Esmaeel Adrah

Esmaeel Adrah is a geospatial and remote sensing researcher and a Ph. D. candidate at Kent State University. His research focuses on developing geospatial frameworks that combine Earth Observations (EO) and geospatial AI (GeoAI) for agriculture resilience, water management, and disaster preparedness. 

Specifically, his work investigates the dynamics of long-term irrigation, crop loss from disasters, and water-climate-conflict in transboundary basins. Recent projects include IrrEM: a 26-year, high-resolution irrigation record for the Eastern Mediterranean; sensor fusion for mapping tree crops; and, more recently, developing geospatial foundation model framework and benchmark for agricultural damage and loss. More broadly, he aims to integrate EO physical indicators with causal and socio-economic analysis, linking environmental changes to human decisions to support evidence-based management and disaster response.

His research appears in venues like Remote Sensing of Environment, and has been recognized by the NSF I-GUIDE program, earning an honorary mention in the Spatial AI Challenge for his physics-informed Geo-AI for irrigation quantification, and in the Extreme Events and Disaster Resilience summer school for collaborative work on GeoAI fire risk mapping in the Pantanal Wetlands. He is also a recipient of the Water Diplomacy Center Fellowship with Blue Peace Middle East for his research on transboundary water in the Eastern Mediterranean, as well as the AAG Amy Mather Scholar Award for his work exploring “how does conflict increase climate-induced crop failure?”. 

He holds an M.Sc. in Geospatial Analysis and a B.Sc. in Civil/Geotechnical Engineering. His academic path is informed by practical experience prior to his doctoral studies, drawing on training with and supporting the work of international organizations including UN-Habitat and the UN Volunteering Program on multidisciplinary projects across the Middle East, the southwestern Pacific, and South Asia.

Alongside his research, Esmaeel is actively involved in supporting teaching activities at Kent State University through instructing and assisting in courses such as physical geography laboratory, remote sensing, and natural disasters and society. He also conducts hands-on geospatial training across various institutions, such as a recent workshop at Yale University. Committed to science communication, he also leads the Kent State Graduate Research Symposium as the Programming Chair of the Graduate Student Senate.