimal Merging of High Resolution Satellite Precipitation Products to Enhance Macroscale Hydrologic Modeling Application (August 2008 - August 2012)

2) Characterization of satellite rainfall products uncertainty as function of land use land cover at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA (June 2011 – August 2011)

Co-Principal Investigator

Project topic: Modeling extent of soil erosion hazard from Bilate watershed and its likely impact on Lake Abaya environment (Co-PI, WB funded project, May 2005 – April 2007)

Graduate Assistant in Hydraulic Engineering Department, Arba Minch University

Project topic: Regional Flood Frequency Analysis for Blue Nile River Basin, Ethiopia (two parts): part I - Identification and Regionalization of hydrological homogeneous regions; Part II – Selection of best fit parent distribution for annual maximum flow series (September 2003 – November 2004)

Teaching experience

1) Teaching Assistant in Civil & Environmental Engineering Department, Tennessee Technological University, USA

CEE 2110 Statics (Spring 2010):
Type of class - sophomore
No. of students - 32
Responsibilities - Full time instructor
Module – click here for syllabus
CEE 3100 Computer Applications in Civil Engineering (Fall 2010):
Type of class - Senior elective
No. of students - 7
Responsibilities - Instructor (half module)
Module – click here for syllabus
CEE 4420 Engineering Hydrology (Spring 2011):
Type of class - Senior elective
No. of students - 10
Responsibilities - Instructor (two modules)
Module – click here for syllabus

2) Lecture in Hydraulic and Water Resource Engineering Department, Arba Minch University, Ethiopia

Lecturer (January 2004 – July 2008)

Courses taught:

Hydraulics-II
Open Channel Hydraulics
Engineering Hydrology
Hydraulic Structures-I
Hydraulic Structures-II
Hydropower Engineering-I
Computer Application in Hydraulic Engineering

Student project mentoring (January 2004 – July 2008)

Project types:

Hydropower design projects: (Fettam, Genale Dawa, Gilgel Gibe-II, and Guder Hydropower projects)
Water supply projects: (Addis Zemen, AMU, Finote Selam, Wolkite Towns water supply projects)
River training projects: (Kulfo River)

3) Visiting Lecturer in Civil Engineering Department, Jimma University, Ethiopia

Guest Lecturer (October 2007 - July 2008)

Open Channel Hydraulics
Hydraulic Structures-II

Consultancy and voluntary services

Consultancy Service on “Preparation of Business Plan for Arba Minch Water Supply Expansion Scheme”, 2008
Consultancy Service on “Ground water exploration for Hosanna Town water supply system”, 2007
Consultancy Service on “Micro dam design for the purpose of hydroelectric power generation for Chancho Town, Ethiopia”, 2006
Designing and supervising Water Supply Scheme and construction of Debre-Tsion Kidanemihrete Orthodox Church, Arba Minch, Ethiopia (voluntary service), 2006

Positions

Dean of Water Technology Institute, Arba Minch University, Ethiopia (October 2007 – August 2008)
Head of Hydraulic Engineering Department, Arba Minch University, Ethiopia (June 2005 – September 2007)