He holds a B.Sc. and an M.Sc. in chemical and petroleum engineering from the Petroleum University of Technology (Iran) and an M.Eng., an M.Sc., and a Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from the University of Calgary (Canada). His research expertise is in mathematical modeling of fluid flow and transport phenomena in porous media with the main focus on hydrocarbon recovery from unconventional reservoirs and CO2 storage in geological formations. He has conducted research on solutal and thermal natural convection, rate transient analysis, hydraulic fracturing, asphaltene precipitation, polymer/water flooding, and solvent injection in shale reservoirs. He is currently in charge of the graduate course in unconventional reservoir engineering at the Penn State.