Arsha Niksa

Tehran · Iran · arshaniksaa@gmail.com

I am a data scientist with a background in Mathematics and Physics from Sharif University of Technology. My work focuses on data-driven and language-related systems, while my research interests include Topological Data Analysis and Geometric Data Analysis.

Research Experience

Research Project | Manifold Reconstruction from Morse Critical Points

With Vidit Nanda (University of Oxford)
  • Studying reconstruction of embedded manifolds from Morse critical-point information of directional height functions, including conditions under which dense critical data determines the manifold.
July 2026 – Present

Research Project | Symmetry-Invariant Kernels for Molecular Shape Spaces

With Marina Meilă (University of Waterloo and Vector Institute)
  • Investigating symmetry-invariant kernels and representations for molecular shape spaces, with applications to molecular dynamics data.
March 2026 – October 2026

Research Project | Manifold Cohomology Estimation

With Jürgen Jost and Marzieh Eidi (Max Planck Institute)
  • Developed methods for estimating manifold cohomology from sampled point clouds and explored dimension reduction that preserves geometric and topological structure.
July 2025 – February 2026

Directed Reading | Topological Data Analysis

Under Herbert Edelsbrunner (the Institute of Science and Technology Austria)
  • Read the Computational Topology book by H. Edelsbrunner and J. Harer.
  • Read a few classic papers on stability theorems in persistent homology.
  • Have been reading on persistence modules and algebraic stability.
July 2024 – Mar 2025

Directed Reading | Geometric Formalisms of Mechanics

Under Thomas Strobl and Hadi Nahari (the Camille Jordan Institute)
  • Focused on T. Strobl and H. Nahari’s paper titled “Singular Riemannian foliations and I-Poisson manifolds”.
  • Got somewhat familiar with Dirac Structures.
  • Read on advanced topics in differential geometry, mostly from Natural Operations in Differential Geometry by I. Kolár.
Feb 2024 – Aug 2024

Work Experience

Data Scientist

Searchwise · Tehran, Iran

Contributing to the development and evaluation of data-driven and language-related systems, with a focus on benchmarking, data pipelines, and deployment.

  • Worked on the end-to-end development of SnappPay’s spell-checking system.
  • Built and maintained data pipelines used across experimentation and evaluation workflows.
  • Dockerized services and supported deployment and production workflows.
  • Contributed to DevOps-related tasks, including service configuration and environment management.
July 2026 – Present

Education

Sharif University of Technology

BSc (Double Major) · Pure Mathematics

GPA: 19.54 / 20.00 · Rank 1 in Mathematics

October 2021 – July 2026

Sharif University of Technology

BSc (Double Major) · Physics

GPA: 19.54 / 20.00

October 2021 – July 2026

Publications

Persistent Patterns in Eye Movements: A Topological Approach to Emotion Recognition

ArXiv | 2025-08 | Preprint

Authors: Arsha Niksa, Hooman Zare, Ali Shahrabi, Hanieh Hatami, Mohammadreza Razvan

https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.17450

Effects of Roughness on Rarefied Gas Flow in a Microfluidic Channel with Porous Walls

19th Fluid Dynamics Conference, Tehran | 2021-12 | Conference proceedings

Authors: Arsha Niksa, Amirreza Soheili, Vahid Bazargan

https://civilica.com/doc/1328730/

Skills

Programming Languages & Tools
  • R
  • Julia
  • MATLAB
  • C++
Soft Skills
  • Public Speaking
  • Leadership
  • Initiative
  • Team Collaboration

Test Scores

GRE Mathematics Subject Test

Score: 850, 82nd Percentile

iBT TOEFL

Total: 119/120 (Reading: 30, Listening: 30, Speaking: 29, Writing: 30)

Awards

  • 2024 — Bronze Medal (Rank 3), National University Mathematics Olympiad
  • 2021 — Top 0.2%, National University Entrance Exam (STEM Stream)
  • 2020 — Gold Medal, Persian Young Physicists' Tournament
  • 2019 — Gold Medal, Korea-USA Science and Engineering Federation
  • 2019 — Gold Medal, Korea Science and Engineering Fair