Dr. Ali Nasseri
Dr. Ali Nasseri holds a PhD in Physics from Politecnico di Torino where he studied magnetic phenomena at the nanoscale, along with a Master of Business Administration from Quantic School of Business and Technology. Prior to that, he earned a Master of Applied Science in Aerospace Science and Engineering from the University of Toronto and an undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering from K. N. Toosi University of Technology.
Dr. Nasseri is a Project Management Professional (PMP) and Associate Systems Engineering Professional (ASEP). His broad professional experiences range from designing aerospace systems to supporting research commercialization to running global nonprofits in the space sector.
A proponent of active and project-based learning, Dr. Nasseri has taught hands-on courses focused on engineering design, technology development, science commercialization, project management, product development, organizational behaviour, entrepreneurship and general management over the years. He primarily teaches Project Management at UCW.
Outside of academia, Dr. Nasseri currently serves on the board of the International Council on Systems Engineering Canadian Chapter and the Honorary Board of the Space Generation Advisory Council. He also serves as Chair of the International Astronautical Federation's Space Education and Outreach Committee (SEOC).
Expertise and Experience
Prior to joining UCW, Dr. Nasseri was an Assistant Professor, Teaching Stream at the University of Waterloo’s Science and Business Program, teaching courses focused on technology development, organizational behaviour and management. He also founded Innosolve, a student group focused on designing innovative technical and policy solutions to today’s problems, and disseminating these solutions through commercialization, competitions or other means. Concurrently, he taught physics and engineering design at the University of Toronto, and was a fellow of the Open Lunar Foundation where he conceptualized the Lunar Accidents, Incidents and Issues Reporting System (LAIIRS).
Before joining the University of Waterloo, Dr. Nasseri worked as an engineer with the Canadian Space Agency, supporting safety and mission assurance, and radiation susceptibility analysis on missions such as Canadarm3, Lunar Rover Mission and the Canadian Cubesat Project. Concurrently, he was an instructor at McGill University, where he taught creativity and innovation for entrepreneurs.
From 2019 to 2022, Dr. Nasseri served as an Executive Research Coordinator at the University of British Columbia, where he managed a portfolio of research projects focused on AI and machine learning and led research partnership activities in the Department of Computer Science. Concurrently, he was a sessional lecturer at UBC Physics, and the program coordinator and instructor for Selkirk College's Engineering Transfer Program, where he taught engineering design.
His other experiences include working as a consultant for the Moon Village Association, Defence Research and Development Canada, and Wevolver, and Chairing the Space Generation Advisory Council in Support of the UN Programme on Space Applications.
Publications and Scholarly Activity
The application areas of Dr. Nasseri’s research have shifted over the years, from the design of launch systems to developing surrogates for aerospace fuels to understanding nanomagnetism. The line that has connected all these applications has been the use of computational modelling and optimization techniques, and the multiphysics nature of these studies. More recently, in addition to continuing that line of computational modelling research, Dr. Nasseri has also started research on project management and product design, with a particular focus on the interaction of these with safety and product assurance.
Dr. Nasseri has presented outcomes of his work in the form of over 40 peer-reviews publications and over 50 presentations. Some highlights include:
- A. Nasseri, “Towards a Lunar Accidents, Incidents, and Issues Reporting System (LAIIRS)”, International Astronautical Congress, 2024 (also an Open Lunar Foundation Whitepaper).
- F. Wood, A. Warrington, S. Naderiparizi, C. Weilbach, V. Masrani, W. Harvey, A. Scibior, B. Beronov, J. Grefenstette, D. Campbell, S. A. Nasseri, “Planning as Inference in Epidemiological Dynamics Models”, Frontiers of Artificial Intelligence. 2022 4:550603. doi: 10.3389/frai.2021.550603.
- S. A. Nasseri, E. Martinez, G. Durin “Collective Coordinate Descriptions of Magnetic Domain Wall Motion in Perpendicularly Magnetized Nanostructures under the Application of In-plane Fields”, Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, vol. 468, pp. 25-43, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.jmmm.2018.07.059 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.00569).
- B. Sarma, F. Garcia-Sanchez, S. A. Nasseri, A. Casiraghi, G. Durin, "Dynamics and morphology of chiral magnetic bubbles in perpendicularly magnetized ultra-thin films with the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction", Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, vol. 456, pp. 433-438. 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.jmmm.2018.01.075.
- J. Vandermeulen, S. A. Nasseri, B. Van de Wiele, G. Durin, B. Van Waeyenberge, L. Dupre, “Comparison between collective coordinate models for domain wall motion in PMA nanostrips in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction”, Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, vol. 449, pp. 337-352, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.jmmm.2017.10.008. [Joint First Author]
- P. C. Dinas, C. Mueller, N. Clark, T. Elgin, S. A. Nasseri, E. Yaffe, J. B. Clark, S. Madry, F. M. Asrar, “Innovative Methods to Benefit Public Health Using Space Technology During Disaster Relief”, Journal for Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, vol. 9 (3), pp. 319-328, 2015, doi:10.1017/dmp.2015.29.
Awards
- International Astronautical Federation’s Distinguished Service Award (DSA), 2020.
- International Astronautical Federation’s Young Space Leader (YSL) Award, 2018.
- Best Early Career presentation at JEMS 2016, Institute of Physics (IOP), 2016.
- Space Generation Advisory Council’s Young Leadership Award, 2012.
