Profiles

Boon S. Ooi (FNAI, FIEEE, FAPS, FOSA, FSPIE, FInstP) is a Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at KAUST. He previously held faculty positions at Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) from 1996 to 2000 and Lehigh University (Pennsylvania, USA) from 2003 to 2009. From 2012 to 2020, he served as the Director of the KACST-Technology Innovation Center at KAUST.

Professor Ooi has trained more than 40 Ph.D. students and 17 postdoctoral fellows, many of whom have secured prestigious fellowships and awards from organizations like the UK Royal Academy, Marie Curie, Humboldt, IEEE, OSA, and SPIE. He holds 45 issued US patents and 21 international patents, many of which have been licensed to leading optics and photonics companies, driving commercialization success.

He has received numerous accolades, including the 2024 Sang Soo Lee Award (Optica/OSA and OSK), the 2023 Khalifa International Award (UAE), and multiple paper awards. Professor Ooi is currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Photonics Technology Letters and has previously held editorial roles with Optics Express and IEEE Photonics Journal.

Beyond his academic achievements, Professor Ooi is actively engaged in professional service, having served on key committees such as the IEEE Fellow Committee and the SPIE Fellow Selection Committee. He chaired the IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecture Selection Committee in 2024.

Professor Ooi’s research focuses on high-speed optoelectronics, optical wireless communications, and distributed fiber optic sensors.

ISLAM ASHRY received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt, in 2003 and 2007, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA, USA, in 2012. He is currently a Senior Research Scientist with the Photonics Laboratory, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. His research interests include optical sensors, fiber-optic sensors, optical communication, machine learning. He is a Senior Member of the National Academy if Inventors (NAI), a Senior Member of IEEE, a Senior Member of IEEE Photonics Society, and a member of SPIE.

Optical sensors; Fiber-optic sensors; Optical communication; Machine learning 

Tien Khee Ng (Fellow of IET and InstP) is a principal research scientist and a laboratory-operation-manager of the Photonics Laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia. He co-established the Photonics Laboratory (2009-) and KACST Technology Innovation Center on Solid-State Lighting at KAUST (2013-2021), and currently focuses on molecular-beam-epitaxy-grown group-III-oxides photonics/electronics and quantum-devices. He was a research fellow and a member-of-technical-staff at Nanyang Technological University and Tinggi Technologies (Singapore), respectively, developing group-III-arsenide, -phosphide, -antimonide and - nitride semiconductor nanostructures and optoelectronic devices. He was an associate editor of digital Encyclopedia of Applied Physics (July 2018–June 2023).

Semiconductor photonics, Multistack membrane semiconductor; Quantum photonic integrated circuits; Optoelectronic devices for optical wireless communication

Postdoctoral research fellow at Photonics Laboratory in the Division of Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences & Engineering (CEMSE) at King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST).

Wahyu Hendra Gunawan currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at Photonics Laboratory in the Division of Computer Electrical and Mathematical Sciences & Engineering (CEMSE) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He earned his B.S. and M.S in Physics at Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Indonesia, in 2012 and 2014, respectively. In December 2022, he earned his P.hD. from Department of Photonics at National Yang-Ming Chiao-Tung University (NYCU), Taiwan, with research focus on Enabling Techniques for Optical Wireless Communication and Optical Fiber Communication Systems. He has over 15 authored/co-authored publication in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He also serving the scientific community as reviewers for several international journals, such as: Drones, Applied Sciences, Sensors, IEEE System Journal, IEEE Access and Photonics.

Optical Systems and Communications, Wireless Optical Sensing

Abdullah Alquwayzani is a Ph.D. student at the Photonics Lab in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST.) He received his M.S. degree from KAUST in 2022 with a thesis in characterizing the power consumption of a flexible system-on-chip. He recieved his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University in 2020.

Optoelectronics

Fares Banjar is an M.S./Ph.D. student at Photonics Laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He obtained a B.S. of science degree in Electrical Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in 2021. He also worked in the industry in Saudi Aramco until 2023 as an Electrical Engineer.

Optical Fiber Communication Systems, Optical Wireless Communication Systems

Hang Lu is a M.S./Ph.D. student at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST).
She obtained bachelor degree of Electronic Engineering from University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in 2021.
She took part in the Visiting Student Research Program (VSRP) at KAUST during 2020/11-2021/02.

Professional Profile

●       03/2023 - 09/2023, Research Intern, Stellantis & IMT Atlantique

●       05/2022-09/2022, R&D Intern, Invisensing

●       06/2021-08/2021, Research Intern, Institut Photovoltaïque d’Île-de-France

Education

● 01/2024 – Present, Ph.D. student in Photonics Lab, CEMSE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

● 09/2022 – 12/2023, Second Master’s degree in Optical Networks and Photonics Systems, Université Paris-Saclay & Institut Polytechnique de Paris, Palaiseau, France.

●09/2020 – 12/2023, Engineering degree of Theoretical and Applied Optics, Institut d'Optique Graduate School - Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France.

