Alfonso Torres-Rua

Water

Associate Professor


Alfonso  Torres-Rua

Contact Information

Office Hours: By Appointment
Office Location: UWRL 234A
Phone: 435-797-0397
Email: alfonso.torres@usu.edu
Additional Information:

Educational Background

PhD, Civil Engineering, (Water Resources), Utah State University, 2011
Bayesian Data-Driven Models for Irrigation Water Management
MS, Irrigation Engineering, Utah State University, 2006
Transition Submergence and Hysteresis Effects in three-foot Cutthroat Flumes
BS, Agricultural Engineering, La Molina National Agrarian University, 2000
Technical and Economic Assessment of a Drip Irrigation System in the Fund Agrocurumuy, Piura

Biography

Alfonso Torres-Rua is an Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Utah State University, USA and Chief Scientist of the AggieAir Drone Program. He specializes in innovative Irrigation Engineering and conducts research on irrigation water management using state-of-the-art drone and satellite technologies, which can help farmers save water, increase crop yield, and reduce environmental footprint. He holds a teaching appointment at the Agricultural Engineering Faculty at La Molina National Agrarian University, Peru, where he collaborates with faculty members. Furthermore, his research activities cover optimizing agriculture / urban irrigation, water balance, and water-use and stress using remote sensing (satellites and drones) over grassland, grapevines, almonds, cherries, olive, rice, and urban green areas in the Western US, South America, and Middle East.

Teaching Interests

Geographical Information Systems, Remote Sensing, Basic and Advanced Irrigation Science, Machine Learning, Drone applications

Research Interests

My research focuses on improving plant water use and stress assessment from a spatial perspective, using remote sensing technology, approaches, and applications. I employ a combination of ground, UAV, and satellite data to validate, harmonize, and enhance agricultural information. I develop and apply physical, data-driven, and hybrid algorithms that account for the effects of weather, crops, soils, and human activities. I estimate water balance components and biotic stressors to address the information needs of end users.

Awards

(Student) Karem Meza: Exposure, Experience & Education for Students & Teachers, 2022

Irrigation Association

(Student) Katherine Osorio: Exposure, Experience & Education for Students & Teachers, 2022

Irrigation Association

(Student) Moises Duran: Exposure, Experience & Education for Students & Teachers, 2022

Irrigation Association

Outstanding Graduate Mentor of the Year, 2022

Civil and Environmental Engineering Department

(Student) Karem Meza: CRA-WP Grad Cohort for Women, 2022

Grad Cohort for Women

(Student) Karem Meza: Spring Runoff Conference - Poster Competition, 2022

Utah State University

(Student) Oliver Hargreaves: Spring Runoff Conference - Poster Competition, 2022

Utah State University

(Student) Karem Meza: HydroLearn Educational Development Training, 2021

National Science Foundation

HydroLearn Educational Development Training, 2021

National Science Foundation

(Student) Karem Meza: College of Engineering Outstanding Student Spotlight, 2021

Utah State University

(Student) Rui Gao: Runner Up Award SPIE Conference, 2021

SPIE 'Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping VI'

CEE Department Undergraduate Research Mentor of the Year, 2020

Utah State University

(Student) Ayman Nassar: Best Paper Award SPIE Conference, 2020

SPIE 'Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping V'

(Student) Ayman Nassar: UWRL Outstanding Student Spotlight, 2020

Utah State University

(Student) Tyler Jackson: Outstanding Pre-Professional, 2020

USU College of Engineering

(Student) Ayman Nassar: National Science Foundation FAIR Cyber Training , 2020

National Science Foundation / Purdue University

(Student) Mahyar Aboutalebi Outstanding Ph.D. Scholar of the Year, 2020

Utah State University

(Student) Ayman Nassar - College of Engineering Technical Writing Competition, 2020

Utah State University

(Student) Ayman Nassar: Travel Scholarship Eighth International Conference on Flood Management (ICFM8), 2020

National Science Foundation

Visiting Professor- Agricultural Engineering, 2019

La Molina National Agrarian University

Faculty Development Symposium Scholarship, 2019

National Science Foundation

Nominee to the EPA FY 2020 membership for the Agricultural Sciences Committee , 2019

