Prof. Mohamed-Slim Alouini is a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Affiliate Professor of Applied Mathematics and Computational Science (AMCS), Affiliate Professor of Statistics (STAT), and Principal Investigator of the Communication Theory Lab (CTL) of the King Abdullah University of Sciences and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Makkah Province, Saudi Arabia. He is one of the Founders of the ECE Program at KAUST and is now leading the Communication Theory Lab (CTL). He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, California, United States of America, in 1998. Professor Alouini's general research interests include design and performance analysis of diversity combining techniques, MIMO techniques, multi-hop/cooperative communications systems, optical wireless communication systems, cognitive radio systems, green communication systems and networks, and integrated ground-airborne-space networks. He is currently actively working on addressing the uneven global distribution, access to, and use of information and communication technologies by studying and developing new generations of aerial and space networks as a solution to provide connectivity to far-flung, less-populated, and/or hard-to-reach areas. He has published several conference and journal papers in his area of expertise and he is the co-author of the textbook Digital Communication over Fading Channels published by Wiley Interscience. He was an editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communication, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, and Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing Journal, and series editor for the IEEE Communication Magazine (Optical Communications and Networks Special Series). He has been also the founding field chief editor for the Frontiers in Communications and Networks journal since 2020. He is the recipient of several international award and honors such as 2022 Fellow of The World Academy of Science (TWAS), 2021 IEEE Communication Society Education Award, 2020 IEEE Vehicular Technology Society James Evans Avant Garde Award, 2009 Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), 1999 US National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award, 1999 Charles Wilts Prize for outstanding independent research leading to a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering at Caltech to name a few.

Dr. Andrea Conti is with the Department of Engineering and CNIT, University of Ferrara, Italy. His current research topics include network localization and navigation, distributed sensing, adaptive diversity communications, and quantum information science. Andrea Conti received the Laurea degree (summa cum laude) in telecommunications engineering and the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering and computer science from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 1997 and 2001, respectively. Dr. Andrea Conti received the Laurea (summa cum laude) in telecommunications engineering and the Ph.D. in electronic engineering and computer science from the University of Bologna, Italy, in 1997 and 2001, respectively.

He is an associate professor at the University of Ferrara, Italy. Prior to joining the University of Ferrara, he was with the Consorzio Nazionale Interuniversitario per le Telecomunicazioni and with the Istituto di Elettronica e di Ingegneria dell’Informazione e delle Telecomunicazioni, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche. In Summer 2001, he was with the Wireless Systems Research Department at AT&T Research Laboratories. Since 2003, he has been a frequent visitor to the Wireless Communication and Network Sciences Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he presently holds the Research Affiliate appointment. He is a coauthor of Wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks: Enabling Technologies, Information Processing and Protocol Design (Elsevier, 2008). His research interests involve theory and experimentation of wireless systems and networks including network localization, adaptive diversity communications, cooperative relaying techniques, and network secrecy. He is recipient of the HTE Puska ́s Tivadar Medal and co-recipient of the IEEE Communications Society’s Stephen O. Rice Prize and the IEEE Communications Society’s Fred W. Ellersick Prize.

Dr. Conti served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, as an Editor for IEEE Communications Letters, as an Editor for the IEEE Wireless Communications Letters, and as a Guest-Editor for the EURASIP Journal on Advances in Signal Processing (Special Issue on Wireless Cooperative Networks, 2008). He organized and chaired a number of IEEE conferences. He was elected Chair of the IEEE Communications Society’s Radio Communications Technical Committee. He is an elected Fellow of the IET and has been selected as an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer.

Dr. Muhammad Zeeshan Shakir is Reader (Associate Professor) at Artificial Intelligence, Visual Communications and Network (AVCN) research centre, University of the West of Scotland (UWS), UK, received over £3M research funding from bodies such as Innovate UK through KTP programme, Scottish Government, Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) of Qatar, ERASMUS+ programme and UK industries in the areas of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). He has particular interest in wireless technologies and application of tools such as Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning to support global connectivity around the world and related emerging applications. He has been actively involved in industry collaborative research projects with national innovation centers and has contributed to European project SELFNET and IEEE 4G/5G Standardisation. Previously, he has worked as PI/Co-PI on several commercial and non-commercial high impact research projects funded by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada and Global Research Fund of KAUST. With over 15 years of research expertise in design and development of wireless communication systems, he has published over 150 research articles including 50+ peer-reviewed top-tier journal articles; 70+ conference articles, and 10 books. He is a recipient of IEEE Communications Society Fred W. Ellersick Award 2021, IEEE Communications Society and China Institute of Communications Best Journal Article Award 2019 and UWS STARS Award 2020 & 2018 (Staff Appreciation and Recognition Scheme) for outstanding research and enterprise performance. He is serving as a Chair of IEEE ComSoc emerging technologies initiative on backhaul/fronthaul communications and networking. He has been serving as an active member to several IEEE ComSoc technical committees. From January 2012 to January 2016, he has served as an elected Secretary to the IEEE DySPAN 1900.7 standard working group. He is full member of EPSRC Peer Review College. He is a Senior Member of IEEE, an active member of IEEE ComSoc and IEEE Standard Association. He is a Fellow of Higher Education Academy, UK and member of International Association of Smart Learning Environments (IASLE). Recently, he has been selected (through a competitive process) by the Scottish Parliament as a Member Scottish Parliament Framework Agreement Covid-19 Pandemic to provide expert advice on the impact of Covid-19 on digital infrastructure, energy, education and healthcare.

