Emirati Women's Day: 5 Women Championing AI, Entrepreneurship, And Leadership In The UAE
Today is the historic Emirati Women's Day, a day meant exclusively to celebrate and honour those women who have completely changed the landscape in incredible, inspiring ways. Did you know? Female Emirati students at the university make up 30% of the total student body, which includes 381 students from 49 countries. These women have made ripples of impact and change in every domain in the country.
Here are five Emirati women who are making significant contributions in their fields while inspiring others across the UAE and tech industries.
Fatima AlKhoori: Advancing Autonomous Vehicle Technology
Fatima AlKhoori, a Ph.D. student in machine learning at MBZUAI, is focused on improving transformer model architecture to enhance the accuracy of autonomous vehicles in recognising traffic signs. She previously earned her second master's degree from MBZUAI's Class of 2024 and holds another master's in sustainable critical infrastructure from Khalifa University. Her research is crucial for the safe development of self-driving vehicles, ensuring they can interpret traffic signs accurately in real-time.
AlKhoori has utilised datasets from the Abu Dhabi Integrated Transport Center and a larger German dataset to teach algorithms how to better understand traffic signs. These datasets help machines comprehend various factors like viewing angles, lighting variations, shadows, and proximity to other signs. She remains committed to using AI and machine learning to solve key transport and infrastructure challenges in the UAE.
Dr. Hanan Aldarmaki: Championing Arabic Language Processing
Dr. Hanan Aldarmaki joined MBZUAI as an assistant professor of natural language processing (NLP) in 2022. She specialises in Arabic speech and language processing, including speech recognition and synthesis. With expertise in computer science, software engineering, and statistics, Dr. Aldarmaki explores AI methods like unsupervised learning and transfer learning to adapt text and speech models for low-resource languages and dialects.
Her current projects include documenting Emirati dialects to improve their representation in AI models and addressing speech disorders such as stuttering. Dr. Aldarmaki also represents MBZUAI on the steering committee for the UAE Graduate Students Research Conference (GSRC), fostering opportunities for graduate students to share their research and network professionally.
Maha Alblooki: Preserving Arabic Cultural Heritage
Maha Alblooki is a master's student in NLP at MBZUAI who is dedicated to preserving Arabic cultural heritage through her thesis research on large language models (LLMs). She focuses on preserving Emirati proverbs by fine-tuning BERT models specifically for the Arabic language, significantly enhancing tasks like sentiment analysis and machine translation.
Alblooki is also pioneering Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for Arabic text, tackling challenges posed by its cursive script and diacritical marks. Her innovative deep learning techniques aim to improve OCR systems' accuracy and efficiency, aiding better digitisation and preservation of Arabic documents.
Maitha Alshehhi: Promoting Ethical AI Innovation
Maitha Alshehhi is a full-time master's student at MBZUAI committed to advancing responsible AI deployment. Recognised as a top innovator at G42 Cloud in 2023, she focuses on implementing systems that leverage data for enhanced context, making AI more reliable and adaptable. Her work aligns with the UAE's AI strategy prioritising ethical principles in AI development.
Alshehhi aims to shape a future where AI serves humanity's best interests by promoting transparency, fairness, and inclusivity. She hopes to inspire future innovators to embrace AI with integrity and purpose.
Wafa Alghallabi: Innovating Medical Imaging with AI
Wafa Alghallabi is an MBZUAI alumna pursuing her Ph.D., focusing on AI's potential in medical imaging to enhance diagnostic accuracy and patient outcomes. She has published papers at leading AI and medical conferences worldwide.
Alghallabi co-founded a startup aiming to bring AI-driven solutions to healthcare, winning first place at the MBZUAI Incubation and Entrepreneurship Center (MIEC) Pitch Day judged by a team from Microsoft. This achievement reflects the UAE's vision of empowering women to lead significant contributions in their fields.
The achievements of these five women highlight their dedication to advancing technology while inspiring others within the UAE's tech industry. Do you know any such inspiring Emirati women?
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