Bio

I am currently a Technical Leader (Sr. Technical Manager and Architect) at IBM. I worked previously as senior researcher at the Ambient Computing Group at the Institute of Telematics at Lübeck University and as a research associate at the Embedded Interactive Systems group at at the School of Computing and Communications at Lancaster University (Lancaster, The United Kingdom). I also worked as a research assistant at the International School of Digital Media and as a Computer Lab Assistant at the Palestine Polytechnic University (Palestine).

Expertise and Focus

I am mainly involved in designing, prototyping and implementing Context-aware Systems, Internet of Things (IoT), Distributed middleware, Natural User Interfaces, Mobile Services and Applications, and Service-oriented Architectures. I find myself mostly writing Java but my previous work included C#, ObjectiveC, and Javascript. My interest is currently focused on frameworks and middleware platforms for deployable and adaptive interaction techniques in Ambient Assisted Living environments. My approach is coined around inclusive smart interactive environments for elderly and physically challenged users.

Education

I received my Doctoral degree (Dr.-Ing.) (magna cum laude / with great honors) in Computer Engineering from the University of Lübeck (Germany) in 2014 for a dissertation titled "Ambient Assisted Living with Dynamic Interaction Ensembles." I received my M.Sc. (Highest Distinction Honors) in Digital Media from the University of Lübeck - ISNM International School of New Media (Germany) in 2007 for research in ubiquitous computing infrastructures for contextualised exhibition services. I graduated with a B.Eng. in Computer Systems Engineering from the Palestine Polytechnic University (Palestine) in 2004.

Honors and Scholarships

I was awarded a number of interactional honors and scholarships including the DFG-Funded Graduate School for Computing in Medicine and Life Sciences Doctoral Funding Award (Germany), DAAD Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst “German Academic Exchange Service” scholarship, IoT Challenge Competition 2012, Best Demonstration Award at IEEE Percom2013, Best Paper Award at IEEE iThings 2013, and Urb-IoT 2014 Best paper runner up.