The Ceremony was Held Under the Patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, Khalifa University of Science and Technology has celebrated the graduation of 885 students from its Bachelor’s, Master’s and PhD programs during the 2021 graduation ceremony, which was held virtually on Wednesday, 26 May 2021.

During the ceremony, 51 students received their PhD degrees in biomedical engineering, electrical and computer engineering, aerospace engineering, civil and infrastructure engineering, mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering, robotics engineering and interdisciplinary engineering.

Another 168 students received their Master’s degrees in applied chemistry, biomedical engineering, chemical engineering, computer and information science, electrical and computer engineering, engineering systems and management, information security, materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering, nuclear engineering, petroleum engineering, geo-petroleum engineering, sustainable critical infrastructure, international and civil security, health, safety and environmental engineering, and water and environmental engineering.

While 666 students received their Bachelor’s degrees in applied mathematics and statistics, petroleum engineering, industrial and systems engineering, biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, electrical and electronic engineering, chemical engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, computer engineering, communication engineering, aerospace engineering, and petroleum geosciences.

The graduation ceremony coincides with the UAE’s Golden Jubilee celebrations of the country’s 50 years of progress and achievements.

In his address, Sheikh Hamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a member of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi and chairman of Khalifa University’s board of trustees, expressed great pride in the graduates’ outstanding achievements.

He extended his greetings to His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed, the President of the UAE, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashed, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and ruler of the Emirate of Dubai and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed, Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, Deputy Supreme Commander of the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces, and to all Emiratis and residents in the UAE, on this significant occasion, which marks the  entry of a new cadre of talented graduates – who are now equipped with the robust knowledge and skills gained at the internationally recognized Khalifa University – into the UAE’s key science, engineering, technology and medical sectors.

His Highness also expressed his gratitude to the parents of the graduates for this achievement, as they provided unconditional support to the graduates during their studies.

He also congratulated the UAE’s leadership and people, while expressing his pride in the graduates’ and their achievements. He thanked them for their efforts, which will inspire current students of Khalifa University, and for all that they’ve done and will do in the future for the UAE.

He also noted the important role KU graduates have played and will continue to play in enhancing the UAE’s international standing as a leader in research and innovation. Khalifa University graduates contribute to the country’s vital sectors, bringing with them advanced knowledge, expertise, critical skills, and a unique ability to analyze and find creative solutions to the country’s greatest challenges.

Khalifa University has consistently contributed to the aerospace sector. It graduated the first-ever batch of students in Aerospace Engineering, while more recently Khalifa University students designed and developed MySAT-1 and DhabiSat, two mini satellites which were launched into space, and they are also helping students of other universities to design and develop CubeSats.

Khalifa University’s virtual 2021 graduation celebration comes at a time when the University has achieved several milestones, especially with the most number of scientists from the UAE being included in the exclusive Stanford University List of 2% Most Cited Scientists in their fields for 2019, with a total of 45 faculty members, representing 25% of all faculty from the UAE, as well as the Stanford University List of 2% Most Cited Career-long Scientists in their field of research for 2019, with 36 faculty members, representing 31.5% of all faculty from the UAE.

In global rankings, Khalifa University leapt 67 notches to be ranked 214th globally in the ‘Engineering and Technology’ category, top in the UAE and in six subjects, including Petroleum Engineering, in the most recent 2021 QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings by Subject. The University already ranks at #211 in the QS World University Rankings 2021, which features 1,029 of the most prestigious universities in the world.

Moreover, Khalifa University is ranked top in the UAE and 114th globally in ‘Engineering’ in the US News & World Report’s 2020 Best Global Universities’ rankings published in November 2019. The University is ranked second in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and among the top 200 globally in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2020 by Subject: Engineering and Technology.

Clarence Michael
English Editor Specialist
26 May 2021

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Jumps 47 Slots to Rank 268^th Globally in Most Recent QS Ranking, Remaining Top in the Country

Khalifa University of Science and Technology has become the first-ever in the UAE to be placed among the top 300 academic institutions globally by the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings 2020.

Ranked 268th overall with a jump of 47 slots, Khalifa University thus remains among the top 27% of the 1,000 universities assessed from 82 different locations across the world, as well as the top-rated institution in the UAE. Additionally, the QS World University Rankings 2020 has termed Khalifa University’s ‘Research Output’ as ‘Very High’.

In the Citations per Faculty category, Khalifa University has a score of 42.2 in the QS World University Rankings 2020. The University has also performed remarkably well with the Faculty Student Ratio, which is 1:8, earning a score of 77.3.

