Research interests

Main research area: Semi-Structured and Semantic Data Processing. Techniques: XML and Multimedia Data Representation; Structural Similarity and Tree Edit Distance; Semantic Similarity and Knowledge Bases; Semantic Analysis & Disambiguation; Clustering & Classification; Search and Retrieval; Version Control; Mapping and Integration. Applications:  Web Image Clustering & Retrieval; Image Search Result Organization; Multimedia Data Fragmentation; SOAP Processing and Multicasting; RSS Data Merging; Sentiment and Affect Analysis.
Other research Interests: Image Accessibility for Visually Impaired Users.

Short Bio

Joe Tekli is an Associate Professor in Computer Engineering in the Lebanese American University (LAU). He was appointed as Assistant Provost for Strategic Planning and Academic Initiatives and Partnerships in September 2023. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Univ. of Bourgogne, LE2I-CNRS (France_2009) awarded with Highest Honors. He completed various post-docs and research missions: Univ. of Michigan (USA 2018), Univ. of Pau (France 2017), Univ. of Sao Paulo (Brazil 2011), Univ. of Shizuoka (Japan 2010), Univ. of Milan (Italy 2009). He was awarded various fellowships: Fulbright (USA 2018), FAPESP (Brazil 2011), JSPS (Japan 2010), Cariplo Foundation (Italy 2009), French Ministry of Education (France 2006-09), and AUF (France 2005). Dr. Tekli has initiated various collaborations with academic and industry partners. He served as principal coordinator and partner in international and national research projects (e.g., STICAmSud, FAPESP, CEDRE, CNRS-L). He has initiated a collaboration between LAU and BMW Group (2018-), offering more than 120 distinguished engineering students internships at the company’s seat in Munich, and promoting lasting collaborative projects (e.g., VIRA 2018- workshops, SORDI.ai project 2022-, and InMind Academy training program 2022-). His research covers semi-structured, semantic, and multimedia data processing, clustering, classification, and information retrieval, and has more than 65 peer-reviewed publications. He served as Vice Chair (2018-22) and Secretary (2023-) of ACM SIGAPP French Chapter (2018-), and member of the US Atlantic Councils’ AI Connect initiative (2022-). He is currently serving as Associate Editor of the Springer KAIS journal (2022-), and as guest editor in the Spring WWW journal (2023-24), and he regularly serves as track chair and technical committee member on international conferences and workshops.

Selected Peer Reviewed Publications

Book:

1. Nassif J., Tekli J., and Kamradt M., Synthetic Data: Revolutionizing the Industrial Metaverse, Springer Cham, 978-3-031-47560-3, 166 p., https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-47560-3, 2024

International Journals:

