Education

Ph.D. Candidate in the Individualized Interdisciplinary Studies program (Fall 2019 - present)

Simon Fraser University (SFU), Burnaby, Canada – Department of Mathematics, Computing Science and Biology

Master of Science, Decision Science and Data Engineering (2016 – 2018)

University of Tehran (UT), Tehran, Iran – Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies - Title of Thesis: Inferring Tumor Lineage Using Single-Cell Data

Bachelor of Science, Mathematics & Applications (2011 – 2016)

Kharazmi University (KHU), Alborz, Iran - Faculty of Mathematical Sciences and Computer

Experiences

Research Assistant

MAGPIE Lab – Department of Mathematics - SFU (2019 - present)
  • Developed a method of measuring diversity using unsupervised clustering on tuberculosis genome data.
  • Developed an optimization code for constructing weighted phylogenetic networks using binary trees.
  • Studied different types of split systems and the metrics inferred from them.

Mooers’ Biodiversity Lab – Department of Biological Sciences - SFU (2019 - present)

  • Devised a measure of feature diversity on anadromous salmon SNP data using game theory.
  • Explored the information loss when using the circular approximation of a split system for maximizing diversity in conservation biology.

Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Lab - Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies - UT (2016 - 2018)

  • Modified supervised and unsupervised machine learning algorithms to detect heterogeneity in tumor data.
  • Developed an imputation method for binary incomplete datasets.
  • Devised a distance meter based on mutual information for constructing a tumor phylogenetic tree.

Teaching

Lecture Assistant - The 13th and 14th Annual Summer Institute in Statistics and Modeling in Infectious Diseases (SISMID) - University of Washington (2021 - 2022)

  • Reviewed and devised lecture materials.
  • Assisted participants in course projects on simulating a hypothetical outbreak in R programing language.

Teaching Assistant - Department of Mathematics - SFU (2019 - present)

  • Applied calculus (applied linear algebra) workshop.
  • Calculus Ⅰ and Ⅱ workshop.

Teaching Assistant - Faculty of New Sciences and Technologies - UT (2016 - 2018)

  • Multi-criteria decision making.
  • Soft computing.
  • Graph theory.

Programing Instructor - Engineering Skills Development Centre(ESDC) - UT (2017)

  • Python fundamentals.

Awards and Honors

EcoEvo Symposium Best Talk Winner - Biodiversity Research Center (October 2022)

People’s Choice Award in Three-Minutes Thesis Competition - Simon Fraser University (March 2021)

Publications

Abhari N., Colijn C., Mooers A., and Tupper P. (2023). “Capturing Diversity: Split Systems and Circular Approximations for Conservation”. Journal of Theoretical Biology. DOI: 10.1101/gr.277669.123

Zhang L., Abhari N., Colijn C., and Wu Y. (2023). “A Fast and Scalable Method for Inferring Phylogenetic Networks from Trees by Aligning Lineage Taxon Strings”. Genome Research. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.4522288

Skills

Computer and Software Skills

  • Operating Systems: WINDOWS, Ubuntu, MacOS.
  • Engineering Software: MATLAB, Maple.
  • Programing Language: Python, R, HTML, Julia.
  • Specialized applications: Dendroscope, SplitsTree, Phylogenetic Diversity Analyzer.
  • Teaching applications: Canvas, Crowdmark, WebAssign, MathXL in Pearson.
  • General Software: Microsoft Office, LaTeX, Adobe Photoshop.

Language skills

  • Persian (Native).
  • English (Advanced).
  • German (Intermediate – ÖSD (Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch) Certificate B1, 2013).