Dr Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, said: “Our position as the first-ever institution from the UAE to be placed among the top 300 in the QS World University Rankings 2020 strongly illustrates not only our consistent success in the international academic arena, but also our commitment to impart world class knowledge to students. We believe such international accolades and recognitions reflect our wise leadership’s vision and continuous support to help the University compete on the international level. It also shows the sincere efforts by our faculty and staff to sustain the University’s mission as a major contributor to the UAE’s human and intellectual capital development.”

“The most recent ranking will further motivate us and strengthen our resolve to enhance the academic and research offerings that will further consolidate the position of Khalifa University regionally and globally,” added Dr. Al Hammadi.

The world’s 1,000 top universities are ranked by the QS according to six different criteria – academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), faculty to student ratio (20%), citations per faculty (20%), ratio of international faculty members (5%) and ratio of international students (5%).

Khalifa University continues to be acknowledged globally for its world class academic and research areas. The university was the only one in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to be among the top 15 in the Times Higher Education (THE) Emerging Economies University Rankings 2019 that assessed 442 universities from 43 countries.

Additionally, the 2019 THE World University Subject Rankings for ‘Engineering & Technology’ placed Khalifa University in the 176–200 band, thus keeping the university among the top 200 out of over 900 institutions assessed across more than 70 countries. This follows Khalifa University’s 12th place in the ‘THE Young University Rankings 2018: Millennial Universities Millennial Ranking’ and 49th in the Young University Ranking.

Clarence Michael
News Writer
19 June 2019

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University Jumps 11 Slots to be Placed 38^th Out of 351 Academic Institutions

The Times Higher Education (THE) 2019 Young University Rankings has placed Khalifa University among the top 40 leading academic institutions.

Khalifa University is now ranked 38^th out of 351 academic institutions, a jump of 11 slots from the previous year’s ranking of 49^th in the THE list. The new rankings were released at the THE Young Universities Summit being organized in partnership with the University of Wollongong in Australia and the University of Surrey at Surrey’s campus in the UK. Themed “Embracing risk, creating opportunities”, the summit also hosted the exclusive launch of two THE university rankings – the “Golden Age” rankings of institutions founded since 1945, and the Young University Rankings, featuring institutions under the age of 50.

Khalifa University’s Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice President, said: “Being ranked among the top 40 in THE 2019 Young University Rankings reflects our consistent success in not only advancing our research but also our international outlook. Our research scope continues to widen, embracing more industry segments and our faculty increase their niche publications across various leading scientific journals. Our students too have successfully demonstrated their talents in regional and international competitions, and we believe the new rankings will further encourage us to seek even greater milestones.”

Khalifa University has also maintained a score of 100 in ‘Industry Income’ (knowledge transfer), while it received 96.4 in ‘International Outlook’ for the proportion of a university’s total research journal publications that have at least one international co-author. The ‘Industry Income’ category seeks to capture the university’s ability to help industry with innovations, inventions and consultancy, as well as how much research income an institution earns from industry against the number of academic staff it employs.

Khalifa University also moved one notch up to be ranked 11^th in the ‘THE Young Universities: millennial universities’. This THE list ranks the top “millennial” universities – institutions founded since the year 2000.

The THE 2019 Young University Rankings for Khalifa University closely follows other achievements. Earlier in June 2019, the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings 2020 placed Khalifa University among the top 300 academic institutions globally, the first-ever from the UAE to achieve this milestone. The university jumped of 47 slots to be ranked 268th overall globally.

In May 2019, Khalifa University jumped four slots to be placed 28th in top 30 among 417 Asian universities in the 2019 THE Asia University Rankings, an improvement from last year when it was placed 32nd in Asia.

In January 2019, Khalifa University became the only one in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region to come among the top 15 when it was placed 13^th out of 442 universities from 43 countries in the THE Emerging Economies University Rankings 2019, up slightly from 15^th position the previous year.

Clarence Michael
News Writer
30 June 2019

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Current Ranking Covers Chemical Engineering, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering and Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Khalifa University of Science and Technology is ranked first in the UAE, second in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and among the top 200 globally in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2020 by Subject: Engineering and Technology.

The University is placed within the 176-200 band out of 1,008 universities assessed in the 2020 THE listing for subjects.

Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, said: “The Khalifa University’s status in the current listing once again strongly illustrates some of our core strengths that keep us in the forefront, as the most sought-after academic institution for engineering and technology. We have already established our leading role in innovation by the sheer magnitude of our research outcome. We believe this ranking firmly portrays our special expertise in various subject areas that offer students productive avenues to transform into true professionals as they chart their future course.”

The ‘THE World University Rankings 2020 by Subject: Engineering and Technology’ includes a range of narrower subject areas covering General Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Civil Engineering, and Chemical Engineering.

The subject tables employ the same range of 13 performance indicators used in the overall World University Rankings 2020, brought together with scores provided under five categories. However, the overall methodology is recalibrated for each subject, with the weightings changed to suit the individual fields.

