Profiles

Wenbo Yan received the B.Eng. degree in Materials Science and Engineering from South China University of Technology, China, in 2021, and M.S. degree in Material Science and Engineering in 2022 from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at KAUST under the supervision of Prof. Boon S. Ooi.

Wenbo's research focuses on VCSEL design, coherence engineering, thermal management, optical communication, and photonic device fabrication.

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. 

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

Xue Xian Zheng is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Prof. Tareq Y. Al-Naffouri. He obtained a B.E. in Electrical Engineering from the Wuhan University of Technology (WUT) in 2019, and an M.Phi. in Electronic Engineering from South China University of Technology (SCUT) in 2022.

His work has been published in prominent journals including IEEE TSP, npj Wirel Technol, JSAC, and TBioCAS. He has also delivered several oral presentations at international conferences, including ICASSP and satellite conferences organized by the Institute of Navigation (ION).

Xue Xian Zheng's research focuses on signal processing and optimization over graphs, with applications in edge artificial intelligence and large-scale satellite systems. His research combines theoretical modeling, scalable optimization, and hardware-aware implementation to enable reliable and resource-efficient intelligent systems for future {space, networked} computing platforms.

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.

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).

Yuxiang Liu is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), where he has studied since August 2021. His research is on Sun-Fi, a wireless communication system that uses modulated sunlight to send data. He built a complete Sun-Fi prototype on his own, covering everything from the hardware to the protocol layer. This included an FPGA-based control board, high-precision DAC driver arrays for dual-cell liquid crystal shutters (DLS), photodiode and transimpedance-amplifier receivers, and the MAC-layer coding and scheduling. On the theory side, he modeled the system at the physical level, derived channel capacity and performance limits for SISO, MISO, and MIMO setups, and developed a 3D indoor positioning method that uses sunlight. He has published first-author papers at flagship conferences including IEEE ICC and IEEE WCNC, and more of his work is under review in IEEE journals. In 2025 he was named to MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 (Middle East and North Africa). He has also won First Prize in the 6G Summit Young Scholar Competition, an Honorable Mention in the IEEE ComSoc Student Competition 2025, and a Silver Award at the 2026 China International College Students’ Innovation Competition (Middle East Regional).

Yuxiang's research focuses on optical wireless communication systems, with an emphasis on developing sustainable and ultra-low-energy indoor networking solutions that leverage natural sunlight as a communication medium. His work spans the theoretical modeling, optimization, and experimental validation of DLS-based sunlight communication systems, including SISO, MISO, and MIMO architectures for high-capacity wireless connectivity. He is particularly interested in the intersection of communication systems and embedded computing, combining FPGA-based implementations, embedded systems design, and hardware-software co-design to build end-to-end communication prototypes. His research also explores indoor positioning and localization using optical infrastructures, as well as the application of machine learning and reinforcement learning techniques for wireless resource allocation, beam steering, and network optimization in next-generation smart building environments.

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.

• 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.

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.