Ladan Tahvildari is a Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. For over 25 years, she has pioneered new research directions and advanced the state-of-the-art in academia and industry. Tahvildari is a leading international expert in the design and development of novel models, architectures, and intelligent decision-making approaches that aid in the analysis and maintenance of dependable and adaptive software systems. Beyond academia, and in collaboration with industry and non-profit organizations, Tahvildari conducts applied research to ensure real-world application of her work.
Tahvildari has proudly volunteered to assist the Computer Society for over two decades, first as Chair of IEEE CS Kitchener-Waterloo (KW) Section (2004-2008), later as Chair of IEEE CS KW-Women in Engineering Affinity Group (2008-2013), then as an ExCom member with the IEEE CS Technical Community on Software Engineering (2016-2018), and more recently as the Chair of TCSE (since 2020) as well as a Member-at-Large of the Technical Activities Committee (TAC). Tahvildari has actively served on organizing committees of several flagship IEEE CS conferences. She also served as a guest co-editor for the IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering in 2009. As an IEEE volunteer, Tahvildari has inspired future generations of engineers and scientists to excel in their research endeavors. She is deeply committed to advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion at all IEEE levels. Her excellence in research, teaching, service, and outreach is recognized by numerous awards and distinctions. She was featured in IEEE Canadian Review Magazine in 2015 as “Women in Engineering Leader”.
Tahvildari is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE) and a Canadian Professional Engineer (PEng) in Ontario. Tahvildari received her undergraduate degree in Software Engineering from Iran University of Science and Technology and MASc and PhD degrees from University of Waterloo.