The weightings for the engineering and technology ranking are: Teaching (30%), Research (30%), Citations (27.5%), International outlook (7.5%) and Industry income (5%).

For engineering and technology, an institution must either have at least 4% of its academic staff or at least 40 academic staff in the ‘engineering and technology’ discipline, to be considered for the subject ranking by THE.

Clarence Michael
News Writer
17 October 2019

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Paper authored by KU Team proposes new ‘log-lifting’ framework to make business process models more accurate and valuable

A paper written by a team of researchers from Khalifa University that offers a new process mining solution that helps companies develop more accurate and insightful business process models was nominated for the Best Student Paper Award at the 17^th International Conference on Business Processing Management 2019, which took place earlier this month in Vienna.

The paper, which was one of three to be nominated for the selective award, was authored by PhD student Ghalia Tello, Dr. Gabriele Gianini, Senior Researcher at the Emirates ICT Innovation Center (EBTIC), Dr. Rabeb Mizouni, Associate Professor of Computer Engineering, and Professor Ernesto Damiani, Senior Director of the Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems Institute and Director of the Center for Cyber-Physical Systems (C2PS).

Process mining techniques analyze business process activity data from different perspectives and summarize them into useful information for making business decisions. Many businesses have an IT system that stores data in databases – such as patient treatment records, student data, or order handling – and creates ‘event logs’ with that data. Process mining uses those event logs to develop a process model that helps to visualize and analyze the real-life execution of the company’s processes.

Examples of business processes are the process of handling a customer order, a job application, an insurance claim, a building permit, a leave permit or handling a patient in an emergency room.

An activity is a well-defined step in the process, for instance handling a patient in an emergency room involves patient registration, triage (i.e. assigning a priority to the patient based on the seriousness of his/her medical condition) and so on.

Process mining techniques can deliver valuable, factual insights into how processes are being executed in real life. Mining a process can help to discover anomalies/violations that occurred in the process, or even to predict probable future anomalies based on past records. It can also support process optimization in terms of effectiveness.

Unfortunately, real-life processes tend to be more complex and less structured than most process mining algorithms are designed to handle. A major challenge that occurs with process mining is that one cannot normally observe the process activities directly, but only through the recorded event logs (e.g. the patient triage may involve an initial observational assessment, heart auscultation, blood pressure measurement, the transcription of an account of the symptoms). Often the events recorded in the event log are too fine-grained. “This can cause the algorithms designed to discover processes to not accurately represent the process at the right level of abstraction,” said Tello. “And get lost in details.”

Tello’s paper proposes a ‘log-lifting’ framework method that uses machine learning to abstract the event log to a lower level of granularity, thus bridging the abstraction level gap between the logs and the activities meaningful for the process model. Abstraction methods provide a mapping from the recorded events to activities recognizable by process workers.

The log-lifting framework proposed by the paper comprises two main phases: event log segmentation and machine-learning-based classification.

“The purpose of the segmentation phase is to identify the potential segment separators in a flow of low-level events, in which each segment corresponds to an unknown high-level activity,” Tello explained. “For this, we proposed a segmentation algorithm based on maximum likelihood with n-gram analysis – a standard technique used to model statistical regularities in languages, or any sequence of elements such as letters or words.”

In the second phase, event segments were mapped into their corresponding high-level activities using a machine learning classification methods. The KU team explored different classification methods, including Artificial Neural Network (ANN) and Random Forest algorithms.

The method was evaluated in collaboration with the German multinational software company SAP, using an event log from their NetweaverLog system. The evaluation showed that the team’s log-lifting framework provides an accurate representation of the process at the right level of abstraction – the activity level.

The KU team aims to build on their research to develop an end-to-end process mining framework that incorporates further log-lifting techniques and improve the capabilities of the system to detect and predict process anomalies, with the final goal of providing any business process endowed with logs with the capability of improving its effectiveness thus increasing its business value.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
26 September 2019

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Paper by Dr. Saeed M. Alhassan, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, and researchers Dr. Sunil P. Lonkar and Dr. Vishnu V. Pillai, announced as one of Scientific Report’s top 100 papers in Chemistry

A paper authored by Khalifa University researchers that explains a new method for developing high-efficient photocatalysts – materials that absorb sunlight to cause a chemical reaction – has been named one of 2019’s top 100 most important papers in the field of Chemistry in the renowned journal Scientific Reports.

The , titled “Facile and scalable production of heterostructured ZnS-ZnO/Graphene nano-photocatalysts for environmental remediation,” identified an affordable, scalable, and environmentally friendly way to synthesize nano-sized photocatalysts from zinc sulfide, zinc oxide, and graphene – a first in the research community.

