HACLab is an interdisciplinary research team based at Baylor University, bringing together expertise in climate science, environmental modeling, geospatial analysis, human health, and data-driven decision support. Our core team is centered at Baylor, with collaborators and affiliated researchers at the University of Idaho, University of South Carolina, University of Nevada, Reno, and Washington State University. Together, we address complex environmental and societal challenges through collaborative, computational, and applied research.
Erich Seamon, Ph.D.
Assistant ProfessorDepartment of Environmental Science, Baylor University
Erich Seamon is a quantitative climatologist and data scientist, who has an appointment as an Assistant Professor at the Baylor University’s Department of Environmental Science. Dr. Seamon has a M.S. in geological sciences from Bowling Green State University and a Ph.D. in Natural Resources from the University of Idaho, with a focus on climatological analysis, machine learning, and agricultural processes. His research focuses on statistical modeling techniques to explore natural system spatiotemporal relationships, with a particular focus on climatological impacts and their varying conditional relationships to areas such as agriculture, insurance, human health, and socio-ecological feedback systems. He additionally integrates his research with differing spatiotemporal visualization methods, including Mixed and Augmented Reality (MR/XR). He is currently a co-PI on a 5-year 6M EPSCoR Track 2 funded climate and underserved populations project (https://wherewelive.org), as well as senior personnel on a 5-year 20M EPSCoR Track 1, which focuses on climate associations to water and energy systems (https://idahocrews.org).
SK Taufiqul Islam
Ph.D. StudentSchool of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Baylor University
SK Taufiqul Islam is a Ph.D. student in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Baylor University. Originally from Bangladesh, where he completed his foundational undergraduate studies in Geography and Environment at SUST, he went on to earn a Master of Science in Ocean, Coastal, and Earth Sciences from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. His thesis research concentrated on environmental monitoring, water quality analytics, and nitrogen dynamics, heavily utilizing integrated field observations, custom computational workflows, and remote sensing methodologies to track environmental changes. An active presenter in the scientific community, he has shared his research findings at major national conferences, including the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Annual Meeting. Ultimately, he aims to leverage data-driven insights to inform sustainable resource management and protect vulnerable ecosystems.
Kristen Excell
Undergraduate Research AssistantDepartment of Health Sciences, Baylor University
Kristen is a senior at Baylor University pursuing a degree in Health Science Studies on the pre-med track. She aspires to become a primary care physician and is drawn to family medicine and obstetrics/gynecology. She is also interested in public health and believe that serving and improving communities can lead to better outcomes for the wellbeing of individuals.
Hooman Setayesh
Undergraduate Research AssistantDepartment of Biology, Baylor University
Hooman is a junior at Baylor University majoring in Biology and on the pre-med track with aspirations of becoming a physician. As a certified EMT, he has gained valuable experience caring for patients and working in fast-paced healthcare settings, experiences that have reinforced his passion for medicine. He is excited to complement my clinical experiences through research, expand my scientific knowledge, and contribute to projects that advance our understanding of human health.
Saamia Khan
Undergraduate Research AssistantHankamer School of Business, Baylor University
Saamia is a senior at Baylor University majoring in Business Administration, with a minor in Medical Humanities on the pre-med track. She is part of the Hankamer Business Fellows program and aspires to become a physician – with a passion for global health, health policy, and interdisciplinary research. She is particularly interested in how social, environmental, and structural factors shape population health and contribute to more equitable health outcomes.
Henna Patel
Undergraduate Research AssistantDepartment of Biology, Baylor University
Henna is a junior at Baylor University majoring in Biology with a minor in Business Administration on the pre-med track, aspiring to become a physician. As a Certified Medical Assistant, she has gained valuable clinical experience and developed a strong interest in pediatrics through shadowing and volunteer work. She looks forward to contributing to the HAC Lab’s research that seeks to address real-world health challenges and improve the well-being of communities across diverse geographic regions.
University of Idaho Team Members
Helen Brown
Clinical Associate ProfessorPublic Health and Nutrition, Exercise, Sport, and Health Sciences, University of Idaho
Helen Brown has over 30 years of public health experience, as a nutritionist and public health generalist. She focuses on community engaged scholarship to assess, plan, and evaluate public health interventions. She leads the UI working group, Modeling Idaho Health that develops small area estimates (SAE) modeling project to identity health risk factors in Idaho counties and communities. Helen’s commitment health and justice helps inform the models that are created with this project and drives the dissemination of the results to public health leaders, change agents, and the general public.
Haifeng (Felix) Liao, Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorEarth and Spatial Sciences, University of Idaho, University of Idaho
Felix Liao is an Associate Professor of GIS and Urban (Transportation) and Human-environment Geography at the University of Idaho, with a Ph.D. in geography from the University of Utah. His expertise includes GIScience, and spatial analysis and modeling, as well as their applications across various fields such as transportation, land use, health disparities, environmental change, sustainable agriculture, and urban and regional planning. In his current research on maternal health, Felix is focused on mapping and modeling access to maternity care in Idaho and nearby states.
Tinashe Gashirai, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral FellowUniversity of Idaho
Tinashe Byron Gashirai was conferred with a DPhil degree in Applied Mathematics by the National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Zimbabwe, in November 2022. He is also holder of an MSc in Applied Mathematical modeling (NUST) and a BSc in Applied Mathematics (NUST) which he completed in 2013 and 2011 respectively. He joined the Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation (IMCI), on the 20th of February 2024. He enjoys conducting research that attempts to solve real-life problems through the application of mathematical modeling techniques and statistical methods.
Farirai Rusere, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral FellowUniversity of Idaho, Center for Resilient Communities (CRC)
Farirai is a multidisciplinary researcher specializing in rural socio-ecological systems. He holds a PhD in Environmental and Geographical Science from the University of Cape Town. He has expertise in agriculture, agroecology, agricultural meteorology, climate change, and statistical, crop, and socio-ecological systems modeling. His aspiration is to enhance food security, human well-being, and environmental sustainability through quantitative and socio-technical approaches that engage stakeholders and address their needs.
Past Team Members
Mohamed Megheib, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral FellowInstitute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation (IMCI)
Mohamed Megheib is a statistician and data scientist, who is working as a postdoctoral fellow in Institute for Modeling Collaboration and Innovation (IMCI). Mohamed holds a Ph.D. and a M.S. in Statistics from George Washington University; a M.S. in Statistics from Cairo University; and a B.Sc. in major of Statistics and minor of Economic from Cairo University. He has over 10 years of experience in applied statistics, as a statistician at different international and local organizations. His research areas are parametric and nonparametric modelling, modelling of correlated data, spatial statistics, composite indicators, designing questionnaires, survey research, model comparison, misspecification, Bayesian inference, econometrics and applications of statistics in social sciences.