Alex Towfigh is a freshman computer engineering student at the University of California in San Diego, with a passion for engineering research combining robotics with innovative scientific tools. His five-year goals include: launching a tech company, expanding advanced community STEM skill initiatives, and post-graduate robotics research.

Growing up in a community with limited after-school opportunities, Alex joined a small robotics competition team in the ninth grade as a technical associate and was quickly promoted to business manager. Over just two seasons, Alex received multiple sponsorships - including a NASA sustaining grant. The additional funding was pivotal in ensuring the Wolfpack Robotics’ sustainability as well as the provision of fabrication tools, parts, and materials.

In 2018, Alex contacted the authors of an online autonomous vehicle course at MIT’s Beaver Works Summer Institute (BWSI) with a proposal to apply their content as a learning engine for a new independent team. Autonomous Circuits Racing Team (ACRT) was subsequently founded with mentoring support from BWSI’s director, Dr. Robert Shin and high school teacher-advisor, Melissa Hale.

ACRT adopted the Institute’s ethos for transformative hands-on project-based learning, delivering STEM as a practical skills resource for community youth. Alex is currently advising Sacramento Municipal Utility District, replicating ACRT’s model as a competitive student initiative for regional schools in underserved and underrepresented communities.
Concurrently, he initiated research in collaboration with United States Geological Survey mentors, aimed at scaling wide-area water quality data collection and optimizing satellite bandwidth value, with possibilities of using autonomous carriers for location mobility.

This research recently won a place in the university’s business incubator program to develop affordable, wide-area real-time water quality detection and analytics systems. Alex’s team is developing an innovative sensor cluster for detecting a spectrum of chemicals and pathogens, helping scientists to rapidly detect water contamination in regions lacking municipal control infrastructure.

Alex joined IEEE for better access to research articles, expertise and community.“Through AESS, I’ve learned to appreciate the vital role of a systems engineering discipline to shape and better visualize product development from concept to field support”.

In his spare time, Alex supports a successful youth character-development program in his community. He enjoys travel, hiking and looks forward to taking up surfing.