Postdoctoral Fellow
Institute of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science and Botanical Institute, Kiel University
Soil–plant–microbiome redox ecology and predictive-framework development.
Curriculum vitae
A foundation across disciplines
Training and research across plant science, soil biogeochemistry, microbial ecology and computational biology.
Research appointments
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Middle Tennessee State University, USA
Host-associated microbiomes, metagenomics, synthetic communities and fungal–bacterial interactions.
Postdoctoral Research Associate
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA
Rhizosphere nitrogen cycling, biological nitrification inhibition and plant–microbe interactions.
Junior Researcher
ZEF, University of Bonn, Germany
Climate-change effects on plant performance, soil organic matter and greenhouse-gas emissions.
Education
Dr. agr. · Agricultural Sciences
University of California, Davis and University of Bonn
Joint doctoral programme in soil microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. Advisors: William R. Horwath and Claudia Knief.
M.Sc. · Crop Production & Weed Biocontrol
Shahed University, Iran
Biology and efficacy of Fusarium oxysporum isolates for biocontrol of Orobanche aegyptiaca.
B.Sc. · Crop Production & Plant/Seed Breeding
IAU, East Azerbaijan, Iran
Thesis: tissue culture of carrot cells.
Methods & technical expertise
Experimental & molecular
Greenhouse, mesocosm and field experiments; rhizosphere processes; microbial inoculation and synthetic communities; plant, root, soil and gas measurements; stable isotopes; DNA/RNA workflows; 16S/ITS profiling; metagenomics and transcriptomic analysis.
Computational & statistical
R, Bioconductor and Linux; mixed models, multivariate analysis and ecological networks; genome-resolved workflows; reproducible pipelines and R package development. Additional tools include TASSEL, Cytoscape, Gephi, SigmaPlot and GenGIS.
Awards, service & languages
- ISME19 Travel Grant (2024); FEMS Congress Grant (2023).
- PhD Project Scholarship, UC Davis (2015–2017); WASCAL Scholarship, University of Bonn (2012–2014).
- Earlier awards include IFOAM, NAAEE, ICM9, EWRS and IWSS support.
- ISME community mentoring; journal peer review, including The ISME Journal and Applied Soil Ecology.
- Memberships: ISME, MSA, ASA, CSSA, SSSA and FEMS.
- Persian/Farsi (native), English (fluent), German (B1).
Teaching and mentoring
From a biological question to a defensible conclusion.
I teach microbial ecology, bioinformatics and statistics by connecting mechanisms, experiments, measurements and interpretation. Reproducible code is part of the scientific argument.
My mentoring spans undergraduate, graduate and early-career researchers at UIUC, MTSU and Kiel. I emphasize clear expectations, constructive feedback and growing independence, with multiple entry points for students from different disciplinary backgrounds.