Profiles

Manal A. Alshehri is a Doctoral Candidate in Computer Science at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). She holds a B.S. and M.S. degree in Computer Science from King Abdulaziz University, where she also serves as a lecturer. Her research has been published in leading international conferences, including IEEE Big Data and CIKM.

Her research spans a broad range of artificial intelligence applications, with a focus on enhancing recommendation systems and advancing text mining techniques. She employs cutting-edge AI methodologies to address key challenges such as cold-start problems, user privacy, diversity, and filter bubbles. She is also interested in analyzing user behavior across digital platforms and in leveraging generative large language models to create realistic simulations and automate labor-intensive tasks.

Mattia Soldan is a final-year Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at KAUST, where he is advised by Prof. Bernard Ghanem. His research lies at the intersection of computer vision and natural language processing, with a focus on scalable and efficient algorithms for semantic video understanding and retrieval. His work spans task-specific deep learning architectures, dataset creation, and efficient visual encoding pipelines. Mattia is passionate about building intelligent systems that connect visual content with language and advancing research that bridges fundamental understanding with practical impact.

Mattia's research focuses on video and language understanding and especially on how to leverage mutual information to solve specific tasks as Single Video Moment Retrieval and Video Corpus Moment Retrieval.

Małgorzata Forystek is a Statistics Master's student at the Bayesian Computational Statistics & Modeling research group  (BAYESCOMP) under the supervision of Professor Håvard Rue. She received her B.Sc. degree in Applied Mathematics from AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, Poland, in 2023.

Her research interest is mainly in Bayesian and computational Statistics and Data Science.

Michał Forystek received his B.Sc. degree in Information and Communication Technology from AGH University of Science and Technology in Kraków, Poland, in 2023.

He has a 2 years of experience as a Java Developer working for IG Group in Kraków.

Currently he is a Computer Science Master's student at the Secure Next Generation Resilient Systems Lab (SENTRY) under the supervision of Professor Charalambos Konstantinou.

Michał's research involves using Load Altering Attacks to exploit the Load Frequency Control in Power Systems and developing the appropriate countermeasures.

Mohammed is currently a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering program (ECE) at KAUST. He received his Master degree in Advanced Control and Systems Engineering with Distinction from UOM, Manchester. He has experience in academia working as Lecturer and worked as Head of the committee of the Engineering Training Program. He also worked as Project Engineer in Saudi Electrical Company in the power plant project PP13 carried by SEC.

His research interests span various topics in systems and control engineering, Robotics, and fault detection and diagnosis.

Mritunjay Kumar is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, under the supervision of Prof. Xiaohang Li. Before joining KAUST, he earned his Master of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Dhanbad. His research focuses on developing advanced wide-bandgap semiconductor devices for extreme-temperature power electronics applications, addressing challenges such as threshold voltage instability and high gate leakage currents in GaN HEMTs through innovative materials and gate design techniques.

Mritunjay has made significant contributions to the field of power electronics for extreme temperature, as evidenced by publications in reputed journals such as Applied Physics Letters (APL) and Japanese Journal of Applied Physics (JJAP). His achievements include the development of a high-threshold voltage (7.4 V) enhancement-mode GaN HEMT and the implementation of bi-layer gate stacks for stable operation at temperatures up to 450°C. His work also explores heterogeneous integration, such as combining GaN HEMTs with indium oxide-based driver circuits and gallium oxide transistors, demonstrating stable operation in harsh environments.

Mritunjay’s research interest includes Optoelectronics, and III-Nitrides Power semiconductor devices.

Na Xiao is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Professor Xiaohang Li. She earned her M.S. degree in Chemistry from Soochow University at Institute of Functional Nano & Soft Materials (FUNSOM)  in 2018.

Na Xiao's research focuses on semiconductor fabrication, semiconductor materials and devices, oxide semiconductors, and nanoscale device technologies, and characterization of wide band gap materials.

Najwa Alshehri is a dedicated Saudi researcher with a strong background in numerical analysis. Her academic journey began with a Bachelor of Mathematics from King Faisal University, where she graduated with honors. Supported by the prestigious King Abdullah Scholarship Program (KASP), she pursued her Master's in Applied and Computational Mathematics at Old Dominion University, USA, followed by a graduate certificate in modeling and simulation.

Najwa is a PhD candidate in Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), supervised by Professor Daniele Boffi. Najwa received a full governmental scholarship from the Royal Commission of Jubail and Yanbu. She also received the CEMSE Dean's List award for exceptional academic achievements and dedication to research work at KAUST. Alongside her studies, she is serving as president of the SIAM Student Chapter at KAUST.

Najwa's research focuses on the numerical approximation of partial differential equations, specifically, in fluid dynamics and interface problems such as fluid-structure interactions. Her expertise lies in finite element methods and mixed finite elements.

Neil is a MS/Ph.D student in Electrical and Computer Engineering at KAUST. He holds a Bachelors of Science in Computer Engineering with a specialization in Microelectronics and Embedded Systems at the Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines. He has experience both in academia, with publications involving areas in Brain-Computer Interfaces and Embedded AI Applications, and in industry having interned for companies like Western Digital and Ateneo Innovation Center.

His research interests and areas of expertise involve Computer Architecture, Cyber-Physical Systems, Sensors and Embedded Systems, Artificial Intelligence, FPGA, and Software Engineering