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 is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering, supervised by Prof. Eric Feron and Prof. Taous-Meriem Laleg-Kirati. Before joining KAUST as a doctoral student, she was an intern in the Estimation, Modeling, and Analysis Group (EMANG). Her research focuses on developing hybrid model-based and learning-based estimation algorithms for diverse classes of nonlinear systems with convergence guarantees. During her Ph.D., Yasmine completed an internship at the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Prof. Alexandre Bayen, and visited several universities, including Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Irvine.
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.
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.
Zhican Zhou is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where he is advised by Prof. Yating Wan, and conducting research in Integrated Photonics Laboratory (IPL) research group. Before joining KAUST, Zhican received his bachelor's degree (majoring in materials engineering) from Chongqing University (CQU) in 2019 and his master's degree (majoring in photonics) from the joint-cultivation program of Nankai University (NKU) and the National Center for Nanoscience (NCNST) in 2022, where he ranked in the top ~5% for both his undergraduate and postgraduate studies. He obtained numerous honors for his outstanding performance, including the First Price Scholarship, Outstanding Graduate of Chongqing University, and the Nankai University Freshman Scholarship.
He has contributed to 24 journal and conference papers, with representative first-/co-first-authored works in Nature Electronics, Nature Communications, Advanced Photonics, and eLight. He was also awarded the 2026 Tingye Li Memorial Scholarship for his contributions to integrated photonic computing and hardware-rooted security.
Zhican's research focuses on integrated optoelectronic computing systems, hardware-aware neural network frameworks, and privacy-preserving hardware architectures.
Zichun earned his Bachelor's degree in Microelectronics Science and Engineering from Sun Yat-sen University in 2023 and is currently pursuing a Master of Philosophy degree in The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou). He has been honored with several prestigious awards that highlight his exceptional achievements, including the Excellent Graduation Thesis Award from SYSU (Top 5%), the Meijiayin Scholarship, and the Red Bird Full Postgraduate Scholarship at HKUST(GZ).
During his postgraduate studies, Zichun has developed strong expertise in the modeling, design and testing of photonic integrated circuits and optoelectronic systems.
Zinan XIAO is a Ph.D. student at Photonics Laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
Before he joined the Photonics Laboratory, he worked as an optical hardware engineer in the industry, focusing on designing and testing optical splitters.
He received his Master of Science degree at Imperial College London, UK.
He obtained his bachelor's degree in optoelectronic information engineering at Chongqing University.
Sensors, Photonics and optoelectronics
Abdullah obtained his master's degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from KAUST in 2021 and his bachelor's degree from The University of Jordan in 2020. During his engineering studies, he did research in wireless sensor networks and cognitive radio. In 2024, Abdullah won the best paper award at the Global Advanced Air Mobility Academic Paper competition, organized by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).
Abdullah's current research interests include stochastic geometry modeling, and flying platforms.
Abdullah Bukhamsin received his B.Sc. degree in Bioengineering from Rice University (Houston, Texas) in 2018. Following that, he completed his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Thuwal, Saudi Arabia) in 2020 under the supervision of Dr. Jurgen Kosel. In 2025, he completed his PhD degree in Bioengineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Thuwal, Saudi Arabia) under the supervision of Dr. Khaled N. Salama and co-supervision of Dr, Ikram Blilou.
Abdullah is interested in developing scalable micro-fabrication methods for 3D electrodes for electrochemical sensors pertaining to applications centered on physiological monitoring of biomarkers.
Aijaz H. Lone is a PhD candidate Integrated Intelligent Systems I2S group, under the guidance of Professor Gianluca Setti at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), I'm dedicated to pushing the boundaries of spintronic innovation. With a background in electrical and computer engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-M), I've developed a passion for advancing spintronic devices for data storage and neuromorphic applications.
As a PhD candidate Integrated Intelligent Systems I2S group, under the guidance of Professor Gianluca Setti at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), I'm dedicated to pushing the boundaries of spintronic innovation. With a background in electrical and computer engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-M), I've developed a passion for advancing spintronic devices for data storage and neuromorphic applications.
During my Ph.D., I focused on simulating and experimentally realizing spintronic devices tailored for neuromorphic (brain-inspired) computing. This includes advanced spintronic memories that emulate synapse and spiking neuron functionalities. By integrating these devices, I have explored their potential in implementing artificial neural networks (ANNs) and spiking neural networks (SNNs) at both circuit and system levels, aiming to improve the computational paradigms.
As a researcher, I bring expertise in modeling, simulations, and experimental realization to the table. My focus
lies in pioneering spintronic technologies like magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs), domain wall devices, and
magnetic skyrmionic devices – all with the goal of revolutionizing AI and machine learning.
Through my research, I aim to bridge the gap between theoretical understanding and practical implementation, driving the development of novel spintronic-based solutions for AI.
Alejandro Pardo is a final-year Ph.D. student at KAUST, advised by Prof. Bernard Ghanem. His research explores the intersection of computer vision and creativity, with a focus on automating video editing using generative models. He previously earned his M.Sc. under Pablo Arbeláez and has interned at Intel's Embodied AI Lab and Adobe Research. Alejandro is passionate about bridging technology and storytelling.
He is specialized in Image processing and analysis, and interested in topics related to the investigation in Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision. Besides that, he’s knowledgeable in machine learning and deep learning.
Amanat Kafizov received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan, in 2019 and from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, in 2021, respectively. Currently, he is a Ph.D. student at KAUST. His academic journey has been enriched by diverse experiences, including a summer research internship at the University at Buffalo, New York, USA, in 2018, where he developed the OFDM system for Terahertz communication. Later, from 2023 to 2024, he worked as a research engineer at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland.
Amanat's research interests include optical wireless communication, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, system prototyping, signal processing on FPGA, and machine learning.
During his summer research internship 2018 at University at Buffalo, New York, USA, he was working on Terahertz (THz) communication networks under a supervision of professor Josep Jornet. To be more specific, Amanat developed OFDM transmitter and receiver blocks in Matlab tailored to THz channel properties and adapted to THz hardware specifications. Amanat was the first who demonstrated OFDM communication at THz frequencies ever.
