Research

Ongoing Research Projects

  • Papagiannakis, A. & Giacomoni, M. “Demonstrating the Environmental Benefits of Permeable Paved Surfaces over the Edwards Aquifer”, Sponsored by City of San Antonio, Local, $1,035,761 (September 1st 2019 – December 31st 2024).
  • Johnson, D., Giacomoni, M., Kappor, V., Brown, K., Han, A. “BMP Maintenance Requirements to Ensure Protection of Edwards Aquifer Water Quality”, Sponsored by San Antonio River Authority, $619,656.00. (May 1, 2021 – December 31st, 2024).

Past Projects

  • Caine, I., Giacomoni, M., Tunstall, T., Han, A. “Addendum to Weslaco, Texas Comprehensive Plan”, Sponsored by City of Weslaco, $30,000.00. (February 1, 2021 – February 1, 2022).
  • Johnson, D., Giacomoni, M., “Permeable Curbs and Gutter for Storm Water Control” Sponsored by Louisiana State University, $45,000.00. (August 1, 2021 – February 28, 2022).
  • Kapoor, V., Giacomoni, M., “North Side Independent School District COVID 19 Monitoring”, Sponsored by The MITRE Corporation, $70,311.00. (February 22, 2021 – July 30, 2021).
  • Giacomoni, M. & Olivera, F. “Assessing the Impacts of Super Storm Flooding in the Transportation Infrastructure – Case Study: San Antonio, TX”, Sponsored by TranSET and City of San Antonio, Regional, $140,000 (July 1st 2018 – December 31st 2019).
  • Giacomoni, M. & Shipley, H., “Implementation of a Low Impact Development Test Bed at The University of Texas at San Antonio Main Campus“, Sponsored by City of San Antonio, $ 1,069,113 (June 1, 2017 – December 31st, 2022).
  • Taha, A.,  Gatsis, N., Giacomoni M. “Collaborative Research: Selecting Sensors and Actuators for Topologically Evolving Networked Dynamical Systems: Battling Contamination in Water Networks“, Sponsored by National Science Foundation, Division of Civil, Mechanical & Manufacturing Innovation, $299,974.00 (August 1 2017 – July 31 2020).
  • Sharif, H., Weissmann, A., Giacomoni, M., Dessouky, S., Rashed-Ali, H., Kapoor, V. “Hydrology Infrastructure Data Collection and Analysis Services”, Sponsored by Texas General Land Office, State, $1,536,419 (June 1st – October 31st 2019).
  • Giacomoni, M. & Shipley, H. J., “Monitoring and Modeling Stormwater Quality at UTSA Main Campus“, Sponsored by Great Edwards Aquifer Alliance/San Antonio River Authority, State, $42,800.00 (January 1, 2016 – December 31, 2016).
  • Castillo Villar, K. K. & Giacomoni, M., “Increasing Awareness through the Development of an Web-based Educational Tool to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Coal Power Plants“, Sponsored by Environmental Protection Agency, Federal, $15,000.00 (September 2016 – August 2017).
  • Castillo Villar, K., Giacomoni, M., Shipley, H., Chen, F., “Opportunities for Higher Education and Research Experience in Renewable Energy and Water Quality to Enable STEM Hispanic Leaders“, Sponsored by National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Federal, $290,000.00 (August 1, 2014 – July 31, 2016).
  • Giacomoni, M., “Development of an Optimization Framework for Sanitary Sewer Overflow Reduction in the San Antonio Sanitary System“, Sponsored by San Antonio Water System, Local, $187,972.00 (October 1, 2013 – September 30, 2015).

Research Resources

  • Stormwater Flow and Water Quality Monitoring: our lab currently operates several stormboxes with Teledyne ISCO Signature Flow Meter, ISCO 3700 automatic water sampler, tipping bucket TR-525USW rain gauge, and solar panels. Water samples are analyzed in the UTSA Environmental Engineering Laboratory for a range of water quality parameters, including pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, total suspended solids, volatile suspended solids, nitrogen, phosphorous, bacteria, and metals.
  • Evolutionary Computation Framework: we use advanced simulation and optimization algorithms, for single and multi-objective problems, that include genetic algorithms, evolution strategies, method for generating alternatives, and agent-based modeling.
  • Other Software: ArcGIS, Matlab, Eclipse, R, Python, HEC-HMS, HEC-RAS, SWAT, SWMM, and Anylogic.
  • High-Performance Computing: UTSA Office of Information Technology owns a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster, ARC.