Director of Nature Inspired Computational Intelligence (NICI) Lab
Awards and Honors
Received the UOIT Research Excellence Award, UOIT, 2017.
Nominated for UOIT Research Excellence Award, UOIT, 2015.
The first place in Annual Capstone Projects Competition, UOIT, April 2014.
Nominated for UOIT Research Excellence Award, UOIT, 2013.
Nominated for UOIT Teaching Excellence Award, UOIT, 2013.
The first place in Annual Capstone Projects Competition, UOIT, April 2013.
Achievement Increment Award, $2,000/year, UOIT, Oshawa, July 2012.
The second place in Annual Capstone Projects Competition, UOIT, April 2012.
Best Poster Award in the 6th Annual Research Showcase, UOIT, Aug. 2009.
NSERC's Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Fellowship (awarded only to 15 Canadians each year), University of Tokyo (Host Researcher: Prof. Hitoshi IBA), $40,000/year for two years, April 2008 (declined).
NSERC's Industrial R&D Fellowship (IRDF), $60,000/year for two years, March 2008 (declined).
NSERC's Visiting Fellowship in Canadian Government Laboratories (VF), $43,724, Feb. 2008 (declined).
Postdoctoral Fellowship, $41,000, Simon Fraser University, March 2008.
Nominated for PhD Alumni Gold Medal [unfortunately, it was rejected because of the late submission of the application to the Graduate School Office.], Aug. 2007.
Best Presentation Award, National Computer Symposium, May 2007.
IEEE WCCI 2006 Student Travel Grant, $450, IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence, Vancouver, 2006.
Best Session Presentation Award, IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence, Vancouver, 2006.
Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), $15,000, University of Waterloo, 2006.
Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (OGSST), $5,000, University of Waterloo, 2006 (declined).
President's Graduate Scholarship, $10,000, (University of Waterloo's highest award for outstanding graduate students), 2006.
Faculty of Engineering Graduate Scholarship, $1,000, University of Waterloo, 2006.
Faculty of Engineering Graduate Scholarship, $1,000, University of Waterloo, 2005.
Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), $15,000, University of Waterloo, 2005.
Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (OGSST), $5,000, University of Waterloo, 2005 (declined).
Award for Successful Supervision of Azarbijans' Team on Kharazmi National Competition (first place among 30 provinces), Tabriz, Iran, 2005.
University of Waterloo Graduate Scholarship, $1,000, University of Waterloo, Canada, 2005.
Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Fellowship, $10,000, (awarded to outstanding graduate students across Canada), University of Waterloo, 2004.
Best Presentation Award, National Computer Symposium for Teachers, Iran, 2004.
NSERC's Industrial Postgraduate Scholarships (IPS), University of Waterloo, Canada, 2004 (declined).
Graduate Incentive Award (GIA), $1,666, University of Waterloo, Canada, 2003.
Finalist for NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships, University of Waterloo, Canada, 2003.
Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR) Fellowship, $10,000, University of Waterloo, 2003.
Award of Ranked First of Class in M.A.Sc. Degree, Shaheed Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, 2001.
Ranked in top 1% in nationwide Electrical and Computer Engineering M.Sc. entrance exam, 1999.
Award of Ranked First of Class in B.Eng. Degree, Shaheed Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran, 1998.
Award for Designing and Implementation of High Quality Storage Management Software, Ministry of Energy, Tehran, Iran, 1997.
Award of Ranked First of Class in A.A. Degree, Technical Institute of Tabriz, Iran, 1992.
Award of First Place in Mathematics in the Institutional Competition Technical Institute of Tabriz, Iran, 1992.
Award of First Place in Mathematics in the Second Round of Technical Institutes National Scientific Competition, Shiraz, Iran, 1991.
Award of First Place in Mathematics in the Institutional Competition, Technical Institute of Tabriz, Iran, 1991.
Award of First Place in Physics in the Institutional Competition, Technical Institute of Tabriz, Iran, 1990.
