The Florida International University (FIU), College of Engineering and of Computing (CEC) will have its Summer 2019 Commencement Ceremony on July 29th at the Ocean Bank Convocation Center. The School of Computing and Information Sciences (SCIS) will have two students, Samira Pouyanfar and Julian Alarcon, honored with FIU’s Worlds Ahead insignia.
Worlds Ahead Graduates are nominated by faculty members to be personally honored during their commencement ceremony. Their ingenuity, compassion, intelligence, and courage set them apart from their graduating class.
Samira Pouyanfar led several graduate students working on the Florida Public Hurricane Loss Model (FPHLM). A multi-million-dollar project funded by the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation and used by the State of Florida, FPHLM uses a computer model to assess hurricane risks and to project annual expected insured residential losses in Florida. Samira also led a research collaboration with Farelogix, where she developed new data models to optimize airline revenue management for the company and help it generate dynamic offers for customers.
Julian Alarcon worked as an IT specialist for the Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work. He became director of Upsilon Pi Epsilon’s (UPE) Advance Program. As a liaison between the CEC’s career services team and students, Julian helped more than 100 students land jobs and internships. His determination and hard work helped UPE grow from 100 members to 500 and receive more than $100,000 in sponsorship money from top tech companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. Julian was also a founding member of UPE’s SparkDev program, through which students work on projects that include virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
Over the past few years, SCIS has had students graduating with this honor and you can view the past World Ahead Graduates click here.