A Flood of Mentors

Dan Meeroff, Ph.D., leads FAU’s Laboratory for Engineered Environmental Solutions aimed at combining science and technology to protect and conserve our environment.

The research in this lab provides access to scientific and analytical equipment for research and training to the next generation of educators and researchers interested in environmental protection.

Meeroff, also a professor in the department of civil, environmental and geomatics engineering, said that he relies on the team-building software platform called TeamSparX, developed by the FAU Division of Research “to scour the university to find talent for our undergraduate research program,”

The students become integrated into Meeroff’s interdisciplinary lab, “working on research and learning skills needed to succeed in their future careers,” he added. “Some of our projects would never have been able to achieve the desired outcomes without the invaluable assistance from our awesome team of undergraduate researchers, and we are always looking to expand the numbers to be able to train the next generation of environmental research professionals.”

Meeroff said he welcomes a range of students from undergraduates to BS/MS students, to traditional masters students, and doctoral students, adding that many of his team begin as undergraduates and stay for their graduate degrees. This range of collaboration creates a mentoring atmosphere.

He recently added the lab’s first postdoctoral fellow, who is a recent graduate of the transportation and environmental engineering doctoral program at FAU. “I’ve never had a postdoc on my team before, so I cannot wait to see how having her adds to the team,” Meeroff said.

The new fellow will help with a large new project to address stormwater management in 18 communities around the state. With a $2.7 million grant, Meeroff and co-investigators, will also add about 40 student research positions to the lab, which is part of the Center for Water Resiliency and Risk Reduction in the College of Engineering and Computer Science.

The Center was established to help local communities develop mitigation strategies in response to the effects of flooding on human safety and home properties. The grant, funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and administered via the Florida Division of Emergency Management, will develop a flood risk modeling and artificial intelligence tool, said Meeroff, “to create watershed master plans that prioritize stormwater management projects that reduce impacts from flooding and lower flood insurance premiums for homeowners.”