Dr. Tavakkoli is currently a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, where he directs the Human-Machine Perception (HMP) laboratory and the Nevada Bridge to AI for Scientific and Engineering Computing (NvBAISEC) and one of the co-directors of the Bridge to Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neurocomputing (BRAIN) core of the Center for Integrative Neuroscience. He is also the campus lead and co-PI on the NSF EPSCoR Track 1 Project, Harnessing Data Revolution for Fire Science (HDRFS).

His research focuses on the intersection of human and machine perception. Particular areas of interest include investigating mathematical and computational frameworks to extract high-level salient information from multi-modal data with applications to robotics, visualization, and assistive technologies. He has been the recipient of several research grants from the industry and federal agencies for his research.

Dr. Tavakkoli teaches courses in computer vision, digital interactive gaming and robotics. He has a broad background in machine learning and visual computing, with specific training and expertise in computer vision, virtual reality, computer graphics and artificial intelligence. 

Dr. Alireza Tavakkoli received his BSc (Electronics) and MSc (Electronics) from Sharif University of Technology in 2001 and 2004, respectively. He received his MSc and Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno in 2006, and 2009, respectively.