Profiles

Rawan Alghamdi is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), working with Prof. Mohamed-Slim Alouini and Prof. Tareq Y. Al-Naffouri. Her research focuses on wireless system optimization and waveform design to develop affordable and reliable communication solutions to address global digital inequality. She has published in leading IEEE journals and conferences, including IEEE Transactions on Communications and IEEE Information Theory Magazine.  

Rawan has received multiple awards, including first place in the 2025 IEEE PIMRC Three-Minute Thesis competition, the IEEE SPS scholarship, and being a runner-up in the 2023 CST and IEEE Future Networks Initiative Competition. 

Rawan earned her Master of Science (M.Sc.) from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in 2022, and her Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in electrical and computer engineering from Effat University in 2020. 

In addition to her research, Rawan actively supports local talent and youth in science, engineering, and research. She is the co-chair of the IEEE Women in Engineering podcast. She has served as a teaching assistant for ten courses at KAUST, instructed over 300 undergraduate students in machine learning and deep learning, and tutored high-school research programs. Rawan leads an online community to empower local students to pursue research and graduate studies. 
 

Sahar Ammar is a Ph.D. candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). She holds an M.S. In Electrical and Computer Engineering from KAUST and a Diplôme d'ingénieur from École Polytechnique de Tunisie, and was a visiting researcher at Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF). She has contributed to several projects on intelligent and energy-efficient communication systems across maritime, aerial, and optical wireless networks.

Sahar research studies involve developing RL-based solutions for network optimization, mobility management, and resource orchestration in 5G/6G systems. Additionally, she has refined her expertise in optical wireless communication, gained through earlier work on Sun-Fi, a novel green solution for indoor environments based on sunlight modulation. She is also interested in interdisciplinary collaborations and excited by opportunities to tackle real-world challenges and advance global connectivity.

Yingquan Li is an M.S./Ph.D. candidate in the KAUST Communication Theory Lab under the supervision of Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini. Before joining KAUST, Yingquan earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

Yingquan's research interests include advanced signal detecting and processing, hardware implementation of key communication technology and underwater optical wireless communication. Li is focusing in the area of digital signal processing, wireless optical communication and circuit design.

Yongqiang Zhang received the B.Sc. degree in communication engineering from Southwest University, Chongqing, China, in 2019, and the M.S. degree in electrical and computer engineering from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, in 2021, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree. 

His main research interests include the performance analysis and optimization of the integrated access and backhaul (IAB) networks.

Zhengying Lou is a Ph.D. student at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. She received her B.S. degree in Communication Engineering from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in 2021. In 2022, she received her M.Sc. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from KAUST. Her current research interests include stochastic geometry and wireless networks.

Zhengying Lou's research interests include Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Optimization.