Best Paper Awarded to Hassan Anjileli

Feb. 16, 2018 - UC Irvine graduate student Hassan Anjileli earned an Outstanding Paper Award from the American Geophysical Union.  Anjileli, a civil and environmental engineering doctoral student, was selected from a pool of nearly 4,000 students.

Anjileli’s paper, “Analysis of high frequency soil respiration in a semi-arid area in Southern California” is about a study conducted at UCI’s San Joaquin Marsh Reserve. His overarching goal was to understand the response of soil respiration (CO₂ flux) to climate extremes and warming. Soil respiration is the second major contributor to global CO₂ flux, and future changes are particularly important given the expected increase in air and soil temperatures. Anjileli gathered high-resolution CO₂ flux, soil temperature and soil moisture data at an untouched area over one year. Since the study area was not near available power, he self-assembled and configured solar panels and batteries to provide sufficient energy to take measurements day and night.

 “My findings indicate that in areas with similar climate and land surface conditions, a warming of temperature increases the soil-to-atmosphere CO₂ flux,” said Anjileli.

The Outstanding Student Paper Awards promote and recognize high-quality research in the geophysical sciences, and are awarded to only the top 3-5 percent of presenters in each section/focus group.

– Lori Brandt