Sharif University of
Technology

 
 
   Full Name:

 
   Mahdi Zarghami

   Email Address:
 
 
zarghami [AT] sharif.edu 

   Personal Web Site:
 
  http://sharif.edu/~zarghami  

 



          
   Place of Residence:
  
 Sharif University of Technology ; Energy, Water and Environment Research Center
 

   Position:
2020- Adjunct Prof., Institute of Water and Energy, Sharif University of Technology

2019 Adviser to Vice Minister of Water and Wastewater Affairs, Ministry of Energy, Islamic Republic of Iran

2016- Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Tabriz

2015- Research Affiliate, Socio-Technical Systems Research Center and Comprehensive Initiative on Technology Evaluation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, USA

2014-2015 Research Scholar, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University, Boston, USA

2011-2016   Associate professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Water Department, University of Tabriz

2007-2011    Assistant professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Water Department, University of Tabriz

2006- 2007    Visiting Researcher, Systems and Industrial Engineering Dept., University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

2002-2007    PhD,  Department of Civil Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

1998-2001    MSc, Institute of Research on Planning and Management, Tehran, Iran

1994-1998          BSc,  Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran

1990-1994          High School Diploma, Shahid Madani (branch of national organization of developing exceptional talents, SAMPAD), Tabriz, Iran.

Membership background

  1. IAHS: International Association on Hydrologic Science
  2. IRNCID: Iranian Commission on Irrigation and Drainage
  3. IRWRA: Iranian Water Resources Association
  4. SIVE: Iranian Value Engineering Association
  5. ISIF: International Society of Information Fusion
  6. IWRA: International Water Resources Association
  7. MCDM: Multi Criteria Decision Making Society
  8. IROS: Iranian Operations Research Society
  9. Sharif Uni. of Technology Alumni Association.
  10. Watershed Management Society of Iran
  11. IWA: International Water Association
  12. EURO Working Group on OR for Development, Junior Fellow
  13. North American Lake Management Society
  14. EWRI: Environmental and Water Resources Institute
  15. IAHR: International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research
  16. Iranian Agricultural Economics Society
  17. International Society for Metaheuristic Optimization in Science and Technology

