Farid Qamar

GPA – 4.0

Dissertation – Developing a novel solution to monitor air quality using ground-based hyperspectral remote sensing of vegetation in urban environments.

Transferred to PhD

Johns Hopkins University through Coursera

Thesis – Environmental Effects on Interacting Galaxy Pairs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Summa Cum Laude

Thesis – Radiative Transfer in the TreeSPH code GASOLINE for Simulating Planetary Formation

Graduate Research Assistant

Investigating the potential utilization of ground-based hyperspectral remote sensing to continuously monitor the air quality (AQ) across large swaths of urban areas with high spatial and temporal granularity using a single instrument. The proposal to achieve this is by using the inherent ability of trees and plants to react to variations in concentrations of chemicals in the atmosphere and the ability to detect such physiological changes using ground-based remote imaging.

Examining whether the implementation of spatially granular neighborhood-level monitoring policies in cities results in improvements in the distribution of AQ that would not have been gained by relying solely on readings from the sparse federally implemented EPA monitoring network. Additionally, investigating the potential factors and variables that are driving the diffusion process of hyperlocal air quality monitoring policies and programs in the US between various cities.

Publications

Graduate Research Assistant

Assisted in the development of the Delaware Hospitalization and Recovery Metrics Analysis (DHARMA) software for use by the State of Delaware to produce forecasts of future COVID-19 hospitalizations in the state.

Formulated and developed the ability to incorporate subpopulation characteristics into the DHARMA base code in order to better simulate the spread of COVID-19 through the population. The subpopulations can be divided into age groups, localities, or any significant separator with common characteristics that include social distancing, mask utilization, and comorbidities.

Designed and developed a public-facing webapp that allows the State of Delaware and other resource-limited States and Countries to simulate future COVID-19 hospitalizations, as well as other potential pandemics, with the flexibility to input a large number of parameters and potential scenarios.

Graduate Research Assistant

Performed research using Monte Carlo sensitivity studies to find a method for statistical signal extraction for the SNO+ experiment that eliminates background noise.

Performed various chemical analyses on materials used in the SNO+ detector to account for the metal impurities and enhance our understanding of the background noise.

Graduate Research Assistant

Collected data on ~500,000 galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS).

Developed a statistical method for defining galaxy pairs with appropriate controls for comparison.

Performed statistical analysis on the properties of galaxy pairs to extract large-scale effects on the galaxies from interactions depending on the density of their environments.

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Performed research in Computational Astrophysics to implement and test radiative transfer in the TreeSPH code Gasoline to add the ability to simulate planetary formation to the code.

Performed statistical research to investigate the effect of environment and redshift on the properties of interacting galaxy pairs from the CNOC2 sky survey.

Assisted in performing research on the use of analogues for cores and stars while simulating collapsing and turbulent molecular clouds.

Led a team and managed all aspects of a project initiated to comply with new policy to modernize the management of the commercial fishing and tree harvesting operations across the province.

Created the system and processes to gather harvest data for the province, analyze the data to calculate the market prices by geographical zones, calculate the royalty owed by each license holder, and use the data to assign quotas to maintain the sustainability of lake fishing and timber harvesting in the province.

Operated all aspects of a startup I.T. company that offers services in data science, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and document management.

Lincoln University: MATH 115

University of Delaware: PHYS 167 - GEOG 167 - SPPA 167

University of Delaware: SPPA 722

University of Delaware: CIEG 865

2015 - Queen's University

• CURR 351: Introduction to Teaching Physics

2014 - Trent University

• PHYS 3510H: Astrobiology: Life in the Universe
• PHYS 4520H: Astrophysics: Galaxies & Cosmology

2013 - Queen's University

• PHYS 1510H: Introductory Astronomy I
  
• PHYS 1520H:Introductory Astronomy II

2012 - Trent University

• PHYS 117: Introductory Physics