1. Joseph Attieh and Joe Tekli, Supervised Term-Category Feature Weighting for Improved Text Classification, Elsevier Knowlegde-based Systems (KBS), 261:110215, 2023 Manuscript in pdf
2. Khoulour Salameh, Farah El Akoum, and Joe Tekli, Unsupervised Knowledge Representation of Panoramic Dental X‑ray Images using SVG Image‑and‑object Clustering, Multimedia Systems, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00530-023-01099-6, 2023 Manuscript in pdf
3. Sylvana Yakhni, Joe Tekli, Elio Mansour, and Richard Chbeir, Using Fuzzy Reasoning to Improve Redundancy Elimination for Data Deduplication in Connected Environments. Soft Computing, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-023-07880-z, 2023 Manuscript in pdf
4. Joe Tekli, An Overview of Cluster-based Image Search Result Organization: Background, Techniques, and Ongoing Challenges, Knowledge and Information Systems journal, 64(3): 589-642, 2022 Manuscript in pdf
5. Rayan Al Sobbahi and Joe Tekli, Comparing deep learning models for low-light natural scene image enhancement and their impact on object detection and classification: Overview, empirical evaluation, and challenges. Signal Processing – Image Communitation (SPIC), 109:116848, 2022 Manuscript in pdf
6. Rayan Al Sobbahi and Joe Tekli, Low-Light Homomorphic Filtering Network for Integrating Image Enhancement and Classification, Signal Processing – Image Communitation (SPIC), 100:116527, 2022 Manuscript in pdf
7. Hamza Noueihed, Heba Harb, and Joe Tekli, Knowledge-based Virtual Outdoor Weather Event Simulator using Unity 3D, Journal of Supercomputing, 78(8): 10620-10655, 2022 Manuscript in pdf
8. Faisal Shazad, Elio Mansour, Joe Tekli, and Richard Chbeir, Data Redundancy Management Framework for Connected Environments, Computing journal, 104(7): 1565-1588, 2022 Manuscript in pdf 
9. George Salloum and Joe Tekli, Automated and Personalized Meal Plan Generation and Relevance Scoring using a Multi-factor Adaptation of the Transportation Problem, Soft Computing journal, 26(5): 2561-2585, 2021 Manuscript in pdf
10. George Salloum and Joe Tekli, Automated and Personalized Nutrition Health Assessment, Recommendation, and Progress Evaluation using Fuzzy Reasoning,  Elsevier International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2021.102610, 2021 Manuscript in pdf  
11. Ralph Abboud and Joe Tekli, Integration of Non-parametric Fuzzy Classification with an Evolutionary-Developmental Framework to Perform Music Sentiment-based Analysis and Composition, Elsevier journal of Soft Computing, 24(13): 9875-9925, 2020 Manuscript in pdf
12. Minale Ashagrie Abebe, Joe Tekli, Fekade Getahun, Richard Chbeir, Gilbert Tekli: Generic Metadata Representation Framework for Social-based Event Detection, Description, and Linkage. Elsevier Knowledge Based Systems journal, 188, 2020    Manuscript in pdf
13. Joe Tekli , Richard Chbeir , Agma J. M. Traina, Caetano Traina Jr.:SemIndex+: A Semantic Indexing Scheme for Structured, Unstructured, and Partly Structured Data. Elsevier Knowledge Based Systems journal, 164: 378-403  (2019)   Manuscript in pdf
14. Mireille Fares, Angela Moufarrej, Eliane Jreij, Joe Tekli , William Grosky:Unsupervised Word-level Affect Analysis and Propagation in a Lexical Knowledge Graph. Elsevier Knowledge Based Systems journal, 165: 432-459  (2019)   Manuscript in pdf
15. Joe Tekli, Richard Chbeir, Agma J.M. Traina, Caetano Traina Jr., Kokou Yetongnon, Carlos Raymundo Ibanez, Marc Al Assad, and Christian Kallas, Full-fledged Semantic Indexing and Querying Model designed for Seamless Integration in Legacy RDBMS, Elsevier Data and Knowledge Engineering (DKE),  117: 133-173, 2018.  Manuscript in pdf
16. Joe Tekli, Youssef Bou Issa, and Richard Chbeir, Evaluating Touch-Screen Vibration Modality for Blind Users to Access Simple Shapes and Graphics.  Elsevier International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction (IJHCS), 110:115-133, 2018 Manuscript in pdf
17. Manahel El Lahib, Joe Tekli, and Youssef Bou Issa, Evaluating Fitts’ Law on Vibrating Touch-Screen to Improve Visual Data Accessibility for Blind Users. Elsevier International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction (IJHCS), 112:16-27, 2018 Manuscript in pdf
18. Joe Tekli, An Overview on XML Semantic Disambiguation from Unstructured Text to Semi-Structured Data: Background, Applications, and Ongoing Challenges. IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering (TKDE), 28(6): 1383-1407, 2016 Manuscript in pdf
19. Joe Tekli, Nathalie Charbel, and Richad Chbeir, Building Semantic XML Trees, Elsevier Journal of Web Semantics (JWS): Science, Services and Agents on the World Wide Web, 37–38:1–24, 2016 Manuscript in pdf
20. Joe Tekli, Richard Chbeir, Agma J.M. Traina, Caetano Traina Jr., Renato Fileto, Approximate XML Structure Validation based on Document-Grammar Tree Similarity, Elsevier Journal of Information Sciences, 295:258–302, 2015 Manuscript in pdf
21. Joe Tekli; Ernesto Damiani; Richard Chbeir and Gabriele Gianini, SOAP Processing Performance and Enhancement. IEEE Transactions on Services Computing (IEEE TSC), 5(3): 387-403, 2012. Manuscript in pdf
22. Joe Tekli and Richard Chbeir; A Novel XML Structure Comparison Framework based on Sub-tree Commonalities and Label Semantics, Elsevier Journal of Web Semantics (JWS): Science, Services, and Agents on the World Wide Web, 11: 14-40, 2012. Manuscript in pdf
23. Joe Tekli and Richard Chbeir, Minimizing User Effort in XML Grammar Matching. In Elsevier Information Sciences Journal, 210: 1-40, 2012. Manuscript in pdf
24. Joe Tekli; Ernesto Damiani; and Richard Chbeir, Using XML-based Multicasting to Improve Web Service Scalability, International Journal on Web Services Research (IJWSR), 9(1):1-29, 2012. Manuscript in pdf
25. Joe Tekli; Agma M.J. Traina; Caetano Trania Jr. and Richard Chbeir, XML Document-Grammar Comparison: Related Problems and Applications. The Central European Journal of Computer Science (CEJCS), Inaugural Issue, 1(1):117-136, 2011. Manuscript in pdf
26. Fekade Getahun Taddesse; Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; Marco Viviani; and Kokou Yetongnon, Semantic-based Merging of RSS Items. The World Wide Web (WWW) Journal, Internet and Web Information Systems, Special Issue on Human-Centered Web Science. Springer Netherlands, 13(1-2): 169-207, 2010. Manuscript in pdf
27. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yétongnon, An Overview of XML Similarity: Background, Current Trends and Future Directions. Elsevier Computer Science Review, 3(3):151-173, 2009. Manuscript in pdf

International Conferences:

