Email

tarek.kandakji@bcm.edu

Positions

Quantitative Methodologist

Medicine - Health Services Research
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, US

Remote Sensing Specialist and Manager of the Yale Center for Earth Observation

Yale School of the Environment
Yale Center for Earth Observation
Yale University
New Haven, Connecticut United States

Graduate Part Time Instructor and Graduate Research/Teaching Assistant

Geosciences
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas United States

Graduate Research/Teaching Assistant

Plant and Soil Science
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, Texas United States

Consultant

Integrated Water and Land Management Program
International Centre for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)
Amman, Jordan

Addresses

John P. McGovern Campus (Office)

2450 HOLCOMBE BLVD
IQuESt-R242
Houston, TX 77021
United States

Education

PhD from Texas Tech University

12/2020 - Lubbock, Texas United States

Geosciences

Graduate Certificate at Texas Tech University

05/2017 - Lubbock, Texas United States

GIS Science and Technology

MSc from Texas Tech University

05/2015 - Lubbock, Texas United States

Plant and Soil Science

MSc from University of Jordan

06/2010 - Amman, Jordan

Land, Water, and Environment

BSc from University of Jordan

09/2005 - Amman, Jordan

Agriculture Resources & Environment

Certifications

Remote Pilot

U.S. Department of Transportation-The Federal Aviation Administration

Certified Drone Pilot

Professional Interests

• Publications

Professional Statement

Quantitative Methodologist in Medicine at the Center for Innovations In Quality, Effectiveness, and Safety (IQuESt) at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Before joining the IQuESt, I was a Remote Sensing Specialist and the Yale Center for Earth Observation manager at the Yale School of the Environment, Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. As a researcher with a Ph.D. in Geosciences, I have over 12 years of experience in geospatial analysis and modeling, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and data analysis. I am particularly interested in socio-environmental issues like health and the environment/environmental exposures from a spatio-temporal perspective. My PhD work is focused on dust emission and the anthropogenic factors leading to dust emission, setting the stage for my future investigations into the spatiotemporal dynamics of air pollutants, like dust, and their impacts on air quality, disease spread, and on the longitudinal respiratory and pulmonary health outcomes. Strengths include remote sensing, geospatial data analysis and modeling, and GIS. As an effective communicator, I have achieved success as a lecturer and mentor, enriching the educational journey of a diverse student body. Demonstrating a dedication to research excellence, my scholarly contributions are reflected in the numerous papers I have both authored and co-authored. In my published work, I used a variety of quantitative models and classification techniques (e.g., principal component analysis, time series analysis, spatio-temporal analysis, multivariate analysis and modeling, longitudinal data analysis, and both supervised and unsupervised classification models).

Funding

AI for REsilient WildFIRE Management (AI-REFIRE)

$100,000.00 (07/01/2024 - 06/30/2025)

Grant funding from Yale Planetary Solutions Seed Grant Program, Yale University

Role: Co-PI

Multispectral Drone and Spectroradiometer Survey of Richards Property Natural Forest

(09/01/2023 - 09/01/2024) Grant funding from Natural Lands Research Funds, Yale University

Role: Principal Investigator (PI)

Assessment and Monitoring of Desertification in Jordan using Remote Sensing and Bioindicators

(03/01/2009 - 12/31/2012) Grant funding from NATO, Science for Peace

Role: Research Assistant

Skills

Environmental Remote Sensing

Remote sensing data collection and analysis.

GIS

Drone Data Collection and Analysis

Time Series Analysis of Spatio-temporal Data

Spatio-temporal Data Analysis

Health and Environmental Exposures

Environmental Health

Land Management and Land Conservation

Aeolian Dust

Air Quality

Soil Science