Department: Bioengineering
Concentration: Biomedical Engineering Design

Arman Baradaran is a Master of Engineering graduate student in Bioengineering, currently researching trust in human-robot interactions. Within the psychology-engineering nexus, he is fascinated by the cognitive and behavioral aspects of decision-making, learning, and memory. He is also interested in developing longitudinal interventions for the critically unmet needs associated with mental health disorders such as age-related cognitive decline and ADHD. Arman realized early on, in his undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley, that one or two fields of study were not enough to satisfy his multidisciplinary ambitions, so he quadruple-majored in Physics, Psychology, Neurobiology, and Italian Studies, completing his Bachelor’s degree in 2023 by the age of 19. Simultaneously, he conducted a research project on how learning chess can increase mental speed; he pursued the musical and filmmaking arts by presenting his work at the 2021 and 2022 Bocciardi Conferences, in which he won the Gerald & Beverly Bocciardi Prize twice for his eco-philosophical and psychosocial analyses of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno; he cultivated his prior education expertise as a volunteer chess teacher for children and adults, by taking on a tutoring role in an upper-division physics laboratory course; and he played chess professionally, having started at the age of 4 and achieved the US National Master title in 2019, and represented UC Berkeley in several Pan-American and National team championships. Besides his deep involvement in chess, he enjoys playing video games and getting outplayed at tennis by his father.

Contact: chessinstinct@berkeley.edu