1. Attieh J.** and Tekli J., Fast Text Classification using Lean Gradient Descent Feed Forward Neural Network for Category Feature Augmentation, In Proceedings of the 26^th IEEE Inter. Conf. on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE’23), pp. 1-8, Exeter, UK, 2023 Manuscript in pdf
2. Sylvana Yakhni**, Joe Tekli, Elio Mansour, Richard Chbeir, Fuzzy Data Deduplication at Edge Nodes in Connected Environments. International Conference on Mobile Web Information Systems (MobiWIS’23), pp. 112-128, Marrakech, Morocco, 2023 Manuscript in pdf
3. Ali Hajjar** and Joe Tekli^C, Unsupervised Extractive Text Summarization Using Frequency-Based Sentence Clustering. International Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS), pp. 245-255, Turin, Italy, 2022 Manuscript in pdf
4. Rayan Al Sobbahi* and Joe Tekli^C, Low-Light Image Enhancement Using Image-to-Frequency Filter Learning. 21st Inter. Conference on Image Analysis and Processing (ICIAP’22), pp. 693-705, Lecce, Italy, 2022 Manuscript in pdf
5. Hamza Noueihed**, Heba Harb**, and Joe Tekli^C, Simulating Weather Events on a Real-world Map using Unity 3D. 11th International Conference on Smart Cities and and Green ICT Systems (SmartGreens’22), pp. 86-93 (virtual), 2022 Manuscript in pdf
6. Sarkis Sarkissian** and Joe Tekli^C, Unsupervised Topical Organization of Documents using Corpus-based Text Analysis. 13^th International ACM Conference on Management of Emergent Digital EcoSystems (ACM MEDES’21), Hammamat, Tunisia (virtual), 2021 Manuscript in pdf
7. Joe Tekli^C, Gilbert Tekli, and Richard Chbeir, Almost Linear Semantic XML Keyword Search, 13^th International ACM Conference on Management of Emergent Digital EcoSystems (ACM MEDES’21), Hammamat, Tunisia (virtual), 2021 Manuscript in pdf
8. Hussein Maziad**, Julie-Ann Rammouz**, Boulos El Asmar, Joe Tekli^C, Preprocessing Techniques for End-To-End Trainable RNN-Based Conversational System. 21^st International Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE), Biarritz,  France (virtual), 2021, pp. 255-270 Manuscript in pdf
9. Joseph Chakar, Rayan Al Sobbahi, Joe Tekli, Depthwise SeparableConvolutions and Variational Dropout within the context of YOLOv3. International Symposium on Visual Computing (ISVC), San Diego, USA (remotely), 2020, 1:107-120 Manuscript in pdf
10. Elio Mansour, Faisal Shahzad, Joe Tekli, Richard Chbeir, Data Redundancy Management in ConnectedEnvironments. International Conference on Modeling, Analysis, andSimulation of Wireless and Mobile Systems (MSWiM-Q2SWinet), 2020, Alcante, Spain (remotely), pp. 75-80 Manuscript in pdf
11. Mireille Fares, Angela Moufarrej, Eliane Jreij, Joe Tekli, and William Grosky, Difficulties and Improvements to Graph-Based Lexical Sentiment Analysis Using LISA. IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Computing (ICCC’19), part of the IEEE Word Congress on Services, 2019, Milan, Italy, pp. 28-35  Manuscript in pdf
12. Joe Tekli, Richard Chbeir, Agma J.M. Traina, Caetano Traina Jr., Kokou Yetongnon, Carlos Raymundo Ibanez, and Christian Kallas, Upgraded SemIndex Prototype supporting Intelligent Database Keyword Queries through Disambiguation, Query As You Type, and Parallel Search Algorithms, IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Computing (IEEE ICCC’18), 2018, pp. 33-40., to appear Manuscript in pdf
13. Minale Ashagrie Abebe, Joe Tekli , Fekade Getahun, Richard Chbeir , Gilbert Tekli, Overview of Event-Based Collective Knowledge Management in Multimedia Digital Ecosystems. International Conference on Signal Image Technology and Internet based Systems (SITIS), 2017, pp. 40-49 Manuscript in pdf
14. Issa Ayoub; Karl J. Codoumi; and Joe Tekli. Personalized Social Image Organization, Visualization, and Querying Tool using Low- and High-Level Features. In Proceedings of the 19^th IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE’16), Paris, France, 2016, pp. 287-294 Manuscript in pdf
15. Minale Ashagrie; Joe Tekli; Fekade Getahun, Gilbert Tekli; and Richard Chbeir. A General Multimedia Representation Space Model Toward Event-based Collective Knowledge Management. In Proceedings of the 19^th IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Engineering (CSE’16), Paris, France, 2016, pp. 512-521 Manuscript in pdf
16. Nathalie Charbel, Joe Tekli, Richard Chbeir, and Gilbert Tekli, Resolving XML Semantic Ambiguity. 18^th Inter. Conf. on Extending Database Technology (EDBT’15), Brussels, Belgium, 2015, pp. 277-288 Manuscript in pdf
17. Regina Ticona Herrera, Joe Tekli, Richard Chbeir, Sébastien Laborie, Irvin Dongo, Renato Guzman, Toward RDF Normalization. 34^th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER’15), Stockholm, Sweden, October 2015, pp. 261-275 Manuscript in pdf
18. Khouloud Salameh, Joe Tekli, and Richard Chbeir,  SVG-to-RDF Image Semantization. In Proceedings of the 7^th International Conference on Similarity Search and Applications (SISAP’14), Los Cabos, Mexico, October 2014, pp. 214-228 Manuscript in pdf
19. Richard Chbeir, Yi Luo, Joe Tekli, Kokou Yetongnon, Carlos Raymundo Ibanez, Agma J. M. Traina, Caetano Traina Jr., and Marc Al Assad, SemIndex: Semantic-Aware Inverted Index.  In Proceedings of the 18th East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS’14), Ohrid, Republic of Macedonia, September 2014, pp. 290-307 Manuscript in pdf
20. Joe Tekli; Antoine Abou Rjeily; Richard Chbeir; Minale A. Abebe; Pelagie Houngue; Kokou Yetongnon; and Gilbert Tekli, Semantic to Intelligent Web Era: Building Blocks, Applications, and Current Trends. Accepted (to appear) in Proceedings of the International ACM Conference on Management of Emergent Digital EcoSystems (ACM MEDES’13), 2013. Manuscript in pdf
21. Joe Tekli; Ernesto Damiani; and Richard Chbeir, Differential SOAP Multicasting. In Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Web Services (IEEE ICWS’11), Washington DC, USA, 2011, pp. 1-8. Manuscript in pdf
22. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; Fernando Ferri; and Patrizia Grifoni, Toward Approximate GML Retrieval based on Structural and Semantic Characteristics. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE’10), Vienna, Austria, 2010, pp. 16-34. Manuscript in pdf
23. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yetongnon, Extensible User-based Grammar Matching. Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER’09), SPRINGER VERLAG LNCS 5829, Brazil, 2009, pp. 294-314. Manuscript in pdf
24. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; Kokou Yétongnon, Structural Similarity Evaluation between XML Documents and DTDs. In Proc. of the 8th International Conference on Web Information Systems Engineering (WISE’07), SPRINGER VERLAG LNCS, France, 2007, pp. 196-211. Manuscript in pdf
25. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yétongnon, Efficient XML Structural Similarity Detection using Sub-tree Commonalities. Proc. of the 22nd Brazilian Symposium on Databases (SBBD’07), Best Paper Award, ACM SIGMOD DiSC, Brazil, 2007, pp. 116-130. Manuscript in pdf
26. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yétongnon, A Fine-grained XML Structural Comparison Approach. In Proceedings of the 26th International Conference on Conceptual Modeling (ER’07), Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Auckland, New Zealand, LNCS 4801, 2007, pp. 582-598. Manuscript in pdf
27. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yétongnon. A Hybrid Approach for XML Similarity. Proceedings of the 33rd International Conference on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Computer Science (SOFSEM’07), SPRINGER VERLAG LNCS, Harrachov, Czech Republic,  2007, pp. 783-795. Manuscript in pdf
28. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yetongnon, Semantic and Structure Based XML Similarity: An Integrated Approach. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Management of Data (COMAD’06), Delhi, India, 2006, pp. 32-43. Manuscript in pdf
29. Bernard Semaan, Joe Tekli, Youssef Bou Issa, Gilbert Tekli, and Richard Chbeir, Toward Enhancing Web Accessibility for Blind Users through the Semantic Web, International Conference on Signal Image Technology and Internet based Systems (SITIS’12), Kyoto, Japan, pp. 247-256, 2013 Manuscript in pdf
30. Awada A., Bou Issa Y., Ghannam C., Tekli J., Chbeir R., Towards Digital Image Accessibility for Blind Users Via Vibrating Touch Screen: A Feasibility Test Protocol. International Conference on Signal Image Technology and Internet based Systems (SITIS’12), Sorrento, Italy, pp. 547-554, 2012. Manuscript in pdf
31. Manami Harazaki; Joe Tekli; Shohei Yokoyama; Naoki Fukuta; Richard Chbeir; and Hiroshi Ishikawa, XBeGene: Scalable XML Documents Generator By Example Based on Real Data.  Inter. Conf. on Data Engineering and Internet Technology (DEIT’11), Bali, Indonesia, 2011. Manuscript in pdf
32. Fekade Getahun; Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; Marco Viviani; and Kokou Yétongnon, Relating RSS News/Items. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE’09), SPRINGER VERLAG LNCS, San Sebastian, Spain, 2009, pp. 44-452 Manuscript in pdf
33. Fekade Getahun; Joe Tekli; Solomon Atnafu; and Richard Chbeir, Towards Efficient Horizontal Multimedia Database Fragmentation using Semantic-based Predicates Implication. In the 22nd Brazilian Symposium on Databases (SBBD’07), ACM SIGMOD DiSC, Brazil, 2007, pp. 68-82. Manuscript in pdf
34. Samir Saad; Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yétongnon, Towards Multimedia Fragmentation, Proc. of the 10th East-European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS’06), SPRINGER VERLAG LNCS, Greece, 2006, pp. 415-429. Manuscript in pdf

