Profiles

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

William He is a Ph.D. student at the Integrated Photonics Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Yating Wan at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Before joining KAUST, William did his undergraduate study in University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), ranked in the top ~10%  and obtained Dean's Honors for his outstanding performance. William has actively participated in research since his second year in UCSB and has been a co-author of three high-quality journals. Besides academic research experiences, William has also been actively participating in several volunteer work, extracurricular activities, and one internship in Pacific Transformer Corporation in United States.

William's research interests include integrated Si photonics and its applications in data centers. 

Xiangpeng Ou is a Ph.D. student at the Integrated Photonics Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Yating Wan at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Before joining KAUST, Xiangpeng received a B.E. degree in Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in 2018 and a M.S.degree in Microelectronics and solid state electronics from the Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IMECAS) in 2022. Xiangpeng had three-year experience in Si photonics design and characterization, three-year hands-on fabrication and characterization experience in Si photonics on IMECAS’s 8-inch standard silicon photonics platform, strong and comprehensive research capability with 4 first-author SCI journals (OE) and 1 conference paper (SPIE/COS Photonics) published, 6 patents applied, and 1 SCI journal submitted. 

Xiangpeng's research interests are in Silicon Photonics and its applications, including LiDAR, biosensing, and quantum information processing.

Xiaoyi Song received his Bachelor's degree in Electronic Science and Technology from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in 2022 and is currently pursuing a Master's degree at UESTC. Before joining KAUST, he engaged in research on magneto-optical integration and integrated photonics for three years. His research experience encompasses the deposition, design, and characterization of magneto-optical materials and photonic devices, including phase shifters and nonreciprocal components such as optical circulators. He has published a research paper in Photonics Research.

Xiaoyi’s research interests are in Silicon photonics and its applications, including on-chip light source, LiDAR, and nonreciprocal optical devices.

Xin Yao comes from the School of Gifted Young at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), which is designed for the most talented young students in China. Xin majored in Photoelectric Information Science and Engineering, during the past three years study, he won Silver Award for excellent students (Top~10％) and Freshmen Scholarship. Because of the experience in ‘Jiuzhang’ quantum computing laboratory, he is interested in the Si photonics and integrated optical circuits, which show promise for stable quantum computation. He started his MS/PhD study in IPL in the August 2023.

Silicon photonics, on-chip lasers, heterogeneous integration

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

Xuhao Wu is a Ph.D. student at the Integrated Photonics Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Yating Wan at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He received his B.E degree in Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology and M.S. degree in Photonics from Ghent University. After graduation from Ghent University, Xuhao joined a spin-off company of IMEC, Luceda Photonics, and worked as an application and PDK development engineer. During his time there, Xuhao honed his programming skills and provided exceptional customer support, assisting over 50 individuals with their design projects. Additionally, he conducted training sessions, including two workshops with 100 attendees each, and delivered lectures at universities, including Shanghai Jiaotong University and Zhejiang University. Xuhao's contributions also include building IPKISS PDK for various foundries on the SOI/SiN/SiON platform.

Xuhao’s research interests are in applications of integrated photonics for optical computing, LiDAR, and optical communication.

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.

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

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).

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

Yuxuan Xie is a Ph.D. student at the Integrated Photonics Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Yating Wan at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Before joining KAUST, Yuxuan received a B.E. degree from Huazhong University of Science and Technology and spent a year-long exchange program in University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) in 2022.  In the spring of 2023, he will begin his studies at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).

Silicon photonics, short-link optical communication, and high-performance optical sources such as quantum dot lasers are among Yuxuan's research interests.

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.

Zhengying Lou is a Ph.D. student at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. She received her B.S. degree in Communication Engineering from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2021. In 2022, she received her M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from KAUST. Her current research interests include stochastic geometry and wireless networks.

Zhengying Lou's research interests include Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Optimization.

Zhican Zhou is Ph.D. student at the Integrated Photonics Laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Yating Wan at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). 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. Zhican 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. During his postgraduate studies, he mastered the skills of fabrication, modelling, and simulation for electronic devices. Zhican had published a total of 7 journals, 4 of which he was the first or co-first author. 

Zhican's research interests are in Silicon Photonics and novel heterogeneous computing hardware system development (including optical computing systems, memristor computing systems, etc.).

Zhiyuan Liu is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Professor Xiaohang Li. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2020. His research focuses on the fabrication processes and performance optimization of III-nitride optoelectronic devices, covering areas such as micro-LEDs, deep ultraviolet (DUV) LEDs, and ultraviolet photodetectors. His work emphasizes device structural design, physical modeling, micro/nano-fabrication techniques, and advanced surface and interface engineering to enhance the efficiency and reliability of III-nitride devices. To date, Zhiyuan Liu has published over 30 SCI journal papers, including 10 first-author articles in leading international journals such as Light: Science & Applications, Optics Letters, and Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

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

• Developing Biosensors to detect biomarkers for cancer and other ailments.
• Studying electrochemical characteristics of various materials, polymers and films.
• Designing wearable, point-of-care, biotech medical devices.
• Utilizing machine learning to aid in sensing and data interpretation.

• Neuromorphic engineering
• spiking neural network

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.