Amin Ilia, Ph.D. · Coastal, hydraulic and stormwater engineering, scientific software and geospatial data systems.
Neelon Engineering Solutions, LLC is a Maryland-based engineering consulting firm providing principal-led technical support for coastal, marine, hydraulic and stormwater projects. The firm supports public agencies, engineering teams, and private clients on assignments involving waterfront infrastructure, urban drainage, flood risk, coastal processes, and applied engineering analysis where water and infrastructure intersect.
Amin Ilia is a coastal engineer and modeler with 15+ years of experience supporting coastal and marine infrastructure, hydrodynamics, wave processes, sediment transport, and flood risk analysis. His work has included offshore wind assessments, coastal resilience studies, dredging and navigation projects, FEMA-guided floodplain studies, probabilistic flood and catastrophe risk analysis, and large-scale hazard analysis for both public- and private-sector clients. He holds a Ph.D. in Oceanography from the University of Connecticut and has held technical roles with Tetra Tech, CoreLogic, and NOAA. Neelon Engineering Solutions was founded to provide direct, senior-level technical support without the overhead and layering typical of larger firms.
His recent work extends that foundation into stormwater engineering, scientific software and geospatial data products. The Germantown Park Drainage Study models 80 acres of storm drains and ponds in EPA SWMM from public county, LiDAR and soils data, and tests flood-mitigation options for decision makers. GeoDemand connects reported flood episodes with search-interest data through traceable acquisition, explicit quality rules and reproducible analysis.
Leadership
Amin leads projects end to end: framing the question, building the analysis, checking it, and carrying the result to the people who have to act on it.
Built and runs Neelon Engineering Solutions: setting its technical direction, developing client and teaming relationships, preparing proposal-phase technical content and managing federal registration (UEI, CAGE). Every engagement is scoped, delivered and signed off by the principal.
Has written standard operating procedures for tidal analysis, vertical datums and model workflows at several organizations, and led quality control of new model development and grids. In NOAA operational forecasting work he identified a production-code error that swapped two wave output fields, before it reached users.
Reviews model source code and assumptions to judge whether a model is credible for the decision at hand. That judgment comes from writing his own solvers: a finite-volume and finite-element hydrodynamic code in Fortran for his M.S., and a new wave-turbulence model coupled to FVCOM and GOTM for his Ph.D., plus reading Fortran and C++ model source in assessment work at NOAA and CoreLogic.
Leads work across disciplines, turning physical models and data pipelines into products, interfaces and reports that non-specialists can use. Recent projects deliver plain-language findings and interactive maps alongside the technical model.
From physical systems to digital tools
A model becomes more useful when its inputs can be traced, its results can be checked and its findings can be understood. This is the connection between Amin’s engineering background and his recent technology work.
Numerical modeling, CFD and solver development grounded in coastal processes, hydrodynamics, stormwater hydraulics and flood risk.
Python pipelines, LiDAR and GIS processing, data provenance, automated validation and clearly defined admission rules for inputs.
Maps and visual interfaces that connect a result to its evidence, assumptions and practical limits, for experts and decision makers alike.
All technical work is performed directly by experienced engineering leadership, with no hand-offs to junior staff.
We engage as an independent technical advisor or as a specialized subconsultant integrating into prime teams.
Structured for responsive collaboration and disciplined analysis without unnecessary overhead.