Profiles

Ahmed M. Eltawil is the Associate Dean for Research at the CEMSE Division and a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Program at KAUST. He joined the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) Division in 2019. At KAUST, he founded and directs the Communication and Computing Systems Laboratory (CCSL). Previously, he was a faculty member in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), U.S., from 2005 to 2019.

His research at the CCSL at KAUST focuses on efficient architectures for computing and communications systems, with an emphasis on wireless systems. His research spans several application domains, including low-power mobile systems, machine learning platforms, sensor networks, body area networks, and critical infrastructure networks.

An active participant in the academic community, Eltawil has served on the technical program and steering committees for numerous workshops, symposia and conferences focused on low-power computing and wireless communication system design. He is a recipient of several prestigious awards and grants, including the NSF CAREER grant for his research in low-power computing and communication systems.

He is a Senior Member, Distinguished Lecturer (2023/24) of the IEEE, and a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors. In 2021, he was recognized as "Innovator of the Year" by the Henry Samueli School of Engineering at UCI and received two US Congressional Recognition Awards for his pioneering work in wireless systems. Committed to a collaborative, multidisciplinary approach, Professor Eltawil is passionate about translational research, aiming to move practical innovations from the lab to societal applications.

Professor Eltawil’s current research focuses on efficient architectures for computing and communications systems and wireless networks, encompassing low-power mobile systems, machine learning platforms, sensor networks, body-area networks, and critical infrastructure networks.

His research examines the larger context of connected systems where devices seamlessly integrate into our daily lives. His approach to research combines rigorous analysis with a robust experimental background that leverages insights obtained through simulations and corroborated by experiments. By finding innovative solutions to research problems, he aspires to offer practical approaches that can be readily adopted, resulting in significant societal benefits.

Asmaa Abdallah received the B.S. degree (with High Distinction) and the M.S. degree in Computer and Communications Engineering from Rafik Hariri University (RHU), Lebanon, in 2013 and 2015, respectively. She earned her Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon, in 2020.

From 2021 to 2024, she was a Postdoctoral Fellow at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where she is currently a Research Scientist in the Communications and Computing Systems Laboratory.

Between 2016 and 2020, Dr. Abdallah served on the executive committee of the IEEE Young Professionals Lebanon Section. She was the recipient of the Academic Excellence Award at RHU in 2013 for graduating top of her class. She also received a scholarship from the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research (CNRS-L/AUB) in support of her doctoral studies.

In 2023, Dr. Abdallah was named one of the 15 leading Innovators Under 35 in the MENA region by MIT Technology Review. Her research interests include machine learning, communication theory, stochastic geometry, and array signal processing, with a focus on energy- and spectrally-efficient algorithms for next-generation wireless communication systems.

Ms. Abdallah's research interests include communication theory, stochastic geometry for wireless communications, machine learning for wireless communications, array signal processing, with emphasis on energy and spectral efficient algorithms for emerging wireless communication technologies.

Charalampos Antoniadis received a Diploma degree (Hons.) in Computer and Communication Engineering, an M.S. degree in Computer Science, and a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, in 2011, 2014, and 2019, respectively. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) Division at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Before joining KAUST, he served as an Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Thessaly for one year.

Dr. Antoniadis was awarded an M.Sc. study fellowship by the University of Thessaly and the Hellenic Foundation for Research and Innovation (HFRI) fellowship for his Ph.D. studies. Additionally, he led a student team that won the First Place Award in the ACM TAU 2020 and TAU2 2021 timing analysis contests.

