Robotics and its close cousin, artificial intelligence, are shaping how we live and work, and Nevada Engineering is responding with new programs to prepare the next generation of engineers.
The robotics master’s degree program launched in fall 2025, producing two graduates this past winter. A robotics minor providing a broad exposure to robotics concepts also debuted in the fall.
“AI is changing the nature of the engineering workforce, and robotics is essentially physically embodied AI,” Computer Science & Engineering Professor David Feil-Seifer said. “And so, learning the skills that are needed to make these engineering problems actually work for real people in the real world, that's what robotics does.”
Feil-Seifer heads up the interdisciplinary robotics program, which also draws from electrical engineering and mechanical engineering. It’s that intersection of disciplines that appealed to Behnoush Hatami, one of the first two graduates of the master’s program.
“I always was interested in robotics because it is an interdisciplinary field,” Hatami said. “It has computer vision, it has AI, it has programming and it has physical systems.”
Hatami currently is pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science.
Why robotics?
Denielle Oliva was drawn to robotics as a student at Damonte Ranch High School in Reno. She matriculated into the 夜色视频 in 2019, earning her bachelor’s in computer science and engineering in 2023. Last fall, she earned her master’s in robotics.
“I like building something and seeing it work,” Oliva said. “I can do software, but with software, there isn’t a tangible product that you’re holding afterwards. In robotics, you program it, you build it.”
Oliva is particularly interested in human-robot interaction — how people communicate and collaborate with one another and with robots. She is continuing her work in Feil-Siefer’s lab and plans to become a research professor.
Also working in Feil-Seifer’s lab is one of the current robotics grad students, Heather Amistani.
“Creativity is a big thing for me, and in this lab, I'm allowed to be creative,” she said. “That's a big reason (to do robotics). We're able to come up with different ideas and bounce them off each other and expand those ideas.”
Feil-Seifer said the program is for anyone in engineering who's interested in robotics or automation as a career.
“Anything where engineering technology needs to meet the real world,” he said. “That's what robotics provides the skills for.”
What robotics?
Feil-Seifer's research focuses on socially assistive robots and human-robot interaction. He’s also leadership team of the National Science Foundation’s AI Institute for Advancing Education, which is developing AI solutions to address a national shortage of speech-language pathologists.
In addition to Feil-Seifer, Computer Science & Engineering faculty conducting robotics research includes Parikshit Maini, who’s working on agricultural robots; Jim La, investigating robots for use in civil infrastructure inspection; Monica Nicolescu, studying human-robot interaction; and Christos Papachristos, focusing on autonomous and field robotics.
Other Nevada Engineering faculty working in robotics are Sesh Commuri and Hao Xu in the Electrical & Biomedical Engineering Department; and Floris van Breugel and Yantao Shen in the Mechanical Engineering Department.
Program requirements
The robotics master’s is open to those who have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, mathematics or science and have a minimum experience that includes the equivalent of an engineering minor.
The minor is open to all Nevada Engineering students, and Oliva encourages people to consider it.
“I think a lot of people might be like, (intimidated) going into a robotics minor, but honestly, the classes are super foundational to everything else you learn in computer science,” she said. “It’s all pretty foundational, so I don't think people should shy away from trying it.”
