Staff

Dr. Bilal Hassan

Postdoctoral Fellow (May 2023 - May 2024)

Bilal Hassan received the Ph.D. degree in Pattern Recognition and Intelligent Systems at Beihang University, China, in 2022. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Khalifa University, UAE. His research interest lies in computer vision, medical imaging, wireless communication, and related applications.

Arjun Sharma

Research Associate (Jan 2021 - Nov 2023)

Arjun is a Robotics Mechanical Engineer at Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory; He specializes in mechanisms and mechanical design of robotic systems. He graduated with an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Khalifa University. His research focuses on robotic systems’ design, testing, and operation. Arjun has led hardware development for several novel robotic systems, including intelligent loading and unloading mechanisms, a drive-by-wire robotic system, and many more. In addition, he has experience working in the international laboratory, such as the S2TS Lab for advanced microchannel heat exchangers at the University of Maryland College Park, USA.

Dr. Areg Karapetyan

Postdoctoral Fellow: funded under CIRA-2020-286 Project (Feb 2021 – May 2023)

Areg Karapetyan received the B.S. degree (with honours) in industrial electronics from National Polytechnic University of Armenia in 2010 and in 2015 the M.S. degree in Computing and Information Science from Masdar Institute, UAE, which was created in collaboration with MIT. He received the Ph.D. degree in Interdisciplinary Engineering from Masdar Institute in 2019. From 2019-2020 he was with the Research Institute for Mathematical Sciences (RIMS), Kyoto, Japan as a post-doctoral researcher. Currently, he is a research scientist at New York University, Abu Dhabi, UAE. His research interests are centered primarily on the design and analysis of algorithms, mathematical optimization, computing theory and their practical applications in Autonomous Vehicles and Intelligent Systems.

Eyad Shaklab

Research Engineer (April 2020 - April 2023)

Eyad Shaklab recieved his B.S. degree in computer science from the American University of Sharjah, UAE. He has been involved in research and development in robotics and autonomous vehicles since 2019 until April 2023. Eyad is currently a testing engineer at Unikie.


Dr. Kalyanasundaram (Kalyan) Mathu

Postdoc: funded under KU-KAIST KKJRC-2019-Trans1 (Aug 2021 - July 2022)

Vishnu Bhadran

Research Engineer: funded under KU-KAIST KKJRC-2019-Trans1 (Feb 2021 – June 2022)

Rashid Alyassi

Research Engineer: funded under CIRA-2020-286 Project (Feb 2021 – June 2022)

Vidya Sudevan

Research Engineer: funded under KU-KAIST KKJRC-2019-Trans1 (Jan 2021 – Aug 2021)

Dr. Christopher J Holder

Postdoc: funded under KUCARS Theme 1 (Jan 2020 – Dec 2020)

Visitors

Nadim Khneisser

Visiting Researcher; funded under RIG-2023-117 Project (5/62024 - 27/8/2024)

nadim-khneisser Second-year student pursuing a B.Sc. in Robotics and Intelligent Systems at Constructor University Bremen (formerly Jacobs University) looking to obtain experience in the field. Held in high regard by the professors for being a disciplined and hardworking team player that strives in high pressure environments. Passionate about AI and robotics, with a keen interest in their potential uses in everyday life.

Dr. Thanh Nguyen Trung

Visiting Researcher: funded under CIRA-2020-286 Project (Nov 2022 – May 2023)

Dr. Nguyen Trung Thanh graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics Education from Hai Phong University in 2004. He received a Master’s degree in Applied Mathematics from the Institute of Mathematics, Academy of Science and Technology in 2007, and a PhD in Science. studied computer at the University of Duesseldorf, Germany, 2013. From 2014 to 2016, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Khalifa University, United Arab Emirates unified (MIST-KU); Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA (MIT); and New York University (NYU). Dr. Nguyen Trung Thanh is a Lecturer/Researcher at the Faculty of Information Technology, Phenikaa University since February 2020.

Mohammad Riyadh Alkharrat

Visiting Researcher: funded under CIRA-2020-286 Project (Nov 2022 – May 2023)

Riyadh received his Bachelor of Computer Engineering degree from the University of Wollongong in Dubai and is dedicated to advancing the fields of autonomous vehicles, robotics and wireless communications. He is currently working on the development of an autonomous shuttle, this project involves the integration of risk aware planning and perception technologies to create a self-driving vehicle. His previous research work lies in the field of LoRa wireless communication resources optimization and improving channel allocation.

Students

Fatima Kashwani

MSc CS (Fall 2022 - Spring 2024)

Fatima Kashwani received her Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering with honors at Khalifa University in 2021. She is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Computer Science at Khalifa University. Her main research areas are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and autonomous vehicles. Her thesis project is focused on teleoperation of unmanned vehicles.


Awet Araia

MSc CS: funded KUCARS Theme 1 (Spring 2022 - Spring 2023)

Awet Mekonen received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Khalifa University in May 2021. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in computer science at Khalifa University. His main areas of research are Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, Deep learning, and Autonomous driving. His master’s thesis is focused on Multi agent constrained deep reinforcement learning for autonomous vehicles safe behavioral planning. He is also actively engaged as a teaching assistant at Khalifa university working as a primary lab instructor.

Abiel Ghebreslasie

MSc CS: funded under KU-KAIST KKJRC-2019-Trans1 (Spring 2022 - Spring 2023)

Abiel Fissehatsion received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Khalifa University in May 2021. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree in computer science at Khalifa University. His main areas of research are Artificial intelligence, Machine learning, Deep learning, and Autonomous driving. His master’s thesis is focused on Deep reinforcement learning for autonomous vehicles safe behavioral planning. He is also actively engaged as a teaching assistant at Khalifa university working as a primary lab instructor.

