Rate My Professor Amir Khoddamzadeh

Amir Ali Khoddamzadeh serves as Chair and Associate Professor of environmental horticulture in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University. He earned a Ph.D. in Agricultural Biotechnology with a focus on Conservation Horticulture from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2011, where his dissertation addressed induction of protocorm-like bodies, synthetic seed production, and cryopreservation in Phalaenopsis bellina. He also holds an M.Sc. in Agricultural Engineering - Plant Production (Ecophysiology) from Iran in 2007. His career includes positions as Research Scholar at Oklahoma State University (2013-2015), Assistant Professor at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad and the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (2011-2013), and Assistant Teaching Professor and Undergraduate Program Director at FIU since 2015.

Dr. Khoddamzadeh's research specializes in conservation and sustainable horticulture, encompassing in-vitro micropropagation, gene banking through cryopreservation, seed technology, mycorrhizal fungi in urban environments, and optical sensor technologies for assessing fertilizer use, water management, and plant responses to abiotic stressors such as salinity and heat in ornamental plants, vegetables, and endangered species. He directs the Khoddamzadeh Lab for Conservation & Sustainable Horticulture within FIU's Institute of Environment and co-directs the Global Sustainable Tourism Program. Key publications include 'Cryopreservation of Protocorm-Like Bodies (PLBs) of Phalaenopsis bellina' (Plant Cell, Tissue & Organ Culture, 2011), 'Application of canopy sensors for nitrogen assessment management in chrysanthemum' (HortScience, 2016), and the book chapter 'Orchid Biotechnology' in Horticultural Reviews (2016). His scholarship has earned over 1,500 citations, with an h-index of 21. Notable awards include the 2024 USDA E. Kika De La Garza Science Fellowship, FIU Engagement Award (2019), and first-place Early Career Young Faculty Competition Award from the American Society for Horticultural Science (2015). He has secured grants such as a USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant ($82,677, 2020) and chairs committees in ASHS, serves on editorial boards for journals including Frontiers in Plant Science, and contributes to conservation committees of the Florida Native Plant Society.