The PROGRESS Initiative by the IEEE Signal Processing Society aims to foster diversity and inclusivity within the signal processing domain, especially by encouraging and aiding women and underrepresented minorities in pursuing academic paths in this field. Acknowledging the strides made in diversifying STEM student populations, the Initiative also acknowledges the ongoing deficiency in diversity among professors and academic leaders in these disciplines.

PROGRESS at ICIP 2024 will be an all-day event held on Sunday, 27 October 2024, 9:00 AM – 4:30 PM. It will feature high-profile speakers in the signal processing field from both academia and industry.

PROGRESS Workshop registration is free; however, space is limited! Students are encouraged to attend. Lunch included for registrants.

Naoufel Werghi, Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE  (Chair)

Diana W. Dawoud, College of Engineering & IT, University of Dubai

Farokh Atashzar, New York University, New York, NY, USA (Chair)

Theodora Chaspari, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

Abhishek Appaji, B.M.S. College of Engineering, Bangalore, India

Athina Petropulu, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA

Islem Rekik
Islem Rekik is the Director of the Brain And SIgnal Research and Analysis (BASIRA) laboratory (http://basira-lab.com/) and an Associate Professor at Imperial College London (Innovation Hub I-X).  She is the awardee of two prestigious international research fellowships. In 2019, she was awarded the 3-year prestigious TUBITAK 2232 for Outstanding Experienced Researchers Fellowship and in 2020 she became a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow under the European Horizons 2020 program. Together with BASIRA members, she conducted more than 100 cutting-edge research projects cross-pollinating AI and healthcare —with a sharp focus on brain imaging and network neuroscience. She is also a co/chair/organizer of more than 25 international first-class conferences/workshops/competitions (e.g., Affordable AI 2021-22, Predictive AI 2018-2024, Machine Learning in Medical Imaging 2021-24, WILL competition 2021-23). She is a member of the organizing committee of MICCAI 2023 (Vancouver), 2024 (Marrakesh) and South-Korea (2025). In addition to her 160+ high-impact publications, she is a strong advocate of equity, inclusiveness and diversity in AI and research. She is the former president of the Women in MICCAI (WiM), and the co-founder of the international RISE Network to Reinforce Inclusiveness & diverSity and Empower minority researchers in Low-Middle Income Countries (LMIC).

Kinda Khalaf
Dr. Kinda Khalaf is currently the Associate Dean of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi, where for the last 10 years she served as founding interim chair, associate chair and accreditation leader of the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Prior to joining KU, she held faculty appointments in Engineering and Medicine at the University of Miami (Florida, USA), the American University of Beirut (Lebanon), where she held the first joint appointment between the faculties of Engineering and Medicine, and the American University of Sharjah (UAE). Dr Khalaf is a US National Merit Scholar and is on the list of International Who is Who of Professionals since 2012. She has been awarded the prestigious LAMME Scholarship, the Woman of Engineering Award for outstanding Academic Achievement, the Presidential Fellowship Award, the University of Miami College of Engineering Teaching Award, and the Khalifa University Faculty Excellence award. An advocate of innovation in engineering and medical education, she has co-established an interdisciplinary education research group focusing on implementing curricular innovative pedagogies and the design of quantitative assessment instruments and employability skills in engineering and medical programs. Dr. Khalaf serves on the Board of Trustees for Emirates College of Technology since 2021, Siemens Healthineers Innovation Think Tank since 2020 and is on the review board of the Abu Dhabi Council for Education (ADEK) Programs since 2019.

Veronika Knight
Veronika Knight, a Soft Skills Trainer and Facilitator, has experienced a dynamic and international career journey that has taken her from Europe to Colombia to Africa and to the Middle East. Her professional path is characterized by its variety, beginning with roles such as waitressing, progressing to teaching and managing an educational institution in Colombia, engaging in youth outreach via an international youth NGO in Africa, engaging in a political campaign in her home country Slovakia, navigating Sales in the insurance sector, and leading HR initiatives in a multinational corporation. She is also a devoted mother to two children, which has deeply enriched her perspective and expertise. Currently, Veronika serves as a freelance Personal development and Soft skills trainer, where she designs educational workshops and provides mentorship to business professionals. Her rich and varied background allows her to approach problems with a holistic viewpoint, often providing the comprehensive insight that her clients and audiences greatly value.

Sajid Javed
Dr. Sajid Javed is an Assistant Professor of Computer Vision at Khalifa University and a member of the Khalifa University Centre of Autonomous Robotics Systems (KUCARS). He is also affiliated with the University of Warwick, UK. Dr. Sajid holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from Kyungpook National University, South Korea, and a B.Sc. (Hons) in Computer Science from the University of Hertfordshire, UK. Leading the computer vision group at KUCARS, Dr. Sajid specializes in AI and machine learning with research spanning visual tracking, object detection, video segmentation, and computational pathology. He is an active member of IEEE and ACM, with numerous high-impact publications in top computer vision journals and conferences.

Prof. Mohammad Ghazal

Prof. Mohammad Asaad Ghazal earned his Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) from Concordia University, Canada, in 2010 and 2006, respectively, and was awarded an Alexander Graham Bell Fellowship from NSERC and QFRNT from the Government of Quebec. He earned his B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from the American University of Sharjah, where he received the President’s Cup and the Ministry of Education’s Shield for Creative Thinking. Prof. Ghazal is currently a Professor and Chairman of the Department of Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering at the College of Engineering, Abu Dhabi University. He has received several awards, including Dhs1,000,000 from the UAE Prime Minister’s Office for an innovative mobile app during the 2015 Government Summit, the distinguished Faculty Award from Abu Dhabi University in 2014 and 2016, and the Abu Dhabi University Research Fellow in 2018. He was also inducted into the American University of Sharjah Hall of Fame by Sheikh Sultan Al Qasimi in 2018. He is the author of over 200 publications in journals and international conferences, including Scientific Reports, Elsevier’s Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems for Video Technology, and IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics. His current research interests are AI in bioimaging, genomics, and smart systems. He is a senior member of IEEE and a member of ACM, BMES, and an ABET program evaluator for the Engineering Accreditation Commission.

Dr. Giulia De Masi

Giulia De Masi is IEEE Senior member and active member of IEEE Women in Engineering.
She got her PhD with a thesis on Complex Networks. She was Post-doctoral Researcher in the Polytechnic University of Marche and Visiting Researcher at Hitachi Research Laboratory, in Nara, Japan. In 2008, she started working in the R&D field for the Private Sector(Snamprogetti Center of Excellence, Italy), joining the Department of Advanced Engineering Services and Technology Innovation Projects. In the last 9 years, she worked in several Academic and Research Institutions in UAE. She has been recently awarded as Women in Engineering (WIE) Propel laureate by IEEE. Her main fields of expertise are Collective Intelligence, Machine Learning, Underwater Robotics, and bio-inspired multi-robot systems.