Encyclopedias:

1. Joe Tekli, Richard Chbeir, and Kokou Yetongnon, Breakthroughs and Limitations of XML Grammar Similarity, Encyclopedia of Multimedia Technology and Networking (2^nd Edition), pp. 140-148, 2009, Margherita Pagani (Ed.), Information Science reference, Hershey, New York Manuscript in pdf
2. July Diana Banda-Tapia, Regina Ticona Herrera, Dennis Barrios-Aranibar, Joe Tekli, and Richard Chbeir, A Multi-Level Fuzzy Logic Scheme for Modeling Complex Problems, Artificial Intelligence Driven Solutions to Business and Engineering Problems, pp. 54-60, 2012, Galina Setlak, Mikhail Alexandrov, Krassimir Markov (Eds.), Ithea, Rzeszow, Poland

Regional Journals:

1. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yetongnon, Méthode Hybride de Comparaison Structurelle et Semantique des Documents XML”, Published in UBScience - The University of Bourgogne’s Scientific Journal, 2009, (4):83-90, Dijon, France Manuscript in pdf
2. Antoine Abou Rjeily, Pélagie Houngue, Joe Tekli, Richard Chbeir, and Kokou Yetongnon, An Overview of the Semantic Web: Improving Web Data Accessibility and Performance. Published in Pertinence: The Antonine University’s Scientific Journal, 6th Edition, 2013, Baabda, Lebanon Manuscript in pdf

International Workshops and Demonstrations:

