Geospatial Scientific Summit 2012

Dr. Mansoor is a Professor of computer engineering at the American university in Dubai. He is the director of the centre of the research and education in smart technologies (CREST) at the university. He has a Ph.D. in computer engineering from Aston University in 1990. He has an excellent experience in organizing international conferences and workshops.

Issam Attalah, is the Business Partner Executive at GISTEC. Issam holds a Master’s Degree in Information and Communication Sciences.

With strong background in education, training, corporate communications and events, Issam is leading the education program at GISTEC. He is looking after the implementation of GISTEC’s CSR program. Part of his current job assignments is to bridge between GIS industry and academia.

Michael Batty is Bartlett Professor of Planning at University College London where he is Chairman of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis (CASA). His most recent books are Cities and Complexity (MIT Press, 2007) for which he received the Alonso Prize of the Regional Science Association in 2011, Virtual Geographic Environments (edited with Hui Lin, ESRI Press, 2011), Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems (edited with A Heppenstall et al., Springer 2012). He is editor of the journal Environment and Planning B. He was elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 2001 and the Royal Society in 2009, and awarded a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 2004 for 'services to geography'.

Dr. Hosni Ghedira, Director of the Research Centre for Renewable Energy Mapping and Assessment has joined Masdar Institute in 2010 as Associate Professor of Water and Environmental Engineering. Holder of a Master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Sherbrooke (Canada), Dr. Ghedira earned his PhD in Water Sciences from the University of Quebec (Canada) in 2002.

Before joining Masdar Institute, Dr. Ghedira was with the American University in Dubai as Associate Professor of Civil Engineering. He also served as Senior Scientist at the Space Program of the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science & Technology (EIAST, Dubai Government). Before moving to the UAE, Dr Ghedira spent six years at the City University of New York as assistant professor and research associate professor. He also acted as director of the Environmental Remote Sensing and Image Processing Laboratory at the NOAA Cooperative Remote Sensing Science & Technology Center (NOAA-CREST) in New York for more than four years. Dr. Ghedira’s current research interests include: application of remote sensing in environmental monitoring; solar and wind potential mapping; water resources management in water-scarce regions; satellite image processing; and remote sensing algorithm development. Dr. Ghedira has authored and co-authored more than 60 publications in peer-reviewed journals and referred conference proceedings. He has also supervised four PhD theses and fifteen M.Sc. theses in the US and the UAE.

Prof. Josef Strobl is an academic teacher and researcher leading the Department of Geoinformatics, University of Salzburg, and serves as a full member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences. He holds degrees in Geography from Vienna University and has been teaching GIS and related subjects at various universities since 1985. Current research is focused on terrain modelling, GIS and RS methodology and applications, distributed GIS on the Internet and dynamic process modelling. As chair of the UNIGIS distance learning network, Professor Strobl is contributing to the education of future generations of GIS professionals.

Professor Masood Badri’s experience extends to more than 27 years in different sectors such as research, business administration and Applied Mechanics engineering. He is currently serving as the director of Research, Planning and Performance Management in Abu Dhabi Education Council, since 2009.

Dr. Masood Badri is one of the most distinguished professors as he was the first Emirati to be promoted to the title of Professor Dr. in 2000 at the college of Business and Economics in the UAEU where he works as a professor of production and operations management.

Professor Masood started his career life in the UAEU where he held many important positions such as the Assistant Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Assistant Dean of the college of Business and Economics for student affairs, and as an Acting Dean of the previous mentioned college. Other important positions held by Professor Masood, his position as the director of special projects in the General Secretariat of the Executive council of Abu Dhabi Government. In addition to his position as an advisor to the Secretary General's office.

Professor Masood is an Executive Board member in the Paris Sorbonne University- Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi Statistics Center and Abu Dhabi Food Security Committee.

Prof. Paul Longley (B.Sc., Ph.D., D.Sc., AcSS) is Professor of Geographic Information Science at University College London, UK. His publications include 14 books and more than 125 refereed journal articles and contributions to edited collections. He has held over 40 research grants and has supervised more than 35 Ph.D. students (most funded by research councils). He is a co-editor of the journal Environment and Planning B and a member of five other editorial boards. He has held ten externally-funded visiting appointments and given over 150 conference presentations and external seminars. He teaches Geographic Information Systems and Science and is a co-author of the best-selling book of that name.

Young-Ji Byon received his BASc (2003), MASc (2005) and PhD (2011) from the University of Toronto, Canada. Since January 2012, Young-Ji is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil Infrastructure and Environmental Engineering, Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KUSTAR), Abu Dhabi, UAE. In KUSTAR, He is teaching courses related to civil engineering. Young-Ji has worked as a lecturer at the University of Toronto, as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Chile and the University of Calgary.  He has multiple publications in the field of transportation engineering related to GIS, GPS, Data Fusion and Traffic Monitoring.

Hicham Elzabadani is now an Assistant professor of Computer Science at the American University in Dubai as well as Technology Solutions Consultant at UTCNEXIA, Dubai. Before coming to Dubai, he was the VP for Industry Solutions at Pervasa, Inc., Florida and one of its founders. He received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from the University of Florida. He was a member of the Pervasive Computing Lab at the University of Florida. His research interests include Smart Homes and Remote Monitoring and Intervention. Elzabadani received a Master’s of Science in Computer Science from the Lebanese American University. He is specialized in designing, creating, and installing smart technologies in homes and offices. As a member of the Pervasive Computing Laboratory at the University of Florida, Elzabadani worked on designing state of the art smart technologies that help senior people live independently.

Dr. Mohammad Ghanim (Ph.D., PE) is an Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering at the American University in Dubai. He holds both Ph.D. and M.Sc. degrees in Civil Engineering from Michigan State University and a B.Sc. degree in civil engineering from An-Najah National University, in Nablus, Palestine (2003). His area of expertise is in traffic engineering, with emphasis on traffic network modeling, traffic demand forecasting, and transportation planning.

Dr. Kianmehr's expertise is in water and environmental engineering, with emphasis on water & wastewater treatment and environmental chemistry. His research work involves physical, biochemical and biological characterization of waste activated sludge to identify pretreatment impacts. Prior to joining AUD, he worked with Environment Canada on the design, operation and evaluation of aerobic and anaerobic reactors as well as pretreatment (ozonation and sonication) reactors. Between 1999 and 2004, he directed various design, planning, and QC studies in the field of hydraulic engineering, and worked on major water transmission and supply projects, as well as earth dam construction and flood control projects.

Georg Gartner (born 1966) is a Professor for Cartography and Geo-Mediatechniques at the Research Group of Cartography at the Vienna University of Technology. He holds graduate qualifications in geography and cartography from the University of Vienna and the Vienna University of Technology. He is the president of the International Cartographic Association (ICA) and serves as a member of the Executive Board of the Austrian Geographic Society. At Vienna University of Technology he is dean for study affairs in geodesy and geoinformation.