51�ԹϺ���

Haroon Sahotra began his role as associate vice provost for faculty affairs in January 2025. In this role, he provides leadership in critical areas supporting faculty success and institutional excellence at 51�ԹϺ���. He oversees the review and alignment of department, college, and school bylaws with 51�ԹϺ��� and NSHE policies, serving as a key liaison with the Faculty Senate Bylaws Committee and other stakeholders to enhance bylaws creation and revision processes. Haroon Sahotra also co-chairs the university’s Conflict of Interest Oversight Committee, managing academic faculty conflict of interest/conflict of commitment processes to ensure compliance with university, NSHE, and federal guidelines while driving improvements in these critical areas. In collaboration with the vice provost for faculty affairs and other campus offices, Sahotra develops and implements initiatives to support faculty recruitment, retention, and development, including resources for fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion.

As professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Sahotra has been involved in interdisciplinary research of climate change impact and hydrology with specific emphasis on applications of remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) and specific focus on safeguarding and improving urban quality of life. He has also been involved in several federal- and state-sponsored research projects involving research and applications of geospatial data. In these projects, he has worked with the Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Forest Service, City of Las Vegas, Nevada Division of Forestry, Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, and Nevada Department of Transportation.

Sahotra has participated in various competitive research grants, including National Science Foundation (NSF) grants titled “The Solar Energy-Water-Environment Nexus in Nevada”, and “Collaborative Research: The Western Consortium for Watershed Analysis, Visualization, and Exploration.” Currently, he is lead PI of a $2.5 million NSF project titled “Enhancing Critical Transitions in Undergraduate Civil Engineering Education.” He is also 51�ԹϺ��� lead CoPI of a $20 million NSF project titled "Harnessing the Data Revolution for Fire Science.” Sahotra's ongoing research interests include applications of remote sensing and GIS technologies to wildfires; water resource mapping; and natural and urban climate study.