People

Fahim Al-Neshawy (Staff Scientist)

Degree: Ph.D. in Civil engineering

Specialty: Concrete structures, durability assessment, repair and maintenance of buildings, and non-destructive evaluation of concrete. His expertise also includes ICT, databases, and digital technologies for civil engineering, with applications in condition assessment and infrastructure management..

Background: Ph.D. in Engineering and Technology from Aalto University, Finland; Licentiate and M.Sc. degrees from Helsinki University of Technology, Finland. He is currently a Staff Scientist in the Department of Civil Engineering and the Mineral Based Materials and Mechanics research group at Aalto University. His research includes concrete durability, structural condition assessment, non-destructive testing, and AI-supported assessment of concrete structures. 

Email:  fahim.al-neshawy@aalto.fi

Mostafa Yossef (PostDoc Fellow)

Degree: Ph.D. in Structural engineering

Specialty: Structural engineering and computational mechanics, with expertise in concrete and steel structures, fiber-reinforced composites (FRP), finite element modeling, and energy-efficient structures. His research also integrates advanced materials, thermoelectric technologies, and artificial intelligence for sustainable and smart structural systems.

Background: Ph.D. in Structural Engineering from Iowa State University, USA, and M.Sc. in Structural Engineering from Ain Shams University, Egypt. He has worked at Aalto University as a postdoctoral researcher and led a Research Council of Finland project on 3D-printed structural thermoelectric generators for sustainable and energy-efficient structures. He is also affiliated with the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT), Egypt  

Email:  mostafa.yossef@aalto.fi 

Ahsan Iqbal

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Durability analysis of low-carbon concretes with SCMs against carbonation and freezing and thawing, cement chemistry, pore structure analysis at micro and nano scale using non-destructive methods.

Background: M.Sc. in Building Technology from Aalto University, Finland. B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from UET Peshawar, Pakistan. 

Email:  ahsan.iqbal@aalto.fi

Omar Al-Shawwa 

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Researching S700 high strength steel K-joint behavior including resistance capacity and failure mechanisms using destructive experiments and finite element simulations, in addition to the impact  of HAZ (the heat affected zone) and residual stresses within welds on numerical simulations.

Background: Scientist for SSAB, manager and consultant in the construction industry.  

Email: omar.alshawwa@aalto.fi

Md Ahsanul Hoque

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Agentic AI and agent workflows, AI-assisted software engineering, trustworthy and verifiable AI systems, cloud computing, and software architecture.

Background: Software engineer with over ten years of industry experience across Finland and Bangladesh. Currently at Oriola, working on AI-driven software development, agentic AI integration and cloud-native architecture on AWS. Holds a Master's in Information Technology from Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, with a thesis on AI-driven web application development without human coding. 

Email: mdahsanul.hoque@aalto.fi 

Amjad Shakhshir

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Trustworthy and Explainable Agentic AI, Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), causal and counterfactual AI, and AI-enabled engineering workflows. His research focuses on understanding and optimizing agentic AI architectures to improve their reliability, explainability, and predictability in complex engineering applications..

Background: M.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Debrecen, Hungary, specializing in cryptography, and B.Sc. in Computer Information Systems from An-Najah National University, Palestine. He has software engineering experience in Finland, with expertise in modern AI and web technologies. His PhD research focuses on trustworthy and explainable Agentic AI for engineering workflows, including RAG, causal and counterfactual analysis, and architecture optimization.

Email: amjad.shakhshir@aalto.fi

Hosai Saifi 

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Integrating Digital Twins and Generative AI for Structural Modelling and Simulation in Smart Cities.

Background: M.Sc.: Aalto University, Finland, Senior Engineer until 31.5.2025 at EirEng and from 1.6.2025 Expert at A-Insinöörit. 

Email:  hosai.1.saifi@aalto.fii 

Moataz Mahmoud 

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Structural & Computational Mechanics with expertise in RC and FRP composite structures.  Integrating Digital Twins and AI in Structural Health Monitoring and Smart Predictive Maintenance.

Background: Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Sherbrooke University, Canada; M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from Ain Shams University, Egypt. Experience includes serving as a Research Assistant at Sherbrooke University  and currently Project Specialist at Aalto Start-up Center, Finland.  

