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Mohsen Imani
Assistant Professor
​University of California, Irvine
Department of Computer Science 
Email: [email protected]
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Vision-Language Model
  • Neuro-Symbolic AI 
  • Brain-Inspired Computing
  • Intelligent Systems
  • Autonomy
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at UC Irvine and also a director of the Bio-Inspired Architecture and Systems (BIASLab). My group consists of 40+ talented members, including about 20 PhD students, working on a wide range of practical problems in the areas of machine learning, vision-language models, and intelligent systems. Our research goal is to design a fully interpretable, hyperdimensional cognitive framework capable of real-time prediction and reasoning over complex data (e.g., shoplifting, accidents, or any user-defined anomalies). Our approach fundamentally enhances large-scale AI systems by providing hierarchical abstraction for autonomy, enabling generalization, and fostering human-AI collaboration. My team is also focused on real-time intelligent sensing tailored for highly sparse and selective data generation. This approach ensures that sensors produce only the data necessary for learning, incorporating an attention mechanism to heighten focus on the relevant task and improve situational awareness.
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Bio: Dr. Imani received his Ph.D. from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at UC San Diego. Dr. Imani is one of the pioneers in hyperdimensional computing (HDC) and its applications in the cognitive learning domain. He boasts an impressive publication record with over 250 papers in top conferences and journals and holds 20 US patents. His contributions have paved a new path in hyperdimensional computing, enabling ultra-efficient and real-time cognitive learning. His research has been a key factor in initiating multiple programs at the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Intel, IBM, and CISCO. Dr. Imani's research has earned him several prestigious awards, including the DARPA Young Faculty Award 2023, the SRC Young Faculty Award 2023, the ONR Young Investigator Program Award 2023, the DARPA Riser 2022, the Bernard Gordon Engineering Leadership Award, and the Outstanding Researcher Award. He has also received eight best paper awards and nominations at top conferences. Dr. Imani has a long history of successful technology transfers to multiple companies and governmental agencies.

Multiple PhD and Postdoc openings for Fall 2025 in AI 

We are looking for multiple highly talented PhD students and postdoc candidates to work on vision-language models, large language models, and deep learning, including reinforcement learning and neuro-symbolic AI. We are also seeking candidates with a strong theoretical background in machine learning. Students are expected to have strong theory background on AI or have exceptional programming skill and expertise in machine leanring. 
If you are interested, please send an email to "[email protected]" with the subject line "Candidate 2025."
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Plan to take CS 257 Brain-Inspired Learning Systems in Winter 2025
(open to both graduate and undergraduate)

I'll be teaching CS 295: Brain-Inspired Learning Systems in the Spring of 2024. The course focuses on brain-inspired machine learning and artificial intelligence, with an emphasis on new developments in neuro-symbolic cognitive models. The course is highly recommended for students (in any decipline) who are looking for internships or jobs related to the machine learning domain. Both graduate and undergraduate students are welcome to take the course. The course requires no prior expertise, except for basic programming in Python. 

To learn about our research, please read the following two recent papers: 

Open Source Libraries

Our Lab (BIASLab) released the first fully documented open-source library for Brain-inspired Hyperdimensional computing. 

Current Research 

Brain-Inspired  Computing
Intelligent Systems
Artificial Intelligence
Neuro-Symbolic AI & Autonomy

