Dr. Hazem Nounou is the Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs and a professor of Electrical Engineering in the College of Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He received his BS degree from Texas A&M University in 1995, and MS and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from The Ohio State University in 1997 and 2000. In 2001, he worked as a Development Engineer at PDF Solutions, Inc. in San Jose, California, USA. In 2001, he joined the Department of Electrical Engineering at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia as an assistant professor.

In 2002, he moved to the Department of Electrical Engineering at the United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ain. In 2007, he joined the Electrical and Computer Engineering Program at Texas A&M University at Qatar where he was Professor and Senior Associate Dean for undergraduate studies and student success. He has received several awards, including the Texas A&M University Association of Former Students College-level Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching in 2014, the Itochu Professorship from 2015-2017 and the Texas A&M at Qatar Faculty Excellence Award in 2015 for Excellence in teaching, research, and service. His research interests are in the areas of systems and control engineering.

Dr. Muhammad Zilany is an Assistant Professor at the College of Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He earned his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from McMaster University, Ontario, Canada, in 2007. He held academic positions at the University of Malaya, the University of Hail, and Texas A&M University at Qatar before joining the Electrical Engineering Program at HBKU in 2024.

His research focuses on auditory neuroscience, encompassing computational modeling, physiological recordings, and psychophysical studies of the auditory system. Dr. Zilany is currently a Chartered Engineer with the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) in the UK, and he is also a member of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology (ARO) and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE).

Dr. Peter Desmond is an Assistant Professor in the College of Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He holds a PhD in Environmental Engineering from ETH Zurich, where his research centered on water process engineering. In the College of Science and Engineering, he leads the environmental process engineering group within the sustainability division. His work is organized around three key research pillars: (i) Waste2Resource—Water reuse, Microbial Protein, and Bioplastic Production (ii) Seawater Desalination—Seawater pretreatment, Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO), Biofouling Management, and (iii) Water Distribution: Online water quality monitoring of potable and nonpotable water distribution. The central focus is reevaluating conventional microbial processes in water treatment and distribution systems under the region-specific conditions relevant to the State of Qatar. This is achieved by close alignment with local end-users e.g., Kahramaa, Acciona, and ConocoPhillips, as a knowledge enabler of Qatar's National Water Strategy (NWS) 2030.

Before joining HBKU in 2023, Dr. Desmond was a research group leader at RWTH-Aachen University, Germany, where he was the inaugural recipient of the Junior Principal Investigator Fellowship from RWTH-Aachen’s German University Excellence Initiative in 2021. His research profile is complimented by his industrial experience, as he served as Lead Process Development Engineer at MMS Membrane Systems, Switzerland.

Dr. Selma Awadallah is an Assistant Professor in the College of Science and Engineering of Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She has also worked as an Engineering Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University at Qatar. She received her BSc degree from the University of Khartoum in Sudan and her MSc and PhD degrees from The University of Manchester. After her PhD, she worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Manchester.

Dr. Awadallah has a diverse academic and industry background. Her professional journey includes roles such as Senior Power System Engineer at National Grid UK and Senior Engineer for Renewable Integration at Neom Energy and Water, Saudi Arabia. She is also an active member of the IEEE Power and Energy Society and has received multiple awards, including being a runner-up for National Grid Female Engineer of the Year in 2020. In addition to her academic and professional roles, she is dedicated to community outreach and is registered as a chartered engineer with the Engineering Council, United Kingdom.

Dr. Sarah Aqel is a Research Assistant at the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute of Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She earned her MBBS degree from Yarmouk University, Jordan. She has experience working as an Associate Public Health Physician at the CDC department of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) and as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Medical Research Center at Hamad Medical Corporation. During her time at these institutions, she contributed to various public health initiatives, medical research projects, and educational activities. Dr. Aqel has been involved in multiple research publications and actively participates in the peer-review process for scientific journals. She continues to contribute her expertise to the advancement of medical science.

Dr. Razik Bin Abdul Mu-u-min is a Research Associate at Qatar Biomedical Research Institute of Hamad Bin Khalifa University. He received his Master’s in Molecular Biomedicine from the University of Manchester. He joined the Qatar Cardiovascular Research Center in 2013 where he worked on developing an optical mapping system for measuring calcium transients and membrane voltage in stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. In 2015, he joined the University of Oxford to pursue his DPhil in the Department of Pharmacology. His research focused on the role of calcium mobilizing messengers in cardiac arrhythmia.

In 2021, Dr. Razik Bin Abdul Mu-u-min joined Qatar Biomedical Research Institute as a Research Associate in Dr. Heba H. Al-Siddiqi’s lab. His main research focuses on generating functional beta cells from human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell lines to study the role of mitochondria in beta cell differentiation. He also studies the role of the transcription factor MafB in the differentiation of stem cells into functional beta cells.

Shaikha Jamal Alnaimi is a PhD student in Computer Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). She holds an MSc in Cybersecurity (HBKU, 2024) and a BSc in Electrical Engineering (Qatar University, 2019). Alongside her studies, she works as an Electrical SCADA Engineer at Kahramaa, contributing to the operation and security of Qatar’s electricity infrastructure. Her research interests lie in cybersecurity, quantum technologies, and transforming imaginative ideas into real-world applications through research.