“The aim of our project was to develop highly efficient photocatalysts through a scalable, solvent-free approach in an effort to promote sustainability while utilizing sulfur – a byproduct of oil extraction that the UAE and Middle East has in abundance, further creating value for one of the UAE’s core industries,” said Dr. Saeed Alhassan, Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, who led the research team.

Photocatalysts are semiconductor materials that absorb different wavelengths of light energy and transfer that energy buildup to a reacting substance, resulting in a chemical reaction called photocatalysis. Two simultaneous reactions are required for photocatalysis to occur – in the first reaction, a reactant gains an electron – a reduction from photogenerated electrons – while in the second reaction, a reactant loses an electron – an oxidation from photogenerated holes – a process more commonly known as redox. When the electrons and holes are utilized, photocatalysis occurs.

The novel approach undertaken by KU’s research team is an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional methods of fabricating photocatalysts. Typically, photocatalysts are developed through wet-chemical synthesis, co-precipitation, thermal/hydrothermal methods, and sulfurization. These common methods to synthesize photocatalysts use highly complex and costly processes that often include toxic agents, which in turn restricts their large-scale production and eco-friendly applications.

The KU process produces photocatalysts without using toxic solvents, via a ‘solvent-free’ approach, through a method that employs a solid-state mixing of the constituent materials.

“We used ball-milling and thermal annealing for a uniform distribution of the hybrid particles. This process yielded hybrid mixtures of varying compositions of zinc sulfide and zinc oxide combined with graphene, that we categorized and tested,” Dr. Alhassan explained.

Rather than dissolving the materials with a solvent, the team used a ball mill to ground the compounds into uniform particles in a process where ball bearings inside a cylinder rotate around an axis, filled partially with the materials to be ground – in this case, graphite oxide, zinc salt, and elemental sulfur.

“We further refined the different photocatalysts through thermal annealing to enhance the physical properties of the materials. The thermal treatment proved to be a crucial factor in enhancing the photocatalytic activity,” said Dr. Alhassan. “Hybridization of zinc sulfide and zinc oxide combined with graphene also promoted bandgap narrowing when compared to pristine zinc sulfide nanoparticles. The result was a non-toxic, efficient, and scalable photocatalyst.”

Photocatalysis plays a vital role in sustainable development and environmental cleanup as a means to break down toxic pollutants into simpler compounds that can be absorbed and recycled naturally. Photocatalysts also aids in the development of solar fuels – renewable sources of green energy – by enabling solar energy to produce fuels that can be stored and used even when the sun is not shining.

However, the prevailing methods and materials used to induce photocatalysis absorb light poorly and utilize electrons and holes inefficiently. These inefficiencies have demanded experimentation and fine-tuning to achieve ideal bandgaps – the energy it takes for a molecule to go from a non-conducting to a conducting state – that effectively utilize the absorbed light energy for redox reactions involving toxic pollutants and organic compounds.

Growing environmental concerns across the globe have identified the need for efficient and inexpensive photocatalysts. The work being conducted at Khalifa University directly addresses this concern and is an important contribution to the research and development of viable environmentally-friendly photocatalysts.

The team’s research is gaining significant attention from the scientific community, and the researchers have already filed a patent for the unique process, titled “Mechano-thermal preparation of zinc sulfide nanoparticles.”

Read the full paper .

Zaman Khan
News and Features Writer
24 June 2019

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Khalifa University Undergraduate Students Win 1^st Place in Europe Middle East and Africa Region

A group of six undergraduate students from Khalifa University reached the final round of the 3^rd annual IEEE Circuits and Systems Society (CASS) Student Design Competition, which took place from 26-29 May in Sapporo, Japan.

Electrical Engineering students Alanoud Almemari, Mohammed Alyayaee, Rodah Almazrooei, Safa Alkatheeri, and Mohammed Alnuaimi, and Computer Engineering student Noura Alnuaimi, became one of five finalist teams out of 23 global entrants after winning first place at the regional round of the competition in Europe, Middle East and Africa for their project, ‘A Face Recognition System to Control House Appliances.’

The project describes a system that uses facial recognition to access and control house appliances such as lightbulbs, doors and air conditioning. People around the world are concerned about their home security along with their energy consumption, and the Khalifa University project tackles both at once with one innovative solution. The face recognition system designed by the team eases home entry and automates the turning on and off of electrical appliances. Forget your keys? Your face opens the door. Forget to turn off the lights? Your face does it for you as you leave.

The system is divided into two sub-systems: the first is the face recognition code that works on MATLAB machine learning tools and a laptop camera; and the second controls the appliances in the home. These are a serial monitor (Arduino), door locks, fans and lightbulbs.

The prototype operates across three different rooms, all accessed by the same door: the front door. A camera attached to the door registers the face of the user and assigns a room to that face using signature extraction and local binary pattern. After registering, the user is then recognized by the system when they approach the house, with the front door opening and the Arduino operating the lights and AC in the room designated to that user. They’ll even get a message welcoming them home.

