Ali Khosronejad, associate professor in Stony Brook University’s Department of Civil Engineering, was awarded a Senior Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award for the 2022-2023 academic year to join researchers and faculty members at the University of Carlos III of Madrid, Spain, beginning in January, 2023.
Khosronejad will conduct a research project concerning biosocial flow dynamics of human breathing to develop science-based mitigation strategies for COVID-19 and similar pandemics in the future. The project aims to determine the traveling distance of the saliva particles during coughing and breathing, and then measure the effectiveness of face masks for limiting the spreading of the saliva particles during breathing and coughing in collaboration with researchers in Spain and Europe.
This builds on research Khosronejad conducted during the height of the COVID-19 outbreak that used computational fluid dynamics modeling for coughing and breathing, indoors and outdoors, with masks and without. High-fidelity numerical simulations of respiratory particulate transport on high-performance supercomputers provided strong evidence that even the simplest masks are effective in protecting others by dissipating the forward momentum of expiratory jets, especially in indoor environments. The details of the study were published in a series of papers since 2020:
1. “Fluid dynamics simulations show that facial masks can suppress the spread of COVID-19 in indoor environments,” in American Institute of Physics (AIP) Advances (Vol.10, Issue 12);
2. “A computational study of expiratory particle transport and vortex dynamics during breathing with and without face masks,” in Physics of Fluids (Vol. 33)
3. “On the Lagrangian dynamics of saliva particles during normal mouth breathing,” in Physics of Fluids (Vol. 34)
“Dr. Khosronejad’s research shows the impact that engineering has in creating knowledge that can guide important decisions affecting individuals and society, whether it is wearing a face mask, the distribution of pollution in cities, or generating clean energy from wind and water currents,” said Rigoberto Burgueno, chair of the Department of Civil Engineering. “We are happy that Ali was recognized as a Fulbright Fellow for his impactful research and that he will be able to use this award to further his work on understanding how to best limit the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Khosronejad sets an example of the contributions that research has for the improvement of our society.”
Khosronejad’s research work focuses on basic research to develop and improve novel, multi-resolution and multi-physics computational fluid dynamics algorithms that run over supercomputer clusters. By applying simulation-based engineering tools, Khosronejad strives to employ his already developed simulation-based engineering science as a powerful tool for tackling today’s interdisciplinary scientific problems that are at the intersection of fluid mechanics and computational science. Khosronejad’s research approach also emphasizes simulation-driven experimentation and physics-driven computational modeling. Hence, he is actively involved in experimental fluid mechanics and collaborates with experimentalists nationally and internationally.
Khosronejad joined the faculty of Stony Brook’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 2016. He completed seven years as a post-doc at the St. Anthony Falls Lab of University of Minnesota. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering – Water Resources Engineering from Tarbiat Modarres University, an MS in Civil Engineering – Water Resources Engineering from Sharif University of Technology, and a BS in Water Resources Engineering from University of Tehran, all in Tehran, Iran. He is the recipient of more than $3.6 million in grants from NSF, NIH, DoE, local governments and private agencies.
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to forge lasting connections between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has enabled more than 390,000 dedicated and accomplished students, scholars, artists, teachers and professionals of all backgrounds to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas, and find solutions to shared international concerns. The Fulbright Program is funded through an annual appropriation made by the U.S. Congress to the U.S. Department of State.
The Fulbright Scholar Program for academics and professionals awards more than 1,700 fellowships each year, enabling 800 U.S. Scholars to go abroad and 900 visiting scholars to come to the United States. Fulbright alumni include 61 Nobel Laureates, 89 Pulitzer Prize winners, 76 MacArthur Fellows, and world-renowned experts in many fields across the private, public, and non-profit sectors.
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