Charalampos's research focuses on the following areas:

• Efficient AI
• Generative AI and LLMs
• Smart city applications
• Electronic Design Automation

Hakim Ghazzai, Senior Member, IEEE, joined the CEMSE Division as a Research Scientist in 2021. Previously, he held several research scholar positions with the Qatar Mobility Innovations Center (QMIC), Qatar, Karlstad University, Sweden, and Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ, USA. Since 2019, he has been on the Editorial Board of the IEEE Communications Letters and the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society. Since 2020, he joined the Board of IoT and Sensor Networks (a specialty section of Frontiers in Communications and Networks) as an associate editor. He is a recipient of appreciation for being an exemplary reviewer for IEEE Wireless Communications Letters in 2016 and IEEE Communications Letters in 2017. He is the recipient of the best paper awards at the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Smart Mobility and the 2017 International Conference on Advances in Vehicular Systems, Technologies, and Applications. He is the author and co-author of more than 190 publications. His general research interests include applied artificial intelligence for smart cities, the Internet of things, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), mobile and wireless networks, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).

Hakim's research focuses on the following areas:

• Green communications
• Smart city applications
• Artificial intelligence
• The Internet-of-Things
• Intelligent transportation systems

Najmeddine Dhieb received the Diplôme d’Ingénieur in Telecommunication Engineering—with honors— the École Supérieure des Communications de Tunis (SUP’COM), Tunisia, in 2019. That same year, he worked as a Research Assistant at the Smart City Lab within the School of Systems and Enterprises at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, NJ, USA.
Currently, Najmeddine contributes his expertise as a Research Engineer at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, after serving as a Senior Data Scientist at Bdeo Technologies S.L. in Madrid, Spain. His work focuses on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Internet-of-Things, Edge-Computing, and Blockchain, where he develops practical solutions for emerging digital challenges.

Najmeddine's research focuses on the following areas:

• Artificial intelligence
• Data science
• Computer vision
• Edge computing
• Blockchain

Ahmed Nasser received his M.Sc. degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST), New Borg El Arab, Egypt, in 2016. He earned a double Ph.D. degree from Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan, and E-JUST, Egypt, in 2020. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. His research interests lie in the broad areas of next-generation wireless communication systems and networks.

Ahmed's research interests focus on both learning and non-learning based techniques for enhancing the performance of emerging technologies in 6G wireless networks.

Khalil obtained a bachelor of science degree in electromechanical engineering (with honor) in 2013 and a master of science in robotics in 2014 from the National Engineering School of Sfax (ENIS), Tunisia.

Khalil's Ph.D. research work is about "Miniaturized Drug Delivery Systems for Biomedical Applications" and his research interests include Drug Delivery Systems, Micropumps, Biomedical Devices, Bioengineering, and MEMS.

Abdelrahman Fatouh is an electrical and computer engineering master’s student at KAUST started in 2025, specializing in embedded systems, AI, and IoT. He holds a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from King Saud University (2024) and has industry experience developing robotics and intelligent systems at multiple technology start-ups. His recent work includes EEG-based humanoid robot control for disabled people.

• Embedded systems
• AI
• TinyMl,
• IoT
• Digital hardware design

Abeer Alamoudi received the B.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Effat University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in 2019. She received the M.Sc. degree from KAUST in 2021 and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. with the Communications and Computing Systems Laboratory (CCSL).

Abeer’s research focuses on Human Body Communication (HBC) and energy-efficient Internet of Bodies (IoB) networks, including capacitive access schemes and deep reinforcement learning enabled networks.

Ahmed Hussain received his B.E. degree in Avionics Engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan, in 2014. He earned his M.S. degree in Avionics Engineering from the Aerospace and Aviation Campus, Kamra, Pakistan. During his undergraduate studies, he was awarded the President’s Gold Medal for achieving the highest GPA and the Rector’s Gold Medal for the best project. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia.

His research interests include deep learning-enabled near-field communication, digital array signal processing, and wireless communications.

Amr N. Abdelrahman received his B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Nanotechnology and Nanoelectronics Engineering from the University of Science and Technology, Zewail City, Egypt, in 2021, and his M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, in 2023. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. at KAUST. In 2024, he was a visiting scholar at Polytechnique Montréal, Canada.

