Saied Mostaghimi, associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station at Virginia Tech, has been reappointed the H.E. and Elizabeth F. Alphin Professor of Agriculture and Life Sciences by Virginia Tech President Timothy D. Sands and Senior Vice President and Provost Mark G. McNamee.

The professorship was established in 1995 through the gifts of Col. Horace E. Alphin, a member of the Virginia Tech Class of 1934, and his wife, Elizabeth, to further the scholarly endeavors in the area of agriculture and life sciences.

The term of the professorship is five years, but holders can be reappointed. Mostaghimi has held the H. E. and Elizabeth F. Alphin Professorship since 2000.

A member of Virginia Tech faculty since 1984, Mostaghimi is internationally known for his research, outreach, and educational programs in soil and water conservation and in nonpoint source pollution assessment and control.

Specifically, his research programs have concentrated on the design of water quality monitoring systems, the integration of modeling and monitoring for assessing the impacts of human activities on water quality, and the development and validation of computer simulation models for use by agencies involved in water resources planning and management. Mostaghimi has received more than $16 million in research grants and has published more than 400 archival and conference publications.

Prior to his current appointment he served as head of Virginia Tech’s Department of Biological Systems Engineering.

Mostaghimi has received numerous professional honors and awards, including the Virginia Tech Alumni Awards for Graduate Advising and for Excellence in Outreach, the Hancor Soil and Water Engineering Award from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, and Merit Awards from the Soil and Water Conservation Society. He is a Fellow and long-standing member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.

Mostaghimi received his bachelor’s degree from Pahlavi University in Iran and a master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Dedicated to its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve), Virginia Tech takes a hands-on, engaging approach to education, preparing scholars to be leaders in their fields and communities. As the commonwealth’s most comprehensive university and its leading research institution, Virginia Tech offers 240 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 31,000 students and manages a research portfolio of $513 million. The university fulfills its land-grant mission of transforming knowledge to practice through technological leadership and by fueling economic growth and job creation locally, regionally, and across Virginia.

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