Fereidoun Reza Nezhad

Fereidoun Rezanezhad uses field and innovative laboratory experiments to understand mechanisms controlling a variety of chemical, biological and physical processes in the subsurface.

Since 2011, Professor Rezanezhad has been a member of the Ecohydrology Research Group, where he also serves as the group's co-op program coordinator.

• Ecohydrology

• Watershed Science

• Critical Zone Hydrogeochemistry

• Soil processes

• Water quality

• Reactive Interfaces in Agro-ecosystems

• Hydrogeochemical processes of aquatic-terrestrial interfaces

• Biogeochemical cycles of nutrients

• Terrestrial ecosystem processes

• Groundwater-surface water interactions

• Hydrological and biogeochemical processes of peatlands and wetlands

• Seasonal freeze / thaw dynamics

• Flow and transport in porous media (particularly in complex dual-porosity)

• HydroBioGeoPhysics: Geophysical methods to assess subsurface biogeochemical processes

• Winter soil processes

• Fate and transport of nutrients

• Microplastics in the environment

• 2007, Doctorate Environmental Physics, Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg, Germany

• 2000, Master of Science Physics, University of Sistan and Baluchestan, Zahedan, Iran

• 1998, Bachelor of Science (BSc) Physics, University of Tabriz, Iran

• 2016 - 2024 German Research Foundation (DFG) Mercator Fellowship. Awarded to a Visiting Professor at a German University to recognize their dedication to intensive long-term project-based collaboration with German researchers

• 2015 - 2020 Mercator Fellow in Baltic TRANSCOAST research training group funded by German Research Foundation (DFG)

• 2009 - 2011 Suncor Energy Inc. Postdoctoral Fellowship. Fen Creation Research Project. University of Waterloo, Canada

• 2007 - 2009 IP3 Post-doctoral Fellowship, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada, Cold Regions Research Centre (CRRC), Improved Processes and Parameterisation for Prediction in Cold Regions (IP3) network funded by Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS)

• 2004 Outstanding Paper of the Conference for the Best Scientific Poster, Eurosoil2004, Freiburg, Germany

• 2003 - 2007 DFG Ph.D. Scholarship and Research Award, University of Heidelberg, Germany, Institute of Environmental Physics

• Associate Editor of the Journal of Hydrology

• Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Soil Science

• Associate Editor of the journal Mires and Peat

• Academic Editor for the journal PLOS ONE

• Chair of Canadian Representative to the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) Commission on Water Quality

• American Geophysical Union (AGU)

• European Geophysical Union (EGU)

• Canadian Geophysical Union (CGU)

• European Association of Geochemistry (EAG)

• Co-op Program Coordinator of the Ecohydrology Research Group

• Cross-appointed to the Department of Biology

• Water Institute (Member)

• Waterloo Climate Institute (Member)

• UNESCO Urban Ecohydrology Observatory (Member)

• MathPeat Network (Member)

• Soils Processes and Critical Zone Technical Committee (Member)

• EARTH 652 - Reactive Transport Modelling
  • Taught in 2022

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• For the full list of Fereidoun Rezanezhad’s publications, please see Google Scholar.

• Ramezanzadeh, M., Rezanezhad, F., Slowinski, S., Ye, J., Vandergriendt, M., Rudolph, D. L., Thomson, N. R., and Van Cappellen, P. (2026). Effects of Water Table Fluctuations on Naphthalene Degradation: Soil Column Experiment and Modeling. Vadose Zone Journal, Vadose Zone Journal, e70081. https://doi.org/10.1002/vzj2.70081

• Reshadi A. M., Rezanezhad F., Shahvaran A., Ghajar A., Kaykhosravi S., Slowinski S., Van Cappellen P. (2025). Assessment of environmental and socioeconomic drivers of urban stormwater microplastics using machine learning. Scientific Report, 15, 6299, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-90612-0

• Fairbairn L., Rezanezhad F., Gharasoo M., Parsons C. T., Macrae M. L., Slowinski S., Van Cappellen P. (2023). Relationship between soil CO2 fluxes and soil moisture: Anaerobic sources explain fluxes at high water content. Geoderma, 434, 116493. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2023.116493

• Ramezanzadeh M., Slowinski S., Rezanezhad F., Murr K., Lam C., Smeaton C., Alibert C., Vandergriendt M., and Van Cappellen, P. (2023). Effects of freeze-thaw cycles on methanogenic hydrocarbon degradation: Experiment and modeling. Chemosphere, 325, 138405 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.138405

• Byun E., Rezanezhad F., Fairbairn L., Slowinski S., Basiliko N., Price J. S., Quinton W. L., Roy-Léveillée P., Webster K., and Van Cappellen P. (2021). Temperature, moisture and freeze–thaw controls on CO2 production in soil incubations from northern peatlands. Scientific Reports, 11:23219, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02606-3

• Rezanezhad F., Price J.S., Quinton W.L., Lennartz B., Milojevic T., and Van Cappellen P. (2016). Structure of peat soils and implications for water storage, flow and solute transport: A review update for geochemists. Chemical Geology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2016.03.010