About

I am an extragalactic astronomer working primarily on the observational side. I was born in San Francisco but moved to South San Francisco when I was just 1 year old and was raised there till I went off to University. I attended UC Irvine from 2008 to 2012 for my undergraduate studies in astrophysics and spent all four years working with Asantha Cooray and his research group. I then moved up an hour drive north to UC Riverside where I pursued my PhD studies from 2012 to 2018 under the supervision of Bahram Mobasher and David Sobral (University of Lisbon; later Lancaster University). During my PhD studies, I was in a unique position where I got to travel ~ 2 times a year to Portugal (later England) for weeks at a time to work with David Sobral on my projects and also give talks at various venues in Europe. I was a NASA Earth & Space Sciences Fellow (2016 - 2018; now called FINESST) which funded my last 2 years as a PhD student and supported my research trips to Europe. After receiving my PhD, I left California for Maryland where I began my first postdoctoral position as a NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) Fellow from 2018 - 2021 working with Sangeeta Malhotra and James Rhoads on the LAGER narrowband survey. After my fellowship ended, I began working with Jeyhan Kartaltepe (RIT) as a Postdoctoral Research Associate from 2021 to the present on various projects related to a large, public COSMOS spectroscopic archive and JWST studies. During this time, I married the love of my life, Zahra “Susan” Zarejousheghani in 2022 and we have been happily living in Maryland as I work remotely for RIT and she pursues her PhD studies in Computational Biology.

South San Francisco

I am from a small city nestled behind the San Bruno Mountains called South San Francisco known for the concrete letters on the hill (literally called Sign Hill). If you ever fly out of SFO or drive down 101, then you definitely have seen our iconic Sign Hill shown in the above image. Growing up, South City (as we locally call it) had only some 40,000 residents and there were still old farms and nurseries in the area. Although some would say it is windy and cold, I see it as a beautiful paradise where the air is crisp clean filtered by fresh winds coming from the Pacific Ocean. A typical day here would start with morning fog that would dissipate by around 11 am followed by the sun’s warmth coupled with the cool ocean winds. Then by 2 pm the marina layer starts to roll in coming down the Coastal Range as a thick, white blanket that eventually covers the Bay Area by late afternoon/early evening. Even during the summer, one needs to wear a jacket but the climate is the same year round with the occasional heatwave. Today, South City has grown with all the old farms and nurseries gone and a big move to becoming an international biotech hub. The Eastern part of the city called “Oyster Point” is the host of many big biotech companies such as Genentech, Amgen, Thermo Fisher, and AstraZeneca. But it still is an amazing city that I always want to one day go back to.

How did I get involve in astronomy?

The funny thing is when I was a kid, I actually wanted to make my own airline company! This was primarily fueled by my passion for aviation and also my close proximity to SFO and Bayfront Park. From my childhood house, I could see the international flights taking off runway 28L and 28R from my living room window. At the same time, I also enjoyed learning about space and distant stars and galaxies. Growing up, my father liked to put on documentaries about space and astronomy and I would watch with him fascinated about the cosmos. Of course this was complemented by Star Trek Voyager, Deep Space Nine, and The Next Generation :D Those shows also had a profound affect on my passion to pursue astronomy.

It was not until I was 13 years old when I made the official decision for myself I wanted to pursue a career in astronomy. My 8th grade science teacher (Mrs. Loste; if I spelled her name right) one day asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I said that I wanted to one day make my own airline. She responded with: “No, I think you are going to be a physicist.” She was not far off ;) It was that phrase that triggered in my mind that perhaps I should look into astronomy as a career. Given that at that age I started to become even more intrigued with physics, astronomy, and science in-general and participated in school and county science fairs (won honorable mention in the San Mateo County Science Fair), I decided to pursue a career in astronomy.

During my high school years, I took honors and AP physics (because 1 year wasn’t enough :D), astronomy courses at Ca~nada College (Redwood City), and applied for high school summer internship programs at UC Berkeley (which never panned out but was replaced with Calculus courses). When I went to UC Irvine to start my Bachelor’s degree in Physics (specialization in astrophysics), I joined Asantha Cooray’s group the first week into the program. This started a path that has led to where I am today. As part of Asantha’s group, I was exposed to academic research at the age of 18 working on projects related to studies of dusty, star-forming galaxies with the Herschel Space Telescope which was launched in 2008. The four years working with Asantha prepared me for my PhD program which I started in 2012 only one hour drive northeast of Irvine at UC Riverside. There I worked with Bahram Mobasher and David Sobral, where the latter was situated in Portugal (later Englad). All that came after is shown in my Research page.

My life outside astronomy

If I was not an astronomer, then I may have become a pilot. Perhaps it was because I was raised near SFO and I could see the planes taking off from my living room window that I developed a passion for aviation. The first time I ever got behind the yoke of Cessna was when I was 16 years old as a birthday gift. Ever since then, I wanted to pursue a private pilots license so I can have the freedom of flying through the skies. Still haven’t got there yet, but I have flown in the captain’s chair of different Cessna single propeler aircrafts a few times (recently in 2023). I also enjoy spending time plane spotting with my personal ATC receiver at Bayfront Park (SFO) and Friendship Park (BWI). There is something about watching planes take off and land in harmony with everything neatly ordered and people coming from and going to different parts of the world that I find very relaxing and meditating (including the smell of jet fuel).

I also am a classical Iranian santur (hammered dulcimer) player by training with about 20 years experience. I was raised with music from a young age and became passionate of classical Iranian music when my Dad first got a santur (for himself initially) and I started playing with it. The trigger for me to pursue training on this instrument was when I first heard the voice of Maestro Mohammad Reza Shajarian (the late, legendary Maestro of Iranian Classical Music) in his album “Night, Silence, Desert” and the sound of Ardavan Kamkar’s santur in the fourth track. This was followed by listening to the santur style of Maestro Faramarz Payvar and being enchanted by his music. I have a dedicated page [INSERT LINK HERE] if you are interested to learn more.

Besides aviation and music, I have several other pursuits. I enjoy being in nature going on extensive hikes (especially during my PhD years), reading about history and poetry, and spending time with good friends and family.