Should the person not be recognized by the system, a message will be sent to the admin with the picture of the person trying to enter. There is also password access, so if the face isn’t recognized, anyone with the password can unlock the house. If the incorrect password is entered three times, the admin user will be alerted, enabling them to remotely open the door if the visitor was expected, or to call the police if necessary.

There are also extra options provided for different situations, like visitors, deliveries, using passwords and even writing a message for the main user.

On the way out, the system can recognize the person leaving the house and switch off the appliances in designated rooms. People have a tendency to leave appliances on if they’re leaving in a rush or are distracted, which leads to an expensive electricity bill or even fires in worst case scenarios. This system automates the procedure for the user, signaling an end to excessive energy consumption and fire risks when the house is empty.

The project faced stiff competition in Sapporo against projects including an early pneumonia detecting system, a real-time mapping and monitoring network for water quality analysis in cisterns and tanks, and a neural network-based wireless vision detection system. The 2018-2019 CASS Student Design Competition World Winner came from the US and Canada regional entry for their wireless recorder for intracranial epileptic seizure monitoring.

The IEEE CASS Student Design Competition is a worldwide competition where undergraduate students suggest and execute projects related to electrical engineering and similar areas to offer a solution to a real-life problem. The competition comprises three phases: the first at the chapter level, the second at the regional level, and a final at world level. This year’s final took place during the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) 2019 in Sapporo, Japan.

Jade Sterling
News and Features Writer
16 June 2019

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Khalifa University’s Emirates ICT Innovation Center (EBTIC)has scored first place in the “Suspicious Network Event Recognition” – a data mining challenge organized in association with the IEEE BigData 2019 conference, beating out 2,400 solutions that were submitted and winning US$1,000.

Dr. Dymitr Ruta, Chief Researcher, and Dr. Cen Ling, Senior Researcher, from EBTIC teamed up with the former EBTIC colleague Dr. Quang Hieu Vu on a challenge to decide which internet security alerts should be regarded as suspicious based on information extracted from network traffic logs.

The team developed an efficient model to extract essential summarized content from billions of traffic event data and used it to efficiently train eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) – a state of the art machine learning model – to make the most accurate predictions. Their model outperformed the 249 competing teams from around the world, who submitted over 2,400 solutions.

The IEEE International Conference on Big Data (IEEE BigData) provides a leading forum for disseminating the latest research in Big Data. IEEE Big Data brings together leading researchers and developers from academia, research and the industry from all over the world to facilitate innovation, knowledge transfer and technical progress in addressing the 5 V’s (Velocity, Volume, Variety, Value and Veracity) of Big Data. The purpose of the conference is to identify deep technical and scientific nature of big data problems, and share the future direction on the development of next-generation solutions for data-driven decision making.

IEEE BigData 2019 is taking place in Los Angeles, California, USA from 9-12 December.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
12 November 2019

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Ranking for Several Subjects Reflects Khalifa University’s Strength of Research and Innovation in Science, Technology and Engineering

Khalifa University of Science and Technology has become the top and only university from the UAE to find a berth in the recently announced Shanghai-based Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU) listing that includes the 1,000 best universities in the world. In addition, the university has also fared well in some of the ‘Subject Rankings’.

Khalifa University’s ‘Chemical Engineering’ is placed in the 76-100 band, while ‘Mechanical Engineering’ comes in the 101-150 band. The university’s ‘Water Resources’ is ranked within the 151-200 band, whereas both ‘Electrical and Electronic Engineering’ and the ‘Energy Science & Engineering’ are ranked within the 201-300 band.

At the same time, Khalifa University’s ‘Computer Science & Engineering’ and ‘Atmospheric Science’ come within the 301-400 band. The ‘Materials Science & Engineering’, and the ‘Earth Sciences’ are placed in the 401-500 band.

Overall, Khalifa University has been placed in the 701-800 bracket following its exemplary standings in developing and creating intellectual capital through research and innovation in science, technology and engineering areas. So far, the university has more than 70 issued patents and more than 350 invention disclosures. Its research publications include more than 5,250 articles, over 3,780 conference papers, 252 book chapters and 39 books.

Published and copyrighted by ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, the ARWU uses six objective indicators to rank world universities, including the number of alumni and staff winning Nobel Prizes and Fields Medals, number of highly cited researchers selected by Clarivate Analytics, number of articles published in journals of Nature and Science, number of articles indexed in Science Citation Index – Expanded and Social Sciences Citation Index, and per capita performance of a university. More than 1,800 universities are actually ranked by ARWU every year and the best 1,000 are published.

