Meet Our Innovation Team

Dr. Houda Chakiri is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the School of Science and Engineering. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University, along with Master of Science degrees in Computer Networks from Al Akhawayn University and Atomic Physics from Hassan II University. Dr. Chakiri is the founder and CEO of Enhanced Technologies, an IT company specializing in e-Government solutions, with over 15 years of experience managing digitization projects. She is a Techwomen Program Fellow (2012 cohort) and actively advocates for gender diversity as a board member of AfChix, Chair of IEEE Women in Engineering Morocco, and Vice-Chair of Arab Women in Computing Morocco. Her research focuses on digital transformation, process automation, and change management.

Dr. Amine Abouaomar is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. Previously, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Polytechnique Montréal, Canada. Dr. Abouaomar received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the Université de Sherbrooke (QC), Canada, and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from ENSIAS, Mohammed V University of Rabat, Morocco, in 2021. He has been an active IEEE member since 2017 and serves as a technical program chair for several international conferences. His research interests include beyond 5G networks, federated learning, and green machine learning.

Dr. Hayat El Asri is currently an Assistant Professor specializing in Information Systems and Analytics at Coventry University Wroclaw. She holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) focused on Knowledge Management in Procurement Processes and is near completion of a Ph.D. in Knowledge Management, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and Artificial Intelligence. Dr. El Asri earned her Master of Science degree in Management Information Systems from Coventry University, UK. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a Senior Business Analyst for Webware, an ERP solutions provider in Oman. She holds certifications in business ethics, public e-procurement, LEAN Six Sigma, and data science for business. Dr. El Asri is fluent in English, French, and Arabic, and has extensive international experience enhancing her cultural agility and cross-cultural awareness.

Dr. Ettah Effah is currently an Ecosystem Engagement Lead, where he leverages his extensive experience in fostering research and innovation collaborations between universities and industry. As a proficient Project Researcher Specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry, Dr. Effah is skilled in negotiation, mentoring, business engagement coaching, team building, and management. He holds advanced degrees in [relevant field] from [university name], with specialized expertise in building strategic partnerships that bridge academic research with practical industry applications. Throughout his career, Dr. Effah has successfully facilitated collaborative initiatives that drive innovation and translate research outcomes into real-world solutions. His leadership in ecosystem engagement focuses on creating sustainable networks between educational institutions and industry partners, fostering an environment where research and innovation can thrive through effective collaboration and knowledge transfer.RetryClaude can make mistakes. Please double-check responses.

Dr. Hind Lamharhar is currently a professor specializing in Artificial Intelligence (KB, ML, DL, NLP) and a senior data and NLP engineer at the Moroccan Ministry of Economy and Finance (Customs Organization). She received her Ph.D. in 2009 and has worked extensively in both academia and industry since 2002. Dr. Lamharhar has taught at several engineering schools, including the Institute of Statistics and Applied Economics, High-Tech School of Engineering and Management, and Mohammadia School of Engineering, and was a full-time associate professor at Mohamed V University until 2021. She leads projects on AI applications in fraud detection and is a member of a Decision Support System team focused on customs management.

Dr. Kaoutar Maghraoui is currently a Principal Research Scientist and Technical Leader at IBM Research AI, where she leverages her extensive experience in fostering research and innovation collaborations between universities and industry. As a proficient Project Researcher Specialist with a demonstrated history of working at the intersection of systems and artificial intelligence, Dr. Maghraoui is skilled in negotiation, mentoring, business engagement coaching, team building, and management. She leads the end-user AI testbed of the IBM Research AI Hardware Center, a global research hub focusing on enabling next-generation chips and systems for AI workloads, applying her expertise in AI engineering, performance optimization, distributed computing, and hardware-software co-design to create innovative solutions for AI challenges.

Dr. Nasser Assem is currently an Associate Professor of Computer Science and the Academic Coordinator of the undergraduate and graduate Computing programs at Al Akhawayn University. He obtained his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in Computer Science from Michigan State University in 2002 and 1995, respectively, and an Electrical/Computer Engineering degree from Mohammadia School of Engineering in Rabat in 1988. Dr. Assem was a visiting Assistant Professor at Michigan State University from 2002 to 2003. Before his graduate studies, he worked as a Computer Engineer and IT manager at the Moroccan Ministry of Public Works. His research and teaching interests include Machine Learning, Databases, Business Intelligence, and Big Data. He holds several IBM certifications in AI, Big Data, and Cloud Computing and has contributed to multiple national R&D projects. Dr. Assem is the current chair of IEEE Morocco and has served on numerous conference committees and university boards.

Tarik Nesh-Nash is the Senior Regional Coordinator for Africa and the Middle East at the Open Government Partnership since 2021. With over 20 years of experience in technology, law, and humanitarian fields, he has worked in 30+ countries focusing on transparency and citizen participation. He founded several organizations promoting inclusive development. Fluent in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic, Tarik previously worked at Microsoft and with the International Committee of the Red Cross. He holds a Master’s in Computer Science from the University of Washington and has completed fellowships at Cornell and RMIT. He is based in Morocco.

Dr. Oumaima Hourrane is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. She earned her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Hassan II University of Casablanca in 2022. Her research focused on semantic textual similarity and cross-lingual plagiarism detection using deep learning techniques. Dr. Hourrane specializes in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (NLP), particularly in low-resource languages and deep learning. She has contributed to several notable projects and has published in international journals and conferences.

Dr. Raifa Akkaoui is currently an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. Previously, she was a Post-Doctoral Researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands from 2021 to 2023, where she led a project on the cybersecurity of distributed energy resources within residential areas. Dr. Akkaoui received her Ph.D. in Information and Communication Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, China, and her M.Eng. in Computer Networking and Cybersecurity from L'Institut National des Postes et Télécommunications in Rabat, Morocco.

Dr. Naeem is currently a professor at Al Akhawayn University, where he leverages his extensive experience in fostering research and innovation collaborations between universities and industry. As a proficient Project Researcher Specialist with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry for over 11 years, Dr. Naeem is skilled in negotiation, mentoring, business engagement coaching, team building, and management. His main research interests lie in combinatorics and theoretical computer science, particularly enumeration, graph theory, discrete optimization, and algorithms.