Profile
- I am a Ph.D. candidate under the mentorship of David Walsh at Concordia University and Irene Gregory-Eaves at McGill University. Driven by my fascination with microbiology, I am attempting to chart the contemporary and preindustrial diversity of microorganisms in lakes across Canada using culture-independent molecular genetic and computational biology techniques. Before beginning university, I volunteered for two and a half years of service in the Caracal Battalion of the Israel Defense Forces, which at the time was the only army combat unit in the world with equal gender integration.
Education
- Ph.D. Biology, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada 2018–current
Thesis: Large-scale spatial and temporal perspectives on the microbial ecology of Canadian lakes
Supervised by Dr. David Walsh and Dr. Irene Gregory-Eaves
- B.Sc. Honours in Ecology with Distinction, Concordia University 2017
Honours thesis: Unexpected freshwater bacterial diversity in Arctic Ocean metagenomes
Supervised by Dr. David Walsh
Scholarships & Awards
- Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies Doctoral Research Scholarship 2021–2023
- Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering Summer Course Scholarship 2023
- Microbial Diversity Course Scholarship, Marine Biological Laboratory 2022
- mSystems Journal Editor’s Pick, doi:10.1128/msystems.00316-22 2022
- Stephen Bronfman Scholarship in Graduate Environmental Studies 2021
- ÉcoLac Scholarship in Lake and Fluvial Ecology 2018–2020
- mSphere Journal Editor’s Pick, doi:10.1128/msphere.00512-20 2020
- BIOS2 Fellowship in Computational Biodiversity Science and Services 2019
- NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s 2018–2019
- 1st Place for Best Poster, Quebec Centre for Biodiversity Science Symposium 2017
- Shuffle Graduate Award, Concordia University 2017
- NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award 2017
- Levitt Family Foundation Scholarship 2014
- President’s Award for Outstanding Soldiers, President Shimon Peres, Israel 2013
- Blavatnik Family Foundation Scholarship 2013
- Canada Millennium Excellence Award 2007
Languages