- Fax
- (940) 397 4893
- Title
- Assistant Professor
- Department
- Geosciences
- Location
- Bolin Hall
- Room
- 101 D
- Bio
-
I am an Assistant Professor at Kimbell School of Geosciences and the primary investigator of the "Remote Sensing and Modeling" Lab at Midwestern State University. As a researcher, I describe myself as a modeler and remote sensing expert with both hydrogeology and terrestrial carbon cycle background. I love coding and am passionate about research. I apply a diversity of approaches for the characterization of complex environmental systems. I perform intensive research and analyzed information about the complex hydrogeological behavior of aquifers including heterogeneity, uncertainty, connectivity, flow, and transport processes.
Currently, my lab is working on a project to integrate remote sensing and water infiltration data to identify karst subsurface fractures. This project aims to study the heterogeneous karst formations and estimate recharge using data gathered by the Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and cave drip loggers.
In another project, we are using remote sensing to improve forest biomass monitoring. This project evaluates the accuracy of high-resolution LiDAR data and the state-of-the-art digital tree segmentation algorithms to quantify aboveground tree volume, hence accurate biomass estimation of a mature forest.
I plan to use unmanned aircraft system (UAS) remote sensing data to map earth surface features to characterize its properties or understand the changes in ecosystems, hydrology, forestry, and so on. The work would address scientific questions using remote sensing data targeting the dynamics of earth systems due to unexpected disturbances or gradual changes. Moreover, I focus on solving various challenges in remote sensing data by applying stochastic image analysis and geostatistical methods.
I am very enthusiastic to see the data assimilation approach I developed being applied to other plant manipulative experiments to untangle the impacts of all physiological and biochemical processes on plant growth due to various environmental changes. I am also interested to understand the response of the carbon cycle and terrestrial ecosystems to climate and environmental changes using geospatial modeling and remote sensing.
Join the Lab
I am looking for undergraduate/graduate students to work on projects with funding. If you are interested in working with me, please send me an email with your CV and research interests. For students interested in M.Sc. in Environmental Sciences/Geosciences, I have several potential projects to work on. More information about potential projects and funding sources is on my Webpage.
More details: Webpage; Google Scholar; ResearchGate
Key Research Facility: Remote sensing and modeling Lab
| Institution | Degree | Graduation Date |
|---|---|---|
| University of New South Wales, Sydney Australia | Ph.D. | 2015 |
| Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka Bangladesh | M.Sc. | 2010 |
| Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka Bangladesh | B.Sc. | 2007 |
| Employer | Position | Start Date | End Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Midwestern State University | Assistant Professor | 08/01/2022 | |
| Indiana University | Research Scientist | 09/04/2019 | 07/30/2022 |
| Western Sydney University Australia | Postdoctoral Research Fellow | 02/21/2016 | 06/30/2019 |
| Islamic University of Technology Bangladesh | Assistant Professor | 12/12/2009 | 02/28/2012 |
| Stamford University Bangladesh | Lecturer | 07/28/2007 | 12/12/2009 |
GRANTS
Funded External Grants:
TTU Institute for One Health Innovation
Submitted (2025)
PI: Clarissa Strieder-Barboza, TTU (Myself - Co-PI)
Title: Screening PFAS Bioaccumulation in Beef and Dairy Tissues: A One Health Approach to Regional Exposure Mapping at Texas Panhandle ($100,000)
TTU Institute for One Health Innovation
Submitted (2025)
PI: Babafela Awosile, TTU (Myself - Collaborator)
Title: Spatiotemporal and One Health analysis of association between rabies cases and climate factors in Texas ($100,000)
National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI)
Submitted (2025)
PI: Myself - Midwestern State University
