-By Francesca Serra
Rawan Naous, Ph.D. student in the Sensors Lab under the supervision of Professor Khaled Salama, arrived at KAUST with an ambitious plan: becoming world top scientist in Electrical Engineering. And yes, she strives to make it!
In 2016 alone, Rawan published more than 10 scientific articles, and one of them, "Stochasticity Modeling in Memristors ", turned out to be the most downloaded article in the IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology for six months, consecutively.
"For my Ph.D., I am currently investigating novel computing techniques using emerging non-volatile memory technologies," said Rawan. "A brain-inspired quest for machine-level intelligence, computing efficiency and reliability with unreliable components."
Rawan originates from Lebanon. After a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the American University of Beirut (AUB), she moved to Germany, to the Technical University of Munich for a Master's Degree in Communications Electronics. She joined KAUST in 2013 after a short parenthesis as a lecturer in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Effat University and Prince Sultan University, both in Saudi Arabia.
"KAUST is a unique place!" said Rawan. "The university has an interdisciplinary environment that offers great opportunities both at the academic and social level. Working at KAUST has made possible improving my professional skills while raising a family, a mission impossible for most women out there."
Rawan is starting now the last year of her Ph.D. that will hopefully bring her to a successful career in academic research. "Doing my Ph.D. at KAUST has given me a terrible advantage over students who have chosen to do a Ph.D. in other universities around the world," continues Rawan. "KAUST choice to offer the best international research standards and a great family life is paying off. As a Ph.D. student, I'm having world-class academic programs and international networking opportunities, all at a 5-minute drive from my home and family. I could not ask for more".
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