1. Ralph Abboud and Joe Tekli, MUSE prototype for Music Sentiment Expression, IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Computing (IEEE ICCC’18), 2018, pp. 106-109., to appear Manuscript in pdf
2. George Salloum, Elie Semaan, and Joe Tekli, PIN prototype for Intelligent Nutrition Assessment and Meal Planning, IEEE International Conference on Cognitive Computing (IEEE ICCC’18), 2018, pp. 110-113, to appear Manuscript in pdf
3. Alceu Ferraz Costa, Joe Tekli, Agma J.M. Traina, Fast Fractal Stack: Fractal Analysis of Computed Tomo-graphy Scans of the Lung, Inter. ACM Workshop on Medical MM Analysis & Retrieval (MMAR’11), with Inter. ACM Conf. on MultiMedia (ACM MM’11), Arizona, USA, 2011, pp. 13-18 Manuscript in pdf
4. Fekade Getahun; Solomon Atnafu; Joe Tekli; & Richard Chbeir, The Use of Semantic-based Predicates Implication to Improve Horizontal Multimedia Database Fragmentation. ACM MM’07 Workshop on the Many Faces of Multimedia Semantics (MS’07), Univ. of Augsburg, Germany, 2007, 29-38 Manuscript in pdf
5. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yétongnon, Semantic and Structure Based XML Similarity: The XS3 Prototype. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Management of Data (COMAD’06) demo sessions, New Delhi, India, 2006, pp. 235-238 Manuscript in pdf

National Workshops and Demonstrations:

1. Issa Ayoub; Karl J. Codoumi; and Joe Tekli. Demo of the SICOS tool for Social Image Cluster-based Organization and Search. Inter. IEEE Multidisciplinary Conf. on Engineering Technology (IMCET’16), Nov. 2016 Manuscript in pdf
2. Nathalie Charbel; Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Gilbert Tekli. Demo of the XSDF Prototype for XML Semantic Disambiguation, Inter. Conf. on Applied Research in Computer Science and Engineering (ICAR’15), Antonine University (UA) & Saint Joseph University (USJ), Beirut, Lebanon, Oct. 2015 Manuscript in pdf

​Short Papers:

1. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; Yi Luo; Marc Al Assad; Carlos Raymundo Ibanez; Agma J.M. Traina; Caetano Traina Jr.; Kokou Yetongnon. A Demo of SemIndex: Semantic-Aware Inverted Index on Textual Data. 21st LAAS (Lebanese Association for the Advancement of Science) International Science Conference, Saint Joseph University (USJ), Beirut, Lebanon, April 2015, pp. 506-507  Manuscript in pdf
2. Amine Awada; Youssef Bou Issa; Joe Tekli; and Richard Chbeir, Evaluation of Touch Screen Vibration Accessibility for Blind Users, In Proceedings of the 15th ACM SIGACCESS International Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ACM ASSETS’13), Washington DC, USA, 2013, pp. 48-49  Manuscript in pdf
3. Joe Tekli; Richard Chbeir; and Kokou Yetongnon, XS3: A System for Similarity Evaluation in Multimedia-based Heterogeneous XML Repositories. Proc. of the International ACM Conference on MultiMedia (ACM MM’08) demo sessions, Canada, 2008, pp. 1019-1020  Manuscript in pdf

Invited Presentations

1. Invited talk at BMW Group Logistics Department, Robotics and Knowledge Engineering teams, title: LAU-BMW Group Collaboration: A Success Story since 2018. Munich, Germany, Nov. 9, 2022
2. Invited talk in AI Connect Workshop in Prague, Czech Republic, organized by the US State Department and the Atlantic Council US think tank, title: AI Initiatives in Lebanon (www.atlanticcouncil.org/programs/geotech-center/ai-connect/ai-connect-workshop-3) Nov.1-3, 2022
3. Invited talk in Elegant Erasmus+ workshop titled: “Enhancing IT Graduates Employability through Skills Development & Curricular Innovation”. September 23, 2020
4. Invited Talk in UN LINKS Meeting titled: Toward Smarter Libraries and Digitizing Collective Intelligence, at UN-ESCWA Beirut, on October 7 -10, 2019
5. Invited Talk in Second Arab High Level Forum on the World Summit on the Information Society (WISI) and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, titled: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence and its Impact on Sustainable Development, UN-ESCWA, Beirut, Lebanon, March 21, 2019. I was invited to give the same presentaton in LAU Outreach and Civic Engagement Soft Skills Series (SSS), Byblos, Lebanon, on Wednesday September 25^th, 2019
6. Invited Talk: innaugural speaker in United Nations (UN) Techovation Talks series (https://unite.un.org/techevents/ESCWA_artificial-intelligence-intro), titled: Artificial Intelligence : An Introduction to Learning Human Emotions Through Intelligent Data Processing, UN-ESCWA, Beirut, Lebanon, February 19^th, 2019
7. Invited Talk in Lebanon Artificial Intelligence (AI) Day, titled: Processing Human Emotions toward Social Artificial Intelligence, Beirut, Lebanon, on January 12^th, 2019. I was invited to give the same presentaton in the AI Digital Revolution and the Impact on the Economy conference organized by the Order of Engineering and Architects of Beirut, Lebanon, on February 27^th, 2019
8. Invited Talk: research seminar given in Beirut AI’s Global Startup Weekend AI (https://globalswai.co/) titled: MUSEC, a framework for Music Sentiment-based Expression and Composition, on December 1^st, 2018
9. Distinguished Lecture: presenting research activities during Fulbright Research Mission at University of Michigan, titled: XML Semantic Disambiguation, Dearborn, Michigan, USA, May 11^th 2018
10. Invited Talk in Mechanical Engineering Day organized by RHU ASME Student section, titled: Artificial Intelligence on the Forefronts of Space Exploration, duration: 1 hour, Beirut, Lebanon, April 17^th 2018
11. Invited Talk: innovation & technology seminar in LAU AI Club Special Event, titled: Explaining KNN Machine Learning in layman terms, at LAU Byblos, Lebanon, November 20^th, 2017    
12. Innovation & Technology Presentation given in LAU Artificial Intelligence Club Mixed-Culture Event titled: Automated Sentiment Analysis, duration: 30 minutes, Byblos, Lebanon, 10^th of April 2017
13. Innovation & Technology Seminar given at Lebanese Army Command and Staff College, titled: Static to Intelligent Web: A Military Creation in the Service of Global Society, duration: 1.5 hours, Fayadiyeh, Lebanon, 22nd of June 2016
14. Innovation & Technology Seminar given in LAU Astronomy Club Special Event, titled: Artificial Intelligence in Astronomy: A Small Step for AI, A Huge Leap for Mankind, duration: 2 hours, Byblos, Lebanon, 8th of February 2016    
15. Keynote speech given in the 3rd IEEE Lebanon Communications Research Day (LCRD’15), titled: Semantic to Intelligent Web Era: Building Blocks, Applications, and Current Trends, duration: 1 hour, Byblos, Lebanon, April 2015
16. Innaugural Research Seminar given in the LAU SOE Research Seminar Series, titled: SemIndex: Semantic Aware Inverted Index, duration: 30 minutes, Byblos, Lebanon, October 2014
17. Academic Presentation given in the 4^th Lebanese National Network (LNN) Leadership Camp, titled: Evolution of Sciences and the Scientific Methodology, duration: 1 hour, Harrissa, Lebanon, July 2011 

