Mehdi Omidvar ,
Ph.D.

  • Visiting Research Scholar

  • Assistant Professor, Manhattan College

Civil and Urban Engineering

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School of Engineering, New York University2015

Doctor of Philosophy, Civil Engineering

Mazandaran University, Iran2007

Master of Science, Bachelor of Science, Geotechnical Engineering

Manhattan College

Assistant Professor

From: September 2015 to present

New York Academy of Sciences

Education Fellow

After school STEM Mentor, Education Fellowship program, teaching STEM to K-12 under Finding Math (Funded by NSF) and Junk Drawer Robotics (4-H) programs

From: September 2012 to May 2013

Golestan University and Mazandaran University (Public-National)

Lecturer

Teaching Experience (2006-2010): - Soil Mechanics (undergraduate course in Civil Engineering) - Foundation Engineering (undergraduate course in Civil Engineering) - Mechanics of Materials (undergraduate course in Civil Engineering) - Engineering Geology and Construction Materials (undergraduate course Construction Engineering) - Road Construction (undergraduate course in Civil Engineering) - Technical English for Students of Civil Engineering (undergraduate course Construction Engineering) - Embankment Dams – Teaching Assistant (Graduate course in Geotechnical Engineering) - Numerical Modeling in Geomechanics - FLAC2D – Introductory and Advanced private course - PLAXIS 2D - Introductory and Advanced private course - PLAXIS 3D FOUNDATION - Introductory and Advanced private course

From: October 2006 to April 2010

Geotechnical Consultant, 2007-2009:

Freelance Geotechnical Consultant

- Stability Analysis of Zarem Rood Embankment Dam, Khazarab Consulting Engineers*, 2009. - Stability Analysis of Hozian Embankment Dam (Re-Analysis), Pars Rayab Co.*, 2007. - 2D Stress-Strain Analysis, Limit Equilibrium Stability Analysis, and 2D FE Seepage Stability Analysis of Barandooz Embankment Dam, Abkhan Consulting Engineers*, Iran, 2007. * Sub-contract to Dr. Reza Noorzad. Duties: - Performed extensive limit equilibrium stability analysis of cofferdam of Barandooz, designed cofferdam slopes and geometry of clay core (using Geo-Slope), performed extensive stability analysis of Hozian embankment dam (Construction phase re-analysis using Geo-Slope). - Performed two dimensional deformation analysis of Barandooz dam (using FLAC). - Performed extensive finite element seepage analysis Barandooz Cofferdam, including design of cutoff walls (using FLAC).

From: March 2007 to July 2009

Industry and Management Consultant Co.

Geotechnical Consultant

Duties: - Interpretation of geotechnical investigations, geotechnical boring and testing reports. - Assistant to senior project manager for reclamation project of petroleum refinery project. - Provided technical assistance to field engineers in vacuum consolidation project.

