Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California, 2021
  • M.S., Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University, 2017
  • B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, Shiraz University, 2014
Professional Affiliations
  • Project Management Institute (PMI)
  • National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
  • American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE)
  • Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)

Dr. Zebarjad serves clients across the energy, utilities, oil and gas, and petrochemical sectors requiring technical expertise in engineering analysis, materials performance, and complex process evaluation. She brings applied utility experience, where she supported engineering analyses related to material performance, pipeline integrity, root-cause failure analysis, and technology qualification in regulated energy infrastructure.

Her technical qualifications and experience support clients navigating infrastructure integrity, process performance, regulatory compliance, and strategic planning across traditional and emerging energy industries. Her expertise is particularly relevant to organizations operating within regulated energy infrastructure engaged in system reliability, safety, and compliance initiatives, including natural gas utilities and pipeline operators, public agencies and regulatory-facing entities. She supports oil and gas and petrochemical companies on technical issues related to chemical processing, reaction engineering, separations, and process-intensive technologies and stakeholders in emerging energy and decarbonization, including hydrogen, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) developers and energy transition programs. Dr. Zebarjad is a certified project manager with experience managing scope, schedule, and budgets for utility projects up to $26 million, with a focus on CPUC regulatory compliance, risk analysis, and safety management.

Dr. Zebarjad's doctoral research was in chemical reaction engineering, including membrane reactors, high-pressure methanol synthesis, ionic-liquid-mediated separations, and recent experience has included carbon dioxide capture, utilization, and hydrogen production technologies, and experimental work related to enhanced oil recovery and oilfield chemistry. She has extensive hands-on experience with spectroscopic and analytical techniques, including GC-MS, FTIR, NMR, XRD, SEM, TEM, TGA, solid and liquid viscosity measurement equipment, and wettability and interfacial tension measurements, developed through more than a decade of experimental work. She regularly applies tools such as Aspen HYSYS, COMSOL Multiphysics, MATLAB, and AutoCAD to support modeling and analysis of technical processes. She is certified on ASTM DD3350, Standard Specification for Polyethylene Plastics Pipe and Fittings Materials, and has industry experience updating utility internal standards to align with ASTM requirements. She is proficient in California Air Resources Board (CARB) Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) credit frameworks, supporting industry leadership with financial insights related to credit optimization.