Ali Pakniyat is an Assistant Professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alabama. He received the B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Shiraz University , the M.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology , and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from McGill University . After holding a Lecturer position at the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of McGill University, and two postdoctoral positions in the department of Mec