His research focuses on the development of ultra-low-power transceivers for next-generation wearable devices using human body communication (HBC). His work aims to enable wire-free connectivity between low-power wearable sensor nodes without relying on traditional RF or wired links.

Amr's research interests include human body communication, analog and mixed-signal circuit design, and low-power electronics for biomedical applications.

Bumin K. Yildirim received his B.Sc. degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from TED University, Ankara, Türkiye, in 2020, and his M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, in 2023. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Communications and Computing Systems Laboratory (CCSL) at KAUST.

Bumin's research focuses on exploring generative artificial intelligence-based solutions to address the challenges of future wireless communication networks.

Changhao He received his B.Eng. degree in Information Engineering from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) in 2022, where he graduated with distinction as the top student among 344 peers and was the recipient of multiple national awards. He is currently pursuing M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Prof. Ahmed Eltawil.

His research interests include Optimization, UAV-enabled wireless communications, AI and 6G.

Elham is currently a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering program (ECE) at KAUST. She holds an MSc in Software Systems Engineering from UCL, London. She has experience in academia working as teaching assistant, then lecturer and department coordinator. She also worked in industry as a system analyst.

Elham's research interest lies under the field of smart mobility by addressing the current challenges faced by traffic control systems. Her current research focuses on design a sustainable AI-based models to mitigate the limitations of the current smart mobility solutions.

As an Electrical Engineer, I have extensive knowledge in Power Electronics, Energy Conversion, Power Systems, and Energy Flexibility. Also, I have strong experience and love for Control Theory and Optimization. I am currently studying Machine Learning and its applications.

• Power electronics
• Power systems
• Anomaly detection
• Artificial intelligence

Jinane Bazzi received her Bachelor’s degree in Computer and Communications Engineering from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 2021, graduating with High Distinction. She earned her Master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in 2023. During her graduate studies, she was also a visiting student at the University of California, Irvine (UCI). She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at KAUST.

Jinane's research lies at the intersection of hardware architecture and deep learning, with a focus on compute-in-memory (CIM) techniques for efficient AI acceleration.

Khalid Kanaan received his bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Alfaisal University, Saudi Arabia, in 2022, graduating with First Honors. He obtained his M.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. During his undergraduate studies, he was awarded first place in the 4th Boeing Engineering Student Competition for his capstone project. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in ECE at KAUST.

Khalid’s research interests include multimodal sensing, machine learning for wireless communication, millimeter-wave communication, and massive MIMO systems.

Madi Makin (Graduate Student Member, IEEE) received both his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Nazarbayev University, Astana, Kazakhstan. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

His research interests include wireless communication systems, with a particular focus on reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), non-orthogonal multiple-access (NOMA) networks, and physical-layer security.

Madi's research interests include wireless communication systems, with a particular focus on reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, non-orthogonal multiple-access (NOMA) networks, and physical-layer security.

Mohamed Aziz Benhouichet is pursuing his M.S./Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at KAUST, where he works on embedded artificial intelligence, IoT, and multimodal perception systems. Before starting his graduate studies, he gained hands-on research experience at KAUST as a visiting student, contributing to projects on multimodal fusion between event-based cameras and LiDAR sensors. Prior to joining KAUST, Mohamed earned his Engineering Diploma in Signals and Systems from Ecole Polytechnique de Tunisie (EPT), graduating with first-class honors. He ranked among the top 1% of students in Tunisia
in the 2022 national entrance exam for engineering schools. His academic path reflects a strong multidisciplinary foundation, bridging theory and application in intelligent systems, robotics, and digital hardware.

• Artificial Intelligence (AI)
• Embedded AI and TinyML
• Internet of Things (IoT)
• Multimodal sensor fusion
• Signals and Systems
• Robotics

Mohammed is currently a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering program (ECE) at KAUST. He received his Master degree in Advanced Control and Systems Engineering with Distinction from UOM, Manchester. He has experience in academia working as Lecturer and worked as Head of the committee of the Engineering Training Program. He also worked as Project Engineer in Saudi Electrical Company in the power plant project PP13 carried by SEC.