Responsibilities

  • Member of organizing committee, Director of publication and media, 3rd Iran Water Resources Management Conference, 14-16 October 2008, University of Tabriz.
  • Organizer, Workshop on Multi-Criteria Decision Making for Water Resources and Environment Management, 13 August 2008, University of Tabriz.
  • Advisor on research projects and member of Water planning and Economics committee, East Azerbaijan Regional Water Company, 2008- now
  • Representative of Iranian Operations Research Society (in University of Tabriz).
  • Research Fellow, Earth System Governance Research Project, from 2010.
  • Member of the governing board, Iran Water Resources Association, from 2010.
  • Advisor of Civil Engineering Student Scientific Association, University of Tabriz, from 2010.
  • Member of advisory board in Fourth Iranian National Conference on Water Resources Management, 2010.
  • Field trips responsible: Taleghan Reservoir, Latyan Reservoir, Tehran Meteorological Organizations, Uremia Lake and its causeway project, Shahriar Reservoir, Alavian Reservoir, Bandar Abbas Port, Aras Reservoir, Khodafarin Dam, Sattarkhan Dam, Tabriz Wastewater Treatment Plant, Tabriz Infrastructures for Irrigating Parks, Ghalechai Dam, Zarrinerud Water Transfer Project, Sahand Meteorological Radar.
  • Member of advisory board on Infrastructure, Environment and Health for Research Center of Tabriz City Council, from 2011.
  • Member of organizing committee, 4th Iran Water Resources Management Conference, 3-4 May 2011, Amirkabir University of Technology.
  • Member of Water Science and Eng. Group for Curriculum Planning in Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, from 2011.
  • Member of the Committee on Non-Revenue Water Reduction, East Azerbaijan Province Rural Water and Wastewater Company, from 2011.
  • Representative for University of Tabriz in the research fields of Ministry of Energy, 2012-now.
  • Member of Committee on Water Planning and Economics, East Azerbaijan Water Company, Since 1999.
  • Member of Committee on Project Management, East Azerbaijan Water Company, 2013.
  • Member of Committee on Water Management, Parks Organization of Tabriz Municipality, 2014.
  • Boston Water Group, 2014
  • Co-organizer: Can Water Diplomacy Enable a New Future for the Urmia Lake? A two-day workshop on a case study using the Water Diplomacy Framework. July 02-03, 2015 at Tufts University and MIT.
  • Co-organizer: "Can Water Diplomacy Enable a New Future for the Urmia Lake?", 2nd Congress on Advancement of Science and Technology in Islamic World, 29 Feb-01 March 2016, University of Tabriz.
  • Co-organizer: A Discussion Panel on Urmia Lake; Adaptive Solutions under Climate Change? by the help of National Committee of the Lancet Commission: Climate Change and Public Health and the Faculty of Geography and Planning at the University of Tabriz, Nov. 23, 2016.
  • Co-organizer: Second Discussion Panel on Urmia Lake; Finland Experiences for Environmental Stewardship, by the help of Oulu University and the Faculty of Geography and Planning at the University of Tabriz, March. 11-12, 2016.
  • Founding member and head of Chairing Committee, Azerbaijan Water Diplomacy Room: The mission of this consulting NGO includes policy making for agriculture and rural development, 2016-now.
  • Co-organizer: International Workshop on Nexus Approach for Environmental Resources Management, by the help of United Nations University (UNU-FLORES) at the University of Tabriz, Nov. 12-13, 2017.
  • Director, Green Management Project for the University of Tabriz, 2018
  • Representative of Iran Water Resources Association in East Azerbaijan from 2018.
  • Founding Member, Center of Excellence in Hydroinformatics, Faculty of Civil Eng., University of Tabriz, Iran from 2018.
  • Advisor to Vice Minister of Energy, Iran from 2019.

 Editorial Positions

 

  • Editorial-in-Chief, Journal of Iran Water Resources Research, from 2012 (in Farsi and English)
  • Editorial Board, Journal of Water and Irrigation Management, from 2019 (in Farsi and English)
  • Advisory Board, Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering from 2013 (University of Tabriz, in Farsi).

 Awards

  • Scholarship from Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran, 2001, to study PhD in Sharif University of Technology.
  • Scholarship from Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran, 2005, to attend the 7th IAHS conference in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil.
  • Distinguished student in Sharif University of Technology, 2005.
  • Grant from SIWI, to attend 15th Stockholm Water Symposium, World Water Week, 21-27 August 2005, Stockholm, Sweden.
  • Scholarship from Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran, 2006, to be visiting scholar at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.
  • Travel Grant from Systems and Industrial Eng. University of Arizona for 36th WDSI conference, 2007.
  • Selected and awarded PhD thesis nationwide, 2008, Iranian Students Book Agency, ISBA.
  • Outstanding graduated student in PhD degree, 2008, Sharif University of Technology.
  • Travel Grant from the United Nations University to attend the IHDP Open Meeting 2009, Bonn, Germany.
  • Tavakoli Prize for Conducting Original Researches, (2009), Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran.
  • The Best Researcher, Faculty of Civil Eng. University of Tabriz, 2009.
  • Extraordinary Achievement in EURO working Group on OR for Development, 2010, University of Lisbon, Portugal.
  • The Second Best Researcher, Faculty of Civil Eng. University of Tabriz, 2011.
  • Certificate of Appreciation from East Azerbaijan Regional Water Company (Iran) for high Scientific and Research Cooperation, 2012.
  • Certificate of Appreciation from Iran Ministry of Energy, Water and Wastewater Directory, for presentation in First Seminar on Social Studies for Dam Construction Projects, 29 May 2013.
  • Travel Grant from World Climate Research Program and IPCC to attend CORDEX2013.
  • The Best Researcher, Faculty of Civil Eng. University of Tabriz, 2015.
  • Selected Associate Editor, Journal of Iran Water Resources Research, 2017.
  • World's Top 2% Scientists
  • Founding Board Member of Iran Hydropolitics Association, 2021.

