"I remember the first time that I saw Arezoo," said Biggane. "It was at a football tailgate party that the University was hosting for new faculty. I’m not entirely sure what I said to her, so let’s just assume it was witty and intelligent. After that we started spending a lot of time together. I would ask her if she wanted to go to Starbucks to work or to go for a run. I even used my dog as an excuse to hang out with her. We’d take him to Woodward Park and go for walks.

“I knew within a few months of dating that I wanted to ask her to marry me, but we dated for about a year before I popped the question."

Sadrinezhad also remembers the tailgate on Oct. 3, 2014 when Biggane approached her.

"I can clearly remember that moment. We talked for a while. I asked him to take my picture with the University mascot. I also asked him to email me that photo because I wanted to have his contact info. That picture is still my favorite picture...

"After that day, we saw each other almost every day," she said.

They have been engaged since October and their wedding is set for August.

Biggane said the couple’s teaching schedules may be demanding, but they attend events together and always make time for each other.

“On the weekends, we typically spend time hiking, training our new puppy or traveling when we can,” he said. “We also have a lot of date nights where we cook at home, play some Frank Sinatra and hang out by our fire pit."

They’ll keep romance alive with special plans for Valentine's Day: heading back to Coronado, where they got engaged.

Dr. Jonathan Biggane and Dr. Arezoo Sadrinezhad

"Arezoo is going to run her first half-marathon and I’m going test out wedding cake," Biggane said.

The couple is looking to combine their work or research in some way, but, said Biggane, “I don’t understand most of what she does, so that might take a while. For now we’re happy hanging out in our office together and working on our own projects."

Biggane has a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior/Human Resources from the University of Memphis and an M.B.A. and a B.S. in Management, both from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Prior to teaching, Biggane worked for seven years in industry, including positions such as a Sr. Staffing Consultant at G.E. Nuclear and Business Analyst at BHI Energy.

Sadrinezhad has a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Geotechnical Engineering from University of Akron in Ohio, an M.S. in Civil Engineering with emphasis in Earthquake Engineering earned in Iran and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Iran. She worked for three years as a structural/earthquake engineer before joining the Fresno State faculty.

The two of them came into their careers differently. Biggane become interested in his field during one of his first jobs after college, which in many ways was his worst job. However, it helped him to realize what he wanted to do with his career and his life.

"I worked in a corporate office with a lot of executives who were toward the end of their careers," he said. "Despite making a lot of money, most of them weren’t happy. It was as if you could see the regret in their eyes as we crammed into the elevators every morning."

At the time, one of his brothers was biking across the U.S. and another had just become a Green Beret. Seeing the possibilities helped him to realize that he didn’t want to be one of those executives at the end of his career, regretting his life. He wanted to live his life believing that anything is possible.

"When I looked around at the people who truly seemed happy, most of them were professors," he said. "So I thought, why not? Much of my research and consulting now focuses on how to improve employee well-being and engagement."

Sadrinezhad, on the other hand, always wanted to become an engineer because she had a passion for math and physics.

"I picked civil engineering because I wanted to have a role in developing the world and improving the lives of people by building roads, bridges, canals, dams, buildings, etc.," she said.

In 2003, when she was doing her undergrad work, an earthquake with magnitude of 6.6 took place in Bam, Iran, killing 26,271 and injuring 30,000.

"That made me decide to get a master's degree in earthquake engineering," she said. "During my master's program, I was working as an earthquake engineer and I was retrofitting the existing structures, such as hospitals and schools that were not resistant to seismic activity. After I got my master's degree, I decided to come to the U.S. to get my Ph.D."

While earning her Ph.D., she was working as a teaching assistant, which made her realize that transferring her knowledge to others gave more meaning to her life. So, she decided to set her sights on academia.

"My current research is on the probabilistic modeling of soil behavior in order to predict the earthquake ground motion more realistically," she said. "So, I feel I achieved both my goals, teaching and also saving people's lives by designing more reliable structures."

Despite discovering their careers differently, the two of them have many things in common and share a love for the outdoors.

"Over the last few years I’ve gotten into adventure races," said Biggane. "Right now I’m training for a 48-hour, 80- to 100-mile event called GoRuck Selection. Arezoo said there’s a 5 percent chance that she’ll let me do it, so I feel like my odds are pretty good. I’ve been training for it by doing shorter events like Iron Man, GoRuck Heavy and the Avalon 50 Mile Ultra Marathon. I’ve also been eating a lot of Starbucks cookies to be sure I’m getting enough calories."

Sadrinezhad also enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, biking and running.

"I also like reading books and watching movies," she said.

The couple has two dogs: a husky puppy named Cooper and an 11-year-old mutt named Boston, whom Biggane describes as looking like a bear mixed with a lion.