Research Projects

Coordination role:

• Project title: Semantic-Aware Indexing, Search, and Management of Big and Complex Health Data. Duration: 2 years (starting in Fall 2018). Funding: LAU and CNRS-L (National Council for Scientific Research), Lebanon. Amount of grant: 32,522,000 LBP. Team: members of LAU’s ECE and CS departments, and colleagues from the University of Pau and Adour Countries (UPPA), France, the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil, and the Antonine University (UA), Lebanon. Principal Investigator: myself. Personal Role: Project coordinator.
• Project title: Similarity-based Data Search and Exploration on the Semantic Web: Applied on Biomedical and Health Data. Reference number: NCSR_00695. Duration: 2 years (Nov. 2015 - Aug. 2017). Funding: CNRS-L (National Council for Scientific Research), Lebanon. Amount of grant: 16 million LPB. Team: members of LAU’s ECE and CS departments, and colleagues from the University of Pau and Adour Countries (UPPA), France, the University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil, the Antonine University (UA), Lebanon, and NOBATEK R&D, France. Principal Investigator: myself. Personal Role: Project coordinator.
• Project title: Easy Search and Partitioning of Visual Multimedia Data Repositories, Duration: 2 years (Jan. 2012 – Dec. 2013). Funding: C.E.D.R.E. research collaboration program co-founded by the French and Lebanese National Councils for Scientific Research (CNRS and CNRS-L). Amount of grant: 20,000 EUR. Partners: LE2I Laboratory UMR-CNRS, University of Bourgogne (UB), France, and the Faculty of Engineering, Antonine University (UPA), Lebanon, involving more than 10 researchers (from partner institutions as well as Rice University USA, and IDIAP Research Institute, Switzerland) and 20 masters and undergraduate students. Principal Investigators: Pr. Richard Chbeir from UB, and myself. Personal Role: Project coordinator of Lebanese team.

Partnership role:

• Project title: Mining, Indexing and Visualizing Big Data in Clinical Decision Support Systems, Duration: 4 years (Sept. 2017 – Sept. 2020). Funding: FAPESP (Research Foundation of the State of Sao Paulo). Amount of Grant: USD 900,000. Partners: ICMC-InCor-FMRP, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Univ. of Carnegie Mellon (UCM), USA, National Institute of Health (NIH), USA, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM), USA, Aachen Univ. (AU), Germany, Univ. College London (UCL), UK, Univ. of Pau and Adour Countries (UPPA), France, Univ. of Calgary (UC), Canada, and Lebanese American Univ. (LAU), Lebanon. Principal Investigators: Pr. Caetano Traina, Pr. Marco Gutierrez, and Pr. Paulo Marques, Personal Role: International partner from LAU.
• Project title: XML-based Geo-Climate Approximate Pattern Search and Pattern Discovery in Large Databases (XGC-Miner), Duration: 2 years (Jan. 2013 – Sept. 2014). Funding: STIC-AmSud international collaboration program, funded by the French CNRS and INRIA, the Brazilian CAPESn and the Peruvian CONCYTEC. Amount of grant: 45,450 EUR. Partners: LE2I Laboratory UMR-CNRS, University of Bourgogne (UB), France, the Institute of Computer Science and Mathematics (ICMC), University of Sao Paulo (USP), Brazil, and the San Pablo Catholic University, (UCSP), Peru. Personal Role: Member in French research team.

Awards, Fellowships, and Grants

• Promotion to the Rank of Associate Professor, Lebanese American University (LAU), 2019
• Fulbright Scholarship, Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program, United States’ Department of State, USA, 2018
• SOERC Research Summer Grant, Lebanese American University (LAU), Lebanon, 2018
• Research Project Coordinator, LAU and National Council for Scientific Research (LAU/NCSR-L), Lebanon, 2018
• Research Project Coordinator, National Council for Scientific Research (NCSR-L), Lebanon, 2015
• SOERC Research Grant, Lebanese American University (LAU), Lebanon, 2015
• SOE New Faculty Research Seed Fund, Lebanese American University (LAU), Lebanon, 2014
• Visiting Professor, LIUPPA Laboratory, University of Pau and Adour Countries (UPPA), France, 2013
• Visiting Professor, LIUPPA Laboratory, University of Pau and Adour Countries (UPPA), France, 2012
• National Assistant/Associate Professor Qualification - Ministry of Education and Research, France, 2011
• Postdoctoral Scholarship, Research Support Foundation of the State of Sao Paulo (FAPESP), Brazil, 2010
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Japan, 2010
• Postdoctoral Research Grant, Fondazione Cariplo, Italy, 2009
• Highest Honors (Summa Cum Laude), Ph.D., LE2I Laboratory UMR-CNRS, Dijon, France, 2009
• Best Paper Award, SBBD’07 - Brazilian Symposium on Databases, Joao Pessoa, Brazil, 2007
• PhD Graduate Fellowship, Ministry of Education and Research, France, 2007
• Research Masters Scholarship, AUF - International French Universities Agency, Beirut, Lebanon, 2006
• Honors (Distinction Very Good, Top of Class) - Research Masters (M.S.), University of Bourgogne (UB), Dijon, France, 2006
• Honors (Distinction Very Good - Top of Class) - Masters of Engineering (M.E.), Antonine University (UPA), Baabda, Lebanon, 2005

