UTC lands NASA grant to study Tennessee River water quality

Azad Hossain

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – A UTC professor has won a grant from NASA to study the Tennessee River.

Associate Professor Azad Hossain is an environmental geo-scientist at the university.

He says the program will test water quality in the river.

They will use satellites to take images of the same spot in the river every 16 days.

And while the satellites take photos from above, crews will be in the same area to get up-close data.

They combine data from both to create a water quality model.

Hassain says “I’ve been working with geospatial technology and remote sensing for more than 25 years, and this award is a dream for any scientist who works with satellite and remote sensing.”

“I know the significance of this program. I know it’s an elite research program and—with NASA putting UTC’s name on it—it gives me great pride and satisfaction to say, ‘We got it.’”

Satellites have been used on other bodies of water before, but not in our region.

“As a matter of fact, there have been studies of other major rivers in the U.S. using NASA satellites, but nothing had been done on the Tennessee River,” he said. “So that gave me an opportunity.”