Brief Vita
Affiliation
Miguel F. Acevedo is currently a faculty member of the Electrical Engineering Department, University of North Texas (UNT), with a joint appointment to the Department of Geography, and active participant in the Institute of Applied Sciences (Graduate Program in Environmental Sciences). His main affiliation was with the Geography department from 1992-2007, achieving the distinction of Regents Professor in 2006, and the Citation for Distinguished Service to International Education in 2007. During 2007-2008 he coordinated the design of the Biological and Environmental Engineering program.
Education and experience
Acevedo obtained his PhD in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley (1980) and Masters in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from Berkeley (Master of Eng, 1978) and the University of Texas at Austin (MS, 1972). Before joining UNT in 1992 he was at the Universidad de Los Andes (ULA), MÈrida, Venezuela, where he taught since 1973 in the School of Systems Engineering and the Program in Tropical Ecology. At ULA, he is now an associate of the Center of Systems, Simulation and Modeling and active in the research group on Biodiversity and Sustainable Development of the School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences.
Interests
His current major interests are to integrate modeling and monitoring applications to sustainability, particularly environment-energy relationships, and land use change in rapidly urbanizing areas. Specific areas include complex systems; ecological, environmental and geographical modeling; landscape and forest ecology; coupled human-natural systems; watershed and reservoir management; wireless sensors, biosensors and environmental observatories; global climate change and variability.
Global
International activities are an important component of his program. He has delivered invited lectures and seminars at several universities in the USA, Venezuela, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, and China; sustaining active international academic collaborations with these universities. Recently, he has organized Field Schools in Mexico, Spain, and Nepal on human-environment interactions.
Consulting
In addition to teaching and research, he has served on the Science Advisory Board of the US EPA and many panels for the US NSF. He has also served as consultant to the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, to Venezuelan development agencies, to the Venezuelan Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources, and Venezuelan oil and hydropower industries on projects related to environmental impact of energy development plans, reservoirs and industrial activities.
Publications and grants
Besides numerous peer-reviewed papers, he has written textbooks, book chapters, workshop reports, technical reports, and given many presentations in scientific conferences. He has received research grants from CONICIT in Venezuela, the US National Science Foundation (NSF), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the US National Park Service (NPS) and other corporations and agencies. A recent patent is for a low cost automated ozone monitor based on fiber-optic spectrometer.
Current grants
CRI: IAD Large-Scale Environmental Monitoring Sensor Networks for Computing Research (NSF, with Y. Huang PI).
Engaging Local Governments, Teachers and Students in Cyber-Infrastructure for Environmental Monitoring and Modeling (NSF).
Biocomplexity: Integrating models of natural and human dynamics in forest landscapes across scales and cultures (NSF).
Examples of journal articles
Models of Natural and Human Dynamics in Forest Landscapes: cross-site and cross-cultural synthesis. Geoforum 39/2: 846-866.
Callicott J.B., et al. Biocomplexity and Conservation of Biodiversity Hotspots: Three Case Studies from the Americas 2007. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 362:321-333
Monticino M., et al. Coupled Human and Natural Systems: A Multi-Agent Based Approach. Environmental Modeling & Software 22:656-663.
Acevedo M.F., et al. 2001. Modeling forest landscapes: parameter estimation from gap models over heterogeneous terrain. Simulation 77:53-68.
Acevedo M.F., et al. 2001. Estimating parameters of forest patch transition models from gap models. Environmental Modeling & Software 16: 649-658.
Acevedo M.F and W.T. Waller 2000. Modelling and control of a simple trophic aquatic system. Ecological Modelling 131: 269-284.
Acevedo M.F., et al. 1997. Estimating pesticide exposure in tidal streams of Leadenwah Creek, South Carolina J. Tox . Env . Health 52:295 316.