From Italy to US: UCLA Engineering Alumnus Advances AI in Medicine and Cybersecurity

When Andrea Casassa Sian M.Eng. ’22 left Italy for graduate school at UCLA in September 2021, he was pursuing more than a degree — he was following a long-held dream.

“It has always been a dream of mine to pursue academics in the United States, both for the quality of education and the culture of innovation,” he said.

After completing his bachelor’s degree in engineering physics online at Politecnico di Torino in Turin, Italy, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he saw the world accelerating toward a more digital, data-driven future. He said the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering’s one-year, on-campus Master of Engineering professional degree program struck him as a perfect next step because it paired technical rigor with applied, industry-focused training.

“I wanted to deepen my understanding of data-driven technologies and their real-world applications and when I came across the newly introduced MEng program in Data Science and Machine Learning at UCLA — home of key figures that contributed to the development of the internet, it immediately felt like the perfect next step,” Casassa Sian said. 

Casassa Sian described the MEng program as “intense but rewarding,” noting its mixture of deep technical coursework — from databases to deep learning — and professional development classes such as entrepreneurship and project management that prepared him for real engineering work. His capstone project proved especially formative. His team developed an AI-powered drone system designed to detect human presence in disaster zones using onboard computer vision.

“It was an incredible experience taking algorithms from theory to actual flight and learning how to bring together different areas of engineering into one working system,” he said. “Dealing with real challenges, deadlines, limited resources and concrete goals taught me how to deliver something that truly meets a real-world need, with real-world constraints.”

Before joining UCLA, Casassa Sian had already begun gaining industry experience in medical robotics and cybersecurity, foreshadowing his future dual focus. He interned at NAIS Srl, an Italian cybersecurity and IT infrastructure firm, contributing to the early development of Fluxstorm, the firm’s augmented security operations center, or SOC, for automated incident response. He also explored quantum computing on IBM’s platforms while at UCLA, intrigued by how next-generation computation might reshape cryptography and optimization problems relevant to both surgical robotics and security.

“It was an incredible experience taking algorithms from theory to actual flight and learning how to bring together different areas of engineering into one working system,” said Andrea Casassa Sian about his capstone project for UCLA’s Master of Engineering program.

He also competed in LA Hacks, a hackathon his team won after developing a data-driven search engine to help companies identify new investment locations. The hackathon taught him to prototype rapidly, share responsibilities early and iterate under pressure — lessons he says still guide his approach to team problem-solving today.

After graduating from UCLA in 2022, Casassa Sian joined UCLA Samueli spinoff Horizon Surgical Systems as an AI engineer, working on computer vision systems for robot-assisted cataract surgery. His work there connected directly to a rapidly developing area of clinical robotics and AI integration — a field he described as both technically demanding and deeply consequential for patient outcomes. He has since been promoted to senior AI engineer, contributing to additional projects.  

Casassa Sian has also returned to NAIS Srl remotely as a consultant, helping integrate generative AI and large language models into the same platform he had helped develop as an intern. The goal is to enhance Fluxstorm to automate report analysis, generate summaries for SOC analysts and suggest response playbooks in natural language, making cybersecurity not just reactive, but predictive and interactive.

“It feels like coming full circle,” said Casassa Sian. “It has been incredibly rewarding to see Fluxstorm, the project I contributed to in its early days, now mature and fully operational.”

Whether he’s building tools for the operating room or security operations centers, Casassa Sian sees a common theme in his work.

“The common thread is using AI to augment human capability — whether that means helping a surgeon in the operating room or an analyst responding to a cyber incident,” he said.

He credits UCLA for that perspective and much of his professional outlook. Immersed in a multicultural, interdisciplinary environment, he learned to balance rapid experimentation and precise engineering. He said blending the American style of experimentation with the European emphasis on structure has helped him in his career.

Casassa Sian also sees communication as a defining skill for modern engineers. The MEng’s professional development courses, he said, taught him to translate complex ideas to nontechnical audiences and decision-makers, a skill he now uses daily in cross-discipline projects.

For international students, Casassa Sian encourages them to embrace the discomfort of unfamiliar environments as a source of growth.

“Per aspera, ad astra” — through hardships, to the stars — the Latin maxim Casassa Sian has kept with him through his own journey to the U.S., and a reminder that the challenges of moving abroad or switching fields often become the crucibles of long-term success.