Mitra Cattry is a third-year postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, working in the Gentine Lab. Her work lies at the intersection of environmental science and data-driven modeling, with a particular focus on the soil–plant–atmosphere continuum (SPAC) and how climatic stressors influence soil processes and ecosystem dynamics.
Mitra’s academic journey spans multiple countries and disciplines. She began with a Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum and Chemical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology in Iran, which led her to pursue a Master’s degree in Civil Engineering at TU Delft in the Netherlands in 2014. There, she developed numerical models for CO₂ sequestration, specifically coupling two-dimensional fluid flow with solid deformation. She later earned a PhD in Civil and Environmental Engineering from EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, specializing in fluid flow through porous media and its interactions with vegetation and microbial communities. Her cross-disciplinary training in soil physics, ecohydrology, and remote sensing equips her to develop integrated approaches for understanding environmental change and supporting sustainability for ecosystems under stress.