I did my PhD in Weed Science at The University of Tehran, Iran, in 2011, focusing on the development of eco-physiological models for predicting and understanding the weed seed germination and seedling emergence. Inspired by Prof. Roger Cousens' work in the field of weed and invasion ecology, I decided to go to Australia to visit his lab at The University of Melbourne, which I ended up living and working in this beautiful city for six years. As a Mackenzie Fellow (2011-2014) and then a post-doc (2014-2017) at The University of Melbourne, I have worked on niche modeling and population dynamics of hybridizing invasive plants in natural systems. Prior to joining UC Davis, I was a research scientist at Stanford University working on food and agricultural issues related to Iran.

I have a diverse research interest ranging from modeling seed germination in Petri dishes to mapping the potential distribution of invasive weeds at geographical scale. Current research focuses are:

• Spatiotemporal dynamics of weeds in agricultural and natural systems
• Reproduction biology of weeds and invasive plants
• Ecophysiology of seed germination and emergence
• Remote sensing and big data modeling

Finally, to cross-pollination ecology with technology, I have huge interest in developing web/mobile applications to facilitate the transfer of knowledge produced in my lab.

You can reach me at (530) 752-0852 or mbmesgaran@ucdavis.edu.