Shadi Alawneh, Ph.D., SMIEEE

Short Biography

Dr. Shadi Alawneh received the BEng degree in computer engineering from the Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan in 2008, the MEng and PhD degrees in computer engineering from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, NL, Canada, in 2010 and 2014, respectively. During his PhD, he was a member of the Sustainable Technology for Polar Ships and Structures (STePS2) Research Group. His PhD thesis title is Hyper-Real-Time Ice Simulation and Modeling Using GPGPU. His thesis presents an efficient parallel implementation of ice simulator developed using the NVIDIA Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA). This simulator can be used to give users the ability to analyze ice-interactions for design, assessment and training purposes. His thesis also describes the execution of experiments to evaluate the performance of the simulator and to validate the numerical modeling of ship operations in pack ice. It also describes the useful applications that have been done using this simulator in planning ice management activities. Then, he joined the Hardware Acceleration Lab at IBM Canada as a staff software developer from May 2014 through August 2014. After that, he joined C-CORE as a research engineer from 2014 until 2016 and became cross-appointed professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Memorial University of Newfoundland in 2016. Dr. Alawneh is currently an associate professor in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Oakland University. Dr. Alawneh is also a registered member of the professional engineers and geoscientist (P. Eng) of Newfoundland and Labrador. Dr. Alawneh has authored or co-authored scientific publications (including international peer-reviewed journals, conferences).

Honors and Awards

• Oakland University: School of Engineering and Computer Science, Outstanding Teaching Award, 2021
• IEEE Senior Member, 2019
• Memorial University of Newfoundland: Fellow of the School of Graduate Studies, The title of Fellow of the School of Graduate Studies is awarded in recognition of outstanding academic achievement throughout a graduate program, 2014
• Memorial University of Newfoundland: Outstanding Teaching Assistant, In recognition of nomination as Outstanding Teaching Assistant, 2014
• IEEE Newfoundland and Labrador Section: Oceanic Engineering Society Award in the Twentieth Annual Newfoundland Electrical and Computer Engineering Conference, 2011
• Memorial University of Newfoundland: full scholarship to pursue the PHD degree in Computer Engineering, 2010
• IEEE Newfoundland and Labrador Section: Wally Read best student paper award in the Eighteenth Annual Newfoundland Electrical and Computer Engineering Conference, 2010
• Memorial University of Newfoundland: full scholarship to pursue the M.Eng degree in Computer Engineering, 2008
• Memorial University of Newfoundland: Merit Award, 2008
• Jordan University of Science and Technology: graduated the Fifth among 100 students in the same batch in computer engineering department, 2008
• Jordan University of Science and Technology: listed several times on the Collage Engineering Dean's honor list, 2003-2008

Professional Experience

Full Time Positions

• Assistant Professor (August, 2016-present), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Oakland University, Rochester Hills, MI, USA
• Adjunct-Appointed Professor (January, 2017-present), Department of Computer Science, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
• Adjunct-Appointed Professor (March, 2016-March, 2019), Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
• Research Engineer (August, 2014-August, 2016), Ice Engineering, C-CORE, St. John's, NL, Canada
• Staff Software Developer (May, 2014-August, 2014), SWG Hardware Acceleration Lab, IBM Canada, Markham, ON, Canada

Part Time Project Occupations While in Graduate School

• Software Developer (September, 2013-December, 2013), Canatec Associates International Ltd, Calgary, AB, Canada
• Programmer Analyst (May, 2010-August, 2010), Sustainable Technology for Polar Ships and Structures (STePS2) Research Group, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
• Computer Engineering Research Lab Manager (February, 2008-May, 2010), Electrical and Engineering Department, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
• Web Developer (October, 2009-February, 2010), Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
• PHP Programmer (October, 2008-December, 2008), Bluedrop Performance Learning Company, St. John's, NL, Canada

Required Bachelor Degree Training

• Embedded Systems Software Developer (September, 2007-December, 2007), Jockey Electronics Company, Irbid, Jordan

Academic Experience

• Graduate Student (September, 2008-May, 2014), Includes Masters and PHD level coursework and research in computer engineering, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's, NL, Canada
• Undergraduate Student (September, 2003-February, 2008), Includes Bachelor Degree coursework in computer engineering, Jordan University of Science and Technology, Irbid, Jordan

Research Grants

• GPU-Based Artificial Intelligence System for Lane Tracking in Self-Driving Cars (2021): $10K, Primary Applicant, URC Faculty Research Fellowship, Oakland University
• GPU Accelerated Gabor Transform for SAR Image Compression (2020): $10K, Primary Applicant, Research Seed Grant, Michigan Space Grant Consortium
• GPU Accelerated Model Predictive Control for Autonomous Car Robot Navigation (2019): $10K, Primary Applicant, URC Faculty Research Fellowship, Oakland University
• Applied Research Experience in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ApREECE) (2018-2020): $358,000, Senior Personnel, National Science Foundation (NSF)
• Exploring GPU Computing for Optical Flow Estimation in Embedded Systems (2017): $10K, Primary Applicant, URC Faculty Research Fellowship, Oakland University
• Development of Sea Ice Applications using GPGPU (2015-2017): $100K, Primary Applicant on an IgniteR&D program from the Research & Development Corporation Newfoundland & Labrador

Service

University

• University Committee on Undergraduate Instruction (2017-2020)
• ECE Departmental Graduate Affairs Committee (2017-2018), (2019-2020), (2020-2021)
• ECE Departmental Undergraduate Affairs Committee (2016-2017), (2018-2019)

NSF Panelist

Journal Associate Editor

• IEEE Access
• Cluster Computing

Journal Editorial Member

• American Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
• International Journal of Research Innovations in Computer Science

Conference Program Committee Member

• The International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (SEKE 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014)
• The 2nd iCatse International Symposium on Software Networking (ICSN 2017)
• The 2nd Annual International Workshop on Wireless Communication and Network (IWWCN2016)

Peer-Reviewer

• IEEE Access
• Cluster Computing
• IEEE Sensors
• The Canadian Journal of Remote Sensing
• Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing
• IEEE Transactions on Computers
• International Journal of Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering (IJSEKE)
• The Journal of Computing

Conference Session Chair

• EIT 2018
• HPCC 2012

Volunteering

• Conference Volunteer in 22nd Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE09)
• Conference Volunteer in Canadian Association of College and University Student Services (CACUSS/ASEUCC 2008)