Adam Ali
Associate Professor, Interim Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Director of the Graduate Program in Environmental and Sustainability Studies
Education
Kent State University
Ph.D. 2011
Research Interests
My research focuses on developing satellite-based algorithms that can accurately retrieve biogeochemical constituents in optically complex aquatic environments. This technology aids providing real-time insights into aquatic processes across different scales. It also improves our understanding of marine primary production, dissolved organic carbon, and their connection to the global carbon budget. I use multiple satellite sensors including MODIS, OLI, MERIS, Landsat 8, and Sentinel. My ongoing projects include the US Virgin Islands, US Great Lakes, and South Africa.
Courses Taught
GEOL 103 Environmental Geology
HONS 155 Honors Geology I
GEOL 291 Water Resources
GEOL 240/365 Geology and Environment of South Africa (Field Studies)
GEOL 395 Special Topics: Engineering Geology
GEOL 438/EVSS 638 Advanced Hydrogeology
GEOL 449/EVSS 649 Geographical Information Systems
GEOL 495/EVSS 693 Wetlands and Watersheds
EVSS 691: MST Ocean Color
EVSS 693 GIS: Remote Sensing
Honors and Awards
2024 – 2026 PI NASA/NSF Grant ($360,000.00)2023 – 2024 Co-PI NASA Rapid R3 Grant ($100,000.00)
2022 – 2025 Honorary Researcher at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa.
2023 – 2025 Co-PI- NASA – EPSCoR Grant ($744,453.00)
2023 – 2025 Co-PI – National Geography Grant ($30,000.00)
2022 – 2023 Co-PI- NASA Rapid R3 Grant ($100,000.00)
2021 – 2022 Fulbright US Scholar – South Africa
2020 – 2021 PI- NASA Rapid R3 Grant ($100,000.00)
2019 IIE Carnegie Fellow (June to August – 3-month, South Africa)
2016 – 2020 PI- NASA – EPSCoR grant ($748,026.00)
Publications
Obaid, A. A., Adam, E. M., Ali, K. A., & Abiye, T. A. (2024). Time Series Analysis of Water Quality Factors Enhancing Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs): A Study Integrating In-Situ and Satellite Data, Vaal Dam, South Africa. Water, 16(5), 764.
Ali, K.A., Flanagan, D., Brandt, M.E., Ortiz, J.D., and Smith, T.B. (2023). Semi-analytical inversion modeling of Chlorophyll a variability in the U.S. Virgin Islands. DOI:10.3389/frsen.2023.1172819
Obaid, A. A., Adam, E. M. & Ali, K. A. (2023). Land Use and Land Cover Change in the Vaal Dam Catchment, South Africa: A Study Based on Remote Sensing and Time Series Analysis. Geomatics 2023, 3(1), 205-220.
Chabalala, Y, Adam, E and Ali, K.A. (2023). Exploring the effect of balanced and imbalanced multi-class distribution data and sampling techniques on fruit-tree crop classification using different machine learning classifiers and remote sensing data. Journal of Geomatics 3(1).
Ali, K. A. and Abiye, T. A (2022). Potential role of acid mine drainage management towards achieving sustainable development in the Johannesburg region, South Africa. Groundwater for Sustainable Development 19(1):100839.
Ali, K. A., Abiye, T. A., & Adam, E. M. (2022). Integrating In Situ and Current Generation Satellite Data for Temporal and Spatial Analysis of Harmful Algal Blooms in the Hartbeespoort Dam, Crocodile River Basin, South Africa. Remote Sensing 14(17).
Ali, K.A. and Moses, W.J. (2022). Application of PLS-Augmented ANN Model for Retrieving Chlorophyll-a from Hyperspectral Data in Case 2 Waters of the Western Basin of Lake Erie. Remote Sensing 14(15):3729.
Jombo, S., Adam, E., Byrne, M. J., Ali, K. A., & Newete, S. W. (2020). Exploring the Potential of Feature Selection Methods in the Classification of Urban Trees using Field Spectroscopy Data. Journal of Geospatial and Environmental Research, 7(3), 3.
Kristi Kerrigan and Ali, K.A. (2020). Monitoring the effect of watershed development and climate on coral reefs in the US Virgin Islands using satellite-based sensors. Submitted to the International Journal of Remote Sensing 41:15, pages 5645-5652.
Mayer, C & Ali, K. A. (2017). Field Spectroscopy as a Tool for Enhancing Water Quality Monitoring in the ACE Basin, SC. Journal of SC water resources.