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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 .

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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.

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