 

Research Interests (and interested courses for teaching)

  • Integrated Water Resources Management
  • Water Governance and Water Policy
  • New topics in Hydrology
  • Multi-Criteria Decision Making
  • Sustainable development
  • Aggregation Operators for Information Fusion
  • Conflict Resolution between Stakeholders
  • System Dynamic (on water resources)
  • Systems Engineering of Hydro-systems
  • Climate Change and Impacts on Water Resources
  • Adaptation to Climate Change
  • Decision Making under Uncertainty
  • Evolutionary Algorithms
  • Water and Energy Nexus
  • Sensitive Urban Planning and Design
  • Agriculture and rural development.

Book

1.      Zarghami M., Szidarovszky F., Multicriteria Analysis: Applications to Water and Environment Management, June 2011, Springer, Berlin.

 

Books (in Farsi)

 

2.      Ardakanian R., Zarghami M. Managing Water Resources Projects, February 2011, Iranian Students Book Agency, Tehran.

3.      Hassanzadeh, Y., Nourani V., Zarghami M. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 3rd Iranian Water Resources Management Conference, October 2008, University of Tabriz, Iran.

4.      Mohammad Khorshiddost A., Zarghami M. Green Cities, 2012, University of Tabriz and Research Center of Tabriz City Council, (Translation).

 

Chapters in Books

5.      Zarghami, M., AmirRahmani, M., A System Dynamics Approach to Simulate the Restoration Plans for Urmia Lake, Iran, in M. Akio (Ed.), Optimization and Dynamics with Their Applications, Springer, 2017.

6.      Nikjoofar, A., Zarghami, M., Evolutionary Multi-objective Optimization of the Water Distribution Networks; A Case Study from Iran, in X.S. Yang, A.H. Gandomi, S. Talatahari, A.H. Alavi (Eds.), Metaheuristics in Water, Geotechnical, and Transport Engineering, Elsevier, 2013.

7.      Zarghami M., Szidarovszky F., Soft Computing in Water Resources Management by Using OWA Operator, in R. Yager, J. Kacprzyk and G. Beliakov (Eds.), Recent Developments in the Ordered Weighted Averaging Operators: Theory and Practice, Springer, 2011, Volume 265/2011, 269-279.

 

Invited speaker in scientific events

1.      "Water Diplomacy: Step foreword for effective governance", Indo-Iranian Workshop on Water  Resources Management, Ferdowsi University of Mashad, 29 Oct. 2020.

2.       "Water diplomacy among conflicting stakeholders to balance water-food nexus", Water Management and Food Security in Iran 2020: Online Training, June 29 - July, 3 2020, The Hague Academy for Local Governance.

3.      "Reflecting on Iran’s water governance and solutions for future", A workshop for Iran-Australia WaterGuide Dialogue, 6-7 January 2017, East Azerbaijan Water Company, Tabriz, Iran.

4.      "Engineering Diplomacy: Needed for Success of the Developing Countries", Regional Workshop on “South-South Cooperation for Strengthening Engineering Standards and Mobility of Professionals", 21-22 December 2017, UNESCO Jakarta, Indonesia.

5.      "Water Security Needs Interdisciplinary Engineering; Iran's Experience", International High Level Policy Forum and Workshop on Developing the Roadmap on Accreditation of Engineering Qualifications to FEIAP Education Standards in Central Asia Region, 27 to 29 March 2017, Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

6.      "Can Water Diplomacy Enable a New Future for the Urmia Lake?", 2nd Congress on Advancement of Science and Technology in Islamic World, 02-03 March 2016, University of Tehran.

7.      "Water Diplomat", MIT Water Innovation Prize, 06 April 2015, MIT.

8.      "Sustainable Management of Urmia Lake: Is an Engineering Approach Sufficient?", MIT Water Club, MIT, 11 March 2015.

9.      "Sustainable Water Resources Management in Fast Developing Regions: Case of Urmia Lake", Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Seminars, Tufts University, 24 Feb 2015.