His research interests span various topics in systems and control engineering, Robotics, and fault detection and diagnosis.

Mojtaba AlShams is a Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), specializing in distributed machine learning and hardware-aware inference. He holds a Master’s degree from KAUST and a Bachelor’s degree from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM).

Mojtaba has a strong academic foundation in computing systems, embedded design, and machine learning, complemented by hands-on experience in electrical engineering roles. He has also demonstrated impactful leadership through national educational initiatives, effectively combining deep technical expertise with strategic leadership capabilities.

His research interests focus on edge computing paradigms and distributed learning, with an emphasis on hardware-aware, energy-efficient inference across heterogeneous edge devices.

Rajat received his B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Hamirpur, India, in 2019, and his M.Tech. in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in VLSI from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, India, in 2021. He is currently pursuing his Ph.D. in the Communication and Computing Systems Lab (CCSL) at the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia.

Rajat’s research interests lie in the development of low-power wearable electronics, with a particular focus on human body communication for Internet of Bodies applications. He is also interested in emerging nanotechnologies and energy harvesting strategies to enable sustainable and autonomous electronic systems.

Ruochen Zhu received his B.S. degree in Information Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2024. He is currently pursuing M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Prof. Ahmed Eltawil.

Samy Mounir recently graduated from UCLouvain in Belgium with a B.Sc. in Engineering, specializing in Software and Mathematical Engineering. His diverse experiences include AI internships at KAUST and Belixys, as well as optimization and data analysis projects using real-world data. His research focuses on leveraging cutting‐edge AI techniques to solve practical problems.

Samy’s research centers on applied AI solutions with a focus on computer vision and smart city applications. He is currently working on plant monitoring using UAVs and computer vision techniques.

Soumia Si Youcef is an electronics engineer and graduate student at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), currently specializing in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Her work bridges the fields of electronics and artificial intelligence, with a focus on healthcare innovation.

• Intelligent healthcare devices
• Sensor design and integration
• Artificial intelligence in biomedical systems
• Electronic system prototyping

Yousef Awad received his B.Sc. degree in Communication and Networks Engineering from Prince Sultan University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in 2020, and his M.Sc. degree in Telecommunication Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, in 2024. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

His research interests span various areas of wireless communication systems, including Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) detection, and applications of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs). During his M.Sc. studies, he also worked as a Telecommunication Engineer at King Fahd International Airport (KFIA), Dammam, Saudi Arabia, with Enova by Veolia.

Yousef’s research interests span various topics in wireless communication systems, including Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC), Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) detection, and applications of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs).

Zhandos Zhakipov received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan, in 2022 and 2024, respectively. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in the Communications and Computing Systems Laboratory (CCSL) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Prof. Ahmed Eltawil.

Zhandos Zhakipov's research interests include reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS), millimeter-wave (mmWave) communication, the Internet of Things (IoT), and digital twins for wireless communication systems.

Diego Augusto Silva is a Ph.D. candidate at the Communications and Computing Systems Laboratory (CCSL) within the Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering (CEMSE) Division at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. His research focuses on event-based vision, object recognition, deep learning, and neuromorphic computing.

He received his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Federal University of São João del-Rei (UFSJ), Brazil, in 2018, and his M.Sc. degree in Electronic Engineering and Computing from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), Brazil, in 2020, with a specialization in Electronic Devices and Systems.

Diego’s technical expertise spans both theoretical and practical aspects, with significant experience in FPGA prototyping and asynchronous logic design. His innovative work has been recognized through two hackathon awards in his research areas, highlighting his ability to translate advanced neuromorphic computing and event-based vision concepts into real-world solutions.

Diego's research interests include the digital logic design of algorithms and event-based cameras.