![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2168\/Ali-Rabiee.jpg\")
After an interview, he was encouraged to apply for a First-Year Doctoral Fellowship. \u201cI was honored to receive the First-Year Doctoral Fellowship Award in 2023,\u201d said Rabiee. The fellowship covered tuition and a stipend for the first two years, so he secured a visa and moved to Rhode Island to begin his doctorate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He joined the Translational Neurorobotics Laboratory<\/a> in 2023, which focuses on biosignal control systems and medical robots with AI-enabled control strategies. \u201cOur goal is to create intelligent companions for individuals with spinal cord injuries or post-stroke, so the robot can understand their needs and offer help at the right time,\u201d said Rabiee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Ali is an independent researcher and a dedicated student,\u201d said Assistant Professor Reza Abiri<\/a>, director of the TN Lab. \u201cHe possesses strong intellectual abilities, a solid work ethic, and innovative ideas that contribute to shaping a clear vision for his research.”<\/p>\n\n\n In the last two years, he has served as a research assistant and mentored capstone teams and undergraduate students, supporting projects in robotics, coding, and AI. He also contributed to roughly ten research papers, several of which were published in top-tier journals and conferences, with others currently under review. He was named Outstanding Graduate Student Researcher in the ECBE Department in 2024 and earned the Graduate Research Impact Award from the Graduate Student Association in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n Not only was the lab an ideal match, but he also made sure to enjoy the location. \u201cRhode Island has felt welcoming from day one,\u201d said Rabiee. \u201cIt\u2019s hard to choose just one favorite memory, as I\u2019ve loved exploring the beaches, restaurants, and trails, and meeting friendly people.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As for what\u2019s next, he is currently an AI intern in the robotics industry. After the internship, he\u2019ll return to URI to continue research and finish his Ph.D. project. \u201cI\u2019m excited to build impactful, real-world applications, grow my industry experience, and ultimately launch my own startup,\u201d said Rabiee. He is expected to graduate with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering<\/a> in 2027.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A growing prevalence of chronic diseases and aging populations is calling for an increase in precise, minimally invasive surgical interventions, driving a demand for more medical robotics. The global medical robotics market is projected to reach $57 billion by 2032 according to Strategy and Stats Insider.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the final semester of his master\u2019s degree program, Ali Rabiee, of Tehran, Iran, was searching for a Ph.D. program in robotics. He found what he was seeking when he came across Reza Abiri\u2019s lab. \u201cI\u2019m passionate about building robots that improve people\u2019s lives,\u201d said Rabiee. \u201cI focus on medical robotics, especially with assistive and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5094,"featured_media":86994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[32,17,382,210,96,77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ecbe","category-front-page-news","category-research","category-robotics","category-student-success","category-students"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5094"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86993"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":87003,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86993\/revisions\/87003"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2168\/Abiri-and-Rabiee-2.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/engineering\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2168\/Abiri-5-SELECT-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n