Hamad Al Remeithi

Part-time MSc ECE (Spring 2022 - Summer 2023)

Hamad AlRemeithi received his B.Sc. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Khalifa University in 2020. In Spring 2021 he started pursuing a M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, as a part-time student. Academically, his research interests lie within mobile robotics, deep learning, neuromorphic computing, computer vision, and dabbles a little in cyber-security. He has also completed an research internship in Khalifa University within the Visual Signal Analysis and Processing Lab (VSAP) in Summer 2019 where he conducted experiments related to Deep Learning and Medical Imaging, in addition to UAVs. Currently, Hamad is working in Tawazun Technology and Innovation (TTI) as a R&D Engineer, where he is involved in System Integration activities and the development of Electro-Optical Systems. Previously, Hamad was very active in robotics competitions; he has competed and trained teams in several iterations of World Skills, Emirate Skills, RoboCup, and RoboCup Junior, from the years 2016 to 2021.

Email: 100042793(at)ku.ac.ae or hamad.alremeithi(at)tawazunti.ae or h.alremeithi21(at)gmail.com

Murad Mebrahtu

MSc CS: funded under CIRA-2020-286 (Fall 2023 - Spring 2023)

Murad Smreteab received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Khalifa University with the highest honors in January 2021. He completed his master’s degree in computer science at Khalifa University in Spring 2023. His main areas of research are Machine learning, Deep learning, and Autonomous driving. His master’s thesis is focused on pedestrian behavior prediction and safe navigation around pedestrians. Murad is a member of IEEE Eta Kappa Nu at Khalifa university since 2018 and a member of the Golden Key honor society since 2020. Outside the classroom, he occasionally participates in competitions. In 2018, he won second place in the National Huawei ICT competition in UAE and represented the UAE in the middle east ICT competition. Moreover, he won third place in capture the flag group competition in UAE. As an intern, he worked at Gamalearn as Microsoft PowerApps and flow developer. He also has experience as a teaching assistant at khalifa university working as a primary C++ lab instructor and assistant data structures lab instructor. Outside academia he is actively involved in sports, representing Khalifa university both in football and volleyball. In his free time he enjoys playing sports and watching movies.

Email: Murad.Mebrahtu(at)ku.ac.ae

Mustofa Basri

MSc ECE: funded under KUCARS Theme 1 (Fall 2021 - Fall 2022)

Mustofa Basri received B.S. degree in Electronics, Information and Communication Engineering from Osaka Sangyo University in 2018 and has work experience in Hitachi High-Tech Fine System Corporation as a Software Engineer in image processing, data collecting for machine learning before joining Khalifa University as a Graduate Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering department. His research project focuses on autonomous navigation in an unstructured environment where he designs a path planner that considers wheel slip. The last book he read was about a guide to utilizing data like a pro, titled “the model thinker” by Scott E. Page, and he recommends it to everyone so that your weeekends will be fully booked. He also enjoys listening to science - economics podcasts on daily basis, and encourage people to send recommendations and collaboration to him at 100059870 at ku.ac.ae or mustofabasri at icloud.com

Mohammed Nagy

MSc CS: funded under KU-KAIST KKJRC-2019-Trans1 (Fall 2021 - Fall 2022)

Mohamed Nagy received a B.S. (2018) in mathematics and computer science from Helwan University, Egypt, and he is recently pursuing an MSc in computer science at Khalifa University, UAE. As part of his career journey, he has been a teaching assistant at Helwan University since 2018 and joined Udacity as a mentor in 2020. His research and teaching concentrate on algorithms, deep learning, and perception for autonomous vehicles. In 2016, he joined the “Mobile Application Launchpad” program by Google, followed by internships and scholarships from leading companies and government entities, namely, Google, Facebook, Udacity, and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) of Egypt. In 2018, he voluntarily contributed as an Android tutor in One Million Arab Coders, a global initiative, and was cited as one of the best tutors by the Dubai Future Foundation. His research interests include object tracking, autonomous systems perception, sensor fusion, and deep learning. Email: mohamed.nagy(at)ku.ac.ae

Bushra Al Shehhi

MSc ECE: (Summer 2021 - Summer 2022)

Bushra Alshehhi has a BSc in electrical engineering, graduated first in her class at Khalifa University in 2019. She is currently pursuing an MSc in electrical and computer engineering at Khalifa University. Her research interests are algorithms and machine learning for solving NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. In Particular, she is studying various methods for optimally planning electric vehicle charging schedules. Her interests extend to a passion for teaching programming, she worked as a part-time C++ tutor from 2017-2019 and as a teaching assistant from 2019-2020 at Khalifa University. Her personal projects include building simple classic games such as snakes and brick-breaker. In 2018, She successfully completed the android app development program, a part of the One million Arab coders initiative, for which she built a translator app. Bushra also has an interest in the field of efficient and clean energy. In 2018, she was an intern at FEWA power plant control room tasked to study the problem of transformer sizing and placement in the city to achieve optimal economical cost. Outside research, Bushra enjoys her black coffee while reading and publishing book reviews in various categories, including philosophy, science and engineering, psychology, and Russian literature. She also enjoys gaming, food blogging, and learning languages.

Rashid Alyassi

MSc CS: funded under MI-MIT 8474000068 (Summer 2019 – Fall 2020)

Duoaa Khalifa

MSc CS: funded under MI-MIT 8474000068 (Summer 2019 - Fall 2020)