10.  "Soft Water Management for Effective Water Governance in Urmia Lake basin", Urmia Lake Restoration Plan, Tabriz, 21 May 2014.

11.  "Tools for Integrated Watershed Management", 4rd Workshop of National Plan for Integrated Watershed Management, Shiraz University, 19-20 June 2013.

12.  "Social Studies as a Tool for Water Governance", First Seminar on Social Studies for Dam Construction Projects, Iran ICOLD and Iran Ministry of Energy, 29 May 2013, Tehran.

13.  "Effective Water Governance of Urmia Lake, Iran", Narvan (NGO) Symposium on Clean Azerbaijan, March 01, 2010, University of Tabriz.

14.  "Role of Governments/Public/Civil Society in Sustainable Water use under Climate Change Conditions", International Training Workshop on Sustainable Water Use in Conditions of Climate Change, organized by RCUWM and IARTC, 25-27 July 2011, Izmir, Turkey.

15.  "IWRM with Nash Bargaining and Leader-Follower Models: Application to the Zarrinehrud River Basin, Iran", The First International and Third National Conference on Dams and Hydropower in Iran, 8-9 February 2011, Tehran.

 

Papers in peer-reviewed journals

 

1.      Anbari, M.J., Zarghami, M., Nadiri, A. (2021) An uncertain agent-based model for socio-ecological simulation of groundwater use in irrigation: A case study of Lake Urmia Basin, Iran, Agricultural Water Management, 249, 106796.

2.      Barhagh, S.E., Zarghami, M., Alizadeh Govarchin Gale, Y. Shahbazbegian, M.R. (2021). System dynamics to assess the effectiveness of restoration scenarios for the Urmia Lake: A prey-predator approach for the human- environment uncertain interactions, Journal of Hydrology, 593, 125891.

3.      Janjua, S., Hassan, I. Zarghami, M. Islam, S. (2020), Addressing supply-demand gap in the shared rivers using water diplomacy framework: Utility of game theory in the Indus River within Pakistan, Water Policy 22, 789-810.

4.      Atazadeh E., Barton A., Shirinpour, M., Zarghami M. and Rajabifard A. (2020). River management and environmental water allocation in regulated ecosystems of arid and semiarid regions, A review. Fundamental and Applied Limnology, Archiv fur Hydrobiologie. 10.1127/fal/2020/1286. (in press).

5.      Sadeghi S.H., Sharifi Moghadam E., Delavar M., Zarghami M., (2020) Application of water-energy-food nexus approach for designating optimal agricultural management pattern at a watershed scale, Agricultural Water Management, 233, 1-13.

6.      Baghapour M.A., Shooshtarian M.R. Zarghami M. (2020) Process mining approach of a new water quality index for long-term assessment under uncertainty using consensus-based fuzzy decision support system, Water Resources Management, 34, 1155-1172.

7.      Sharifi Moghadam E., Sadeghi S.H., Zarghami M., Delavar M., (2019) Water-energy-food nexus as a new approach for the watershed resources management: A review. Environmental Resources Research, 7(2), 129-136.

8.      Hashemi M., Mazandarani Zadeh, H., Daneshkare Arasteh, P., and Zarghami M., (2019) Economic and environmental impacts of cropping pattern elements using systems dynamics, 5(5), 1020-1032.

9.      Ahmadi, M.H., and Zarghami, M. (2019) Should water supply for megacities depend on outside resources? A Monte-Carlo system dynamics simulation for Shiraz, Iran, Sustainable Cities and Society, 44, 163-170.

10.  Ebrahimi Sarindizaj, E. and Zarghami, M. (2019) Sustainability assessment of restoration plans under climate change by using system dynamics; Application on Urmia Lake, Iran, Journal of Water and Climate Change 10 (4): 938-952.

11.  Alami, M.T., Abbasi, H., Niksokhan, M.H. and Zarghami, M. (2018) Charged system search for optimum design of cost-effective structural best management practices for improving water quality, International Journal of Optimization in Civil Engineering, 8(2), 295-309.

