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.

• 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
• CO2, N2O and CH4 production and fluxes
• Flow and transport in porous media (particularly in complex dual-porosity)
• HydroBioGeoPhysics: Geophysical methods to assess subsurface biogeochemical processes
• Threats to Aquatic Ecosystems and their Interaction
• Contamination & Remediation: Water, Soil, Air
• Climate Change and Geosciences
• Increasingly Complex Water Challenges
• Protection of Surface and Groundwater Resources
• Legacies of Agriculture
• Protection of Drinking Water from the Ravages of Climate Change

Professor Rezanezhad's diverse research interests are united under the central theme of understanding mechanisms controlling subsurface hydrogeochemistry. While he is interested in fundamental physical, hydrological and geochemical questions, much of his work also has strong applied aspects. The scale of his research ranges from detailed examination of hydrological dynamics and biogeochemical pathways to watershed and landscape studies. Professor Rezanezhad has extensive field experience in wetland ecosystems, monitoring water levels, soil and water quality, as well as contaminant, nutrient, and greenhouse gas fluxes. He has recently developed and implemented a number of novel techniques in the lab, including automated water table fluctuating soil column system, automated freeze-thaw cycle soil column system, an automated flow injection switch-box, different pore water sampling devices, and high resolution electrochemistry sensors, for innovative research projects. These techniques improve currently available bench scale systems for validating and accurately addressing physical and chemical heterogeneity at multiple spatial scales. Results from these systems can be used to develop models of hydrogeochemical processes, which will improve solute transport modelling reliability.

• 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

• 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

• Co-op Program Coordinator of the Ecohydrology Research Group
• Member, The Water Institute

• EARTH 458 - Physical Hydrogeology
  • Taught in 2019
• EARTH 652 - Reactive Transport Modelling
  • Taught in 2020, 2022

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

• B. Ding, F. Rezanezhad; B. Gharedaghloo; P. Van Cappellen and E. Passeport. 2018. Bioretention cells under cold climate conditions: Effects of freezing and thawing on water infiltration, soil structure, and nutrient removal. Science of the Total Environment, 649, 749-759.
• N. Sepehrnia, L. Memarianfard, A. A. Moosavi, J. Bachmann, F. Rezanezhad, M. Sepehri. 2018. Retention modes of manure-fecal coliform under saturated condition. Journal of Environmental Management, 227, 209-2015.
• B. Gharedaghloo, J. S. Price, F. Rezanezhad, William Quinton. 2018. Evaluating the hydraulic and transport properties of peat soil using pore network modeling and X-Ray micro computed tomography. Journal of Hydrology, 561, 494-508.
• T. Maavara, S. Slowinski, F. Rezanezhad, K. Van Meter, P. Van Cappellen. 2018. The role of groundwater discharge fluxes on Si:P ratios in a major tributary to Lake Erie. Science of the Total Environment, 622-623, 814-824.
• A. Mellage, C. M. Smeaton, A. Furma, E. A. Atekwana, F. Rezanezhad and P. Van Cappellen. 2018. Linking spectral induced polarization (SIP) and subsurface microbial processes: Results from sand column incubation experiments. Environmental Science & Technology. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.7b04420
• Z. Akbarzadeh, A. Laverman, F. Rezanezhad, M. Raimonet, E. Viollier, B. Shafei, P. Van Cappellen. 2018. Benthic nitrite fluxes in the Seine River (France): Insights from early diagenetic modeling. Science of the Total Environment, 628-629: 580-593.
• C. Kleimeier, H. Liu, F. Rezanezhad, B. Lennartz. 2018. Nitrate attenuation in degraded peat soil-based constructed wetlands. Water, 10, 355; doi:10.3390/w10040355.
• Please see Fereidoun Rezanezhad's Google Scholar profile for a current list of his peer-reviewed articles.