From: April 2004 to March 2006

Journal Articles


  1. Peden, R., Omidvar, M., Iskander, M., Bless, S. (2014). Photonic Doppler Velocimetry for Study of Rapid Penetration into Sand. Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol. 37, Issue 1, 13p. (ASTM)
  2. Omidvar, M., Iskander, M., Bless, S. (2013). Response of granular media to rapid penetration. International Journal of Impact Engineering; In Press. (Elsevier)
  3. Guzman, I., Iskander, M., Suescun-Florez, E., Omidvar, M. (2014). A Transparent Aqueous-Saturated Sand Surrogate for use in Physical Modeling. Acta Geotechnica, In Press. (Springer)
  4. Iskander, M., Chen, Z., Omidvar, M., Guzman, I., Elsherif, O. (2014). Active Static and Seismic Earth Pressure for c-φ Soils. Soils and Foundations, In Press. (Elsevier)
  5. Iskander, M., Chen, C., Omidvar, M., Guzman, I. (2013). Rankine pseudo-static earth pressure for c-φ soils. Mechanics Research Communications, Vol 51, pp. 51-55. (Elsevier)
  6. Iskander, M., Omidvar, M. and El-Sherif, O. (2012). Conjugate Stress Approach for Rankine Seismic Active Earth Pressure in Cohesionless Soils. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, ASCE, Vol 139, Issue 7,pp. 1205-1210. (ASCE)
  7. Omidvar, M., Iskander, M. and Bless, S. (2012). Stress-Strain Behavior of Sand at High Strain Rates. International Journal of Impact Engineering, 49: 192-213. (Elsevier)
  8. Ghotbi, A., Omidvar, M. and Barari, A. (2011). Infiltration in Unsaturated Soils – An Analytical Approach. Computers and Geotechnics, Vol. 38, No. 6, pp. 777-782. (Elsevier)
  9. Noorzad, R., and Omidvar, M. (2010). Dynamic Analysis of Embankment Dam with Reinforced Cohesive Shell. Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vol. 30, Issue 11, pp. 1149-1157. (Elsevier)
  10. Noorzad, R., Safari, S. and Omidvar, M. (2009). Effect of Structure on Wave-Induced Liquefaction Potential of Seabed Sand Deposits. Applied Ocean Research, Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 25-30. (Elsevier)
  11. Omidvar, M., Barari, A., Ghotbi, A.R. and Ganji, D.D. (2010). New Class of Solutions for Water Infiltration Problems in Unsaturated Soils. Geomechanics and Geoengineering: An International Journal, Vol 5, Issue 2, pp. 127-135. (Taylor and Francis)
  12. Sfahani, M. G., Barari, A., Omidvar, M., Ganji, S.S. and Domairy, G. (2011). Dynamic Response of Inextensible Beams by Improved Energy Balance Method. Journal of Multi-body Dynamics, Vol. 225, No.1, pp. 66-73. (Sage)
  13. Barari, A., Omidvar, M., Ghotbi, A.R. and Ganji, D.D. (2008). Application of Homotopy Perturbation Method and Variational Iteration Method to Nonlinear Oscillator Differential Equations. Acta Applicandae Mathematicae, Vol. 104, No. 2, pp. 161-171. (Springer)
  14. Barari, A., Omidvar, M., Ganji, D.D. and Tahmasebi Poor, A. (2008). An Approximate Solution for Boundary Value Problems in Structural and Engineering and Fluid Mechanics. Mathematical Problems in Engineering, Article ID: 394103. (Hindawi)
  15. Hosseinpour, I., Mirmoradi, H., Barari, A., Omidvar, M. (2010). Numerical Evaluation of Specimen Size Effect on the Stress-Strain Behavior of Geotextile-Reinforced Sand. Journal of Zhejiang University – Science A, Vol. 11, No. 8, pp. 555-562. (Springer)
  16. Barari, A., Omidvar, M., Ghotbi, A.R. and Ganji, D.D. (2009). Assessment of Water Penetration Problem in Unsaturated Soils. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences Discussions, Volume 6, pp. 3811-3833. (EGU)
  17. Noorzad R., Tahmasebi Poor, A., Omidvar, M. (2008). Variational Iteration Method and Homotopy Perturbation Method for Solving Burgers Equation in Fluid Dynamics. Journal of Applied Sciences, Vol. 8, No. 2, pp 369-373. (Science Alert)

Authored/Edited Books


  1. Book (Edited):Iskander, M., Bless, S., Omidvar, M. Projectile Penetration into Granular Media: Visualizing the fundamental physics of rapid earth penetration. Elsevier, Contracted for Aug. 2014.
  2. Book Chapter: Iskander, M., Omidvar, M., Bless, S. Response of granular media to high strain rate loading. In: Projectile Penetration into Granular Media: Visualizing the fundamental physics of rapid earth penetration. Elsevier, Contracted for Aug. 2014.
  3. Book Chapter: Bless, S., Iskander, M., Omidvar, M. Rapid Penetration into Granular Media. In: Projectile Penetration into Granular Media: Visualizing the fundamental physics of rapid earth penetration. Elsevier, Contracted for Aug. 2014.
  4. Book Chapter: Omidvar, M., Iskander, M., Bless, S. Meso-scale Observations of Rapid Penetration into Sand using Transparent Soils. In: Projectile Penetration into Granular Media: Visualizing the fundamental physics of rapid earth penetration. Elsevier, Contracted for Aug. 2014.

