Curriculum vitae
Education
PhD, Computer Science — University of Illinois Chicago
Dissertation: Understanding Lateral Asymmetry in Touchless Interaction
2017 – 2024
MS, Computer Science — University of Illinois Chicago
Project: Personalizing Hospital Discharge Summaries to Shifting Levels of Engagement and Health Literacy
2022
BS, Computer Engineering — Amirkabir University of Technology
Thesis: Desktop as a Service (DaaS) Implementation using OpenStack
2012 – 2016
Research experience
Postdoctoral Researcher — School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
Project areas: VR training for manufacturing · immersive visualization of industrial CT data ·
XR-based clinical assessment · immersive AI explainability
Other contributions: NSF proposals in XR, robotics, and learning technologies ·
mentoring on study design and IRB materials
2025 – present
Graduate Research Assistant — Department of Computer Science,
University of Illinois Chicago
Electronic Visualization Laboratory & UIC HCI Laboratory
Project areas: touchless interaction & handedness (dissertation) · personalized
hospitalization app for patients with heart failure · human-centered GNN explanations ·
continual digital inclusion of older adults
2017 – 2024
Industry experience
Machine Learning Engineer Intern — American Express, New York
Payment-prediction model: likelihood of a payment being accepted or returned, from customer history
Summer 2021
Machine Learning Engineer Intern — American Express, New York
Buyer–supplier matching: recommender model identifying relevant, deal-likely matches
Summer 2020
Software Engineer Intern — Bank Saderat, Tehran
Desktop application for evaluating employee knowledge
Summer 2015
Scientific & Literary Editor — Daryaft Publication, Tehran
Edited supplementary mathematics textbooks
2012 – 2013
Teaching & mentoring
Graduate Teaching Assistant — University of Illinois Chicago
User Interface Design and Programming (CS422) · Software Design (CS342)
2017 – 2024
Undergraduate research supervision — University of Illinois Chicago
Mentored undergraduate researchers across summer research projects
2017 – 2024
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant — Amirkabir University of Technology
Software Engineering · Advanced Programming · Computer Architecture · Fundamentals of Management · Principle of Computer and Programming
2013 – 2015
Service
- Organizer — XR Bytes seminar series, a weekly graduate-research seminar on extended reality · ADC XR Makerspace, Georgia Institute of Technology · 2026 – present.
- Reviewer — ACM CHI (2019, 2020, 2022, 2024, 2025) · ACM MobileHCI (2020, 2023).
- Student volunteer — ACM CHI 2020 · IEEE BHI-BSN 2019 · ACM/IEEE HRI 2018 · Amirkabir International Collegiate Programming Contest (jointly with Technische Universität München) · 7th Amirkabir Linux National Festival · 2nd National Competition to Design Digital Systems.
- Board member — Student Scientific Chapter of Computer Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology · 2014 – 2015.
Skills
- Research methods
- User-centered design · mixed-methods research design · empirical methods · controlled experiments · usability testing · interviews & focus groups · surveys and questionnaire design · sampling · contextual inquiry · think-aloud studies · design probes · diary studies · A/B testing · heuristic evaluation · requirements analysis · human-subjects research & IRB
- Analysis & visualization
- Hypothesis testing · ANOVA · regression · multivariate & non-parametric statistics · power analysis · interaction-log analysis · thematic & content analysis · grounded theory · inter-rater reliability · R · Python · SQL · ggplot2 · matplotlib · D3.js · Three.js · Tableau
- Research tools
- Qualtrics · ATLAS.ti · NVivo · MAXQDA · UserTesting
- Machine learning & LLM systems
- Applied machine learning · scikit-learn · pandas · NumPy · Spark · model evaluation & validation · LLM integration in interactive systems · LLM-assisted analysis and documentation · dataset curation & preprocessing · evaluation pipelines
- XR & devices
- Unity · OpenXR · Blender · Quest · Vive Pro Eye · HoloLens 1/2 · CAVE2 large displays · Vicon & OptiTrack motion capture · marker-based tracking · Leap Motion · Kinect · tablet-stylus systems (Wacom) · 3D modeling & printing
- Design & prototyping
- Figma · Adobe XD · Illustrator · Photoshop · Lightroom · InDesign · Axure RP · Balsamiq · Sketch · Proto.io · wireframing · card sorting · affinity diagramming · sketching · rapid prototyping
- Programming & development
- Python · R · C# · Java · JavaScript · SQL · C/C++ · MATLAB · Bash · HTML & CSS · React & React Native · Node.js · REST APIs · MySQL · MongoDB · PostgreSQL · Git · AWS · Azure · GCP
- Collaboration & productivity
- LaTeX · Jira · Confluence · Miro · Notion · Google Workspace · Microsoft Office