Education

Master of Philosophy in Engineering, University of Cambridge

October 2022 — November 2023

• Thesis title: Physics-informed Neural Networks for Encoding Dynamics in Real Physical Systems
• Physical Computation Laboratory Research Group Member
• Evaluated the performance of physics-informed neural networks (PINNs) for incorporating dynamics information when trained on real-world data, based on experimental setups of two physical systems:
  • An oscillating pendulum damped by air resistance.
  • Heat diffusion across the surface of a metal block.
• Achieved an accuracy improvement of around 9x for PINNs over uninformed neural networks, for the experimental data.
• Highlighted problems associated with using PINNs for high-dimensional systems.

Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering, KFUPM

September 2016 — May 2021

• GPA (out of 4) — Cumulative: 3.787, Major: 3.830. First Honours
• Concentration (CX) in Robotics and Autononous Systems
• Final-year project: Implemented a high-speed hardware circuit for k-means clustering using verilog. Best case algorithm achieved a throughput gain of 58x over the base sequential algorithm. Project report can be found here.

Deep Learning Nanodegree, Udacity

September 2020 — January 2021

Course certificate

Exchange Semester, Georgia Institute of Technology

August — December 2019

• Studied the following courses:
  • Embedded Systems Design .
  • Cryptographic Hardware for Embedded Systems .
  • Microelectronic Circuits .
  • Probability and Statistics with Applications.
• Was a resident of Georgia Tech I-House.

Experience

Visiting Researcher, KAUST

October 2023 — March 2024

• Accelerated Connected Computing Lab visitor.
• Investigated FPGA-based sensing architectures for autonomous systems.
• Areas of focus include sensing systems, machine learning, and FPGAs.

Embedded Systems Engineer, NTIS

June 2021 — June 2022

• Worked with a team of engineers to develop secure network devices through R&D.
• Integrated encryption, communication, and secure protocols for an onboard microcontroller (MCU).
• Developed a smart card based key management system.
• Areas of focus were embedded systems, embedded linux, FPGAs, and hardware integration.

Research Intern, KACST

June — August 2020

• Developed a prototype android application towards remote medical diagnostics.
• Measured heart rate using the mobile phone camera using photoplethysmography.
• Trained a convolutional neural network (CNN) using a large open-source medical dataset.
• Model predicts respiratory sickness probability from cough recordings.
• Deployed the model to the app using TensorFlow Lite, and used it to implement real-time sickness prediction.
• Published a paper based on this work:
  H. Alsharif, A. Badokhon and K. Alhazmi, “Qurra : an Offline AI-based Mobile Doctor”, 2020 IEEE Global Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things (GCAIoT), Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 2020, pp. 1-6.

Digital Logic Design Teaching Assistant, KFUPM

February — April 2019, September — December 2020

• Graded homework, quizzes, and verilog assignments for almost 50 students.
• Topics revolved around:
  • Discrete number representations.
  • Boolean algebra.
  • Combinational and sequential logic.
  • Digital design.
  • Verilog.

Extracurriculars

Jawalah Club Member (Rover Scouts)

October 2016 — May 2021

• Active member of KFUPM Jawalah, — rover scout club dedicated to personal, social, and professional development through leadership and volunteering.
• Organized social events for 40 members as a clan vice-leader during my freshman year.
• Participated in organizing many events and activities such as an end-of-year closing ceremony, a campus-wide treasure hunt, and weekly club-wide enrichment gatherings.

Undergraduate Majors Student Advisor

9 — 10 Nov 2020, 23 — 24 Mar 2021

• Selected, by the department head, as one of two Computer Engineering representatives for an online interactive major advising event targeted towards preparatory year students.
• Answered questions and gave advice on the major, the subjects, and the discipline as a whole.

Emerging Entrepreneurial Leadership Course

Sep 2017 — Jan 2018

Completed a semester-long course that focused on teaching entrepreneurial, leadership, and business concepts by applying them to a continuously growing business idea.

Awards

Rhode Scholarship Finalist

November 2021

Was one of seven finalists out of hundreds of applicants invited to the last selection phase for the Saudi Arabia constituency of the Rhodes Scholarship.

KFUPM Concentration Sponsorship Award

September 2020

• Selected as one of twenty students (out of 370+) awarded a sponsorship in the new university concentrations program.
• Award value: 8000 Saudi Riyals.

Fintech Hackathon — Best Presented Idea

April 2019

• Won the ‘Best Presented Idea’ award at a weekend competition sponsored by local Saudi banks and organized by the KFUPM Business School.
• Award value: 5000 Saudi Riyals.

Technical Skills

Programming Languages + Frameworks.

Python, C, C++, Java, Assembly (MIPS), Pytorch, TensorFlow, Android, Lua.

Embedded Development

ARM Cortex-M, Verilog, FPGAs, PYNQ, Mbed, Atmel Studio, Arduino, Raspberry Pi.

General

Bash, Version Control (Git), CAD (Fusion 360), LTSpice, LaTeX.