●09/2017 – 06/2021, Bachelor of Science and Engineering in Photoelectric Information Science, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

• Fiber Optic Sensing
• Optoeletronics
• Photonics

Heming Lin is an M.S./Ph.D student at Photonics Laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He obtained the degree of Bachelor of Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering from Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in 2023.

Photonics and optoelectronics; Meta-materials

Ibrahim Alsayoud is an M.S./Ph.D. student at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He obtained the degree of Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in 2021.

Photonics and optoelectronics, Fiber-optic sensors

Jiahao Wei is a M.S./Ph.D. student at the Photonics Laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He obtained his Bachelor of Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering from Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in 2024. During his undergraduate studies, he primarily researched quantum dot light-emitting diodes (QLEDs). From Sept. to Dec. 2024, he conducted academic visiting at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou).

Photonics, Optoelectronics

Juan M. Marin is a Doctoral Candidate in Electrical Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the National University of Colombia in 2021. He is currently a postgraduate researcher with KAUST Photonics Laboratory.

His research focuses on the development of Integrated Sensing and Communications (ISAC) as a fundamental asset for the next generation of fiber-based telecommunication networks, endowing optical fibers with multi-parameter sensing and pattern recognition capabilities enabled by machine learning algorithms. In addition to this, his work envisions incorporating fiber optics into the Internet of Things (IoT) by enabling simultaneous power delivery and energy harvesting in fiber-optic networks.

Fiber-optic sensors; Optical Networks; Applied Machine learning; Signal Processing

Talha Ariff was awarded his BEng/MEng degree in Biomedical Engineering from City, University of London in 2022, where he focused on optoelectronic devices for use in medical and chemical sensing.
He is now a Ph.D. student in the Photonics Lab at KAUST, researching further applications for optoelectronic sensors in desert agriculture and undersea communication cables.

Marine Ecology & Desert agriculture, Sensors, Photonics & Optoelectronics

Wenbo Yan received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Material Science and Engineering in 2021 from South China University of Technology, Guangdong, China, and a master’s degree in Material Science and Engineering in 2022 from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.He is now a Ph.D. student in the Photonics Laboratory at KAUST.

Photonics and optoelectronics, Solar energy

Yan Wang is a M.S./Ph.D. student in the Division of Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences & Engineering (CEMSE) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). She obtained her bachelor's degree of Communication Engineering from the University of Electronic, Science, and Technology of China (UESTC) in 2024.

Photonics and optoelectronics, Ultrawide bandgap semiconductor

Yara Banda is an M.S./Ph.D. student at the Photonics Lab in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (CEMSE) at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). She received her B.Sc. degree from King Abdulaziz University (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia) in 2021.

Yue Wang is a Ph.D. candidate at the Photonics Laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), under the mentorship of Prof. Boon S. Ooi. She earned her B.Eng. in Electronic Science and Technology from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in 2020. She received her master's degree in Electrical Engineering from KAUST in 2021.

Yue Wang's research focuses on semiconductor optoelectronics, high-speed color-converting luminescent devices, and optical wireless communication. She specializes in characterizing color-converting materials, designing and fabricating luminescent optoelectronic devices, and developing optical wireless communication systems.

Yue Wang has explored emerging luminescent materials such as perovskites, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), and organic fluorophores, enabling Gb/s visible light communication and wavelength-division multiplexing with enhanced channel capacity. To relieve the stringent requirements of pointing, acquisition, and tracking in underwater optical wireless communication channels, she employed scintillating fibers and luminescent solar concentrators for wide field-of-view, high-speed photodetection. Her work also extends to optical amplification, where she has developed a high-gain visible-light amplifier based on perovskite quantum dots, potentially addressing the optical loss during long-distance optical data transmission.

Zinan XIAO is a Ph.D. student at Photonics Laboratory at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). 
Before he joined the Photonics Laboratory, he worked as an optical hardware engineer in the industry, focusing on designing and testing optical splitters. 
He received his Master of Science degree at Imperial College London, UK. 
He obtained his bachelor's degree in optoelectronic information engineering at Chongqing University. 

Sensors, Photonics and optoelectronics

Dr. Nasir Alfaraj is a KAUST Ibn Rushd Fellow at the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, in 2019. Prior to his doctoral studies, he earned his B.Sc. (2013) from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI, USA, and his M.Sc. (2015) from KAUST. Dr. Alfaraj is currently a Research Associate with the Helmy Group, and his research interests encompass the growth, fabrication, and characterization of CMOS-compatible semiconductor nanostructures and devices for nanophotonic applications, utilizing hybrid metallic architectures. He is an IEEE Senior Member.

Nasir's research investigated the design and clean-environment fabrication of solid-state and optoelectronic devices, including field-effect transistors and light-emitting diodes. His research expertise spans the areas of flexible electronics; optoelectronic device growth, fabrication, and characterization; and free-space optical communication. His research interests included Growth, fabrication, and characterization of group-III-nitride-based nanostructures for next-generation devices, Semiconductor physics and Quantum mechanics.