Title: Integrate Terrestrial LiDAR and Drip Data to Quantify Cave-scale Groundwater Recharge in Karst Aquifer ($25,000)
AmericaView Research and Education Grant 2024-2025
PI: Myself - Midwestern State University
Title: Airborne LiDAR for urban tree above ground biomass estimation ($3,400)
AmericaView Research and Education Grant 2024-2025
PI: Myself - Midwestern State University
Title: Mapping cave-scale groundwater infiltration in heterogenous karst formation using terrestrial remote sensing ($3,400)
Texas Water Development Board 2024-2025
PI: Jonathan D. Price (Myself - Co-PI) - Midwestern State University
Title: Texas Water Development Board Regional Flood Plan ($21,000)
AmericaView (USGS) 2023-2026
PI: Rebecca Dodge (Myself - Co-PI) - Midwestern State University
Title: Stateview Program Development and Operations for the State of Texas ($76,500)
National Cave and Karst Research Institute (NCKRI)
Not awarded (2024)
PI: Myself - Midwestern State University
Title: Terrestrial LiDAR and Cave Drip Analysis to Characterise Water Movement in Heterogenous Karst Formation ($25,000)
Australian Research Council 2025-2029
PI: Andy Baker (UNSW Australia)
Title: Caves and cave stalagmites - understanding present and future climate drivers of recharge (AU$3,298,909)
Role: Collaborator to join LiDAR field work and research visit to Sydney Australia and remotely supervise PhD students
AmericaView Research and Education Grant 2023-2024
PI: Myself - Midwestern State University
Title: Assessment of wildfire driven air pollution and associated health impacts using geospatial and statistical techniques ($2,000)
AmericaView Research and Education Grant 2023-2024
PI: Myself - Midwestern State University
Title: Estimating urban above ground biomass using automated terrestrial laser scanning algorithm ($2,000)
AmericaView Research and Education Grant 2023-2024
PI: Myself - Midwestern State University
Title: Using LiDAR and automated drip rate logging systems to estimate groundwater recharge ($2,000)
AmericaView Research and Education Grant 2022-2023
PI: Myself - Midwestern State University
Title: Forest biomass estimation using terrestrial laser scanning ($2,000)
AmericaView Research and Education Grant 2022-2023
PI: Myself - Midwestern State University
Title: Remote Sensing and Morphological Analysis to Characterize Cretaceous Formations at Natural Bridge Caverns in Comal County, TX ($2,000)
NASA Carbon Cycle Science Solicitation 2021-2023
PI: Dr. Natasha MacBean - Indiana University
Title: Role of Semi-Arid Ecosystems in the Global Carbon Cycle ($900,000)
Role: Assist in proposal writing, analyze preliminary data, develop relationship with partners and implementing the research project
UNSW Faculty of Engineering Post-Doctoral Fellowship Grant 2015
PI: Myself - UNSW Australia
Title: Hydrological characterization of cave drip waters in a porous limestone (AU$10,645)
PUBLICATIONS
Student (*) advisees are underlined
Google Scholar: citations = 1390; h-index = 18; i10-index = 20
Peer-reviewed Journals:
1. *Elkins, E., and Mahmud, K. "Estimating North Texas Urban Tree Above-Ground Biomass Based on Terrestrial LiDAR and Optimized Quantitative Structure Models" AmericaView Journal of Earth Observation and Geospatial Applications, (Accepted).
2. Adams, H., Fulton, C., Southard, M., Shao, J., Reeder, S., Price, J., Appleton, E., Hansen, C., Ben Colvin, B., Mahmud, K., Nix, D., and Masuoka, J., Odlare, M., and Ikehata, K. (2025) "Academia-Industry Collaboration: Water Chemistry and Environmental Education" Journal of Chemical Education, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.5c00246.
3. Scott, R.L., Johnston, M.R., Knowles, J.F., MacBean, N., Mahmud, K., Roby, M.C., Dannenberg, M.P. (2023) "Interannual variability of spring and summer monsoon growing season carbon exchange at a semiarid savanna over nearly two decades" Agriculture and Forest Meteorology, 339, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2023.109584.
4. Mahmud, K., Scott, R. L., Biederman, J., Litvak, M., Kolb, T., Meyers, T. P., Krishnan, P., Bastrikov, V., MacBean, N. (2021) “Optimizing Carbon Cycle Parameters Drastically Improves Terrestrial Biosphere Model Underestimates of Dryland Mean Net CO2 Flux and its Inter-Annual Variability†Journal of Geophysical Research Biogeosciences, 126, e2021JG006400.
