Mr. Navid Agha Seyedalia
President
Mr. Seyedali is an engineer in the field of aviation supporting airlines and aerospace companies. He received his Master’s degree in Transportation Engineering from Seattle University and his Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from University of Washington. Mr. Seyedali has been a volunteer for Child Foundation since 1995. In mid-2000 Mr. Seyedali joined the Board of Directors of Child Foundation and ever since has been involved in growth and development of the Foundation in different roles.
Ms. Farideh Bakhtiari
Member
I graduated from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada in 1990 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Enginerring. My professional experience has included programming,
product verification, design, system architecture and projects, products, resource and budget management. My Engineering carreer started at Canadian Electronics & Aviation
(CAE) as programmer followed by working at Ericsson Mobility for 4 years as software designer. Moving to Seattle in 1996, I started working at AT&T Wireless in progression from
a platform manager to senior lead engineer responsible for architecture, design and implementation of Mobility Network Management Solutions. I strive for building professional
and personal relationships based on trust, collaboration, and problem solving through team work.
Dr. Babak Hamidzadeh
Chief Compliance
Babak Hamidzadeh received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from The University of Minnesota in 1989 and 1993, respectively. From 1993 to 1996 he was an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Computer Engineering at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He was an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of British Columbia (UBC) from 1996 to 2000, and an Associate Professor at the same university from 2000 to 2002. While at UBC, he was also a Fellow of The BC Advanced Systems Institute and the holder of a Canada Research Chair in Information Technology. From 2002 to 2004 he was The Senior Manager of the Information Management and Collaborative Technologies Research at The Boeing Company. From 2004 to 2011 he was the Director of the Repository Development Center at the Library of Congress. Currently, he is at the University of Maryland, College Park, as the Interim Dean of Libraries, and as Associate Dean of Libraries for Digital Systems and Stewardship.
Mr. Kamyar Lashgari
Chairman
Mr. Lashgari received his Bachelor in Urban Planning and Masters in Urban Design from the University of Washington and has been a professional planner and designer for the past 34 years. At the start of his career, Mr. Lashgari worked in the public sector for various cities in Washington and California as an Urban Designer and Planner. He later worked for architectural and civil engineering firms in both Southern California and Iran. While working in Iran, he specialized in urban reconstruction planning for areas affected by the war.
Ms. Manijeh Taherynia
Treasurer
Ms. Manijeh Taherynia is a certified public accountant with over 15 years of experience in state and local government auditing and accounting, as well as taxation in public accounting in Colorado. She received her Master’s in Accounting from the University of Colorado at Denver. Ms. Taherynia has also served on the board of other non-profit organizations.
Dr. Ali Eydgahi
Secretary
Dr. Eydgahi received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. He started his career as a faculty member at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1985 and since then he has been with the State University of New York, Oakland University, Tehran University, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Eastern Michigan University as an administrator and/or a faculty member. Dr. Eydgahi has served as the chair and/or a member of numerous national and international professional societies and has received a number of awards for his accomplishments. Dr. Eydgahi joined the Child Foundation Board of Directors August 2011.
Dr. Jamal Rostami
Member
Dr. Rostami is a registered Professional Engineering (PE) in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia with over 25 years of experience in design, management, research, and teaching in the field of mining, tunneling, and underground construction. Dr. Rostami received his undergraduate in Mining Engineering from University of Tehran in 1987 with the high honor of first in his class. He obtained his MSc and PhD degrees in mining engineering from Colorado School of Mines (CSM) in 1992 and 1997, respectively. Dr. Rostami worked as a research faculty and deputy director of Earth Mechanics Institute at CSM until year 2000. Dr. Rostami joined the Pennsylvania State University (PSU) in 2007 where he is currently an associate professor, Centennial Chair and Interim Program Chair in Mining Engineering. Dr. Rostami has published over 130 papers and many technical reports. He is a member of SME, ASCE, ARMA, ISEE, IRSME, IRRMS, TRB tunneling committee, and Univ. of Tehran alumni association (Kanoon Fanni). He is the 2013 chair of the professional engineering exam committee, and a member of the structure and governance (S&G) strategic committee of the society of mining engineers (SME). He was the founder of Iranian Academic Association in Washington DC active for ten years before it was registered as Iranian American Academics and Professionals (IAAP) in 2013. Dr. Rostami is also an active member of the interfaith initiative of Center Country PA (IICC) since 2010.
Dr. Nader Namazi
Member
Nader Namazi received his Ph.D. from Missouri University of Science and Technology, formerly known as the University of Missouri-Rolla, in 1985. He was with the Michigan Technological University, Houghton, from 1985 to 1992, where he was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. Since 1992, he has been with the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., where he is currently a Professor of Electrical Engineering. He was the Chairman of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 2005-2008. He is currently a member of Board of Directors of the Child Foundation. He was the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Modeling and Simulation from 1994 to 1996. He is the author of the book New Algorithms for variable Time Delay and Nonuniform Image Motion Estimation (1994). His research interests are in different aspects of image motion detection and estimation, image sequence filtering/restoration, and digital communications. Dr. Namazi is a senior member of IEEE and member of Eta Kappa Nu. He is also the recipient of the Alpha Delta Gamma Teaching Award.