Keynote Speakers

 Keynote: Athina Vakali, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
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Athena Vakali is a Professor at the School of Informatics, Aristotle University, Greece, where she leads the Laboratory on Data and Web science (Datalab https://datalab.csd.auth.gr/). She holds a PhD degree in Informatics (Aristotle University), a MSc degree in Computer Science (Purdue University, USA), and a BSc degree in Mathematics. Her current research interests include Data Science topics with emphasis on big data exploration, mining and analytics and online social networks mining. Prof. Vakali has published over than 180 papers in refereed journals and Conferences (her publications received over 9500 citations with h-index=41 according to gscholar). She is the Co-EiC of “Web Intelligence” WIC journal and she is at the editorial board of "Computers & Electrical Engineering" Journal, and ICST Transactions on Social Informatics. She has coordinated and participated in more than 30 research projects in EU FP7, H2020, international and national projects. She has served as a member in the EU Steering Committee for the EU Future Internet Assembly and she has been appointed as Director of the Graduate Program in Informatics, Aristotle University (2014-15). She has co-chaired major Conferences Program Committees such as : PC co-chair at the ACM/IEEE Web Intelligence Conference 2019, the EU Network of Excellence 2nd Internet Science Conference (EINS 2015), 15th Web Information Systems Engineering (WISE 2014),etc.
Website: https://datalab.csd.auth.gr/avakali/

Keynote: Manish Parashar, University of Utah, USA
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Manish Parashar recently joined The University of Utah as Director and Chair in Computational Science and Engineering at the Scientific Computing and Imaging (SCI) Institute and Professor at the School of Computing.
Manish is currently serving on an IPA to the US National Science Foundation (NSF) since February 2018 where he is the Office Director of the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure (OAC). At NSF he oversees investments in the exploration development, acquisition and provisioning of state-of-the-art national cyberinfrastructure resources, tools, services and expertise essential to the advancement and transformation of all of science and engineering. He is also leading the development of NSF’s strategic vision for a National Cyberinfrastructure Ecosystem for 21st Century Science and Engineering that responds to rapidly changing application and technology landscapes, as well as blueprints for NSF’s key cyberinfrastructure investments over the next decade.

Manish is co-chair, in coordination with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Task Force, the National Science and Technology Council (NSTC) Subcommittee on the Future Advanced Computing Ecosystem (FACE) and is part of the leadership of the COVID 19 High-Performance Computing Consortium, a unique public-private partnership that brings together government, industry, and academic leaders to provide computing resources in support of COVID-19 research. As Co-Chair of FACE, Manish led the development of the Blueprint for a National Strategic Computing Reserve (NSCR).

 
 Keynote: Hoda A. Alkhzaimi, New York University Abu Dhabi

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Hoda A. Alkhzaimi is currently the Director of Center of Cyber Security in New York University AD and a research assistant professor in New York University. She served in different posts for research and development in the Technology development sector for the past years, she also played a vital role in developing Cyber Security and Cryptology research and development ecosystems. She headed the Department of Research and Development for Cyber Security and Cryptology in different national initiatives in the United Arab Emirates along with her associations to different security initiatives nationally and internationally. She consults for special projects with national and international technology development initiatives.
Alkhzaimi has specific expertise in cryptology; cryptanalysis, constructing and validating security hardware and software components, constructing trusted security architectures for different environments in different products for the respective industries. Hoda. Alkhzaimi obtained her Ph.D. in Cryptanalysis from Denmark Technical University. Her current research interests include Space, Aerospace, and UAV and autonomous systems security, constructing and analyzing cryptographic primitives, validating and investigating links between different cryptanalytic approaches and utilizing cryptographic primitives in different cybersecurity architectures as in Internet of Things and big data analysis among others. Her research includes analysis of the effect of AI and machine learning techniques on improving security analytics. She is as well leading several AI based initiatives globally.
Dr. Alkhzaimi is the president of Emirates Digital Association for Women, a non-for-profit organization endorsed by the ministry of social affairs in the UAE.This association supports national and international initiatives that aim to empower sustainable economic investments and development for diverse communities with specific focus on inclusivity initiatives. This includes, yet not limited to, establishing, and creating ecosystems that support sustainable business development in the UAE and the international scene which supports economic indigenous growth of local economies. In tandem, she is the Ambassador and the Chief Executive Officer for Women in Artificial Intelligence international community that aims to improve the scientific and professional positioning of AI for social impact and women’s contributions within the field, especially in the MENA region. She led the Women in Engineering Chapter in Abu Dhabi and the UAE lead for INWES MENA which is the global network for organizations of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Along with her initial Masters in science in Mathematics, Cryptology and Coding theory from INPG, she has a Masters degree from London Business School in Business management with a focus on finance and investments as well as a masters of international business law from Sorbonne University with a focus on building sustainable economic ecosystems and investments for valuable technological and industrial impacts. She is currently establishing an investment fund with a focus on industrial developments for global SDG impact with multiple local and international financial and industrial partners.Hoda is an advisor on the knowledge cluster on emerging economies and technologies for the World Economic Forum on its different tasks force on global future councils and on the global center for the forth industerial revolution.

 
Keynote: Fakhri Karray, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, University of Waterloo
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Fakhreddine Karray received an Ing. Dip degree in electrical engineering from the University of Tunis, Tunisia, and a PhD degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, USA. He is a Professor of Machine Learning and Provost at the Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), a graduate-level, research-based artificial intelligence (AI) university, in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Fakhri is the founding co-director of the University of Waterloo AI Institute and is the Loblaws Research Chair in Artificial Intelligence in the department of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada. Fakhri’s research interests are in the areas of operational AI, cognitive machines, natural human-machine interaction, and autonomous and intelligent systems. Applications of his research include virtual care systems, cognitive and self-aware machines/robots/vehicles, predictive analytics in supply chain management, and intelligent transportation systems. Recent work of Fakhri and his research team on deep learning-based driver behavior recognition and prediction has been featured in The Washington Post, Wired Magazine, Globe and Mail, CBC radio, and Canada's Discovery Channel. He was honored in 2021 by the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS) receiving the IEE EVTS Best Land Transportation Paper Award for his pioneering work on improving traffic flow prediction with weather Information in connected cars using deep learning and AI. His recent work on federated learning in communication systems earned him and his
co-authors, the 2022 IEEE Communication Society’s MeditCom Conference Best Paper Award. Professor Fakhri is the co-founder and Chief Scientist of Yourika.ai, a provider of AI-based online learning systems. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and the President of the Association for Image and Machine Intelligence. He served as a Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE and is a Fellow of the Kavli Frontiers of Science.