Meet new faculty: Shamia Hoque, engineering
Posted on: October 29, 2014; Updated on: October 29, 2014
By Steven Powell, spowell2@mailbox.sc.edu, 803-777-1923
Name: Shamia Hoque
Current job: Assistant professor, civil and environmental engineering
Degrees: B.Sc. in chemical engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology; M.A.Sc. in chemical engineering, University of Toronto; Ph.D. in environmental engineering, Drexel University.
Where are you from originally? Bangladesh.
What’s your area of research? My work is to create models and simulations that can predict how airborne particles will travel in an environment, like if someone sneezes on an airplane and is later discovered to have tuberculosis. My models will predict where these pathogens will travel and where cleanup needs to happen, who needs to be concerned and when the area will be safe again. It hopefully will be something first-responders can use as well as urban planners and decision-makers to create safer urban environments, both indoors and outdoors.
How did you become interested in your work? Growing up, I saw how human activities and decisions had drastic impacts on the environmental resources (rivers drying up, air becoming impossible to breathe). That took me towards environmental engineering, and the idea that I could influence the growth and design of environmental systems led me to my work.
Why did you choose the University of South Carolina? I enjoyed interacting with the faculty, the opportunity to collaborate across colleges and warmer weather.
What are you most looking forward to about being at UofSC? Through my work I look forward to interacting and working with schools and hospitals where I hope my research will be a positive contribution.
What made you decide to go into academia? The prospect of being in touch with new and challenging ideas as part of a job is what appealed to me most.
What’s a talent you have or something that you’ve done that people might find surprising? I used to write fiction and poems for magazines.
Where do you consider “home?” Home to me is where my family and friends are. So now it is Columbia.
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