Hosein Foroutan
Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Affiliate Faculty, Global Change Center | BIOTRANS | Center for Coastal Studies

Office: 417 Durham Hall
Email: hosein@vt.edu
Phone: (540) 232-8400

Department Webpage
Google Scholar Profile


Ali Hossein Mardi
Postdoctoral Scholar
Email: alihmardi@vt.edu

Ali Joined the AIRFLows Lab in 2021 as a Postdoctoral Scholar. He has a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Arizona and an M.S. in Civil-Environmental Engineering from the Sharif University of Technology in Iran. His research interest is to study the formation, transport, and fate of aerosols in the atmosphere. Currently, he participates in an interdisciplinary study of Aeolian dust aerosols sourced from northern Africa and their ability to act as a medium for the transportation of microorganisms across the Atlantic.


Xinyue Huang
Ph.D. Student
Email: xinyueh@vt.edu

Xinyue joined AIRFlowS Lab in 2019. She has a B.S. in Environmental Engineering from Tsinghua University and a M.S. in Chemical and Environmental Engineering from Yale University. Her research interest is to simulate the fate and transport of substances in the environment with numerical models. She is working to develop an improved wind-blown dust emission scheme.


Manu Nimmala
Ph.D. Student (Co-advised with Dr. Shane Ross, AOE) 
Email: nimmala@vt.edu

Manu joined AIRFlowS and the Ross Dynamics Lab in 2019 as a Ph.D. student, after earning a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Case Western Reserve University. Her research is on fine-scale modeling of pollen transport from genetically-engineered crops.


Nishan Pokhrel
Ph.D. Student 
Email: nishan@vt.edu

Nishan joined the AIRFlowS Lab in 2021 as a Ph.D. student. He did his B.E. in Civil Engineering from Pulchowk Campus, Tribhuvan University, Nepal, and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech. His previous research dealt with developing and using a direct-on-filter (DOF) Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) method to analyze coal mine dust samples to estimate different minerals present in the airborne dust. His current research work deals with improving the understanding of microplastics in the atmosphere.


Huan Yang
Ph.D. Student 
Email: yanghuan@vt.edu

Huan joined AIRFlowS Lab in 2021 as a Ph.D. student. She has a B.E in Harbor and Coastal Engineering from Hohai University, China, and an M.S in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering from UCLA. Her current research focuses on water-sediment exchange and hydrodynamics process simulation in river networks using computational fluid dynamics.


Jennie Lee
B.S. Student 
Email: jenniel19@vt.edu

Jennie joined the AIRFlowS lab in 2021 and is pursuing a B.S. degree in Chemistry with a Green Engineering minor. Her current research focuses on observing atmospheric microplastic deposition abundance and composition in the Southwestern Appalachian Mountain region.


Adam Elnahas
B.S. Student 
Email: elnahasadam@vt.edu

Adam joined AIRFlowS Lab in 2022. He is currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering with a minor in Green Engineering. Upon graduating, he plans to receive an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Virginia Tech. His research interest is to better understand the transport of microplastics through the atmosphere as well as to learn about their impacts on health.


Former Members

Rayssa Brandao
M.S. in Environmental Engineering, 2021

Thesis Title: Atmospheric Pollutant Levels in Southeast Brazil During COVID-19 Lockdown: Combined Satellite and Ground-based Data Analysis


Charbel Harb
Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2022

Dissertation Title: Spray aerosols from saltwater to freshwater breaking waves


Nora AlAmiri
B.S. in Chemical Engineering (minor in Green Engineering), 2022