Dr. Kura obtained his Ph.D. (Civil & Environmental Engineering) from the Louisiana State University. He is a registered professional engineer in the State of Louisiana. He authored over 90 peer-reviewed technical articles and more than 40 project reports. He currently serves as Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the University of New Orleans (UNO). Additionally, he also serves as the Director of Maritime Environmental Research Center (MERIC). He has nearly 30 years of professional experience in Environmental Engineering, 3 years with Kirloskar Consultants, Ltd., Pune, India (consulting experience; air pollution, water supply, solid waste management), 3 years with Steel Authority of India Ltd., India (industry; air pollution management), and 24 years with UNO (education, research, technology development, consulting, and expert witness). He developed several major software applications for decision support in (a) environmental management, (b) public and worker health risk reduction, (c) life-cycle costing and assessment, (d) energy efficiency, and (e) higher education.
Dr. Kura’s research is aimed at minimizing resource consumption, eliminating/reducing multimedia wastes and protection of public/worker health & safety which are integral parts of sustainability research.
His honors and awards include, (1) Gordon “Nick” Mueller International Leadership Medallion, (2) member of the Governor Jindal’s Louisiana Environmental Transition Advisory Council, (3) James M. Todd Technological Accomplishment Award (LES), (4) DSOC Distinguished Associate Professor Award, (5) UNO Alumni Association’s Early Career Award for Excellence in Research. He is a member of several professional organizations, American Association of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Association of Environmental Engineering Professors (AEEP), Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA), and National Shipbuilding Research Program (NSRP).
Dr. Kura currently teaches courses in air quality monitoring, atmospheric dispersion modeling, air pollution control, and pollution prevention. His research focus includes industrial pollution prevention, integrated environmental management, clean technologies development, sustainability, and software development in environmental management and industrial hygiene. In partnership with other stakeholders, he also develops decision support systems that aim to promote productivity and efficiency within the higher education sector.
As the expert in air quality management area, Dr. Kura provides consulting services in the area of emission quantification, air quality permits, air quality monitoring, atmospheric dispersion modeling, public/worker exposures to air contaminants, compliance with environmental regulations, and decision support systems.
Dr. Kura is actively engaged in various international air quality training/research programs. His recent noteworthy project, AQM3 (Air Quality Monitoring, Modeling, and Management) trained 37 Brazilian engineers to be air quality professionals under Brazil Scientific Mobility Program (BSMP) in a partnership with the Institute of International Education (IIE), New York. He is actively engaged in developing low cost air quality monitoring strategies (instruments, communication, data management, analysis, and decision support). Efforts are being made by Dr. Kura and his research group to develop air quality monitoring stations for 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and its surrounding areas.
Dr. Kura’s “World Ports and Sustainability” project aims to reduce multimedia emissions (air emissions, wastewater discharges, solid/hazardous waste generation) from port operations through (1) cross-learning, (2) clean-technologies, (3) state-of-the art monitoring methods, and (4) decision support tools. Dr. Kura hosted a high-level delegation of 20 visitors from South Asia (India, Bangaldesh, and Sri Lanka) by conducting a half-day workshop on October 19th, 2015 at UNO on “Promoting Maritime Environmental Excellence and Sustainability through Knowledge Sharing and Innovation.” Additional Information can be found by visiting, http://fs.uno.edu/kura and http://labs.uno.edu/meric.