Profiles

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.

Shahd Shami is a Ph.D. student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at KAUST, specializing in robotics and control systems. Before that, she worked as a Teaching Assistant at King Abdulaziz University, where she gained hands-on experience in AI projects and technology solutions. Shahd received her M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from KAUST, focusing on machine learning and robot planning, and her B.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia.

Shahd's research focuses on developing adaptive and intelligent control mechanisms to enhance robotic systems' autonomy and efficiency in dynamic environments. She combines classical control theory with advanced machine learning algorithms to create models that improve robotic performance, adaptability, and interaction with uncertain environments. Areas of interest: • Adaptive control systems for robotics • Machine learning integration in control mechanisms • Advanced sensor technologies for robotics • System integration and implementation of AI solutions • Robotics education and training

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

Talha Ariff was awarded his BEng/MEng degree in Biomedical Engineering from City, University of London in 2022, where he focused on optoelectronic devices for use in medical and chemical sensing.
He is now a Ph.D. student in the Photonics Lab at KAUST, researching further applications for optoelectronic sensors in desert agriculture and undersea communication cables.

Marine Ecology & Desert agriculture, Sensors, Photonics & Optoelectronics

Tingang graduated from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) majoring in electro-magnetic field and wireless technology on 2022.

Tingang focuses on ultrawide bandgap semiconductors, especially AlN and AlGaN epitaxy by MOCVD and device fabrications

Vijith Varma Kotte is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. He joined KAUST in 2020 under the supervision of Prof. Tareq Y. Al-Naffouri. He received his B.Tech. degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Amrita School of Engineering, Bengaluru, India, in 2015, and his M.Tech. degree from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) in 2018.

Prior to joining KAUST, Vijith worked as a Research Engineer at the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT) in New Delhi from 2018 to 2019.

His research interests span signal and image processing, deep learning, and wireless communications, with a particular focus on radar signal processing for biomedical and automotive applications.

• MIMO Radar signal processing.
• Wireless communications..
• Deep Learning.

Wenbo Yan received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Material Science and Engineering in 2021 from South China University of Technology, Guangdong, China, and a master’s degree in Material Science and Engineering in 2022 from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.He is now a Ph.D. student in the Photonics Laboratory at KAUST.

Photonics and optoelectronics, Solar energy

• Signal processing.
• Learning method over complex.
• Dynamic structures
• Low-complexity and energy-efficient VLSI signal processing system design.

Yan Wang is a M.S./Ph.D. student in the Division of Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences & Engineering (CEMSE) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). She obtained her bachelor's degree of Communication Engineering from the University of Electronic, Science, and Technology of China (UESTC) in 2024.

Photonics and optoelectronics, Ultrawide bandgap semiconductor

Yara Banda is an M.S./Ph.D. student at the Photonics Lab in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (CEMSE) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). She received her B.Sc. degree from King Abdulaziz University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) in 2021.

Yasmine's research interests include controller design, observer design, virtual sensors, scientific machine learning, UAV control in non-inertial frames.

Yiming Yang is a Ph.D. candidate at the KAUST Integrated Microwaves Packaging Antennas and Circuits Technology Research Group under the supervision of Professor Atif Shamim. Before joining KAUST, Yiming obtained a bachelor's degree in electronic science and technology from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC).

Yiming Yang‘s research interests include frequency selective surfaces, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and meta-surfaces in combination with additive manufacturing, time modulation, and other fabrication and reconfiguration methods.

Yingquan Li is an M.S./Ph.D. candidate in the KAUST Communication Theory Lab under the supervision of Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini. Before joining KAUST, Yingquan earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

Yingquan's research interests include advanced signal detecting and processing, hardware implementation of key communication technology and underwater optical wireless communication. Li is focusing in the area of digital signal processing, wireless optical communication and circuit design.

Yiyang Yu is a Ph.D. Candidate at Integrated Microwaves Packaging Antennas & Circuit Technology Research Group under the supervision of Professor Atif Shamim at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). His current research interests include on-chip antenna design and artificial magnetic conduction design for 6G mm-wave applications.

Yiyang's research interests include ​Electrically Small Antenna Design.

Yongqiang Zhang received the B.Sc. degree in communication engineering from Southwest University, Chongqing, China, in 2019, and the M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, in 2021, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree. 

His main research interests include the performance analysis and optimization of the integrated access and backhaul (IAB) networks.

• Nanofabrication of Semiconductors
• N/MEMS design and dynamics
• Control Theory
• Vibration
• Mechatronics

Yue Wang is a Ph.D. candidate at the Photonics Laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the mentorship of Prof. Boon S. Ooi. She earned her B.Eng. in Electronic Science and Technology from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in 2020. She received her master's degree in Electrical Engineering from KAUST in 2021.

Yue Wang's research focuses on semiconductor optoelectronics, high-speed color-converting luminescent devices, and optical wireless communication. She specializes in characterizing color-converting materials, designing and fabricating luminescent optoelectronic devices, and developing optical wireless communication systems.

Yue Wang has explored emerging luminescent materials such as perovskites, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and organic fluorophores, enabling Gb/s visible light communication and wavelength-division multiplexing with enhanced channel capacity. To relieve the stringent requirements of pointing, acquisition, and tracking in underwater optical wireless communication channels, she employed scintillating fibers and luminescent solar concentrators for wide field-of-view, high-speed photodetection. Her work also extends to optical amplification, where she has developed a high-gain visible-light amplifier based on perovskite quantum dots, potentially addressing the optical loss during long-distance optical data transmission.

• Optical wireless communication.
• Embedded systems.
• Hardware & software co-design.