Samanbar Permeh

Samanbar Permeh has fond memories of her father–an engineer like herself–and has always been inspired by his work in the difficult field of engineering to help improve the lives of people. Today, her research focuses on ensuring safe and useful highway systems for the public good, and it’s her way to honor her father and her family.

Samanbar’s research has been used to refine the Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) building and material specifications and provide recommendations for bridge maintenance decisions.

Through her graduate studies at FIU, Samanbar was able to develop analytical skills to tackle challenges to civil infrastructure. Her studies were strongly supported by research opportunities on real-world problems concerning the durability of highway bridges. She has been the main researcher on four research programs funded by FDOT relating to high visibility projects on corrosion failures of highway bridges, all while maintaining a 3.96 GPA. 

In the last two years, Samanbar was awarded first and second place for best technical poster at the Society for Protective Coatings (SSPC) annual conference and was also a recipient of a merit-based award in 2019. To date, she has published 28 technical documents including 10 manuscripts, 14 peer-reviewed proceedings, and two technical reports from her work at FIU alone–and has several more in review or in preparation. She has given 24 technical presentations and has co-authored a book chapter currently in editorial review.

Samanbar studied mining engineering at Amirkabir University of Technology, the prestigious polytechnical university in Iran, where she was inspired to explore the natural world and the benefits to society. She says she is grateful for the support from all her family in Iran and the U.S. who encouraged her to be where she is today.

By Debra Jacob
Account Manager
College of Engineering and Computing

Nominated by Kingsley Lau