The ARWU International Advisory Board includes world renowned scholars, top policy researchers and higher education leaders from the US, UK, Europe, Canada and Asia, as well as the United Nationals Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Khalifa University is currently ranked 38^th in the Times Higher Education (THE) 2019 Young University Rankings, ranked 11^th in the ‘THE Young Universities: millennial universities’, and ranked 28th in the 2019 THE Asia University Rankings. In June 2019, the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings 2020 placed Khalifa University 268th overall globally the QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) World University Rankings 2020.

Clarence Michael
News Writer
20 August 2019

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Khalifa University’s EBTIC Developed Hybrid Algorithms Capable of Solving Complex Computer Science Optimization Problems at Genetic and Evolutionary Computations Conference 2019

An algorithm developed by Khalifa University’s Emirates ICT Innovation Center (EBTIC), which is a key part of Khalifa University’s new Artificial Intelligence Institute, together with Spain’s University of Basque Country recently finished 3rd in a prestigious competition at the Genetic and Evolutionary Computations Conference (GECCO) 2019, held in Prague in July 2019.

The developed algorithm was designed to solve a complex multi-objective optimization problem known as Travelling Thief Problem (TTP) – a combination of the “Travelling Salesman Problem” and the “Knapsack Problem” – two classic algorithmic problems in the field of computer science and operations research. Dr. Sid Shakya, EBTIC Chief Researcher, and Dr. Roberto Santana, researcher from the University of Basque Country and an EBTIC fellow, proposed a robust multi-objective method to solve the problem.

The pair’s solution was based on a combination of two artificial intelligence (AI) methods, known as dynamic programming and evolutionary multi-objective optimization, which maximize the coverage of possible solutions for meeting two conflicting objectives related to the Travelling Salesman Problem and the Knapsack Problem.

The Traveling Salesman Problem involves finding the shortest possible route between a set of cities, where every city is visited exactly once before returning to the starting point. The Knapsack Problem involves determining the number of items to include in a collection (given a set of items, each with a weight and a value) so that the total weight is less than or equal to a given limit and the total value is as large as possible. Both are problems in combinatorial optimization – where you must find the “optimal” solution from a finite but very large set of possible solutions.

Problems like these arise frequently in real world settings. The number of possible solutions grows rapidly with the size of the input to the problem, making it impractical to apply an exhaustive search of potential solutions. The aim of combinatorial optimization is to develop hybrid algorithms capable of exploring numerous potential solutions.

“We designed specific variation operators, which were applied as part of a hybrid multi-objective evolutionary search. The high computational cost of the optimization problem was addressed using an efficient evaluation scheme that reuses partial evaluations of the solution,” Dr. Shakya explained.

“This resulted in a competitive solution of high-dimensional TTP instances that was able to outperform some of the latest known solutions. One of the key motivations for this work was to address other real-word multi-component optimization problems, such as enterprise planning, scheduling and allocation problems, which are part of some of the core research focus areas at EBTIC and its partner organizations,” he added.

GECCO is a premier AI conference for optimization, with a key focus on evolutionary algorithms. It attracts high quality research from top AI institutions working in the area of search heuristics and computational optimization.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
15 August 2019

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Dr. Ibrahim Elfadel showcases the first ever successful body-coupled communication transmission at the 41^st Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference in Berlin, Germany

It’s been ten years since FitBit released its first health wearable, and now, roughly one in four adults uses some kind of fitness tracking device. While most people use them to gain some insight to their sleeping patterns and daily exercise, for some, wearable data-collection tools are medically necessary. In the world of healthcare, there is huge demand for remote and continuous patient monitoring.

A research project led by Dr. Ibrahim Elfadel, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Khalifa University, with Dr. Shahzad Muzaffar, Postdoctoral Researcher, Dr. Jerald Yoo, former KU Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, now with the National University of Singapore, Dr. Ayman Shabra, former KU Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, now with MediaTek, MA, USA, and Dr. Mihai Sanduleanu, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, has resulted in the development of a working prototype of a body-coupled communication transceiver that transmits and receives information using human skin as a communication medium. The project began in 2014, and since then, a full hardware platform showcasing the body-coupled communication link has been demonstrated. Funded in part by a grant from Al Jalila Foundation, a UAE medical foundation supporting biomedical research, the signal encoding part of the research has been published in journal articles, conference papers and book chapters. Additionally, several US patents have been filed for the technology.

“Our research aims to provide secure, ultra-low-power communication between wearable medical devices such as hearing aids, vital sign monitors, and personal safety trackers,” said Dr. Elfadel. “This research also has relevance to the healthcare component of the UAE Innovation Strategy and its 2030 vision. In particular, this research enables the development of novel secure, reliable, predictive health monitoring platforms that may be used to diagnose, monitor, and treat diseases with high UAE incidence, such as obesity and diabetes.”

Individuals with high blood pressure, for example, have always been tasked with taking at-home readings to discuss with their healthcare providers. Replacing the standard blood pressure measuring device with a simple wearable tracker makes things easier.