12.  Khodadadi M., Tohidi G., Zarghami M., (2017) Sensitivity analysis of the ordered weighted averaging operator via linear models, Computers & Industrial Engineering 112, 264-273.

13.  Fouladi Osgouei, H., Zarghami, M., Ashouri, H. (2017), Disaggregating radar-derived rainfall measurements in East Azarbaijan, Iran, using a spatial random-cascade model, Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 129(1), 427-435.

14.  Zarghami M., Fotookian MR, Safari N, Aslanzadeh A. (2016) Reservoir operation using system dynamics under climate change impacts: A case study of Yamchi Reservoir, Iran, Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 9, 678.

15.  Sadeghfam, S., Hassanzadeh, Y., Nadiri, A., Zarghami M. (2016). Localization of groundwater vulnerability assessment using catastrophe theory, Water Resources Management, 30(13), 4585-4601.

16.  Babaeian, I, Modirian, R., Karimian, M., Zarghami, M., (2015). Simulation of climate change in Iran during 2071-2100 using PRECIS regional climate modelling system, Desert 20-2, 123-134.

17.  Javidi Sabbaghian R., Zarghami, M., A. Pouyan Nejadhashemi, A., Sharifi M.B., Herman, M.R., Daneshvar F., (2015). Application of risk-based multiple criteria decision analysis for selection of the best agricultural scenario for effective watershed management, Journal of Environmental Management, 168, 260-272 (IF~3.057).

18.  Zarghami, M., Safari, N., Szidarovszky, F., Islam, I. (2015), Nonlinear interval parameter programming combined with cooperative games: A tool for addressing uncertainty in water allocation using water diplomacy framework, Water Resources Management, 29: 4285-4303.

19.  Mirabi M., Mianabadi H., Zarghami M, Sharifi M.B., and Mostert E., (2014), Risk-based evaluation of wastewater treatment projects: A case study in Niasar city, Iran, Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 93, 168-177.

20.  Hajiabadi R., and Zarghami M., (2014), Multi-objective reservoir operation with sediment flushing; Case study of Sefidrud Reservoir, Water Resources Management. 28, 5357-5376, (IF~2.259).

21.  Mianabadi H., Mostert E., Zarghami M., van de Giesen N., (2014), A new bankruptcy method for conflict resolution in water resources allocation, Journal of Environmental Management, 144, 152-159, (IF~3.057).

22.  Minatour Y., Bonakdari H., Zarghami M., and Ali Bakhshi M., (2014) Water supply management using an extended group fuzzy decision making method: A case study in
North-Eastern Iran, Applied Water Science, 5(3), 291-304.

23.  Amirrahmani M. and Zarghami M., (2015) The use of statistical weather generator, hybrid data driven and system dynamics models for water resources management under climate change, Journal of Environmental Informatics, 25(1), 23-35 (IF~3.619).

24.  Safari, N., Zarghami, M. and Szidarovszky, F. (2014) Nash bargaining and leader-follower models in water allocation: Application to the Zarrinehrud River basin, Iran, Applied Mathematical Modelling, 38, 1959-1968 (IF~1.706).

25.  Felfelani, F., Jalali Movahed, A., and Zarghami M., (2013) Simulating hedging rules for effective reservoir operation by using system dynamics: a case study of Dez Reservoir, Iran, Lake and Reservoir Management, 29(2), 126-140 (IF~1.041).

26.  Amirrahmani M. and Zarghami M., (2013) A new approach to combine climate change projections by ordered weighting averaging operator; Applications to Northwestern Provinces of Iran, Global and Planetary Change 102(3), March, 41-50 (IF~3.707).

27.  Zarghami, M. and Hajykazemian, H., (2013) Urban water resources planning by using a modified particle swarm optimization algorithm, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 70(1), January, 1-8 (IF~1.759).

28.  Hassanzadeh, E., Zarghami, M., and Hassanzadeh Y., (2012) Determining the main factors in declining the Urmia Lake level by using system dynamics modeling, Water Resources Management, 26(1), January/February, 129-145 (IF~2.259).