Other Publications


Conference Papers:

  1. Omidvar, M., Chen, Z., Iskander, M. (2015). Visualizing The Fundamental Physics Of Rapid Penetration In Soils, International Foundations Congress and Equipment Exposition, IFCEE2015, March 17-21, San Antonio, TX, Accepted.
  2. Suescun-Florez, E., Omidvar, M., Iskander, M. (2015). Strain Rate Dependency Of Sand Response Under Monotonic Loading. International Foundations Congress and Equipment Exposition, IFCEE2015, March 17-21, San Antonio, TX, Accepted.
  3. Boccalini, F., Omidvar, M., Chen, Z., Iskander, M. (2015). Comparison Of Soil Structure Interaction During Pile Jacking And Pile Driving In Granular Media. International Foundations Congress and Equipment Exposition, IFCEE2015, March 17-21, San Antonio, TX, Accepted.
  4. Iskander, M., Omidvar, M., Chen, Z. (2015). An Alternative to Mononobe–Okabe For Seismic Analysis Of Earth Pressure. International Foundations Congress and Equipment Exposition, IFCEE2015, March 17-21, San Antonio, TX, Accepted.
  5. Omidvar, M., Chen, Z., Bless, S., Iskander, M. (2014). Scale Bridging of Interactions during Penetration of Granular Media. Proceedings of the Society of Engineering Mechanics, Annual Conference & Exposition on Experimental and Applied Mechanics, June 2-5, 2014, Accepted.
  6. Bless, S., Peden, R., Guzman, I., Omidvar, M., Iskander, M. (2014). Poncelet Coefficients of Granular Media. Dynamic Behavior of Materials, Vol. 1, Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series 2014, pp. 373-380.
  7. Omidvar, M., Iskander, M., Bless, S., Guzman, I., Peden, R. (2012). Visualizing the Fundamental Physics of Rapid Earth Penetration using Transparent Soils. Gordon Conference: Granular and Granular-Fluid Flow, Davidson, NC.
  8. Barari, A., Omidvar, M., Gholitabar, S. and Ganji, D.D. (2007). Variational Iteration Method and Homotopy Perturbation Method for Solving Second Order Nonlinear Wave Equation. American Institute of Physics (AIP) International Conference on Numerical Analysis and Applied Mathematics, Sep. 2007, Vol. 936, pp. 81-85.
  9. Noorzad, R. and Omidvar, M. (2008). Seismic Analysis of Reinforced Embankment Dams. Proceedings of Fourth National Congress on Civil Engineering, Tehran, Iran, May 2008, Paper No. 1149. (In Farsi)
  10. Noorzad, R., Omidvar, M. and Gholitabar, S. (2010). Behaviour of Single Piles adjacent to Deep Excavations. Proceedings of Fifth National Congress on Civil Engineering, Mashhad, Iran.

Research Projects Completed:

  1. Noorzad, R. Khosravian, A. and Omidvar, M. (2007). Dynamic Analysis of Embankment Dams under near-Field and Far-Field Earthquakes. Ministry of Energy, Iran, Project No. DAM3-84001, 194p. (In Farsi)
  2. Noorzad, R. Limouee, M. and Omidvar, M. (2007). Stability of Embankment Dam with Shell of Reinforced Cohesive Soil using Limit Equilibrium Method. Ministry of Energy, Iran, Project No. DAM3-84012, 176p.(In Farsi)

Presentations and Talks:

  1. Omidvar, M. Presentation: Visualizing the Fundamental Physics of Earth Penetration Using Transparent Soils – Yale University, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Dec. 11, 2013.
  2. Omidvar, M. et al. Poster Presentation: Visualizing High Strain Rate Behavior of Sand using Transparent Soils. United States University Council on Geotechnical Education and Research First Early Career Conference, Boston, MA, 2012.
  3. Omidvar, M. et al. Poster Presentation: Gordon Conference: Granular & Granular-Fluid Flow, July 22-27, 2012, Davidson College, Davidson, NC.

Research Interests


 

  • Micromechanical characterization of granular media
  • High strain rate response of sand
  • Modeling with transparent soils
  • Application of Imaging techniques in geomechanics

Affiliations


  • ASCE (2005-present): American Society of Civil Engineers
  • ASCE Geo-Institute (2007-present)
  • ASTM (2007-present): American Society for Testing and Materials
  • NYAS (2011-present):New York Academy of Sciences

  • Selected as SYMPG board member of ISSMGE, representing the North American region (ISSMGE: International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering; SYMP: Student and Younger Member Presidential Group), (2013-present)
  • New York Academy of Sciences Education Fellow, 2012-2013
  • Recipient of 2012 USUCGER travel grant (USUCGER: United States Universities Council on Geotechnical Education and Research) 
  • Recipient of Ph.D. Fellowship, Polytechnic Institute of New York University, 2010
  • Recognized Leading Researcher Award: Awarded jointly by the President and Vice-president for Research, Golestan University, Iran – 2009