Behshad Mohebali

Why FSU?

I graduated from FSU with a master's in Electrical Engineering in 2016 and worked for two years as a developer. I knew about the Scientific Computing Program and its high quality through a few close friends who did their PhD there, and I contacted the faculty to express interest.

Motivation to pursue a graduate degree

I come from an engineering background, so I always had an interest for applied math and its applications in engineering. After I worked as a developer for two years, I was looking for an opportunity to bring my math background and programming skills together in a more specialized fashion. The scientific computing graduate program seemed like a perfect match, and after more than three years it seems that I was right!

Importance and/or impact of research and work

My research is about using artificial intelligence to make the process of evaluating new power system designs for the Navy more efficient. Because of a shift in design philosophy, rigorous testing of numerous designs and components gained even more importance for US Navy. My research uses mathematical approaches to determine which tests should be conducted to gain the most information out of our scarce testing resources so that we can test more designs with the same amount of testing power.

Career aspirations

I aspire to address challenges that combine my academic background in mathematics and engineering with my experience as a software developer. I aspire to never stop learning and believing the best way of learning is to learn as if you want to teach others. I want to get to a position where I can contribute to the growth of the next generation of applied math scientists in tech industry.

Advice for anyone considering graduate school

Go into the program with the knowledge that you will have to deal with lots of uncertainty and that's a natural part of the process. Believe that if you have come this far, chances are that you are more than capable of completing it. And don't forget to have fun!