Profiles

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

Olga Krestinskaya (Graduate Student Member, IEEE) is a Ph.D. candidate at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. Her research focuses on software–hardware co-design for in-memory computing (IMC) architectures and AI hardware, with a particular interest in hardware-aware neural architecture search (NAS) algorithms, memristor-based systems, neuromorphic computing, and mixed-signal IMC implementations. She has authored several high-impact works on analog memristive neural networks, mixed-signal circuit-level implementations of in-memory computing architectures, quantized neural networks, and brain-inspired algorithms, with a focus on developing energy-efficient and scalable IMC hardware for AI applications.

Olga is the recipient of the 2019 IEEE CASS Predoctoral Award, the 2025 Web of Talents STEM Award (1st place), and multiple KAUST Dean’s Awards. Her work was recognized with the Best Poster Award at the 2nd Nature Conference on Neuromorphic Computing (2024), and she was shortlisted for the prestigious Rising Stars Women in Engineering Workshop (Asian Deans’ Forum 2024).

Olga`s research area is neuromorphic and brain-inspired algorithms, circuits, and architectures. In particular, she is interested in memristor-based architectures for neural networks and neuro-inspired systems. Currently, Olga is focusing on analog circuit-level implementations of reconfigurable memristive neural network architecture and optimization of hyperparameters.

I am a PhD student of computer science in Bio-Ontology Research Group under the supervision of Professor Robert Hoehndorf interested in mathematical and programming applications to natural sciences. In 2023 I graduated from Moscow State University, Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics, Department of Mathematical Logic and Theory of Algorithms. In 2021 I acquired a second degree in the field of algorithmic bioinformatics. From 2020 to 2023 I worked as a research assistant in Ivannikov Institute for System Programming of the Russian Academy of Sciences; my research there was related to ECG signal classification with deep learning techniques and ECG delineation.

My current research interests are related to the development of ontology embedding methods and knowledge-enhanced learning with application to natural sciences.

 AI, IoT, Wireless Communications.

Control systems and power systems engineering. Modeling, simulation, analysis and design of solutions applied to power system stability and control. Optimal and data-driven approaches to the integration of renewable energy resources.

Education and Early Career

Paolo Redondo obtained his Bachelor's and Master's (M.Sc.) of Statistics from the University of the Philippines Diliman. He joined the PhD program in Statistics at KAUST in 2021.

• Extreme statistics.
• Time series.

Qilong Pan is a Ph.D. candidate in Statistics at KAUST, under the supervision of Prof. Ying Sun. Prior to his Ph.D., he earned a master's degree in Statistics at KAUST, and a bachelor's degree in Statistics from Wuhan University of Technology.

Qilong Pan's work bridges statistical modeling, optimization, and high-performance computing (HPC) to tackle complex challenges in geospatial analytics and machine learning. 

security, distributed systems

Rajat Kumar is a Ph.D. student at the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. He received the Bachelor of Technology degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Hamirpur, India, in 2019 and the Master of Technology degree in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, India, in 2021.

His research interests encompass energy harvesting, nanoelectronics, beyond-CMOS devices, and VLSI design.

Roman received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Faculty of Physics, Saint Petersburg State University, Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Since 2018, he has been pursuing a Ph.D. degree at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. His research mainly focuses on gas discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure and its application. Roman's academic advisor is Professor Deanna Lacoste.

Ruochen Zhu received his B.S. degree in Information Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2024. He is currently pursuing M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) program at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the supervision of Prof. Ahmed Eltawil.