Gulf States Center For Environmental Informatics

About Us

Dr. Mahdi Abdelguerfi
Director

Welcome to the Canizaro Livingston Gulf States Center for Environmental Informatics (GulfSCEI, pronounced “Gulf Sea”). We foster interdisciplinary collaboration within the University of New Orleans and between investigators across the Gulf of Mexico, and empower scientists and engineers with modern informatics tools to solve environmental problems of the coastal margin of the US Gulf States. We assist state and federal agencies, non-governmental organizations, and industrial partners to advance their educational, research, and development capabilities in environmental informatics. Questions and inquiries about GulfSCEI should be directed to: gulfsceidirector@uno.edu.

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Upcoming Seminars

GulfSCEI is proud to announce the return of our seminar series. A regular seminar will be hosted approximately once per month in which a researcher has the opportunity to present their latest work. The seminars will be delivered in-person and remotely via Zoom. We also host M.S. and Ph.D. defenses for graduate students that are open to the public.

• 

  Ted Holmberg
  PINNs and Surrogate Models for Real-Time Hydrological Forecasting along the Mississippi

    Presented By Ted Holmberg

    Thu, May 8, 2025 @ 10:00 AM

    Math 303 & Via Zoom

  
  

  Abstract: Physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) can serve as fast, equation-aware surrogates for the computational models used in river, levee, and subsurface analysis. By embedding governing hydrodynamic and hydrogeologic equations within the learning process, these surrogates deliver accurate results... Read More

Latest News

• 

  New!
  GulfSCEI researcher Rasha Alshawi successfully defends doctoral research, heads for University of San Francisco in August

  Apr. 16, 2025: Today we celebrate a major milestone for one of our GulfSCEI Doctoral Research Assistants, Rasha Alshawi. Read More
• 

  New!
  GulfSCEI researcher Johny Lopez awarded prestigious DoD SMART scholarship

  Apr. 3, 2025: GulfSCEI graduate research assistant, Johny Lopez, has been awarded the Department of Defense’s Science, Mathematics, and Research for Transformation (SMART)... Read More
• 

  New!
  Graz University of Technology M.S. student Christina Thrainer begins research visit at GulfSCEI

  Mar. 27, 2025: GulfSCEI is pleased to welcome a new Austrian international research collaborator from Graz University of Technology, Christina Thrainer. A master's student... Read More
• 
  Visiting Graz Technical University M.S. student Elias Sandner completes his visit to GulfSCEI

  Jul. 28, 2023: At GulfSCEI, we have the fortune to work with a wide variety of students and scholars of different backgrounds. Through July 2023, Graz Technical University Graduate... Read More

Active Grants

• Geospatial Intelligence and Pattern Discovery

  Abdelguerfi, M. (PI)

  Office of Naval Research (ONR) - Department of the Navy

  Award: $1,813,141 (N00173-19-S-BA01). Sep. 2020 — Aug. 2025

Our Research

The GulfSCEI center fosters interdisciplinary collaboration within UNO and facilitates close collaboration with non-academic institutions, such as state and federal agencies and industrial partners. Some of our latest research topics include:

Equipment & Capabilities

At GulfSCEI, we use cutting-edge technology to support our research and mission. We house multiple custom servers for data processing and analysis and numerous workstations. We also maintain and deploy drones with specialized optical technology and other sensors. Find out more about our ever-expanding equipment and capabilities with the button below.

Tour Our Capabilities

Recent Publications

• Panta, M., Hoque, T., Abdelguerfi, M., Flanagin, M., IterLUNet: Deep Learning Architecture for Pixel-Wise Crack Detection in Levee Systems, IEEE ACCESS, 2023, doi 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3241877.
• Pokhrel, P., Ioup, E., Hoque, T., Abdelguerfi, M., Simeonov, J., A Transformer- Based Regression Scheme for Forecasting Significant Wave Heights in Oceans, IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 1010-1023, Oct. 2022, doi: 10.1109/JOE.2022.3173454
• Murphy, D., Ioup, E., Hoque, T., Abdelguerfi, M., Multi-Channel Residual Learning for Marine Mammal Classification, IEEE ACCESS, 2022, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3220735.
• Holmberg, E, Ioup, E., Abdelguerfi, M., A Stochastic Geo-Spatiotemporal Bipartite Network to Optimize GCOOS Sensor Placement Strategies, Second Workshop on Knowledge Graphs and Bid Data in Conjunction with 2022 IEEE Conference on Big Data, On Line Workshop, December 2022. [Full Paper]
• Kuchi, A., Panta, M., Hoque, T., Abdelguerfi, M., Flanagin, M., A Machine Learning Approach to Detecting Cracks in Levees and Floodwalls, Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment, Elsevier, 2021.
• Pokhrel, P., Ioup, E., Hoque, M., Abdelguerfi, M., Simenov, J., Forecasting Rogue Waves in Oceanic Waters, IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning and Applications (ICMLA), Seattle, Washing, December 2020.
• Rajendra, R., Michael, C., Ioup, E., Hoque, T., Abdelguerfi, M., Online Feature Selection for Semantic Segmentation, The 9th International Conference on Data Analytics, Nice - France, October 2020.
• Sharma, A., Hoque, T., Ioup, E., Abdelguerfi, M., Wind Forecasting from Airplane Data, 2020 International IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Conference, Hawaii, July 2020.

Gallery

Make a Gift

Please consider helping the GulfSCEI center by making your tax-deductible donation today. Use the link below to make your one-time or recurring gift. Make sure to select Gulf States Center For Environmental Informatics (GulfSCEI) in the options listed. Thank you!

Contact

The GulfSCEI center is located at The University of New Orleans. Inquiries should go to gulfsceidirector@uno.edu.