CV

This page covers all my Curriculum Vitae (CV).

General Information

Name Pouyan Asgharian
Emails pouyan.asgharian@ieee.org
Location Montréal, Canada

Education

  • 2021

    Sherbrooke, Canada

    PhD candidate in Robotics
    Université de Sherbrooke

Awards & Grants

  • Recipient of Mitacs Business Strategy Internship (BSI) grant (x4) (2023-25)
  • Scholarship recipient under the CoRoM program (CRSNG FONCER) (2023)
  • Winner of 2 Minutes of Engineering competition - Université de Sherbrooke (2022)
  • Awarded the Eureka Scholarship - Université de Sherbrooke (2021)
  • Recipient of two governmental awards from Iran's National Elites Foundation (2017, 2019)
  • Co-Authored Chapter in Iran's Best Electrical Industry Book (2018)
  • Ranked in the top 3 of all M.Sc. electrical engineering students - University of Zanjan (2016)

Skills

  • Robotic Platforms
    • Mecademic Meca500
    • Kinova (Gen3, Gen3 lite, Link6)
    • Universal Robots UR5
    • TIAGo PAL Robotics
  • Programming Languages
    • Python | C++ | C | MATLAB
  • Robotics Frameworks
    • ROS / ROS2
    • MoveIt
    • MuJoCo | Gazebo | PyBullet | Webots | RoboDK
  • ML Tools & Libraries
    • PyTorch
    • OpenCV
    • TorchVision
    • scikit-learn
    • Optuna
    • LangChain
    • Ollama
    • etc.
  • DevOps & Tools
    • VS Code | PyCharm | Spyder
    • Linux (Ubuntu)
    • Git
    • Docker
    • LaTeX
  • Electronics & Control Software
    • Simulink
    • PSCAD | PSAT | DIgSILENT
    • Fritzing | Proteus | BASCOM AVR | Codevision AVR
    • FreeCAD | AutoCAD electrical
    • HD 2016 | HDR | SWiSH Max
  • Embedded Systems
    • Arduino
    • Raspberry Pi
    • ESP32
    • AVR
  • Soft Skills
    • Technical Communication
    • Team Collaboration
    • Adaptability

Professional Experience

  • April 2024-present

    Montreal, Canada

    Pfizer
    • Developing an automated laboratory workflow using the Mecademic Meca500 robotic arm, with a focus on reducing task-specific hard coding. Designed a human-in-the-loop robotic system combining vision language models (VLMs) and interactive imitation learning to enable intuitive teaching and adaptation of lab processes.
  • Jan.2024-Feb.2024

    Montreal, Canada

    National Research Council (NRC), Canada
    • As a part-time volunteer researcher, contributed to electronic circuit design and robotic simulation for a collaborative cobotic drilling project.
  • Sept.2022-Oct.2023

    Montreal, Canada

    Acrylic Robotics
    • Robotics engineering intern at an art-tech startup, contributing to the development and deployment of robotic systems for automated art production. Led hands-on integration and operation of Mecademic Meca500 and Kinova robotic arms, and supported live demos, exhibitions, and technical workshops.
  • June 2020-Sept.2020

    Rasht, Iran

    Noavaran Sabz Farda
    • Electrical engineer in the R&D department of an electric fence manufacturing company. Contributed to circuit design, hardware prototyping, and iterative product improvements for electronic security systems.
  • Nov.2019-June 2020

    Bandar Anzali

    Sayal Abzar Daghigh Mihan
    • Electrical engineer in the R&D team of a manufacturer of water quality analyzers. Contributed to hardware design, sensor integration, and performance optimization of analytical measurement instruments.

Research Experience

  • Sept.2017-Aug.2019

    Tehran, Iran

    Iran National Elites Foundation
    Full-Time Research Engineer
    • Optimized electrical circuits for ship systems to reduce electromagnetic interference, improve reliability, and lower system costs.
  • Sept.2014-Sept.2016

    Zanjan, Iran

    Master Dissertation
    • Applied Model Predictive Control (MPC) to optimize the dynamic performance and stability of electronic converters.
  • Apr.2012-Oct.2014

    Tabriz, Iran

    Member of TOSAN Surface Vehicle group
    Electrical Engineer
    • Designed electronics and control systems for a student-led unmanned surface vehicle; the project received national recognition.
  • Sept.2013-Sept.2014

    Tabriz, Iran

    Multi-output LED driver for balancing rectifier DC-link voltage
    • Designed and simulated a multi-output LED driver ensuring stable voltage and sinusoidal current regulation.

