Nikoo Research Group

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Pioneering environmental modeling, machine learning for water resources,
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About Dr. Mohammad Reza Nikoo

Dr. Mohammad Reza Nikoo is an Associate Professor at Sultan Qaboos University, Oman (2021–present), and a member of the Iranian Federation of Young Elites (2008–present). He received the 2024 Oman National Research Award and was ranked among the world’s top 2% scientists by Stanford University. He is also the top-ranked Civil Engineer in Oman (2024). Dr. Nikoo has served as an Honorary Visiting Fellow at the University of Technology Sydney (2022–present). Formerly at Shiraz University (2017–2021), he was Iran’s Eminent Young Scientist (2020). He has supervised 12 Ph.D. and 45 MSc theses and published 190+ papers with 5961 citations (H-index: 42).

Research Interests

  • Environmental modeling and risk assessment
  • Machine learning in water and environment
  • Sustainable water and environmental analysis
  • Renewable energy assessment (wave and tidal)
  • Game theory
  • Water quality in reservoirs, rivers, and groundwater
  • Modern optimization
  • Remote sensing

Honors & Awards

  1. World’s top 2% scientist (2024, based on Stanford’s Top 2% Scientists Ranking)
  2. Top-ranked Civil Engineer in Oman (2024)
  3. Iran’s Eminent Young Scientist (2020)
  4. Top Researcher, Shiraz University (2018, 2019, 2020)
  5. Superior Graduate PhD Student of Education-Research-Innovation (Iranian Federation of Young Elites, 2013)
  6. Best Ph.D. dissertation in Water Engineering (Iranian Hydraulic Association, 2013)
  7. Author of the best journal paper in water engineering by an Iranian researcher (Second Iran’s Water Festival, 2009)

Professional Credentials

  • American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)
  • Iranian Federation of Young Elites

Professional Development Activities

  • Water Symposium: Water Resources in Dhofar Mountains; Natural Wealth and Essential Life, Wilayat Salalah, Oman (October 2–3, 2024)
  • Workshop on Risk Assessment of Microplastics in Solid Waste (planned 2024)
  • Public Lecture by Prof. Reza Kerachian on HM Project Development (2024)
  • Workshop on Deep Learning Techniques for Climate Change Adaptation (2022)

Featured Research

Selected recent publications. For a full list of 190+ papers, visit my Google Scholar profile.

Two-Stage Meta-Ensembling Machine Learning Model for Enhanced Water Quality Forecasting

Heydari, S., Nikoo, M.R., Mohammadi, A., and Barzegar, R. (2024). Journal of Hydrology.

Machine Learning Water Quality Meta-Ensembling

Mapping Reservoir Water Quality from Sentinel-2 Satellite Data

Nikoo, M.R., Zamani, M.G., Zadeh, G., Al-Rawas, M., Al-Wardy, A.H., and Gandomi, A.H. (2024). Scientific Reports – Nature.

Remote Sensing Bayesian Maximum Entropy Water Quality

Improving Long-Term Flood Forecasting Accuracy Using Ensemble Deep Learning Models

Kordani, M., Nikoo, M.R., Fooladi, M., Ahmadianfar, I., Nazari, R., and Gandomi, A.H. (2024). Journal of Hydrologic Engineering – ASCE (Accepted).

Deep Learning Flood Forecasting Attention Mechanism

Long-Term Resilience in Wastewater Management: Optimizing Treated Wastewater Allocation

Nazeryzadeh, N., Nikoo, M.R., and Afzali, S.H. (2024). Journal of Environmental Management.

Multi-Agent Systems Wastewater Management Resilience

Robust Clustering-Based Hybrid Technique for Reliable Reservoir Water Quality Prediction

Fooladi, M., Nikoo, M.R., Mirghafari, R., Madramootoo, C., Al-Rawas, G., and Nazari, R. (2024). Journal of Environmental Management.

