Hi, I’m Niki, a Computer Science PhD Candidate at the University of California, Riverside, where I work in the Vision and Learning Group and CODE Lab, advised by Professors Amit K. Roy-Chowdhury and Vishwanath Saragadam. I recently completed a six-month internship with the AI/ML Research Team at Apple in Cupertino, CA, where I worked on efficient, high-fidelity 3D generative modeling.
My research interests span computer vision, generative AI, computational imaging, and robust machine learning, with a focus on developing reliable and efficient models for real-world applications. During my Ph.D., I have worked on diffusion-based image restoration under realistic sensor noise, generative approaches to recovering missing information in multispectral imaging, and robust multimodal learning with incomplete or unreliable inputs. More recently, my research has also included fast image-to-3D generation using flow-based generative models and image-level supervision. I’m particularly interested in problems at the intersection of generative modeling, visual understanding, and robust AI.
Beyond my research, I enjoy playing the piano and reading novels!
- Diffusion Models for Generation and Restoration
- Robust and Trustworthy Machine Learning
- Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing
- 3D Reconstruction and Rendering
Ph.D. in Computer Science, Present
University of California, Riverside
B.Sc in Computer Engineering, 2023
Iran University of Science and Technology
Recent News
News
[8/2026] Our paper, “Broadband Wide Field of View Imaging with Computational Mirrors” has been accepted as an oral presentation at the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV'26).
[5/2026] Our paper, “CARD: Correlation Aware Restoration with Diffusion” has been accepted at the IEEE/CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR'26).
[3/2026] I joined Apple in Cupertino, CA as a Data and Machine Learning Intern for Spring and Summer 2026.
[3/2026] I successfully passed my PhD Qualifying Exam and officially advanced to candidacy!
[11/2025] Our paper, “MMP: Towards Robust Multi-Modal Learning with Masked Modality Projection” has been accepted at the 2025 IEEE International Conference on Big Data (BigData'25).
Recent Publications
Recent Teachings
Teaching Experience
[Spring 2025] Head TA - Introduction to Computer Science, UC Riverside.
[Winter 2025] TA - Introduction to Computer Science, UC Riverside.
Recent Awards
Academic Awards
Received the Dean’s Distinguished Fellowship Award at the University of California, Riverside (2023)
Awarded an M.Sc. Admission Offer for Outstanding Students by the Iran University of Science and Technology, Computer Engineering Department (2023).
Received an Undergraduate Tuition Fee Waiver for Exceptional Students at Iran University of Science and Technology (2020).
Ranked 293rd out of over 400,000 students in Iran’s National University Entrance Exam, placing in the Top 0.07% (2019).
Awarded at NODET’s Young Researchers Competition, recognized as one of the top tech projects in honor of Prof. Maryam Mirzakhani (2018).
Achieved 1st Place in the Junior Demo Open AI & Robotics Challenge at the RoboCup IranOpen International Competitions (2017).
Contact
- niki.nezakati@email.ucr.edu
- California, USA