Khandker Ishtiaq, PhD

Khandker Ishtiaq (Ishtiaq) is The Everglades Foundation’s Hydrologist. His research intersects water resources engineering and ecosystem science and has entailed process-based and data-driven model development and integration across spatiotemporal scales, model-experimental data synthesis and benchmarking, and simulations of alternatives to assess the coastal ecosystem's trajectories under accelerated sea level rise (SLR) and saltwater intrusion.

Ishtiaq’s work on the Biscayne Bay and Southeastern Everglades Ecosystem Restoration (BBSEER) project involved calibration of the BISECT model for salinity performance measure development and evaluation of freshwater flow alternatives. He developed the EvPEM model that simulates peat elevation change in Everglades sawgrass marshes with SLR and freshwater flow restoration. He also developed hydrologic and water quality models to evaluate the effectiveness of low-impact development features in reducing urban flooding, water quality improvement in Biscayne Bay and Coral Gables, and potential impacts of storm surge barriers in Miami-Dade watersheds.

Ishtiaq received a bachelor’s and a master's degree in Water Resources Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. After receiving his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Florida International University (FIU), Ishtiaq led Post-Doctoral research at West Virginia University and FIU’s Sea Level Solutions Center. Before joining the Foundation, he worked as an Engineer with the Surface Water Management Unit at the South Florida Water Management District.