Uncertainty Quantification Reservoir Water Quality Spatial Analysis

Education

Ph.D. in Civil Engineering

University of Tehran, Iran (2012)

Water Resources Environmental Engineering

M.Sc. in Civil Engineering

University of Tehran, Iran (2008)

Water Engineering

Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering

University of Tehran, Iran (2006)

Civil Engineering

Presentations & Lectures

Keynote Speeches & Seminars

  • Keynote Speech: Climate Change Impacts on Mountainous Region of Dhofar: A Hybrid Deep Learning Approach, Water Symposium, Wilayat Salalah, Sultanate of Oman (October 2–3, 2024)
  • Seminar: Water Resources in Dhofar Mountains: Natural Wealth and Essential Life, Water Symposium, Wilayat Salalah, Sultanate of Oman (October 2–3, 2024)

Selected Conference Participations

  • Khorshidi, M.S., Yazdani, D., Mańdziuk, J., Nikoo, M.R., and Gandomi, A.H. (2023). "A Filter-Based Feature Selection and Ranking Approach to Enhance Genetic Programming for High-Dimensional Data Analysis," IEEE Congress on Evolutionary Computation (CEC), Chicago, IL, USA.
  • Rahimi, I., Gandomi, A.H., Nikoo, M.R., and Chen, F. (2023). “Extending Boundary Updating Approach for Constrained Multi-objective Optimization Problems,” International Conference on the Applications of Evolutionary Computation (EvoStar), Madrid, Spain.
  • Shadmani, A., Nikoo, M.R., Gandomi, A.H., and Al-Rawas, G. (2023). “A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Approach for Selection of Wave Energy Converter Optimal Site,” International Conference on Civil Infrastructure and Construction (CIC 2023), Doha, Qatar.

Research & Publications

For an up-to-date list of all 190+ publications, citations (5961), and H-index (42), please visit my Google Scholar profile.

Selected Journal Publications (2024)

  1. Heydari, S., Nikoo, M.R., Mohammadi, A., and Barzegar, R. (2024). “Two-Stage Meta-Ensembling Machine Learning Model for Enhanced Water Quality Forecasting”, Journal of Hydrology.
  2. Nikoo, M.R., Zamani, M.G., Zadeh, G., Al-Rawas, M., Al-Wardy, A.H., and Gandomi, A.H. (2024). “Mapping Reservoir Water Quality from Sentinel-2 Satellite Data Based on a New Approach of Weighted Averaging, the Application of Bayesian Maximum Entropy”, Scientific Reports – Nature.
  3. Kordani, M., Nikoo, M.R., Fooladi, M., Ahmadianfar, I., Nazari, R., and Gandomi, A.H. (2024). “Improving Long-Term Flood Forecasting Accuracy Using Ensemble Deep Learning Models and Attention Mechanism: Application of BI-LSTM, E-LSTM, and E-LSTM-GRU”, Journal of Hydrologic Engineering – ASCE (Accepted).
  4. Nazeryzadeh, N., Nikoo, M.R., and Afzali, S.H. (2024). “Long-Term Resilience in Wastewater Management: Optimizing Treated Wastewater Allocation with a Dynamic Multi-Agent Approach”, Journal of Environmental Management.
  5. Fooladi, M., Nikoo, M.R., Mirghafari, R., Madramootoo, C., Al-Rawas, G., and Nazari, R. (2024). “Robust Clustering-Based Hybrid Technique Enabling Reliable Reservoir Water Quality Prediction with Uncertainty Quantification and Spatial Analysis”, Journal of Environmental Management.

Professional Experience

2021 – Present

Associate Professor

Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

2022 – present

Honorary Visiting Fellow

University of Technology Sydney, Australia

2017 – 2020

Associate Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shiraz University, Iran

Sep 2020 – Jan 2021

Research Consultant

Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

Jan 2020 – Feb 2020

Research Visitor

Water Research Center, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

Mar 2019 – Sep 2019

Postdoctoral Fellow

Water Research Center, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

2013 – 2017

Assistant Professor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Shiraz University, Iran

2013 – 2014

Advisor

Golestan Regional Water Authority (Narmab Reservoir Water Quality Studies), Iran

Get In Touch

If you are interested in research collaboration, supervision, or professional opportunities, please feel free to reach out.

m.reza@squ.edu.om
linkedin.com/in/mohammad-reza-nikoo-2a819b55
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ORCID: 0000-0002-3740-4389
Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering,Sultan Qaboos University, Oman