Shahin Vassigh

Shahin Vassigh is making sure FIU’s future graduates are future proof. 

Melding her background as an architect, civil engineer and researcher, Shahin secured more than $3 million in grant funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Education for projects that focused on mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on the healthcare system and preparing the future workforce for automation, which includes the use of industrial robotics. 

She’s been doing this while serving in a variety of roles at FIU’s College of Communication, Architecture + the Arts: professor, associate dean, director of technology research development, co-director of the Integrated Computer Augmented Virtual Environment (I-CAVE) lab and founder and director of the Robotics and Digital Fabrication Lab. 

At her fabrication lab, students used 3D printers and robotic arms to build models of Hard Rock Stadium for Super Bowl LIV to train police, to prototype walls that can’t be built by hand and to make robotic drums that play music no human could ever play. 

She’s done all this while pursuing a Ph.D. in Higher Education, focusing her dissertation on the role of higher education in the responsible deployment of artificial intelligence. 

Her findings have led to recommendations for updating the university’s Institutional Review Board process to incorporate responsible research guidelines for artificial intelligence and steps for ensuring that all students learn about artificial intelligence and its impact on society.   

By Chrystian Tejedor 
Account Manager 
College of Arts, Sciences & Education