Biography & CV
I did my undergraduate studies in Physics at the University of Tehran and moved to the United States in 2009, where I obtained a MSc in Atomic Physics at Wesleyan University, Connecticut. During my MSc, I worked in a Laser Spectroscopy laboratory and studied the statistics of atomic systems at the boundary between quantum and classical physics. While at Wesleyan, I became very interested in research on astrophysical processes. At the end of 2010, I started a second MSc, this time in Astronomy at the University of Western Ontario, where I worked on identifying potential magnetic dipole maser lines. My interest in applying the principles of quantum physics to the interstellar medium were met for my PhD studies, where I worked on Dicke’s superradiance, a well-known phenomenon in the quantum physics community, and investigated the possibility of superradiance in astrophysics. Both my PhD and Master’s were done under the supervision of Prof. Martin Houde at the University of Western Ontario.
During the last year of my PhD, I did an internship at the Kastler Brossel Laboratory (LKB) in the College de France where I worked under the supervision of Prof. Jean-Michel Raimond on decoherence and dissipation phenomena, in the Nobel prize-wining group of Prof. Serge Haroche. In 2017, I became a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) at the University of Waterloo, where I worked with ion trap physicist Prof. Kazi Rajibul Islam. I also spent a year working part-time with the cold atom physicist Prof. Michal Bajcsy studying superradiance in cold atoms confined within a hollow-core fiber (2017-2018).
Between May 2019 and July 2021, I held a joint postdoctoral fellowship between Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC). During this period, I explored quantum effects in astronomical media and developed theoretical models to explain some of the observational data on FRBs while I worked as a theorist in trapped ion quantum simulation laboratory at the IQC. From July 2022 to April 2023, I worked as a research associate at Western University studying repeating radio flares in astronomical media exhibiting starkly different timescales.
Currently, I am an assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at McMaster University.
Short CV:
Current position:
Assistant professor, McMaster University - (2023-present)
Past research experience:
Research associate, Western University - (2022-2023)
Perimeter Institute postdoctoral fellow - (2019-2022)
Institute for Quantum Computing postdoctoral fellow, University of Waterloo (2017-2021)
Visiting research scientist, Western University (2016-2018)
Mitacs Globalink Intern, Kastler Brossel Laboratory (2016)
Research and teaching assistant, Western University (2011-2016)
Research and teaching assistant, Wesleyan University (2009-2010)
Research assistant, University of Tehran (2008-2009)
Education:
Ph.D. in Physics, Western University, 2012-2016
M. Sc. in Astronomy, Western University, 2011-2012
M. A. in Physics, Wesleyan University, 2009-2010
B. Sc. in Physics, University of Tehran, 2004-2008
Awards:
Simons Emmy Noether fellowship (Perimeter Institute), 2025
Covington (DRAO) fellowship, Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics, 2022 (declined)
Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics postdoctoral fellowship, 2019-2022
Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) postdoctoral fellowship, 2017-2021
J.S. Plaskett Medal for Best PhD Thesis in Astronomy & Astrophysics in Canada, CASCA, 2017
Robert & Ruth Lumsden Graduate Award, University of Western Ontario, 2016
Mitacs Globalink Research Award-Sorbonne, 2015
Teaching Assistant Award of Excellence, Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Western Ontario, 2013