5. Mingkai, J., Medlyn, B., Drake, J.E., Duursma, R.A., Anderson, I.C., Barton, C., Boer, M., Carrillo, Y., Castaneda-Gomez, L., Collins, L., Crous, K.Y., De Kauwe, M., dos Santos, B.M., Emmerson, K.M., Facey, S.L., Gherlenda, A.N., Gimeno, T.E., Hasegawa, S., Johnson, S.N., Kannaste, A., Macdonald, C.A., Mahmud, K., Moore, B.D., Nazaries, L., Neilson, E., Nielsen, N., Niinemets, U., Noh, N.J., Ochoa-Hueso, R., Pathare, V.S., Pendall, E., Pihlblad, J., Pineiro, J., Powell, J.R., Power, S., Reich, P., Renchon, A., Riegler, M., Rinnan, R., Rymer, P., Salomon, R., Singh, B., Smith, B., Tjoelker, M.G., Walker, J., Wujeska-Klause, A., Yang, J., Zaehle, S. & Ellsworth, D.S. (2020) “The fate of carbon in a mature forest under carbon dioxide enrichment†Nature 580, 227–231, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2128-9.
6. Yang, J., Duursma, R.A., De Kauwe, M.G., Kumarathunge, D., Mingkai, J., Mahmud, K., Gimeno, T.E., Crous, K.Y., Ellsworth, D.S., Peters, J., Choat, B., Eamus, D., Medlyn, B. (2019) “Incorporating non-stomatal limitation improves the performance of leaf and canopy models at high vapour pressure deficit†Tree Physiology, Volume 39. Issue 12, pp. 1961-1974, https://doi.org/10.1093/treephys/tpz103.
7. Mahmud, K., Medlyn, B., Duursma, R.A., Campany, C. and De Kauwe, M. (2018) “Inferring the effects of sink strength on plant carbon balance from experimental measurements†Biogeosciences, 15, 4003-4018, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-15-4003-2018.
8. Mahmud, K., Mariethoz, G., Baker, A. and Pauline, C.T. (2018) “Hydrological characterization of cave drip waters in a porous limestone: Golgotha Cave, Western Australia†Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 977-988, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-977-2018.
9. Mahmud, K., Mariethoz, G., Baker, A., Treble, P.C., Markowska, M. and McGuire, L. (2016). “Estimation of deep infiltration in unsaturated limestone environments using cave LiDAR and drip count data†Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 359-373, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-359-2016.
10. Mahmud, K., Mariethoz, G., Pauline, C.T., Baker, A. (2015). “Terrestrial LiDAR Survey and Morphological Analysis to Identify Infiltration Properties in the Tamala Limestone, Western Australia, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, doi: 10.1109/JSTARS.2015.2451088.
11. Mahmud, K., Mariethoz, Baker A. and Sharma A. (2015) “Integrating Multiple Scales of Hydraulic Conductivity Measurements in Training Image-Based Stochastic Models†Water Resources Research, Vol. 51(1), pp. 465–480, DOI: 10.1002/2014WR016150.
12. Mahmud, K., Mariethoz, G., Tahmasebi, P., Caers, J. and Baker A. (2014) “Simulation of Earth Textures by Conditional Image Quilting†Water Resources Research, Vol. 50 (4), pp. 3088–3107, DOI: 10.1002/2013WR015069.
13. Mahmud, K., Hossain, M.D. and Shams, S. (2012) “Different Treatment Strategies for Highly Polluted Landfill Leachate in Developing Countriesâ€, Waste Management, Volume 32, Issue 11, pp. 2096–2105, DOI:10.1016/j.wasman.2011.10.026.
14. Mahmud, K., Hossain, M.D., Shams, S. and Al-Amin, M. (2012) “Comparative Analysis of Extended Aeration and Fenton Process in Landfill Leachate Treatmentâ€, International Journal of Environmental Engineering, Vol. 4, No.3/4, pp. 233 – 252.
