About

Current Mission:

I am the Principal Investigator (PI) of a project funded by the Swedish National Space Agency (Rymdstyrelsen) to establish a national-scale, satellite-based monitoring system for Sweden’s surface water dynamics. Read more about the poject here. In this project, which is a collboration between Stockholm University and the University of Michigan, I intend to integrate Earth Observations (EO) for enhancing Sweden’s national water security under climate change. The project uses high-resolution data from recent EO missions including Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT), Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2), and NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR), to quantify river flow, water extent, elevation, and storage.

Also, I am a postdoctoral associate at Chalmers Technical University, Department of Space, Earth and Environment in Gothenburg, Sweden. I am responsible for a project funded by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) to estimate ground motion around and on railroads in Sweden. I use satellite data and space geodesy to estimate these motions as well as hydroclimatic and hydrogeological data to understand the main factors leading to those motions, e.g., frost and thaw, precipitation, soil characteristics, and landslides.

PhD:

I started my PhD studies in 2019 in hydrology and satellite remote sensing and graduated in 2023. Read about my PhD research here. I like to see the impact of my work on society and I strive to achieve meaningful and helpful results in my research. I love communication and being with people. You need to ask this from my colleagues and students. I have mentored master’s and junior Ph.D. students. According to them (both in the evaluation forms and in person), I am supportive of my colleagues and students and they feel comfortable turning to me to get help and advice. This feels so great that I can’t describe it.

Grad studies and offshore Jobs:

I did my master’s in marine geodesy (2011) and worked as a marine surveyor or hydrographer onboard offshore oil rigs and ships! I also did marine research. Images below show a gas platform on a calm day in the Persian Gulf (can you see the flare?) and one bathymetric image of an offshore gas platform (the four legs of the platform are visible in the middle, some pipeline or debris, and some holes that probably gas bubbles come out of them).

Undergrad Studies and the first job:

I enrolled in an undergrad program in Geomatics and surveying (2006). I started working as a land surveyor in the last year of my studies (2010) and measured distances and elevations on land. I did that job even during my master’s studies (2014).

Other Interests:

I love comedies (standup and tv shows), and my all-time favorite comedians are Larry David and David Mitchell. I quote too way often from Seinfeld, Peep Show, and Curb Your Enthusiasm! So, I get along well with those team members who respect wood!

I also love football (soccer), I even had a team in the Swedish amateur league (Korpen) for two seasons (2021-2022 & 2022-2023). We never came first, but we had a good team.