Professor Siamak Tavakoli excels in hardware and software R&D, and teaching

The faculty and students in our Computer Science Department are delighted that Professor Siamak Tavakoli has recently starting teaching full-time on our campus in Fairfield, Iowa. With apparent boundless energy, creativity, enthusiasm, and curiosity, Dr. Tavakoli has mastered a remarkable diversity of technical subject areas in order to solve a very large range of R&D challenges, and he plans to inspire his students for great careers.

How did he learn about MIU?

MIU Professor Payman Salek has known Siamak for many years:

"I met Siamak when I was 18 during our first year of college. We were both accepted to the Electrical Engineering department at Tehran Polytechnic in Iran. We hung out with the same group of friends, and we were both mountain climbers, and often went on long hikes. We became friends, and he was one of the best men at my wedding.  

"Over the years, we worked on microprocessor-based projects and conquered a few mountain peaks together, and continued our friendship after college.

"I moved to the U.S. to attend the ComPro MSCS program a little over 20 years ago, and Siamak moved to the UK to work on his PhD in Electrical Engineering at Brunel University London, but we kept in touch over the years and exchanged messages every now and then.

"When I posted about a faculty position on LinkedIn, Siamak immediately sent me a message and stated his interest. He was soon interviewed and hired as a faculty member at MIU. Siamak is probably one of the smartest people I have met in my life, and I am so glad that we managed to hire him as a Computer Science faculty."

Work and teaching experience

Dr. Tavakoli summarizes his past experiences and contributions as an IT professional:

"I left a strong footprint in the IoT industry where both hardware and software systems present challenges. I have triggered many projects, solved many core problems in the projects, created successful out of the box solutions, brought several projects to startup and then to scale up, and have transferred knowledge and experience in both academic and industrial environments."

Major research areas have included:

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics
Machine Learning and Full Stack System Architectural design
R&D lifecycle - all stages

Over the last 20+ years, Siamak Tavakoli has focused on these areas of investigation: 
 Embedded System design and development
 Electronic Circuit and System design and development
 Sensor Integration / Data Acquisition
 Drone Flight Automation / AI and robotics
 Digital Signal Processing
 Non-Destructive Testing
 Image / Voice Processing
 Numerical Algorithm design and development
 System Performance modelling, simulation and estimation
 Information / Distributed Systems design and development
 Data Mining
 Dimensionality Reduction
 Social Network Analysis
 Postgraduate Teaching
 Supervising degrees / postgraduates / PhD projects
 Lab development, lab infrastructure, system testing

He continues, "Research and Development has always been a part of my life. I will continue this at MIU. There are certain fields and disciplines where I am interested in doing research. With the support of enthusiastic students, there are many projects that can enjoy growth to realization The needs of the local community are also being explored and identified to complete the list."

Transcendental Meditation (TM)

Siamak first learned about TM from Payman Salek during their undergraduate college days.

About three years ago, with the large number of projects he was managing, Siamak searched for methods to help release the stress associated with all these responsibilities. After unsuccessfully trying several techniques, he turned his attention to finding an effective one, and started TM in mid-2021 in the UK. 

Personally, Professor Tavakoli reports, "I have enjoyed the tranquility of the moment, and stress-free state of mind that the Transcendental Meditation technique gives me. Students practicing TM report having a clear head, with a strong experience of peacefulness and growing self-confidence." 

Future Plans

Dr. Tavakoli has over 20 years of commercial technical consulting experience, and is planning to found an MIU technical incubator in the future. This will allow students with ideas for new applications to collaborate with MIU faculty to bring their projects to fruition.

Professor Tavakoli enjoys spending time reading books, and participating in sports such as paragliding and running.

Advice for future students:

"If you are searching for a focused academic program that develops mental growth in supporting your progress, there is no healthier place than MIU," Dr. Tavakoli concludes.