Rate My Professor Hassan Davani

Hassan Davani serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering within the College of Engineering at San Diego State University, specializing in water resources engineering. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Utah (2016), an M.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Tehran (2012), and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Power & Water University of Technology in Tehran, Iran (2009). Licensed as a Professional Engineer by the State of California, Davani directs the Urban Water Group laboratory and instructs courses in stormwater management, hydraulics, open channel design, and hydromodification management. His research addresses critical challenges in urban water resources, including stormwater management, green infrastructure implementation, coastal resilience, climate change adaptation, sea-level rise, life cycle assessment, sustainable development, image processing, and machine learning applications. Expertise encompasses satellite-based flood identification and community-driven green infrastructure solutions for climate adaptation, with ongoing field studies in regions such as the US-Mexico Border, Imperial Beach, the Imperial-Mexicali Valley, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

As Principal Investigator, Davani leads multiple federally funded research initiatives supported by the National Science Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and U.S. Department of Transportation. In 2022, he received the NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) Award for his project examining the environmental sustainability of combined versus separate sewer systems along the U.S. West Coast. That year, he also earned SDSU’s Trailblazer recognition through the Affordable Learning Solutions program for creating inclusive learning environments. Author of over 30 peer-reviewed journal publications, key contributions include “Low-impact development practices to mitigate climate change effects on urban stormwater runoff: Case study of New York City” (Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering, 2015), “Flood detection in urban areas using satellite imagery and machine learning” (Water, 2022), “How does climate change affect combined sewer overflow in a system benefiting from rainwater harvesting systems?” (Sustainable Cities and Society, 2016), “Performance and cost-based comparison of green and gray infrastructure to control combined sewer overflows” (Journal of Sustainable Water in the Built Environment, 2016), and “Compound inundation impacts of coastal climate change: Sea-level rise, groundwater rise, and coastal precipitation” (Water, 2020). He serves on the American Society of Civil Engineers’ International Participation Committee and Urban Water Resources Council.