Education:

Academic Degrees

• Ph.D., Computer Science, University of Bourgogne (UB), Department of Engineering Sciences, LE2I Laboratory UMR-CNRS, Dijon, France. Awarded with Highest Honors (Summa Cum Laude). Ministry of Education and Research (France) Graduate Fellowship, 2009
• Research Masters (M.S.), Computer Science,  Instrumentation and Image Informatics, University of Bourgogne (UB), Department of Engineering Sciences, LE2I Laboratory UMR-CNRS, Dijon, France. Awarded with distinction Very Good, Top of class. AUF (Francophone Universities Agency) Scholarship, 2006.
• Masters of Engineering (M.E.) in Computer and Telecommunications, Antonine University (UPA), Faculty of Engineering, Baabda, Lebanon. Awarded with distinction Very Good, Top of class, 2005.

Post-Doctoral Missions:

• University of Michigan, Computer and Information Science department (CIS), Dearborn, USA. Subject: Similarity-based Data Search & Mining on the Semantic Web. Host Professor: William Grosky. Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program, USA. Duration: 3 months, 2018.
• University of Sao Paulo (USP), Institute of Computer Science and Mathematics, Sao Carlos, Brazil. Subject: XML Keyword-based Search and Retrieval. Host Professors: Caetano Traina Jr. and Agma J.M. Traina. FAPESP (Research Foundation of the State of Sao Paulo) Postdoctoral Scholarship, Duration: 12 months, 2010-2011.
• University of Shizuoka, Department of Science and Technology, Hamamatsu, Japan. Subject: Web Image Search Result Clustering and Organization. Host Professor: Hiroshi Ishikawa. JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science)Postdoctoral Fellowship, Duration: 3 months, 2010.
• University of Milan (UNIMI), Department of Information Technology, Crema, Italy. Subject: SOAP Security-based Multicasting. Host Professor: Ernesto Damiani. Fondazione Cariplo Postdoctoral Research Grant, Italy,  Duration: 6 months, 2009-2010 

Professional Memberships

• Member of AI Connect program, co-organized by U.S. Department of State and the Atlantic Council GeoTech Center (since 2022)
• Member of Cyber Security Systems and Applied AI Research Center (CSSAI)’s Inaugural Team of Faculty Fellows, Lebanese American University (LAU), since 2022
• Founding member of UNEKH, the United Nations ESCWA Knowledge Hub (2019-22)
• Member of Regional Knowledge and Data Hub Task Force, United Nations ESCWA, (since 2020)
• Vice-President of ACM SIGAPP French Chapter (since 2018)
• Member of IEEE (since 2010)
• Member of ACM (since 2009)  

Service Activities

Professional Service (Journal Editorship, Conference Activities):

• Track Chair of SCADE track in International MEDES Conference (2018)
• Track Chair of I-WECA track in International SITIS Conference (since 2016)
• Workshop chair of International AIAI and International ACM MEDES Conferences (2015-17)
• Tutorial chair of International ACM MEDES Conference (2013-15)
• Board member of Services Transactions on Internet of Things (STIOT) society, NY, USA
• Publicity chair of International IEEE ICWS Conference (2012-2014
• Reviewer in various international journals and conferences (since 2007): IEEE Transactions of Data and knowledge Engineering (TKDE), IEEE Transactions on Services Computing (IEEE TSC), Elsevier Information Systems (IS), Elsevier Information Sciences, Springer Knowledge and Information Systems (KAIS), Journal of Intelligent Information Systems (JIIS), IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (TII), Elsevier Fuzzy Sets and Systems (FSS), Journal of Digital Information Management (JDIM), Multimedia Tools and Applications (MATP), Inter. Journal of Computational Intelligence Research (IJCIR), Inter. Journal of Business Intelligence and Data Mining (IJBIDM), International Journal of Web Information Systems (IJWIS), Journal of Information Assurance and Security (JIAS), and Springer Computing journal, among others.
• Member of technical program committee of various international conferences: IEEE ICWS (since 2013), CLOSER (since 2013), ACM MEDES (since 2009), SITIS (since 2009), CLOUD (since 2015), SISAP (since 2014), IARIA ICDS (since 2013), FSDM (since 2017), ICIT 2017, ICCCI 2018, DAMI 2015-16,  CIKM PIKM 2015, LATA 2014, DEBS 2011, CLOUD 2010, OTM DOA-SVI 2010, ICDIM 2007-08, WISE 2014, WWW 2014, and iiWAS 2014 among others.