Environmental Protection Agency

Top 2017-2018 Downloaded Article, 2019

Irrigation and Drainage Journal - Wiley

(Student) Paolo Consalvo Utah State University Honors Research Fund, 2019

Utah State University

UWRL Outstanding Faculty Spotlight, 2019

Utah State University

(Student) Mahyar Aboutalebi: Best Paper Award at the 2019 SPIE Conference, 2019

SPIE 'Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping IV'

(Student) Tyler Jackson: ICER ACRES Summer Internship, 2019

National Science Foundation /Minnesota State University

(Student) Mahyar Aboutalebi: UWRL Outstanding Student Spotlight, 2019

Utah State University

(Student) Mahyar Aboutalebi: Cyberinfrastructure for Intelligent Water Supply (CIWS) Data Visualization Challenge, 2019

National Science Foundation (NSF)

(Student) Mahyar Aboutalebi: Remote Sensing 2018 Outstanding Reviewer Awards, 2019

Remote Sensing Editorial Board and Editorial Team Journal

(Student) Ayman Nassar: AWWA Intermountain Section Scholarship, 2019

American Water Resources Association (AWRA)

(Student) Tyler Jackson Utah State University Honors Research Fund, 2019

Utah State University

Faculty Development Symposium Scholarship, 2018

National Science Foundation

(Student) Mahyar Aboutalebi: Runner-up for Best Paper Award at the 2018 SPIE Conference, 2018

SPIE 'Autonomous Air and Ground Sensing Systems for Agricultural Optimization and Phenotyping III'

(Student) Mahyar Aboutalebi: J. Paul Riley AWRA Paper Competition, 2017

American Water Resources Association (AWRA)


Publications | Abstracts

An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

Publications | Journal Articles

Academic Journal

An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

Publications | MultiMedia

Software

An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

Publications | Technical Reports

Research Reports

An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

Publications | Other

Other

    An asterisk (*) at the end of a publication indicates that it has not been peer-reviewed.

    Teaching

    CEE 5006, 6006 - Agricultural Water Management, Spring 2023
    CEE, PSC 5003, 6003 - Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, Spring 2023
    CEE 5190, 6190 - Geographic Information Systems for Civil Engineers, Spring 2022
    CEE, PSC 5003, 6003 - Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, Spring 2022
    CEE 5190, 6190 - Geographic Information Systems for Civil Engineers, Spring 2021
    CEE, PSC 5003, 6003 - Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, Spring 2021
    CEE, PSC 5003, 6003 - Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, Spring 2020
    CEE 6930, 5930 - Independent Study, Fall 2019
    CEE, PSC 5003, 6003 - Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, Spring 2019
    CEE, PSC 5003, 6003 - Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, Spring 2018
    CEE, PSC 5003, 6003 - Remote Sensing of Land Surfaces, Spring 2017

    Graduate Students Mentored

    Sergio Alvarez, Civil & Environmental Engr, May 2023 - April 2027
    Anderson Safre, Civil & Environmental Engr, May 2022 - April 2026
    Katherine Osorio, Civil & Environmental Engr, January 2022 - December 2025
    Karem Meza-Capcha, Civil & Environmental Engr, January 2021 - December 2024
    Moises Duran, Civil & Environmental Engr, June 2022 - May 2024
    Rui Gao, Civil & Environmental Engr, January 2020 - August 2023
    Laura Christiansen, Civil & Environmental Engr, June 2021 - December 2022
    Oliver Hargreaves, Civil & Environmental Engr, January 2021 - December 2022
    Ayman Nassar, Civil & Environmental Engr, August 2017 - August 2021
    Mahyar Aboutalebi, Civil & Environmental Engr, July 2016 - August 2020

    News Releases

    Closing the Gap

    AggieAir is part of several new projects funded by the Almond Board of California and the California Department of Food and Agriculture to use a variety of tools including drones, hyperspectral imagery, eddy covariance systems, and, of course, field-based...


    Affliations

    Irrigation system

    Irrigation Engineering