A doctoral student whose research focuses on the resilience of urban water infrastructure is the recipient of the second Texas Sea Grant Special Award at last week’s Texas A&M University (TAMU) Student Research Week (SRW).

Kambiz Rasoulkhani, a civil engineering Ph.D. candidate in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, received the $250 prize for his poster presentation, “Towards Resilient Urban Water Infrastructure System.” Rasoulkhani is conducting his research under the mentorship of Dr. Ali Mostafavi.

Rasoulkhani’s study sought to evaluate how the long-term resilience of urban water infrastructure systems changes in response to common stressors such as infrastructure age and climate change. His research could help communities anticipate potential points of failure in their water infrastructure and save money by building sturdier infrastructure systems in the future. 

SRW is a four-day event highlighting research at the university with a special emphasis on student participation. The program provides a venue for students to share their work through oral presentations and posters, and it also gives the university community an opportunity to see the breadth and depth of research conducted at TAMU.

Texas Sea Grant offers the special award each year to honor the undergraduate or graduate student from any discipline who submits the most outstanding oral presentation or poster that shows the most innovative, yet practical research that exemplifies the focus areas of Texas Sea Grant: Resilient Communities and Economies, Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture, Healthy Coastal Ecosystems, and STEM Education and Workforce Development.

TAMU’s SRW is the largest single-university student-run research symposium. It is hosted by the Graduate and Professional Student Council. This was the 21st year of the program.