School Service (last 5 years):

University Service (last 5 years)

Initiatives and Special Events:

Intermin Assistant Dean Activities:

Outreach and Orientation activities:

I have also regularly given orientation lectures and participated in the evaluation committees of various national engineering orientation and competition events, including You@LAU Carrier Exploration Day 2018-19, BLOM Chabeb Carrier Fair 2015-17, UNICEF Lebanon Youth Lab Program 2016, Ericson Wireless Course 2015, and INTEL International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) 2014.

Student Supervision

Ph.D. Theses:

1. Anthony Yaghi, University of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté (UBFC), France, PhD title: Leveraging Deep Learning Techniques for an Efficient Multiple Evaluation System, Principal supervisor: Raphael Couturier (UBFC, France). Co-supervisor: Joe Tekli. PhD start date: Nov. 2022, expected completion date: Dec. 2025 (ongoing). Amount of Supervision: 70%.
2. Faisal Shazad, University of Pau and Adour Countries (UPPA), France, PhD title: Data Deduplication in Connected Environments, Principal supervisor: Richard Chbeir, (UPPA, France), Co-supervisors: Elio Mansour (UPPA, France) and Joe Tekli (LAU, Lebanon). PhD start date: Nov. 2018; expected completion date: Dec. 2021. Amount of supervision: 40%.
3. Minale Ashagrie, University of Pau and Adour Countries (UPPA), France – Addis Ababa University (AAU), Ethiopia, Ph.D. title: Collective Knowledge Management in Distributed Multimedia Systems, Co-supervisor (30%), with Pr. Richard Cheir (UPPA), Dr. Fekade Getahun (UAA), and Dr. Gilbert Tekli (UPPA). Started in 2012, and expected to defend in December 2017, and defended in February 2018
4. Regina Herrera, University of Pau and Adour Countries (UPPA), France – Catholic University of San Pablo (UCSP), Peru, Ph.D. title: RDF Syntactic and Semantic Normalization, Co-supervisor (50%), with Pr. Richard Chbeir (UPPA) and Dr. Sebastien Laborie (UPPA). Started in 2011, and defended in July 2016

M.S. Theses:

1. Rayan Al Sobahi, Low Light Image Enhancement and Labelling, Started in Fall 2019, due in 2020
2. Angela Moufarrej, Intelligent EHR Visualization, LAU, Stated in Spring 2018, due in 2019
3. George Salloum, Nutrition Assessment, Monitoring, and Meal Plan Generation, LAU, 2019
4. Nathalie Charbel, XML Semantic Disambiguation, University of Bourgogne (UB), France, 2012
5. Antoine Abou Rjeily, RDF Instance Semantic Matching, Univ. of Bourgogne (UB), France, 2012
6. Khouloud Sameleh, XML-based Image Annotation, Antonine University (UA), Lebanon, 2012
7. Manami Harazaji, Scalable XML Document Generation, University of Shizuoka, Japan, 2010
8. Beddy Mohamed, XML Comparison using Path-based Similarity, Univ. of Shizuoka, Japan 2010
9. Tsugutoshi Aoshima, Similarity-based Twitter Msg. Organization, Univ. of Shizuoka, Japan, 2010

Undergraduate Research Projects & Assistantships:

1. Charbel Bou Maroun, Evolutionary Single Shot Tokenized Generative Adversarial Network, 2023
2. George Daou, Finding Faults in Autonomous Robot Control Software Using Unity Simulations, 2023
3. Carla Ghanem, Data Deduplication Decision Maker in Connected Environments, 2022
4. Khaled Baghdadi, Image Deduplication in Connected Environments, 2022
5. Rami Naffah, Survey of Knowledge-Based Recommender Systems: Challenges and Directions, 2022
6. Roland Salloum, A Short Survey On Action Recognition In Sports, 2022
7. Anis Ismail, Planning Chemical Syntheses with Deep Neural Networks and Symbolic AI, 2021
8. Hala Saadeh, Thematic Exploration of Textual Data using Cluster-based Structure Indexing, 2021
9. Farah El Akhoum, Similarity-based Unsupervised Web Vector Graphics Semantization, 2021
10. Michel Abboud, Unstructured Text Search and Mining using Hierarchical Clustering, 2021
11. Sylvana Yakhni, Data Dedupliucation in Connected Environments, 2021
12. Hussein Maziad, Pre-processing Techniques for End-to-end RNN-based Conversational AI, 2020
13. Joseph El Chakar, Depthwise Separable Convolutions & Variational Dropout in YOLOv3, 2020
14. Abdelkader Fattouh, Mirrord Dendrograms Data Visualization Tool, 2020
15. Heba Harb and Hamza Noueihed, 3-D Visual Simulator of a Semantic Sensor Network, 2019
16. Joseph Atiyeh and Clara Akiki, Unsupervised Region-based Image Annotation, Summer-Fall 2019
17. Sarkis Sarkissian, Knowledge Elicitation from UN Resolutions, Summer-Fall 2019
18. Agapius Bou Ghosn, Semantic-aware Indexing of Semi-structured data, Summer-Fall 2019
19. Jad Saba, Frequency-based Distributional Thesaurus Creation. Summer-Fall 2019
20. Hagop Jamkojian, Automated Social Image Annotation. Summer 2017
21. George Salloum, Personal Health Assessment and Nutrition Recommendation. Summer 2017
22. Ralph Abboud, Music Sentiment-based Composition. Summer 2016
23. Christian Kallas, A Prototype for Semantic Querying and Evaluation of Textual Data. Summ. 2016
24. Issa Ayoub, Personalized Social Image   Management & Querying. Summer 2016
25. Mireille Fares, Unsupervised Sentiment and Affect Analysis of Textual Data. Summer 2016
26. Marc Al Assad, Optimizing the Design & Implementation of SemIndex. Fall and Spring 2015