29.  Rohaninejad M. and Zarghami, M., (2012) Combining Monte Carlo and finite difference methods for effective simulation of dam behaviour, Advances in Engineering Software, 45(1), March, 197-202 (IF~1.422).

30.  Zarghami, M. and Akbariyeh, S., (2012) System dynamics modeling for complex urban water systems; Application to the city of Tabriz, Iran, Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 60, March, 99-106 (IF~1.759).

31.  Zarghami, M., Abdi A., Babaeian I., Hassanzadeh Y., and Kanani R., (2011) Impacts of climate change on runoffs in East Azerbaijan, Iran, Global and Planetary Change, 78(3-4), August/September, 137-146 (IF~3.707, Top 25 Hottest Article in this journal July-Sep 2011).

32.  Zarghami M. (2011) Effective watershed management; Case study of Urmia Lake, Iran, Lake and Reservoir Management, 27(1), March, 87-94 (IF~1.041) (Most read article, 2013-04-13).

33.  Mianabadi, H., Afshar, A., and Zarghami M. (2011) Intelligent multi-stakeholder environmental management, Expert Systems with Applications, 38(1), January, 862-866 (IF~1.965).

34.  Zarghami M. (2010) Urban water management using fuzzy-probabilistic multi-objective programming with dynamic efficiency, Water Resources Management, 24(15), December, 4491-4504.

35.  Zarghami M. (2011) Soft computing of the Borda count by fuzzy linguistic quantifiers,
Applied Soft Computing, 11(1), January, 1067-1073 (IF~2.679).

36.  Zarghami M. and Szidarovszky F., (2010) On the relation between compromise programming and the ordered weighted averaging operator, Information Sciences, 180(11), June, 2239-2248 (IF~3.893).

37.  Zarghami M. and Szidarovszky F., (2009) Revising the OWA operator for multi criteria decision making problems under uncertainty, European Journal of Operational Research, 198(1), October, 259-265 (IF~1.815).

Zarghami M. and Szidarovszky F. (2009) Stochastic-fuzzy multi criteria decision making for robust water resources management, Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 23(3), March, 329-339, IF~2.673.

38.  Zarghami M., Szidarovszky F., and Ardakanian R. (2009) Multi attribute decision making on inter-basin water transfer projects, Scientia Iranica, Transaction E, 16(1), January-June, 73-80.

39.  Szidarovszky F., Zarghami M. (2009) Combining Fuzzy quantifiers and neat operators for soft computing, Iranian Journal of Fuzzy Systems, 6(1), February, 15-25.

40.  Zarghami M., Szidarovszky F. and Ardakanian R., (2008) Sensitivity analysis of the OWA operator, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics-Part B, 38(2), April, 547-552.

41.  Zarghami M. and Szidarovszky F, (2008) Fuzzy quantifiers in sensitivity analysis of OWA operator, Computers and Industrial Engineering, 54(4), May, 1006-1018 (IF~1.589)..

42.  Zarghami M., Abrishamchi A. and Ardakanian, R. (2008) Multi-criteria decision making for integrated urban water management, Water Resources Management, 22(8), August, 1017-1029.

43.  Zarghami M., Szidarovszky F., and Ardakanian R. (2008) A fuzzy- stochastic OWA model for robust multi-criteria decision making, Fuzzy Optimization and Decision Making, 7(1), March, 1-15, IF~1.0.

44.  Zarghami M., Ardakanian R., Memariani A. and Szidarovszky F. (2008) Extended OWA operator for group decision making on water resources projects, Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management, ASCE, 134(3), May/June, 266-275.

45.  Zarghami, M., Ardakanian, R. and Memariani, A. (2007), Fuzzy multiple attribute decision making on inter-basin water transfers, case study: transfers to Zayanderud basin in Iran, Water International, 32(2), June, 280-293.

46.  Zarghaami, M.  (2006) Integrated water resources management in Polrud irrigation system, Water Resources Management, 20(2), April, 215-225.

Sharif University of Technology
Tehran - Iran