15. *Azom, M. R., K. Mahmud, K., Yahya, S. M., Sontu, A. and Himon, S. B. (2012) “Environmental Impact Assessment of Tanneries: A Case Study of Hazaribag in Bangladeshâ€, International Journal of Environmental Science and Development, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 152-156.
16. Mahmud, K., Yahya, S.M., Navid, E.H. and Hossain, S.M. (2011) “Organic Contaminant Destruction from Landfill Leachate by Optimizing Fenton Treatment Processâ€, Canadian Journal on Environmental, Construction and Civil Engineering, Vol. 2, No. 5, pp. 118-124.
17. Shams, S. Mahmud, K. and Al-Amin M. (2011) “Building Greener Homes Based on Coding and Rating Systemâ€, IACSIT International Journal of Engineering and Technology (IJET), Vol. 3, No. 5, pp. 480-484.
18. Rahman, M.T., Mahmud, K. and Ahsan, S. (2011) “Stress – Strain Characteristics of Flexible Pavement using Finite Element Method†International Journal of Civil and Structural Engineering, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 233-240.
19. Mahmud, K., Hossain, M.D. and Ahmed S. (2011) “Advanced Landfill Leachate Treatment with Least Sludge Production Using Modified Fenton Processâ€, International Journal of Environmental Sciences, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 259-270.
20. *Islam, M. M., Mahmud, K., Faruk, O. and Billah S. (2011) “Textile Dyeing Industries in Bangladesh for Sustainable Developmentâ€, International Journal of Environmental Science and Development (IJESD), vol. 2, no. 6, pp. 428-436.
21. Shams, S. Mahmud, K. and Al-Amin M. (2011) “A comparative analysis of building materials for sustainable construction with emphasis on CO2 reduction†Int. J. Environment and Sustainable Development, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 364-374.
22. Mahmud, K., Islam, M.R. and Al-Amin, M. (2010). “Study the Reinforced Concrete Frame with Brick Masonry Infill due to Lateral Loadsâ€, International Journal of Civil & Environmental Engineering IJCEE-IJENS, Vol.10, No.04, pp. 35-40.
Submitted:
23. *Remie, R., Mahmud, K., Gary, M., Price, J.D., Katumwehe, A., and Vauter, B. “Using Drip Loggers to Characterize Groundwater Infiltration and Examine Hydrological Response in Cretaceous Karst Formation†submitted to Hydrology and Earth System Sciences.
24. *Kaspar M., *Brown K., Mahmud, K., Price, J.D., and Vauter, B. “Mapping Groundwater Infiltration in Karst using LiDAR at Natural Bridge Caverns, TX†submitted to Journal of Cave and Karst Studies.
25. *Pervin R., Robeson S., Barnes M., Sitch S., Walker A., Poulter B., Maignan F., Sun Q., Colligan T., Zaehle S., Mahmud K., Anthoni P., Arneth A., Arora V., Bastrikov V., Bogucki L., Decharme D., Delire C., Falk S., Ito A., Kato E., Kennedy D., Knauer J., O’Sullivan M., Yuan W., and MacBean N. “Importance of plant functional type, dynamic vegetation, and fire interactions for process-based modeling of gross carbon uptake across the drylands of western North America†Submitted to Biogeosciences.
26. *Kumarathunge, D., Mahmud, K., Drake, J.E., Tjoelker, M.G., Francisco, J.C., and Medlyn, B. “Which mechanisms determine the temperature response of tree seedling growth?†Submitted to Plant, Cell & Environment.
27. Hossain, M.S., Saiyara, N., Magumdar, T.K., Mazumder, L.C., Islam, S., Hossain, M.S., Raihan, S.UY., Bhuyan, M.A., Ahmed, S., Mahmud, K., and Ahsan, S.M. “Flood Forecasting in a Highly Developed Urban Area: A Synergistic Approach to Pluvial and Fluvial Flooding Using MIKE+?†Submitted to Computational Urban Science.
See either my Google Scholar or Researchgate profile for an extensive list of publications and conferences.