Publication Summary

News!
March 2024: Four new PhD students are joining our team in the Fall 2024! 
March 2024: Our Hyperdimensional Quantum Reasoning accepted in CVPR 2024! 
Jan 2024: Our DATE 2024 paper received the best paper nomination award! 
Oct 2023: Honored to receive the prestigious ONR Young Investigator Program Award! 
September 2023: Six new PhD students are joining our team in the Fall! 
September 2023: Honored to receive the prestigious SRC Young Faculty Award! 
August 2023: Honored to receive the prestigious DARPA Young Faculty Award! 
August 2023: Our FPL 2023 paper received the best paper nomination award! 
June 2023: Our special session accepted in ICCAD 2023! Thanks to Intel support!
March 2023: Three papers accepted in ICCAD 2023 conference! 
March 2023: Our collaborative paper with Dr. Hassan Najafi received best paper award in GLSVLSI 2023! 
March 2023: Four papers accepted in GLSVLSI 2023 conference! 
March 2023: A collaborative paper accepted in Advanced Artificial Intelligence Journal! 
Feb 2023: Three papers accepted in DAC 2023 conference! 
Jan 2023: three paper accepted in GOMACTECH 2023!
Dec 2022: Six papers accepted in DATE 2023 conference! 
Aug 2022: Serving in ISCA TPC! 
Aug 2022: Two papers accepted in ICCD 2022 conference! 
July 2022: Four papers accepted in ICCAD 2022 conference! Congratulation to my students, Yang, Hanning, Mariam!
Jun 2022: Our EventHD paper is accepted in Frontiers in Neuroscience.
​Jun 2022: Our special session in ESWEEK conference got accepted!  
Jun 2022: Serving in ICCAD TPC!  
May 2022: Honored to be selected as DARPA Riser!  
May 2022: Our paper accepted in Scientific Report! 
April 2022: My PhD Student, Mariam, received  NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Award! Congratulation Mariam!  
March 2022: Our BioHD paper is accepted in ISCA 2022! Congratulation  to my PhD students Kevin and Hanning!
Jan 2022: Five papers are accepted in DAC 2022! Congratulation to my students, Hanning, Ali, and Yang, Mariam, and Danny! 
Jan 2022: Our DATE 2022 paper is received the best paper award! Congratulation to my PhD student, Yang Ni! 
Jan 2022: Our GrapHD paper accepted in Frontiers in Neuroscience! 
Jan 2022: Our DATE 2022 paper nominated for the best paper award! 
Jan 2022: Two papers accepted in DATE 2022 conference!
Nov 2021: Honored to Serve as ISCA 2021 TPC member!
Nov 2021: Two papers accepted in DATE 2022. Congratulation to my PhD student, Yang Ni! 
Oct 2021: Accepted paper in Journal of Manufacturing Processes (Link)! Collaboration with UConn!
Oct 2021: Accepted paper in PACT 2021. 
Sept 2021: Accepted paper in IEDM 2021. Hyper-Dimensional Clustering on Fabricated NVM-based Chip. Collaboration with RIT! 
April 2021: Accepted paper in SC'21! Collaboration with Intel Labs. 
April 2021: 3 papers accepted in ICCAD'21! collaboration with Intel Labs. 
April 2021: Honored to Serve as MICRO 2021 TPC member!
Feb 2021: 5 papers accepted in DAC 2021! Collaborative paper with Intel Lab. 
Nov 2020: Honored to Serve as ISCA 2021 TPC member!
Nov 2020: Honored to Serve as ICASSP 2021 TPC member!
Nov 2020: 8 papers accepted in DATE 2021 conference: 5 papers as the main PI and 3 collaborative work. 
Nov 2020: A paper accepted in HPCA 2021 conference! The first end-to-end system running brain-inspired Hyperdimensional computing.
Nov 2020: Co-organizing a special session at ASP-DAC conference! 
Oct 2020: A paper accepted in IEDM 2020 conference! Experimental chip using emerging non-volatile memories.
Sept 2020: Two papers accepted in ASP-DAC 2021!
Sept 2020: Our ICCAD 2020 paper nominated for the best paper award!
August 2020: A paper accepted in MICRO 2020!
August 2020: Serving as ASP-DAC 2021 TPC member!
August 2020: Serving as ISLPED Session Chair!
​July 2020: Two papers accepted in ICCAD 2020!
​July 2020: A paper accepted in ISLPED 2020!
July 2020: Our DATE 2020 paper nominated for the best paper award!
July 2020: Our DAC 2020 paper nominated for the best paper award!
​July 2020: Joined as an assistant professor to UC Irvine, Computer Science!

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