MBZUAI Celebrates Emirati Women Leading in AI

In celebration of Emirati Women’s Day, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI) has chosen to highlight the remarkable achievements of Emirati women excelling in AI. With 34 Emirati female students among its diverse cohort of 381 students from 49 countries, MBZUAI continues to support the growth and development of women in technology, especially in AI, where women currently represent 30% of the student body.

The university has spotlighted five exceptional Emirati women who are making a positive impact in their fields while inspiring others to pursue their dreams in AI and technology.

Fatima AlKhoori, a transportation engineer and PhD candidate in machine learning at MBZUAI, is leading research on transformer model architecture to enhance the accuracy of autonomous vehicle traffic sign recognition. Her work is pivotal in improving transportation safety in the UAE by leveraging both UAE-specific and global datasets.

Dr. Hanan Aldarmaki, an expert in Arabic speech and language processing at MBZUAI, focuses on adapting AI models for low-resource languages through unsupervised and transfer learning. Her dedication to documenting Emirati dialects and advancing NLP has positioned her as a leader in both research and education.

Maha Alblooki, a master’s student specializing in Arabic NLP, is developing a large language model (LLM) to preserve Arabic proverbs and cultural heritage. Her work in fine-tuning BERT models and pioneering OCR techniques is crucial for digitizing and preserving Arabic documents.

Maitha Alshehhi, another master’s student at MBZUAI, is recognized for her research on the responsible deployment of AI technologies. Her work on contextually intelligent AI systems aligns with ethical principles and the UAE’s AI strategy, emphasizing transparency, fairness, and inclusivity.

Finally, Wafa Alghallabi, an alumna and current PhD student, is advancing AI in the medical field with her research on medical imaging to enhance diagnostic accuracy. Her entrepreneurial spirit led her to co-found a startup focused on AI-driven healthcare solutions, earning first place at the MBZUAI Incubation and Entrepreneurship Centre Pitch Day. These women embody the UAE’s vision of empowering female leaders in AI, reflecting the nation’s commitment to fostering innovation and inclusivity in the global AI landscape.