“Wearable devices have always been the focus of active research, and technology advances have made it possible to develop sophisticated wearable electronic devices such as smart watches, smart eyeglasses, and fitness and lifestyle monitors,” explained Dr. Elfadel. “Reliable real-time communication amongst these body-worn devices plays a key role in the synchronous collection of information about the human body and its environmental conditions, and therefore, in the enablement of a new era of portable diagnosis and personalized care.”

Beyond medical necessity, there’s commercial opportunity here too: people worldwide are used to measuring their health using tools like body mass index (BMI) and resting heart rate. Advances in wearable technology have made trackers more accessible and appealing to consumers interested in measuring more variables. Industry analyst CCS Insight says worldwide wearables sales will grow by an average of 20 percent each year over the next four years, becoming a US$29 billion market by 2022.

However, these devices are limited by their power-hungry nature. To enrich data collection, wearables—particularly fitness trackers worn on the wrist—contain multiple sensors to supply large volumes of data about location, motion, physiological condition and other metrics useful to the person wearing the device. The more sensors, the greater the power consumption.
“Existing wireless standards are power-hungry and are known to drain the batteries quickly while wired communication is in conflict with the stringent wearablility requirement,” said Dr. Elfadel. “The ability to transmit and receive data at a very low energy-per-bit is an essential characteristic of wearable devices as they need to remain operational during days, and even weeks, of continuous usage. An alternative to wired or wireless communication is body-coupled communication (BCC) which uses the human skin as a communication medium.”

Human body communication involves the body acting as the communication channel for an electrical signal, with the signal transmitted primarily through the skin. Normally, devices on the body communicate wirelessly through radio frequency technology, but BCC provides a more power efficient and secure means of communication. A transmitter injects an alternating current into the skin, which acts like a wire to carry the signal throughout the body. This signal causes a voltage to appear across two receiving electrodes elsewhere on the body.

“Using human skin as a communication medium has been attempted before but prior work has used traditional signal encoding, leading to the design of complex communication circuits. So while the medium is totally secure, such complex circuits have a high power consumption and their testing has been restricted to predictable, well-controlled signals, such as clock signals,” added Dr. Elfadel. “What makes this project unique is the use of a new signal encoding technique that facilitates the design of simple communication circuits with minimal power requirements. The medium also lends itself to tight integration with electrode-based medical monitoring devices for the brain and heart and also smart band aids.”

Because the signal is completely contained within the human body, the performance is not affected by the surrounding environment. However, the body is not a perfect wire and affects the signal in non-ideal ways, one of which is adding a delay and necessitating a transmission power limit. The injected current must be low enough as to not damage any nerves or tissue, especially when applied over a long time. Concurrently, the current also needs to be strong enough to withstand the effects of the electrical properties of the human body. The relative permittivity (how well an electromagnetic wave can pass through a material) of skin, fat, muscle, and bone affects the signal. Signal attenuation, where the signal strength weakens, increases exponentially with distance when transmitting over the arms and legs, with joints also increasing the attenuation.

Dr. Elfadel and his team used Pulse-Index Communication (PIC)-based BCC transceivers to facilitate successful bi-directional communication through the body by transmitting arbitrary 16-bit data words over a distance of 150cm and receiving them flawlessly in a round-trip configuration.

“To the best of our knowledge, this is the very first time such BCC transmission has been achieved,” said Dr. Elfadel. “Future work will tackle an integrated very-large-scale integration (VLSI) implementation of the PIC-based BCC transceiver along with the validation of such transceiver in the presence of link non-idealities such as multipath fading, variable-ground effect, and variable skin-electrode impedance.

“Our next step is the miniaturization of the BCC circuits to reduce their form factors and improve their flexibility for seamless integration with wearable medical devices. The main challenge we are currently facing in this research is the development of reliable and flexible electrodes that can be comfortably integrated with wearable healthcare monitors so that a robust body-area network can be established among them.

“We hope to demonstrate to the UAE medical and healthcare professionals the significant potential of home-grown biomedical engineering research at Khalifa University. Our research may trigger further fundamental research into the electrophysiological properties of human skin on which physiologists, dermatologists, and biomedical engineers may be able to collaborate across the boundaries of their disciplines.”

Jade Sterling
News and Features Writer
14 August 2019

The post Skin-Deep Communication: Using the Human Body to Transmit Biodata amongst Wearable Medical Devices appeared first on Khalifa University.

Khalifa University’s Emirates ICT Innovation Center (EBTC) Develops Intuitu, an Advanced AI Tool to Drive Optimized Warehouse Deployment

The warehouses that pick, pack and dispatch our products and packages are getting smarter, more efficient, smaller, and even portable, thanks to recent advancements in digitalization, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI). As these ‘warehouses of the future’ shift from massive brick-and-mortar buildings to mobile containers closer to the customer, they present unique optimization challenges for the companies that use them.

