WELCOME

Hi, I’m Irina. I live at the intersection of "What moves us?" and "How do we learn?"

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I am an Assistant Professor at the University at Buffalo, where I Explore, Engineer, and Educate!

In my research team we use Virtual Reality and physiological sensors (EEG, ECG, Eye-tracking) to peek 'inside the human'. My research tackles real-world problems, from helping young drivers overcome road anxiety to creating inclusive AI tools for individuals on the autism spectrum.

My passion for "systems" started long before academia. I spent 10 years in the logistics industry, rising from an import specialist to a Head of Sales Department. That experience taught me that the most complex part of any system isn't the hardware—it’s the people.

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Now, I bring that people-first mentality to education. I’m an advocate for K-12 outreach (ask me about "For Your Imagination" summer camps!) and I love shaking up university lectures with Large Language Models and multimodal projects. I believe learning should be messy, motivational, and evidence-based.

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Ask me about:

• Why your heart rate spikes when you merge onto the highway.

• How to teach AI to be a better co-pilot.

• My Pokemon Go research project (yes, really).