My Journey from Bushehr to Leiden

Robotics and Competition

During elementary school and high school, before starting my bachelor’s degree, I was already drawn to the intersection of hardware and software. My early projects included a firefighting robot. We placed first in a provincial competition and also competed nationally.

Those robotics competitions taught me lessons no classroom could:

• Debugging under pressure: Your robot must work when the judges are watching
• Resource constraints: Limited budget, limited time, unlimited creativity
• Teamwork: Hardware and software must work together

The Beginning: Bushehr (2016-2020)

I started my academic journey at Persian Gulf University in Bushehr, a coastal city on the Persian Gulf. The computer engineering program there gave me my first taste of:

• Digital circuit design
• Programming fundamentals
• Neural networks (which would become a recurring theme)

Sharif University: The Turning Point (2020-2022)

Getting into Sharif University’s computer architecture program was a dream come true. The Embedded Systems Research Laboratory (ESRLab) became my second home.

Under Prof. Ejlali’s guidance, I dove deep into:

Research Areas @ ESRLab:
├── Real-time systems
├── Fault tolerance
├── Energy efficiency
└── Reinforcement learning for embedded systems

My master’s thesis on reinforcement learning for fog computing opened doors I didn’t know existed. The resulting paper, ReLIEF, was published in the IEEE Internet of Things Journal.

The PhD Decision

Choosing to pursue a PhD meant leaving everything familiar. Then the opportunity at Leiden University came up: working on hardware security with Prof. Mentens and Dr. Stefanov.

The NeuroSoC project combines everything I care about:

• Hardware design (SoC architecture)
• Machine learning (neural network accelerators)
• Security (protecting AI systems)

Life in the Netherlands

Moving to Leiden has been an adventure:

Challenges:

• Learning Dutch (still working on it: B1 level)
• Biking in all weather (including sideways rain)

Rewards:

• World-class research environment
• International collaboration
• Leiden is an amazing, beautiful historic city

Advice for the Journey

If you’re considering a similar path:

1. Build a strong foundation: Those undergrad courses matter more than you think

2. Find good mentors: I’ve been fortunate with mine at every stage

3. Say yes to opportunities: Even the scary ones

4. Publish, but also build: Theory and practice reinforce each other

5. Stay curious: The best research comes from genuine interest. As Steve Jobs said, “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

What’s Next?

As of this 2026 update, I am continuing my PhD at Leiden University and focusing on physical security for embedded AI and analog in-memory-computing systems.

I am especially interested in roles where computer architecture, embedded machine learning, and hardware security meet. What matters to me is doing technically rigorous work that can move from an idea to a system that can be measured and trusted.

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Thanks for reading. Feel free to reach out if you’re on a similar journey - I’m always happy to chat.

Email me or see my Leiden University profile.