ABOUT me
Passionate About Hydrology and Land-Atmosphere Interaction in a Changing Climate
I am born in 1983 in Isfahan, Iran. I have a Bachelor in Civil Engineering and a Master in Environmental Engineering. In 2009 I visited ETH Zurich for 3 month to finish my master thesis on numerical modeling of contaminant transport in soil. Following my visit, I started a PhD at Eawag and ETH Zurich on large scale hydrological modeling of Black See Basin, quantifying water resources in a changing climate. Following my PhD, I have been awarded several research fellowships and have done several postdocs at ETH Zurich (CH), University of Ghent (BE), University of Freiburg (DE), and UC Berkeley (US). After a maternity break, I came back to ETH in Sep 2020 as an senior Scientist. I am currently holding an EU funded Marie Curie Fellowship at University of Zurich working on soil, vegetation, and atmosphere interactions in a changing climate at various scales .
EDUCATION
Aug 2009-Jun 2014
PhD, Environmental System Sciences (D. USYS), ETH Zürich. Thesis: Modeling the hydrology of the Black Sea Basin and assessing the impacts of climate change and land use change on water resources [pdf]. PhD date: 18.06.2014. Advisors: Prof. R. Schulin, Dr. K. Abbaspour.
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Sep 2006-Feb 2009
MSc, Civil and Environmental Engineering, K. N. Toosi University, Tehran, Iran. Thesis:Numerical modeling of solute transport in porous media. Advisor: Prof. S. A. Sadrnejad.
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Sep 2001-Feb 2005
BSc, Civil Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Mazandaran University, Iran. Thesis: Structural design of a residential high-rise, steel and concrete frames.
APPOINTMENTS
Jul 2022-Present
Senior Scientist (Marie Curie Fellowship), Dep. Geography, Group of Hydrology and Climate, University of Zurich, Theme: Soil-vegetation-atmosphere water, energy, and carbon relations in a changing climate. Collaborator: Prof. A. Gessler (WSL, Zurich), Dr. J. Ogee (Inrae, France), Dr. M. Cuntz (Inrae, France).
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Sep 2020-Jun 2022
Senior Scientist, Dep. of Environmental Systems Science (D. USYS), ETH Zurich, Theme: water stable isotope analysis and tree water uptake dynamics, groundwater - Surface water interactions: groundwater contribution to stream network geometry. Collaborator: Prof. J. Kirchner (60% app.- child care).
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Jul 2018-Aug 2020
Postdoc (SNSF advanced postdoc mobility fellowship), University of Berkeley, California, and University of Freiburg, Germany. Theme: Eco-hydrological connectivity and groundwater contribution to transpiration. Collaborators: Prof. T. Dawson, Prof. M. Weiler (including 9 months of maternity leave).
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Jan 2017-Jun 2018
Postdoc (SNSF early postdoc mobility fellowship), Lab. of Hydrology and Water Management, Ghent University, Belgium. Theme: Groundwater contribution to evaporative fluxes, land climate interaction. Collaborator: Prof. D. Miralles.
Sep 2014-Dec 2016
Postdoc, Dep. of Environmental Systems Science (D. USYS), ETH Zürich. Theme: Effects of land surface heterogeneity and lateral transport of water on evaporative cooling. Collaborator: Prof. J. Kirchner.
Aug 2009-Jun 2014
PhD candidate, Dep. of Environmental Systems Science (D. USYS), ETH Zurich and Integrated Assessment and Modelling (Siam), Eawag, Zürich. Thesis: Modeling the hydrology of the Black Sea Basin and assessing the impacts of climate change and land use change. Advisors: Prof. R. Schulin, Dr. K. Abbaspour.
AWARDS
2021
Marie Curie Individual Fellowship, Horizon 2020 program, European Commission, “FLAME; Future resiLient forest in a chAnging cliMatE: isotope observations and mechanistic modeling of soil water residence time and vegetation water uptake dynamics. Total grant: 203,000 Euro, 2 years, ranked among top 6%.
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2018
Advanced postdoc mobility grant, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), “Eco-hydrological connectivity and groundwater contribution to transpiration”. Total grant: 134,000 CHF, 2 years, ranked among top 6%.
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2016
Early postdoc mobility grant, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), “Does groundwater regulate our climate?” Total grant: 90,000 CHF, 18 months.
PANNEL/BOARDS
2019-Present
Editor in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS)
2013-Present
Reviewer for Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS), Journal of Hydrology, Environmental Modelling & Software, Advances in Water Resources, J. of Water, J. of Atmospheric Research.
ORGANIZING CONFERENCES
2022-present
Convener at EGU, Program group: HS 2.2, session: Advancing process representation for hydrological modelling across spatio-temporal scales.
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2010-2013
Periodic workshops on Modeling and Uncertainty Analysis at international SWAT conferences: Switzerland, S. Korea, Spain, India, France.
TEACHING
2014-2016
Mountain Forest Hydrology course, ETH Zurich, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Lecturing two sessions on Evapotranspiration and Hydrological Modeling, organizing two field trips, and designing weekly exercises and reflecting on students’ performance.
2010-2013
Block courses on Hydrological Modeling and Uncertainty Analysis, Eawag.
Guest lecturer in Sustainability and Water Resources course, University of Basel. Fresh water availability at large scales.
2002-2009
Private Teaching in Math and Physics at Bachelor level, Tehran.
Teaching, Math, Physics, and English at high school level at an Orphan Center.
SUPERVISION
2023
Maurus Villiger, University of Zurich, MSc. thesis: effects of water isotope extraction methods on tree water uptake inference at the long-term drought monitoring site, Pfynwald, Switzerland.
2014
Roger Bär, University of Geneva/EAWAG, MSc. thesis: Climate Change and Agricultural Water Resources, A Vulnerability Assessment of the Black Sea Catchment.
2012
Fuad A. Yassin, ETH Zurich, MSc. thesis: Assessing the hydrological response of the Bilate River Catchment (Ethiopia) to climate and land use change.