Teaching Experience

  • Sept.2018-Sept.2019

    Bandar Anzali, Iran

    Lecturer, Mooj Institute of Higher Educations
    • Courses; Logic Electronics Lab, Electronics Lab, Industrial Control, Industrial Electronics, Power System Analysis, Single-phase and Special Purpose Motors, Electrical Machinery II.
  • 2015, 2016

    Zanjan, Iran

    Teaching Assistant, University of Zanjan
    • Courses; Electrical Machinery I, Power Electronics
  • 2016

    Bandar Anzali, Iran

    Robotics and Astronomy teaching at Bu-Ali Sina student research centre

Leadership & Engagement

  • Science Communication
    • Robo Tik Podcast (2022 - Present) Host of a Persian-language podcast discussing AI and Robotics
    • Sherbotics Podcast (2021 - 2022) Host of an English-language robotics podcast in collaboration with CFAK radio
    • Course 'Zero to Hero of Scientific Paper Writing' in collaboration with Faranesh website (it is currently available on my YouTube channel)
    • Founder of ElEcTic website (2014 - 2020) a Persian-language website about electronics and robotics related topics
  • Academic Service
    • Member, IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (since 2021)
    • Member, IEEE Computer Society (since 2024)
    • Member, Young Researchers and Elite Club of Iran (since 2017)
    • Student board member, HCI International Conference (2021-2022)
    • Member, Iran Electrical Electronics Engineers Association - Gilan Branch (2018-2020)
    • Member of IAENG (International Association of Engineers) (2018-2020)
    • Editorial Board of American Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems (EPES) (2019 - 2020)
    • Member of Iranian Solar Energy Scientific Society (2018-2019)
    • Member of Iran's Energy Association, Gilan Branch (2016-2018)
    • Member of reviewer committee at the second international conference on electrical engineering, Ardabil, Iran (2017)
    • Head of Astronomy Society, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University (2012-2013)
    • Member of Ayaz Astronomical Society, Tabriz (2011-2015)
    • Member of Astronomical Helix Magazine of Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University (2011-2013)
    • Reviewer for peer-reviewed journals such as IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters (RA-L)
  • Volunteer Mentorship
    • Université de Sherbrooke (Fall 2023, Fall 2025)
    • Women in Machine Learning (WiML) Mentorship Program (Oct 2023 - Mar 2024)
    • Mentspot website (2022 - present)

Conferences & Workshops

  • Summer Schools
    • Montreal Robotics Summer School (MRSS) - Mila, Montreal (2024)
    • FRQS AI Summer School - Concordia University, Montreal (2023)
    • INTER-REPAR Summer School - Université de Sherbrooke (2022)
  • Presentations
    • Judge at RoboHacks Hackathon - McGill University, Montreal (2023)
    • Presenter, 11th Power Electronics, Drive Systems, and Technologies Conference (PEDSTC), Tehran (2020)
    • Presenter, 24th Iranian Conference on Electrical Engineering (ICEE), Shiraz (2016)
    • Presenter, International Conference on New Research Achievements in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Tehran (2016)
    • Presenter, National Astronomical Conference at Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University (2012)
  • Attendances
    • Canadian Robotics Council (CRC) - Montreal (2023)
    • CoRoM Summer Forum - ÉTS, Montreal (2023)
    • 23rd & 24th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) - USA (2021, 2022)
    • 4th, 5th & 6th IPM Advanced School on Computing & AI - Iran (2020-22)
    • TransAIR Workshop on Cognitive Architectures for Robot Agents - University of Bremen (2021)
    • Healthcare Robotics (HeRo) Summit - University of Toronto (2021)
    • 31st International Power System Conference (PSC) - Iran (2016)
    • 1st Asian Conference on Applied Electromagnetics and Wave Optics (ASEPE) - Iran (2012)
    • Workshop about Learning of new moon's observation, North Star Scientific Research Institute - Iran (2012)
    • Astrophotography workshop, Ayaz Astronomical Society - Iran (2011, 2012)

Certifications

Other
Québec Scientific Entrepreneurship (QcSE) Program V1 Studio
2025
Robotics
Drone Pilot Certificate Basic Operations Transport Canada
2021
Electronics
Design and Manufacturing of LED Display Panels GPA 98/100, 21 hours Poul Gilan Complex (Iran) & ANCCP (Italy)
2018
Electronics
Installation and Wiring of Electrical Circuits Inside Buildings 126 hours Iran Technical Vocational Training Organization
2015
Programming
Programming and Installation of PLC S7-300 140 hours Iran Technical Vocational Training Organization
2014
Electronics
Installation and Troubleshooting of Protective and Security Systems 315 hours Iran Technical Vocational Training Organization
2014
Robotics
Begin Robotics 12 hours University of Reading (UK)
2019
Software
Tulip Essentials Certified Tulip University
2024
Programming
The Local LLM Crash Course Udemy
2024
Robotics
Industrial Robotics 6 hours Udemy
2024
AI
Introdu ction to Generative AI Coursera
2023
Programming
Machine Learning for Everyone DataCamp
2021
Programming
Intro to Machine Learning Kaggle
2022
Programming
Reinforcement Learning in Python Udemy
2021
Software
ROS 1 Udemy
2021
Software
ROS 1 Udemy
2021
Other
Confidence and self esteem_Develop Confident Body Language Udemy
2024
Other
10 Ways to Stay Motivated While Job Hunting Linkedin Learning
2022

Languages

Persian Native
English Fluent
French B1 (TEFAQ)

References

  • François Ferland
    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke
    francois.ferland@usherbrooke.ca
  • Reza Noroozian
    Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Zanjan
    noroozian@znu.ac.ir