Samrin Sauda

My name is Samrin Sumaiya Sauda, and I am a Ph.D. student in Geography at Penn State. Hailing from a disaster-prone riverine nation with low institutional support and resources, I developed an interest in hydrology and natural hazards because I realized how more research in advancing these fields can engender life-saving impacts. For my Ph.D., I am hoping to work on the application of remote sensing and machine learning in hydroclimatology and natural hazards under Dr. Manzhu Yu's supervision. 

I earned my B.S. in Geography and Environment at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. My undergraduate degree allowed me to acquire fundamental knowledge in Geography and focused on integrating GIS and Remote Sensing to study physical parameters and relate them to human aspects. Some of my undergrad research experiences include conducting coastal vulnerability hazard assessments on the South-Central Coast of Bangladesh using remote sensing and estimation of the annual soil erosion rate using RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss) on the Jamuna River sub-basin in Bangladesh

I completed my M.S. in Geography at Virginia Tech with a concentration in natural hazards and geospatial science. My M.S. project is under NSF-funded collaborative research which studies the rainfall evolution during tropical cyclone landfalls using GPM IMERG products. The ultimate goal of my project is to contribute to improved tropical cyclone rainfall forecasting during landfalls. In the Summer of 2022, I had the opportunity to work as a project lead in Fort Collins, Colorado under NASA DEVELOP Program. Our project conducted the time-series analysis of water quality over time in Yampa River using satellite data and validated them with in-situ data. Growing up in a society where women are profoundly underrepresented in science and technology, I believe obtaining a Ph.D. here will help in my aspirations to be a leading researcher in my field and to contribute to mitigating the gender gap.