Qatar University (QU) stands as a beacon of valuable contributions, driving forward societal progress through cutting-edge research. In its pursuit of transforming into a knowledge-based economy, QU places great emphasis on research activities, aligning them with Qatar’s visionary goals.
One of the illustrious figures in QU’s College of Engineering is Prof. Sumaya Al Maadeed from the Computer Engineering department. Her dedication to research, particularly in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications in security and medicine, has yielded noteworthy achievements.
At the forefront of her work is the application of AI to image analysis. Prof. Al Maadeed embarked on exploring facial and fingerprint images for forensic identification purposes. Her studies extended to advanced drone-based crowd management techniques.
Reflecting on her journey, she states, “We have filed several patents in collaboration with QU and the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC). Our partnership with the SC’s Security Committee has led to the development and global utilization of numerous research projects, including deep learning-based video surveillance systems. These systems excel in various tasks such as crowd estimation, anomaly detection, object recognition, and human movement identification”.
AI’s role in equipping computers with human-like cognitive abilities, further augmented by machine learning and deep learning, is pivotal to her endeavors. However, these algorithms necessitate meticulous data tagging and high-performance computing for efficient analysis of surveillance data from indoor and outdoor settings. To tackle challenges, her research team introduced deep transfer learning (DTL) and deep domain adaptation (DDA) as solutions. These concepts have enabled automated image recognition and precise crowd counting, significantly enhancing crowd management efficiency.
Prof. Sumaya’s team has also patented a “smart hat” as a computer software system, offering assistance to visually impaired individuals. This ingenious device captures real-time images to facilitate navigation, processing the images through a single-board computer, and providing navigation guidance based on the analyzed images.
In the realm of medical AI, she embarked on cancer detection research using microscopic images encompassing multiple optical spectra. The outcomes have led to a series of inventions and systems intended for future commercialization, in collaboration with Al-Ahli Hospital in Qatar and Hamad Medical Corporation.
Education has also benefited from Prof. Sumaya’s innovative mindset. A project under her supervision introduced smart methodologies into educational settings, receiving support from Qatar’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education. Currently, she oversees graduate students who delve into writing analysis programs to identify dysgraphia and dysphasia, especially in Arabic-speaking populations, from an early age.
Prof. Sumaya Al Maadeed’s contributions exemplify Qatar University’s commitment to research excellence and its transformative impact on diverse domains.
