Dr. Melike Erol-Kantarci
Canada Research Chair in AI-Enabled Next-Generation Wireless Networks | Full Professor | Director of NETCORE Lab
Title: Paving the AI-Native Way in B5G and 6G
.jpg)
Melike (Mel) Erol-Kantarci is a highly cited prolific researcher and an influential industry leader in AI in telecom. She is the Chief Cloud RAN AI\ML Data Scientist at Ericsson and Canada Research Chair in AI-enabled Next-Generation Wireless Networks and Full Professor at the University of Ottawa, Canada. Throughout her 15+ years of career in communications, she has received numerous awards and recognitions from technical societies.
Dr. Erol-Kantarci is the co-editor of three books on smart grids, smart cities and intelligent transportation. She has over 200+ peer-reviewed publications with citations over 8000 and h-index 43. She is a sought-after speaker with 70+ keynotes, plenary talks and tutorials around the globe both at industry events and academic conferences. Dr. Erol-Kantarci serves on the editorial board of several IEEE transactions.
She has acted as the general chair and the technical program chair for many international conferences and workshops. Most recently, she is General Co-Charing the IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning for Communication and Networking 2024. She is also the Vice-chair of IEEE ComSoc emerging technologies initiative on Machine Learning for Communications.
Her main research interests are AI-enabled wireless networks, 5G and 6G wireless communications, smart grid and Internet of Things. She is an IEEE Senior member and ACM Senior Member. She was an IEEE ComSoc Distinguished Lecturer between 2021 and 2023.
Dr. Sawsan Abdul-Majid
President of Advancing New Canadian Women in Technology (ANCWT)
Title: TBD
.jpg)
Dr. Abdul-Majid has been a member of the academic community at the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Engineering since 2008. She holds a PhD in Optical Communication Systems from Varna University, Bulgaria, and brings more than 25 years of academic experience in teaching and research, as well as eight years of engineering experience in industry. She has more than 45 publications related to silicon photonics, PIC, optical amplifiers, and optical systems.
Sawsan is a creator and a president of Advancing New Canadian Women in Technology (ANCWT), an employment bridging program for new Canadian women with technical backgrounds hosted at the University of Ottawa (https://ancwt.ca). Her goal is to help newcomer women, including immigrants and refugees, who have gained their educations in engineering, IT, and computer science from abroad find their dream jobs in Canada and settle within the Ottawa community. In 2018, ANCWT received a $1000 IMPACT AI award for Advancing Immigrant Women in STEM, and in 2019, ANCWT was named the Diversity Initiative of The Year at the first Canadian Women in IT Summit in Toronto.
Sawsan is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.Eng.) and has received a Certificate of Recognition for five years of volunteer service to the engineering profession in Ontario.
In July 2020, Dr. Abdul-Majid won a shared on-line projects initiative award (SOPI) to fund a joint initiative between the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. This funded the development of a new course, Research Skills for Engineers, that is now offered to M.Eng. students as a professional development workshop. She has continuously taught this course up to present, with a capacity of 300 graduate students per semester. In 2021, during the pandemic, ANCWT pivoted to an online model and was awarded a Shared Online Projects Initiative grant to host a joint online cohort in collaboration with Carleton University.
Dr. Abdul-Majid is a champion of equity and diversity. In May 2023, Dr. Abdul-Majid was awarded The DEI Champion award from the Women in Leadership Foundation due to her work with ANCWT (Advanced New Canadian Women in Technology). That same month, she was a speaker and co-planner for Engineers Canada’s 30 by 30 initiative networking event. In June 2023, she acted as a keynote speaker at Professional Engineers of Ontario (PEO)’s Ottawa Chapter new members Ceremony, during 2023, Sawsan received IEEE outstanding student chapter award, for her role as IEEE student chapter at the university of Ottawa.
Sawsan is a woman who makes it happen, especially in the field of science, technology, and engineering, and is a true inspiration to women and girls everywhere.
Prof. Deepa Kundur
Professor & Chair of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto
Title: Beyond Traditional Defenses: Next-Generation Cyber-Physical Security in the Era of Smart Grid and IoT Automation
Deepa Kundur is Professor & Chair of The Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto. A native of Toronto, Canada, she received the B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees all in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 1993, 1995, and 1999, respectively, from the University of Toronto. Professor Kundur’s research interests currently span cyber-physical security of critical infrastructure including energy systems and autonomous vehicle networks and psychiatric informatics. She is an author of over 200 journal and conference papers and is a recognized authority on cybersecurity issues.
Professor Kundur’s research has received best paper recognitions at numerous venues over the years and numerous teaching awards. She is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering, and a Senior Fellow of Massey College.
