Zahrasadat Alavi
Dr. Alavi received her Ph.D. and her second M.Sc. degrees from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee in 2015 and 2012, her first M.Sc. and B.Sc. from Amirkabir University of Technology (Polytechnic University of Tehran) in 2009 and 2007 in Electrical Engineering with honors.
Her research interests include AI and Machine Learning, digital image processing and analysis, computed tomographic imaging, FTIR micro-spectroscopic imaging, Reinforcement Learning and control systems design and engineering education. Highlights of her technical and leadership efforts and achievements during her professional appointments are listed below:
- She chaired and led the re-opening committee of the Master's program of Electrical and Computer Engineering at CSU Chico EECE Department. She led the effort to redesign the curriculum and incorporate Machine Learning and AI-based courses in the curriculum. As a result, the program was reopened in Fall 2024.
- She co-lead the university-level Equity Action team to reduce the DFW rates in the high DFW rate courses across university to close equity gaps.
- She has been the principal investigator on several grants such as National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation for the acquisition of an FTIR Spectroscopic Imaging system, and several research projects that involve Machine Learning and AI such as CSU Chico Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity. She is the director of FTIR Spectroscopic Imaging Lab and supervises students in research including FTIR Spectroscopic Imaging techniques and developing novel Machine Learning, digital image processing and analysis algorithms to process big data.
- She has been the principal investigator on several Student Success grants and the founder and director of Math and Engineering bootcamp, a bridge program for incoming freshman and transfer students at the ECC College.
- She has been a co- principal investigator on another NSF-MRI grant that acquired Raman Spectroscopy Imaging equipment.
- She has been a co-investigator on an Office of Naval Research Grant for which she designed adaptive control systems for power electronic power distribution systems of electric ships.
She received the Electrical and Computer Engineering Division Best Paper award of the 2019 ASEE Annual Conference.
She has been a Professional Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a Professional Member of the American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE).
Selected Publications:
Zahrasadat Alavi, John J. Zenor, Kurtis B Kredo II, Hadil H Mustafa, Roy E Crosbie, “Adaptive Control of a Two-zone Model of Electric Ship Power Electronics Power Distribution System”, 15th IFAC Conference on Control Applications in Marine Systems, Robotics and Vehicles, Blacksburg, Virginia, September 3-5, 2024.
Joshua Huskisson, Zahrasadat Alavi, “Optimizing Deep Learning Tool for Segmentation of Hyperspectral FTIR Imaging Data & Developing a Clustering Tool for FTIR Data using Machine Leaning Techniques”, Adelante: A Journal of Student Research and Creative Work, Fall 2022, pp. 39-40, https://www.csuchico.edu/adelante/_assets/documents/journal-vol2.pdf
Zahrasadat Alavi, “Assessing Effectiveness of Different Teaching Modalities in Linear Circuits I”, 2022 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 26-29, 2022.
Zahrasadat Alavi, Kevin Buffardi, Kun Zhang, Kathleen Meehan, Webster Johnson, “Redesigning a Summer Math and Engineering Bootcamp for Virtual Instruction During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, 2021 Virtual ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Long Beach, California, July 26-29, 2021.
Zahrasadat Alavi, “Multi-disciplinary research and teaching by means of employing FTIR Spectroscopic Imaging System and characterization techniques”, 2020 Virtual ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Quebec, Montreal, June 22-24, 2020.
Zahrasadat Alavi, Kathleen Meehan, Kevin Buffardi, Webster Johnson, Joseph Greene, “Assessing a Summer Engineering Math and Projects Bootcamp to Improve Retention and Graduation Rates in Engineering and Computer Science”, 2020 Virtual ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Quebec, Montreal, June 22-24, 2020.
Zahrasadat Alavi, Kathleen Meehan, “Enhancing a Control Systems Design Course by Using Experiential Learning Model”, 2019 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Tampa, Florida, June 16-19, 2019. *
Zahrasadat Alavi, Behnam Azimi, “Application of environment noise classification towards sound recognition for Cochlear Implant Users”, Proceedings of the IEEE, 2019 6th International Conference on Electrical and Electronics Engineering (ICEEE), Istanbul, Turkey, April 16-17, 2019, pp 144-148.
Zahrasadat Alavi, Arash Kialashaki, “Towards Removing Barriers Against Learning Control Systems Design: A Comprehensive Review of the Math Required for Reaching Milestones in Control Systems Design”, 2018 ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition, Salt Lake City, Utah, June 23-27, 2018.
Miriam Unger, Catherine Schmidt Patterson, David Carson, Eric Mattson, Zahrasadet Alavi, Carol J Hirschmugl, “Synchrotron-based Multiple Beam FTIR Chemical Imaging in Transmission and Reflection for Applications in Cultural Heritage” , Applied Physics A: Volume 111, Issue 1 (2013), Page 135-145.
Eric C. Mattson, Miriam Unger, Binod Manandhar, Zahrasadat Alavi, Carol J. Hirschmugl,”Multi-beam synchrotron FTIR chemical imaging: Impacts of schwarzschild objective and spatial oversampling on spatial resolution”. Journal of Physics: Conference Series, volume 425, Issue 14 (2013), 142001.