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Dr. Mahdi Abdelguerfi

Founder and Executive Director, Canizaro-Livingston Gulf States Center for Environmental Informatics
Canizaro-Livingston Endowed professor in software and systems development
Professor, Computer Science Department, University of New Orleans

Latest Research and Interests

  • Dr. Abdelguerfi is currently professor of computer science at the University of New Orleans (UNO) and the founder and executive director of the interdisciplinary Canizaro-Livingston Gulf States Center for Environmental Informatics (GulfSCEI - pronounced Gulf Sea), whose primary goal is to assist state, federal agencies and non-government organizations solve environmental problems of the coastal margin of the State of Louisiana as well as other Gulf States.

  • His current research interests include geospatial environmental informatics, geospatial intelligence, big geospatial data mining, and spatio-temporal information systems. Dr. Abdelguerfi's federal research grants/contracts currently in force amount to a total of about $4.6M as a Principal Investigator. His research has been funded substantially, consistently and without interruption by the U.S. Department of the Navy over the last twenty years, indicating a high-level of satisfaction with, and confidence in, the quality of the research produced and the ability of my research team to meet its contractual deliverables in a timely manner.

  • Dr. Abdelguerfi is the recipient of the 2022 "UNO's Career Research Award." He was awarded the 2003 and 2016 "Alan Berman Annual Research Publication Award" from the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington D.C. for research performed jointly with scientists from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). He received the 2016 UNO's "Competitive Funding Prize" in recognition of outstanding and innovative work in support of UNO's research mission. He was also the recipient of UNO's Early Career Achievement Award for Excellence in Research.

  • Latest Publications

  • Ferdaus, M., Kendall, N., Joe, T., Abdelguerfi, M., "Attention-Aware Wide Residual Model for Resource-Constrained Ambedded Areal Image Classification," The Journal of Advanced Intelligent Systems - Wiley. [Under Review]
  • Panta*, M., Kendall, N., Joe, T., Hoque, T., Abdelguerfi, M., "Deep Learning Approach for Accurate Segmentation of Sand Boils in Levee Systems," IEEE ACCESS Journal. [Under Review]
  • Pokhrel*, P., Abdelguerfi, M., Ioup*, E., "A Machine Learning and Data Assimilation Forecasting Framework for Surface Waves," Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society. [Third Round of Review]
  • Pokhrel*, P., Abdelguerfi, M., Ioup*, E., "An Imitation Learning-Based Routing of Surface Ships," IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Maritime Transportation. [Under Review]
  • Schmidt *, A., Pokhrel*, P., Abdelguerfi, M., Ioup*, E., Dobson, D., "Forecasting Features Recorded by Buoys Using Physics Informed Neural Networks and Numerical Ocean Models," IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering. [Second Round of Review]
  • Panta*, M., Hoque, T., Abdelguerfi, M., Flanagin*, M., "IterLUNet: Deep Learning Architecture for Pixel-Wise Crack Detection in Levee Systems," IEEE ACCESS, 2023, doi 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3241877.
  • Holmberg*, E, Ioup*, E., Abdelguerfi, M., "A Stochastic Geo-Spatiotemporal Bipartite Network to Optimize GCOOS Sensor Placement Strategies," Second Workshop on Knowledge Graphs and Bid Data in Conjunction with 2022 IEEE Conference on Big Data, On Line Workshop, December 2022. [Full Paper]
  • Pokhrel*, P., Ioup*, E., Hoque, T., Abdelguerfi, M., Simeonov, J., "A Transformer- Based Regression Scheme for Forecasting Significant Wave Heights in Oceans, " IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 1010-1023, Oct. 2022, doi: 10.1109/JOE.2022.3173454
  • Active Grants & Contracts

  • Artificial Intelligence Algorithms to Identify Deficiencies in Flood Control Systems
    Abdelguerfi, M. (PI), Hoque, T. (Co-PI), Newaz, R. (Co-PI)
    U.S Army Corps of Engineers (USACE)
    Award: $2,500,000 (W912HZ-23-2-004). Jan. 2023 — Jan. 2025
  • Geospatial Intelligence and Pattern Discovery
    Abdelguerfi, M. (PI)
    Office of Naval Research (ONR) - Department of the Navy
    Award: $1,813,141 (N00173-19-S-BA01). Sep. 2020 — Aug. 2025
  • Meeting the Challenges of the Silicon Bayou: A Cooperative Strategy
    Abdelguerfi, M. (PI)
    Louisiana Economic Development Department
    Award: $5M (CFMS-729488-UNO). Jan. 2014 — Dec. 2024
  • Contact Me

    Email

    mahdi@cs.uno.edu

    Phone

    (504) 280-7107

    Visit Office

    2000 Lakeshore Dr.
    Math Room 300
    New Orleans, LA 70148