Solale Tabarestani

Despite being surrounded by a family of physicians, Solale Tabarestani knew at a young age that she wanted to become an engineer. It’s because of her passion for math, physics and problem-solving that she has achieved her dream. 

Born and raised in Iran, Solale received her bachelor’s and master’s degree in electrical engineering from Azad University and Shahid Beheshti University respectively. She then worked in the industry, often one of the few female engineers on a project team. 

At FIU, Solale has combined her interest in artificial intelligence, image processing, machine learning, deep learning, computer vision and healthcare informatics to develop ways to diagnose patients with Alzheimer’s disease at an earlier stage. This would allow treatment and therapeutic intervention, designed to slow or prevent cognitive and functional decline, to begin sooner. She has authored more than 10 articles that have appeared in leading industry and medical journals and has interned as a data scientist at 3M and as a machine learning engineer at Tesla. 

Solale has enjoyed sharing her expertise with young students, acting as a referee for a robotics competition held at FIU and teaching programming language for area high school and middle school students. The enthusiasm and collaborative nature of the students has given her hope for the next generation of engineers. 

As she begins her job search, Solale is looking for a position that combines her skills in research and production, and she hopes to lead more breakthrough research that will impact many lives. 

By Elizabeth Calzadilla 
Director, Marketing and Communications 
College of Engineering & Computing