Dr. Mehrdad Koohikamali, Co-Director of Singelyn Center for Innovative Analytics

Dr. Mehrdad Koohikamali is an Assistant Professor of the Computer Information Systems department at Cal Poly Pomona. He received a B.S. in Geomatics engineering from University of Tabriz, Iran, a M.S. in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from University of Tehran, Iran, a M.S. in Applied GIS from University of North Texas, and a Ph.D. in Information Systems from University of North Texas. Dr. Koohikamali was an Assistant Professor of Location and Business Analytics at University of Redlands from 2016 to 2019, where he led a major curriculum development in location analytics with partnership with ESRI for MBA students. He received two teaching innovation grants to innovatively bring social media and mobile apps in classrooms. As a leader in the location analytics area with emphasis for businesses, he developed two novel courses on location analytics for decision-making and spatial analytics of global business.

Mehrdad has kept his industry ties and has helped to transform many smalls businesses with the power of location intelligence. Mehrdad has several years of industry experience in the field of GIS ranging from GIS consultant, analyst, and programmer, and GIS manager. He was a chief data scientist for several tech startups in Silicon Beach, CA to help secure VC funding. His hands-on experience with open-source and enterprise mapping platforms, Python programming, and deep understanding of modern businesses makes him an ideal location analytics and data scientist strategist and leader in the higher education system.

His research and professional interests include location intelligence for business, social media analytics, text analytics, information privacy, and drone analytics. He is a recipient of 2018-2019 research award at University of Redlands and best PhD student paper of 2015 and 2016 at University of North Texas.