Prof. Atiqur Rahman is a Professor of Urban Environmental Management Remote Sensing and GIS, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, India. His research interest is on urban environmental management, water resources, Geomatics engineering, and Machine learning technique and data science. He worked as a Post Doctoral Fellow (PDF) at UFZ-Centre for Environmental Research, Leipzig, Germany (1999). He was Co-PI of Indo-Germany DST-DAAD major project (2000-2002). He worked as one a member of Scientific Research Team of NASA funded UEM project on Urban Ecology and Sustainability (2004-2007). He was a collaborating Scientist of NASA funded major project on Impacts of Desert Urbanization on Climate using Remote Sensing and Numerical Modeling (2012-2015). He served as a Steering Committee (SC) Member (2009-2012) of Population and Environment Research Network (PERN) based at CISIN, Columbia University USA. He is the Advisor-Technical cum Consultant on Remote Sensing & GIS for the project (2013-18) on ‘The effects of Built environment on Physical activity and CMD Disease risk factors (PHFI & AIIMS, and Emory University, USA project). Prof. Rahman served Jamia Millia Islamia was Hony. Dy. Director, (Academic) Jamia Millia Islamia, (2015-2018).

His primary research interests are harnessing the potential of spatially explicit machine learning algorithms applied to geoscience information and remote sensing through innovative research that showcases the latest advancements in different fields (land use and land cover mapping and forecasting, natural hazards prediction, climate change, forest and wetland degradation, urban environmental problems). He has published 10 books and more than 128 peer reviewed research papers in various national and international journals. He has widely traveled to various countries in Europe, Africa and USA to attend scientific committee meetings and conferences. Prof. Rahman is one of the 13 Scientists from Jamia Millia Islamia amongst the top 2% Global Elite Scientists. Prof. Rahman ranked 1219 in India in the field of Geological & Geomatics Engineering.

Keynote title: Artificial Intelligence Applications in Multiphase Reactors: Recent Advances

Prof. Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan is a professor in the Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Department, Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Senior Investigator in the Environmental Research Center at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), Rolla, Missouri (formerly, University of Missouri – Rolla, UMR). Dr. Al-Dahhan was Department Chair of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering from 2009 to August 2020. He was a member of the Washington University faculty, professor of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, from 1994 until he moved to Missouri S&T on January 1, 2009. Dr. Al-Dahhan also served as co-director of the Chemical Reaction Engineering Laboratory, an industry sponsored consortium related to energy and chemicals. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed articles and given 52 plenary and keynote lectures, 155 invited talks, and 495 conference presentations. He has served as a consultant and expert for various domestic and international organizations. Al-Dahhan received a BS with honors from the Univ. of Baghdad, Iraq, an MS from Oregon State Univ., and a DSc from Washington Univ. in St. Louis, all in chemical engineering. Dr. Muthanna H. Al-Dahhan research activities are related to 1) advancing the knowledge and understanding of multiphase reaction engineering, reactors and processes via advanced measurement and computational techniques; 2) modeling of transport – kinetic interactions; 3) energy efficient and environmentally responsible design, scale-up and performance of multiphase flow systems; 4) development of advanced measurement techniques including radiometric techniques; 5) application of radioisotopes and nuclear technology in industrial process imaging and visualization; and 6) advancing and investigating various multiphase processes related to sustainable energy and environment, production of clean energy, bio-energy, fuels, chemicals, petrochemical, petroleum, biomass and coal conversion and clean utilization, wastes treatment, animal and farm wastes treatment via anaerobic digestion, environmentally responsible and risk free proliferation nuclear energy, etc.

Keynote Title: New Directions for Artificial Intelligence in Chemical Engineering

Prof. Venkat Venkatasubramanian is Samuel Ruben-Peter G. Viele Professor of Engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering, Professor of Computer Science (Affiliate), and Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (Affiliate) at Columbia University. He earned his Ph.D in Chemical Engineering at Cornell, M.S. in Physics at Vanderbilt, and B. Tech. in Chemical Engineering at the University of Madras, India. He taught at Purdue University for 23 years, before returning to Columbia in 2011. Venkat is a complex-dynamical-systems theorist interested in developing mathematical models of their structure, function, and behavior from fundamental conceptual principles. His natural tendency is to conduct curiosity-driven research in a style that might be considered impressionistic, emphasizing conceptual issues over mere techniques. He strives to create a simplified but essentially correct model of the reality that he studies. Venkat's research interests are diverse, ranging from AI to systems engineering to theoretical physics to economics, but they are generally focused on the theme of understanding complexity and emergent behavior in different domains.

Venkat received the Norris Shreve Award for Outstanding Teaching in Chemical Engineering three times at Purdue University. He won the Computing in Chemical Engineering Award from AIChE and is a Fellow of AIChE. In 2011, the College of Engineering at Purdue University recognized his contributions with the Research Excellence Award. He is a past-President of the CACHE Corporation. He currently serves as an Editor for Computers and Chemical Engineering. His new book, How Much Inequality is Fair? Mathematical Principles of a Moral, Optimal, and Stable Capitalist Society, was published in 2017. Venkat’s other interests include comparative theology, classical music, and cricket.