PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Amir H. Alavi

Also known as Amir Alavi

Amir Alavi is a civil engineer who uses AI to design mechanical metamaterials and implants. He earned degrees at Iran University of Science and Technology and Michigan State, taught at the University of Missouri, and joined Pitt in 2019. His work has included a battery-free spinal-fusion sensor, a generative-AI platform for metamaterial design, and AI-guided implant research. In 2024, he received a $557,000 NIH award; in 2025, he received Gates Foundation and NIH funding for sensor and implant projects. He became editor-in-chief of npj Metamaterials in February 2025 and is an associate professor at Pitt as of October 2026.

Works
249
Citations
22,241
h-index
72

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. By 2019

    Degrees and Pitt appointment

    He earns a PhD at Michigan State University and bachelor's and master's degrees at Iran University of Science and Technology. Before joining Pitt's Civil and Environmental Engineering Department in 2019, he serves as an assistant professor of civil engineering at the University of Missouri.

  2. 2019

    A self-powered spinal sensor

    In 2019, he receives $393,670 from the National Institutes of Health to design and test a miniature, implantable, battery-free sensor that monitors spinal fusion after surgery.

  3. 2023

    Generative AI for metamaterials

    In 2023, the NSF awards him a five-year, $535,120 CAREER grant for mechanical metamaterial electronics. His platform uses generative AI to evolve metamaterial designs, and he coauthors the Nature Communications perspective “Mechanical metamaterials and beyond.”

  4. 2024

    NIH and ASME awards

    In 2024, the NIH awards him a $557,000 three-year Trailblazer R21 Award to investigate his team's orthopaedic metamaterial implants in humans. He receives the 2024 ASME Rising Star of Mechanical Engineering Award.

  5. 2025

    AI-guided inverse implant design

    In 2025, he coauthors “Artificial Intelligence-Guided Inverse Design of Deployable Thermo-Metamaterial Implants,” a study that applies AI to implant design.

  6. July 2025

    An HIV sensor grant

    In July 2025, he and Alan Wells receive a Gates Foundation grant to develop a sensor that monitors viral load in people with HIV.

  7. October 2025

    A wireless spinal implant

    In October 2025, the NIH awards him, Nitin Agarwal and D. Kojo Hamilton a $352,213 R21 grant to develop the first self-powered spinal implant capable of transmitting real-time data from inside the body.

  8. As of October 2026

    Editor-in-chief of npj Metamaterials

    Pitt appoints him editor-in-chief of npj Metamaterials in February 2025. As of October 2026, he is an associate professor and B.P. America Faculty Fellow in Pitt's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Career

  1. Since 2019University of PittsburghAssociate Professor; B.P. America Faculty Fellow
  2. 2020–2022Asia University
  3. 2017–2019University of MissouriAssistant Professor of Civil Engineering

Education

  1. Michigan State UniversityPhD
  2. Iran University of Science and TechnologyBachelor's degree

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Pittsburgh. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Pittsburgh. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes University of Pittsburgh. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Google has the highest combined h-index among AI organizationsIncludes University of Pittsburgh. We estimate that Google holds the highest combined h-index at 8,016, while universities account for 73% of the deduplicated total across AI organizations.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Amir H. Alavi yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Amir H. Alavi engineering.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Pitt's Swanson School of Engineering Introduces New and Promoted Faculty engineering.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Applying Structural Monitoring Technology to the Human Spine engineering.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Paving the Way for Truly Intelligent Materials engineering.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Survival of the fittest, AI style engineering.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Mechanical metamaterials and beyond nature.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. Mechanical metamaterials and beyond pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Amir Alavi received a National Institutes of Health Trailblazer R21 Award pittwire.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Pitt researchers earned Gates Foundation funding to develop an HIV sensor pittwire.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  10. Pittwire News | University of Pittsburgh pittwire.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  11. Pitt Engineer and Surgeons Unveil Wireless Metamaterial Spinal Implants That Feel, Heal, and Communicate engineering.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  12. Amir Alavi named editor-in-chief of a new Nature Portfolio journal engineering.pitt.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.