This month, at the AI and Machine Learning Awards 2019 in London – a new line up of awards launched this year by Computing, UK’s leading business technology information resource – researchers from Khalifa University’s Emirates ICT Innovation Center (EBTIC) won two awards, including ‘Outstanding AI/Machine Learning Project’ and ‘Most Innovative use of AI/Machine Learning’ for their new cutting-edge tool for solving optimization problems related to warehouse deployment, called Intuitu.

Developed by researchers at EBTIC – an ICT research and innovation center founded by Khalifa University, Etisalat and BT, and supported by ICT Fund – and led by Dr. Sid Shakya and Dr. Rom Lee, together with BT, UK, Intuitu is an AI-based tool that optimizes the deployment of warehouses for large service organizations such as telecommunications companies. EBTIC is also working closely with its local partner Etisalat, one of the world’s leading telecom groups, to deploy the Intuitu tool to improve operational efficiency and faster service delivery of Etisalat’s mobile warehouses. They are also collaborating to leverage Intuitu’s advanced AI logic to manage Etisalat’s inventories and warehouses more efficiently.

“Recent advancements in internet-of-things (IoT) and connected technologies have greatly impacted warehouse design. They are getting smaller and mobile in their nature, shifting from fixed structures to mobile containers or lockers. It is a relatively new concept and poses challenges as redeployment has to happen frequently and optimally. Placing warehouses at the right place and at the right time can reduce travel and maximize productivity for field engineers,” said Dr. Sid Shakya, a Chief Researcher at EBTIC.

IoT enabled warehouses can be monitored and operated remotely. A fixed number of engineers and technicians are assigned to the warehouses based on their home location and working location. Ideally, the distance the workers have to travel to get to the warehouse and then to the client should be minimized. These mobile storages can be quickly deployed to different locations in a very short time. More importantly, they can be moved from one location to another and can be redeployed and reused, contributing to a more sustainable and eco-friendly model of warehousing.

One of the main goals of Intuitu is to determine the most ideal configuration of portable warehouses so that they are closer to consumers for faster delivery, while remaining close to technicians for optimal productivity. The tool drastically reduces the amount of time it would take for a technician to be deployed to provide a customer a requested service, which in turn will lead to significant efficiency gains.

Intuitu models the warehouse deployment problem as a combinatorial optimization problem – when mathematical techniques are applied to find optimal solutions within a finite set of possible solutions – and uses a sophisticated type of evolutionary algorithm known as genetic algorithm (GA) to find the optimal deployment design.

In this model, five key objectives were optimized: Minimizing the cumulative travel time for technicians to get spare parts; minimizing the distance from a warehouse to the served exchange sites; minimizing the distance from a warehouse to the home locations of the assigned technicians; minimizing the number of technicians that a warehouse serves; and lastly, minimizing the number of tasks that a warehouse is expected to serve per day.

Dr. Rom from the Inutitu team elaborated on how the tool works, “The genetic algorithm starts with a population of random solutions, which in this case, are a set of random warehouse locations, and performs a distance based clustering algorithm to find the sites that will be served by each location. It then calculates all five objectives and combines them together to evaluate the effectiveness of each solution. It then iteratively ‘evolves’ the population by applying genetic operators known as selection, crossover and mutation over a fixed number of allowed iterations, also known as generations, and consequently presents the best solution in the final population as the output.”

“Evolutionary algorithms and genetic algorithms are active areas of research in the AI community and EBTIC is at forefront of this research field,” Dr. Rom added.

“To make AI models operational, you must bring together a number of components including data, problem modelling, and identification of the right AI techniques. EBTIC approached this task in an agile fashion working closely with BT’s Applied Research team, and identified the right AI techniques to model the problem,” said Dr. Sid

Dr. Nawaf Al Moosa, Director of EBTIC, said: “EBTIC has a history of innovating practical AI solutions and have been leading in intellectual property generation in UAE for the past 10 years. These awards are a further testament to EBTIC’s successful history of applying AI techniques to the operations of its partner organizations, and to their effort to promote AI research in the UAE and the region.”

EBTIC is a foundational partner of Khalifa University’s new AI and Intelligent Systems Institute (AI Institute), a multidisciplinary research unit focused primarily on robotics, artificial intelligence, data science, next-gen networks, semiconductor technologies and cybersecurity. EBTIC and the AI Institute are committed to developing the key technologies required to bring the UAE significantly closer to reaching its goal of becoming a global hub for Artificial Intelligence innovation.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
5 August 2019

The post EBTIC Wins Two Awards at Computing AI & ML Machine Learning Awards 2019 for Intuitu Project appeared first on Khalifa University.