Dr. Nasibeh Zohrabi of Penn State Brandywine

Abstract:

As urbanization moves towards globalization in the coming century, the evolution of smart city technologies has introduced new approaches for communities to tackle local challenges and improve city services. The use of technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and data analytics offers unique advantages and challenges for addressing important community issues. However, effective use of emerging technologies requires interdisciplinary efforts that take into account the complex social, economic, and environmental dimensions of communities. The main goals of smart city initiatives are to improve quality of life, economic competitiveness, and sustainability. Achieving these goals poses many challenges, including the need to ensure that data-driven management systems that control and monitor the city's operations are safe, secure, and reliable. This talk will introduce a data-driven management approach to support smart city services and discuss the necessity of interdisciplinary efforts for successful community-engaged smart city development. It will specifically highlight the applications of smart city technologies and data analytics in addressing critical community challenges such as food insecurity and opioid overdose crisis.

Biography:

Dr. Nasibeh Zohrabi is an assistant professor of engineering at Penn State Brandywine. Prior to joining Penn State, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Cyber Physical Systems lab at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). She received her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Mississippi State University in 2018, and her M.S. in Control and Industrial Automation from Tarbiat Modares University in 2013. Dr. Zohrabi specializes in the field of control and dynamical systems, with specific interests in cyber-physical systems (CPS), model-based control, distributed control, and stochastic hybrid systems. Her current focus is mainly on the challenges of cyber physical systems for smart cities and connected communities. Dr. Zohrabi is currently working on interdisciplinary research projects aimed at addressing different challenges in community (e.g., food insecurity, opioid overdose crisis) through harnessing the power of data analytics, smart technologies, and community engagement. She is also a collaborator in the VCU OpenCyberCity Testbed Project which provides researchers and educators access to technologies that comprise a Smart City.