Email:  Moataz.mahmoud@aalto.fi 

Youssef Hosni 

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: LLM applications in engineering using Agentic AI architectures for Digital Twins of smart city.

Background: Senior data scientist at Ment focusing on building Generative AI features for Ment Products. 

Email: youssef.hosni@aalto.fi 

Masoud Amininiaki 

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Agent-based DRL, Structural Optimization, SHM, Digital Twin, FEA Integration, Offshore Wind Turbines, Seismic Design, AI-driven Life-cycle Management.

Background: M.Sc. in Structural Engineering (Offshore), University of Tabriz.

B.Sc. in Computer Applications, HAMK University

Email: masoud.amininiaki@aalto.fi

Mohamed Ashraf

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Smart Seismic Design: AI-Driven Resilience and Performance Assessment of Tall Buildings.

Background: M.Sc. in Structural Engineering (The British University in Dubai, UAE), a PGDip in Structural Engineering (University of Birmingham, UK), and a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering (Higher Institute of Engineering and Technology – Egypt).
Lead Structural Engineer at IRTH Group Development, Dubai (UAE), with +12 years of professional experience in structural design, seismic analysis, and value engineering for high-rise and mixed-use developments.

Email: mohamedashraf.mohamed@aalto.fi

Muhammad Al Aswad

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Agentic AI-Driven Digital Twin Ecosystems for Smart Cities 

and Industry 5.0: Leveraging 6G, Blockchain, and LLMs.

Background: Lecturer at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences (Electric Engineering). 

Email: muhammad.alaswad@aalto.fi

Zahid Rubel

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: AI-Driven Predictive Maintenance in Digital Twin-BIM Integration Using Hybrid Sensing Techniques.

Background: Senior Lecturer, Department of Construction and Civil Engineering, Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), Finland.  M.Sc. (Technology) in Building Technology, Aalto University, Finland. B.Sc. (Engineering) in Construction Engineering, Häme University of Applied Sciences (HAMK), Finland. 

Email: zahid.rubel@aalto.fi 

Omar Ahmed

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Augmented Reality, Cloud computing, Computer vision, Deep learning applications for BIM-based smart predictive maintenance of structures.

Background: M.Sc.: Metropolia University, Finland, Software Developer at Oriola. 10+ years of experience in web development | NLP | CV | AWS solutions architect associate certified. 

Email: omarhassanmohamed.ahmed@aalto.fi 

Khuram Shabir

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Computer Vision, Deep learning, Signal processing, Structural health monitoring using NeRF (Neural Radiance Fields) technology to create high-quality 3D models of structures.

Background: M.Sc. from Turkey.

Email: khurram.shabbir@aalto.fi 

Abobaker Ba Ragaa 

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Deep learning applications in Concrete Technology using Bayesian neural network (BNN) and Generative adversarial neural network (GAN).

Background: M.Sc. in concrete technology from Aalto University.

Email: abobaker.baragaa@aalto.fi 

Nadeem Iqbal

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)-Machine learning, Large Language Models (LLM) for Life cycle assessment (LCA) of structures.

Background: (M.Sc) from : National University of Science and Technology (NUST, Islamabad)

Email: nadeem.iqbal@aalto.fi

Masoum Gharagoz

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Machine learning techniques - Deep learning for structural materials - Seismic and resilient design of structures using soft computing techniques.

Background: M.Sc.: Urmia University, West Azerbaijan,

Email: masoum.1.gharagoz@aalto.fi

Nasreldin Soliman

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Digital Twin applications in structural Engineering using machine learning and Generative AI techniques.

Background: M.Sc.: Aalto University, Finland, Senior Engineer at AFRY & Neste.

Email: nasreldin.soliman@aalto.fi

Kane Borg 

Degree: Ph.D.

Specialty: Design thinking, computational design and automation of design effort. Since 2021 he cofounded BorgMarkkula Oy which has gone on to deliver multidisciplinary projects in architectural, urban design, proptech, industrial and automotive industries.

Background: Graduated from the University of Malta as an Architect and Civil Engineer.

Email: kane.borg@aalto.fi