B.Sc. in Civil Engineering, (2003) Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh.

M.Sc. in Civil & Environmental Engineering, (2005) Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh.

I previously worked in projects involving modeling of thermal effluents of power plants and assessing the environmental impact of thermal pollution. My studies show that thermal pollution, an overlooked issue in developing countries, can cause significant deterioration to the aquatic environment which will eventually be manifested in lowering of the dissolved oxygen content. My work consisted of experimental data verification with existing model simulations and suggested amendments in existing regulations of thermal waste disposal in national conservation guidelines (Ahmed and Badruzzaman, 2007)

I am currently working on the broad field of environmental microfluidics. I am interested in tracking motile bacteria behaviour under steady nutrient gradients. We showed that the chemotactic behavior of bacteria can be determined quantitatively purely from single-cell swimming characteristics. Using microfluidics, we have generated well-defined gradients of attractants and simultaneously measured the swimming paths of Escherichia coli by videomicroscopy. By measuring the tumbling frequency and swimming velocity, we were able to characterize the two parameters governing bacterial chemotactic response, the random motility and chemotactic sensitivity. Modern microfluidic devices allow us to observe bacterial behaviour in an unprecedented scale and magnitude in realtime. (Ahmed and Stocker, 2008)

We are also in the process of developing a device constituted of a PDMS microchannel and agarose to generate static nutrient field for microorganisms. This device can be used for regular chemotaxis studies in a static linear gradient of nutrient but its application can potentially be extended to other ecological studies involving metapopulation dynamics, predator-prey interaction etc.

Ahmed, T. and Stocker, R., (2008). “Experimental verification of the behavioral foundation of bacterial transport parameters using microfluidics.” Biophysical Journal (In press)

Seymour, J, Ahmed, T., Marcos and Stocker, R. (2008). “A microfluidic chemotaxis assay to study microbial behavior in diffusing nutrient patches.” Limnology and Oceanography: Methods (In press)

Ahmed, T., Badruzzaman, A.B.M. (2007), “Effect of  Thermal Effluent on Water Quality of Sitalakhya River.” Journal of Civil Engineering, Institution of Engineers Bangladesh. 35(1):79-70.

Hoque, A., Ali, M.A., Ahmed, T. (2005) “Estimation of Non-Vehicular Air Pollution in Dhaka City.” Proceedings of the Third Annual Paper Meet and International Conference on Civil Engineering, 9-11 March, 2005, Dhaka. 

Ahmed, T. (2003), “Assessment of Non-carcinogenic Risk in Rural Bangladesh.”, Arsenic Contamination: Bangladesh Perspective, (ISBN 984-32-0350-X), ITN-Bangladesh.

Ahmed, T., “Combating Poverty in the 21st Century: Challenges in the Water Supply and Sanitation Sector.”, Role of Engineers in Poverty Reduction, Proceedings of the National Seminar, 48th Annual Convention of IEB, January 22, 2004.