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Research

Experience

  1. 8.

    Undergraduate Researcher | Bachelor's Thesis

    Jul 2025 — Present

    Sepehr Akbari, Shahrzad Jamshidi · Lake Forest College

    A reinforcement learning framework for learning optimal selection strategies in optimizing Buchberger's algorithm through a geometric deep learning methodology.

  2. 7.

    Undergraduate Researcher | Independent

    May 2026 — Present

    Sepehr Akbari, Sugata Banerji, Shahrzad Jamshidi · Lake Forest College

    Model compression of overparameterized convolutional layers in segmentation models through learnt and fine-tuned tensor decompositions.

  3. 6.

    Undergraduate Researcher | Independent

    Apr 2026 — Present

    Sepehr Akbari, Shahrzad Jamshidi, Enrique Treviño · Lake Forest College

    An algebraic framework for evaluating the expressivity of polynomial neural networks, finding the ideal that bounds the network.

  4. 5.

    Research Assistant | Contribution

    Feb 2026 — Present

    Shahrzad Jamshidi, Sonja Petrović, Sepehr Akbari · Lake Forest College, Illinois Institute of Technology

    Contributing to the learned randomized framework & deep learning approach for predicting Gröbner bases and set topology.

  5. 4.

    Undergraduate Researcher | Contribution

    May 2025 — Aug 2025

    Sepehr Akbari, Sugata Banerji · Lake Forest College

    Objectness: A computer vision data augmentation pipeline utulizing deep learning and saliency estimation for low data scenarios in supervised learning.

  6. 3.

    Undergraduate Researcher | James Rocco Fellowship

    May 2025 — Jul 2025

    Sepehr Akbari, Shahrzad Jamshidi · Lake Forest College

    Quantifying risk and identifying valunerability archetypes in US higher education using machine learning and bayesian methods.

  7. 2.

    Undergraduate Researcher | Independent

    Dec 2023 — Jun 2024

    Sepehr Akbari, Andrew Gard · Lake Forest College

    Statistical analysis on the predictability and quality of pseudo-random number generators and sequences compared to ones generated by quantum hardware and processes.

  8. 1.

    Pre-Collegiate Researcher | IB Extended Essay

    Nov 2022 — Apr 2023

    Sepehr Akbari, Amit Rastogi · United World College

    Complexity analysis of re-balancing algorithms in a selection of binary search trees.

Publications & Preprints

  1. 4.

    College closures from 2020 to 2025: An exploratory analysis and its implications for the enrollment cliff

    Sepehr Akbari, Shahrzad Jamshidi

    Submitted to Research in Higher Education. 2026.

    [arxiv ↗]
  2. 3.

    An Algebraic Christmas: Using Gröbner Bases to Solve the Constrained Secret Santa Problem

    Sepehr Akbari, Shahrzad Jamshidi

    Submitted to Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal. 2026.

  3. 2.

    Randomity: A Python package for generating and assessing randomness

    Sepehr Akbari, Andrew Gard

    Python Package. 2025.

    [pypi ↗]
  4. 1.

    Comparing Insertion Complexity in AVL and Splay BSTs

    Sepehr Akbari, Amit Rastogi

    IB-CS Extended Essay. 2023.

Sepehr Akbari