PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Somayeh Sojoudi

Somayeh Sojoudi is an associate professor in residence at UC Berkeley whose research uses optimization and control theory to study the safety and reliability of AI systems. After a doctorate at Caltech in 2013, she worked with neurologists at NYU Langone on machine-learning methods for epilepsy. She joined Berkeley's electrical engineering and computer sciences and mechanical engineering departments as a faculty member in 2017. Her work includes Implicit Graph Neural Networks in 2020 and Identity Bridge, a 2026 training-data method that helps language models learn reverse relationships. In 2026, she became an IEEE Fellow for her contributions to optimization and learning techniques for complex systems.

Works
203
Citations
2,210
h-index
22

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 28 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 2005–2013

    Electrical engineering to Caltech

    She earns a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering at Shahed University in Tehran in 2005. At Concordia University's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, she completes a master's degree in 2007 with Amir G. Aghdam as her advisor. In 2013, she completes a PhD in control and dynamical systems at Caltech under John C. Doyle, with a thesis on brain, internet and power-grid networks.

  2. 2013–2015

    Brain research at NYU

    From November 2013 to August 2015, she works as an assistant research scientist at NYU's Langone Medical Center, with Orrin Devinsky as her mentor. Working with neurologists and neuroscientists, she applies optimization and machine-learning algorithms to epilepsy and other neurological disorders.

  3. 2015

    An optimization research prize

    In 2015, she receives the INFORMS Optimization Society Prize for Young Researchers.

  4. 2015–2017

    Joining the Berkeley faculty

    In September 2015, she becomes a postdoctoral scholar in UC Berkeley's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, then becomes an assistant project scientist in September 2016. In July 2017, she joins Berkeley's electrical engineering and computer sciences and mechanical engineering departments as an assistant professor in residence.

  5. 2020

    Implicit graph neural networks

    In 2020, she coauthors Implicit Graph Neural Networks with Fangda Gu, Heng Chang, Wenwu Zhu and Laurent El Ghaoui. The framework learns from graph data and makes predictions by solving a fixed-point equation, helping it capture relationships between distant parts of a graph.

  6. 2021

    Awards for machine-learning research

    In 2021, she receives an NSF CAREER Award and an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award. The ONR award supports her project High-performance Computational Methods for Nonlinear Machine Learning Problems.

  7. 2025

    Chairing Women in Systems Engineering

    In January 2025, she becomes chair of the IEEE Systems Council's Women in Systems Engineering Committee. In January 2025, she also becomes an associate editor for book reviews at IEEE Control Systems Magazine.

  8. 2026

    An IEEE Fellowship

    She becomes an IEEE Fellow in the class of 2026 for contributions to optimization and learning techniques for complex systems.

  9. 2026

    Identity Bridge for language models

    In 2026, she coauthors Breaking the Reversal Curse in Autoregressive Language Models via Identity Bridge with Xutao Ma, Yixiao Huang and Hanlin Zhu at ICML. Their training-data method helps language models infer reverse relationships from facts learned in one direction; the team proves that the method can work with a one-layer transformer.

  10. As of October 2026

    Associate professor at Berkeley

    As of October 2026, she is an associate professor in residence in UC Berkeley's Departments of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and Mechanical Engineering. Her research covers optimization, machine learning and control theory, with a focus on the robustness, safety and reliability of AI systems and applications to power systems.

Career

  1. NowUniversity of California, BerkeleyAssociate Professor in Residence
  2. From 2017University of California, BerkeleyAssistant Professor in Residence
  3. 2016–2017University of California, BerkeleyAssistant Project Scientist
  4. 2015–2016University of California, BerkeleyPostdoctoral Scholar, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences
  5. 2013–2015New York UniversityAssistant Research Scientist
  6. 2013California Institute of TechnologyPostdoctoral Scholar, Computing and Mathematical Sciences

Education

  1. 2013California Institute of TechnologyPhD in control and dynamical systems
  2. 2007Concordia UniversityMaster's degree in electrical and computer engineering
  3. 2005Shahed UniversityBachelor's degree in electrical engineering

From the biography.

Checked career sources: people.eecs.berkeley.edu.

Colleagues

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

Sources and credits

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  1. Clarity of Thought: An Interview with Somayeh Sojoudi berkeleysciencereview.com. Checked 28 October 2026.
  2. Publication people.eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  3. Biography people.eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  4. Awards and Honors people.eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  5. Somayeh Sojoudi people.eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  6. [2009.06211] Implicit Graph Neural Networks arxiv.org. Checked 28 October 2026.
  7. Alvin Cheung and Somayeh Sojoudi named ONR 2021 Young Investigators - EECS at Berkeley eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  8. Somayeh Sojoudi | IEEE Systems Council ieeesystemscouncil.org. Checked 28 October 2026.
  9. Somayeh Sojoudi elevated to IEEE Fellow - EECS at Berkeley eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.
  10. Breaking the Reversal Curse in Autoregressive Language Models via Identity Bridge proceedings.mlr.press. Checked 28 October 2026.
  11. Somayeh Sojoudi | EECS at UC Berkeley www2.eecs.berkeley.edu. Checked 28 October 2026.