RAIN Alliance Awards Aliakbarian Distinguished Leader Award

September 23, 2025

MIDLAND, Mich. – Bahar Aliakbarian, PhD, interim director at Michigan State University’s The Axia Institute, in Midland, Michigan, received the Distinguished Leadership Award from the RAIN Alliance at the “RAIN in Action” event in Amsterdam.

“It was an honor to be recognized by RAIN [Alliance]. RAIN technology is moving extremely fast in different industries, and Axia is committed to facilitating the adoption of this technology through education, research, and testing,” she said.

In 2023, the RAIN (an acronym derived from RAdio IdentificatioN) Alliance introduced the Distinguished Leadership Award to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the RAIN industry through their passion and perseverance. Aliakbarian is currently a leader of RAIN’s Manufacturing Quality Workgroup and is part of its Healthcare Community.

She joined Axia in 2017 and has been instrumental in managing Axia’s research portfolio, as well as in creating and developing the Axia Lab, a leader in radio frequency identification (RFID) testing. Bahar’s multidisciplinary research experience has led to innovative research using smart technologies (specializing in RFID) to track and monitor food and pharmaceuticals along the supply chain.

About RAIN Technology
RAIN is the name for the standards-based, wireless system where the tags and readers both implement the RAIN air-interface protocol (ISO/IEC 18000-63, also known as GS1 UHF Gen2) and the tags are encoded utilizing controlled numbering practices either following applicable ISO standards or the GS1 EPC TDS. It is the fastest-growing type of RFID available today.

About the RAIN Alliance
The RAIN Alliance is a neutral, not-for-profit industry organization supporting the universal adoption of RAIN, a wireless technology that connects billions of everyday items to the Internet of Things, enabling businesses and consumers to identify, locate, authenticate, and engage assets.

About the Axia Institute
The Axia Institute^®, part of Michigan State University’s Office of Research and Innovation, is a premier value chain innovation center based in Midland, MI. Through applied research, industry collaboration, and education, Axia develops sustainable solutions for healthcare, food, and advanced manufacturing sectors. Its Axia Lab™, accredited by the ANSI National Accreditation Board, specializes in RFID testing and has pioneered the first globally accepted grading system for healthcare RFID tags.

For additional information about Bahar Aliakbarian, please see her Scopus profile.