5.2. Lightning Talks – Speakers
Mohammad Keyhani, PhD, Associate Professor,
Haskayne School of Business, UCalgary
Mohammad Keyhani is an Associate Professor at the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary, where he teaches courses on generative AI and no-code technology for entrepreneurs. Mohammad’s research has been published in leading journals and presented in international conferences where he has received multiple best paper and best reviewer awards. Mohammad is co-founder of HoneybeeLogic.com, maker of Lstr.cc, and advisor to multiple start-ups, and has held roles as Lab Strategist at the Creative Destruction Lab Rockies, and David Rockefeller Fellow at the Trilateral Commission. He holds a doctorate in strategic management from York University, and M.Sc. and B.Sc. degrees from the University of Tehran. His blog and projects can be found at DigitVibe.com.
Soroush Sabbaghan, PhD, Associate Professor (Teaching),
Werklund School of Education, UCalgary
Educational Background: PhD Curriculum and Learning, University of Calgary, 2015; PhD English Lang & Or Literature, Tehran Azad University, 2011; MA English Lang & Or Literature, Tehran Azad University, 2004
Soroush Sabbaghan is an Associate Professor at the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary and serves as the inaugural Generative AI Educational Leader in Residence at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning. His work focuses on the intersection of educational technology, teacher development, and equity. He has developed multiple AI-powered tools to support inclusive and evidence-informed teaching practices, which are used in K–12 and higher education settings.
Soroush has led several collaborative research projects on the ethical integration of generative AI in education, working closely with educators across Canada and internationally. He has served as Principal Investigator on funded studies examining the role of co-designed AI tools in reshaping professional values in teacher education and has published widely on AI literacy, human-centered design, and educational integrity. He is also the editor of Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education: Ethical, Theoretical, and Practical Perspectives, a volume that explores critical tensions and forward-looking frameworks for responsible AI use in academic settings.
Anna Pletnyova, PhD, Adjunct Assistant Professor,
School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures, UCalgary
Anna Pletnyova has been with the University of Calgary since 2015, when she joined the university as a doctoral student in French sociolinguistics. While in graduate school, she served as a Learning Technologies Coach, assisting instructors with campus platforms and helping with the online transition of courses during the pandemic. After Anna obtained her PhD in 2020, she joined the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning as a Learning Technologies Specialist, where she supported the technology needs of existing programs across campus, gave consultations on new programs through the Program Innovation Hub, and created resources on teaching with emerging technologies, such as AI and XR. Since January 2025, Anna has been on a two-year secondment with the Faculty of Nursing as an educational technologist, focusing on VR integration in nursing education. Anna is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures, where she teaches language and linguistics courses sessionally.
Wei Cai, PhD, Professor,
School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures, UCalgary
Dr. Wei Cai is a Professor in the School of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures and Cultures at the University of Calgary, and Director of the Graduate Program in Languages, Literatures and Cultures. Her research interests include second language listening, second language acquisition, artificial intelligence in language learning and teaching, and teacher education. Her recent publications include Teaching and Researching Chinese Second Language Listening (Routledge, 2022) and Researching and Teaching the Chinese Language: Voices from Canada (Springer, 2024). She received the 2023 Robert Roy Award from the Canadian Association of Second Language Teachers (CASLT) and the Faculty of Arts’ Leadership in Internationalization Award in 2019 and Leadership and Mentorship Award in 2025.
Estacio Pereira, PhD, Assistant Professor (Teaching),
Schulich School of Engineering, UCalgary
Dr. Estacio Pereira, PhD, P.Eng is an Assistant Professor (Teaching) in Project Management at the University of Calgary, specializing in Engineering Education, Project Management, and Construction Safety. With five years of experience in construction project management in Brazil and teaching roles across Brazil, Canada, and the UK, Dr. Pereira integrates industry knowledge with academic insight. He employs active learning strategies—including case studies, flipped lectures, XR models, and games—to help students connect theory with real-world challenges while effectively preparing them for the job market. He is actively researching the use of Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance graduate course alignment, improve course feedback, and train Teaching Assistants for consistent marking.
Farhad Maleki, PhD, Assistant Professor,
Faculty of Science, UCalgary
Educational Background: PhD Computer Science, University of Saskatchewan, 2019.
Dr. Farhad Maleki is an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department at the University of Calgary. Dr. Maleki spent his postdoc at the Augmented Intelligence & Precision Health Laboratory (AIPHL) at McGill University, where he was focused on machine learning for medical image analysis. Dr. Maleki completed his Ph.D. in Computer Science at the University of Saskatchewan, where he worked on developing methodologies to analyze genomics and proteomics data.
At McGill, Dr. Maleki served as the president of the Association of Postdoctoral Fellows, and at the University of Saskatchewan, he served as the president of the Computer Science Graduate Council. Currently, Dr. Maleki is a member of the Machine Learning Education Sub-Committee of the Society for Imaging Informatics in Medicine and serves as a guest editor for a few journals focused on medical data analysis.
