Research interests

Main research area: Semi-Structured, Semantic, and Multimedia Data Processing. Techniques: Web and Multimedia Data Representation; Structural and Semantic Similarity using Knowledge Bases and Corpus Statistics; Semantic Analysis & Disambiguation; Clustering & Classification; Search and Retrieval; Generative models; and Fuzzy models.  Applications:  Web Image Clustering & Retrieval; Image Search Result Organization; Image Enhancement; Sentiment and Affect Analysis; and Synthetic Data Generation.
Other research Interests: Image Accessibility for Visually Impaired Users.

Short Bio

Joe Tekli is Professor of Computer Engineering, and Assistant Provost for Strategic Planning and Partnerships at the Lebanese American University (LAU). Obtaining his Ph.D. from the University of Bourgogne, LE2I UMR-CNRS, France (2009), he has completed research missions at top institutions worldwide, including the universities of Michigan - USA, São Paulo - Brazil, Shizuoka-Japan, and Milan-Italy. His expertise spans intelligent data processing, data mining, and information retrieval on the Web, with over 94 peer-reviewed publications and leadership in international research projects, earning a spot in the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List in 2024. As Director of the InMind.Academy program in collaboration with BMW Group – Germany (2022-), as Vice Chair of ACM SIGAPP - France, as an expert consultant for UN-ESCWA and UNICEF (2019-), and as a member of the US Atlantic Councils’ AI Connect initiative (2022-), he contributes to AI innovation in academia and industry.

Professional Publications

1. Mohamed A., Thomson J., Tekli J., Tarabay K., and Nammour G., Sustainable Digitalization and the Triple Planetary Crisis in West Asia, United National Environment Program (UNEP) Report, https://doi.org/10.59117/20.500.11822/43115, 2023

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. Anis Ismail, Brigette Wex, and Joe Tekli, Automating Deep Learning-based Generation and Evaluation of De Novo Chemical Reaction with ChemRxnSAGE. ACS Journal of Chemical Information and Modelling, https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jcim.5c016922025. Manuscript in pdf
2. Anthony Yaghi, Joe Tekli, Marc Kamradt, and Raphael Couturier, 3DGENie: Synthetic Point Clouds for Semantic Segmentation in Realistic Virtual Environments. Springer Multimedia Tools and Applications https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11042-025-20973-1, 2025. Manuscript in pdf
3. Angela Moufarrej, Abdelkader Fatouh, and Joe Tekli, Mirrored Dendrograms: an Unsupervised Semi-structured and Feature-based Interactive Data Visualization Tool. Accepted in Springer Multimedia Tools and Applications  (to appear), 2025. Manuscript in pdf
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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 
12. 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
13. 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  
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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
26. Joe Tekli and Richard Chbeir, Minimizing User Effort in XML Grammar Matching. In Elsevier Information Sciences Journal, 210: 1-40, 2012. Manuscript in pdf
27. 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
28. 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
29. 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
30. 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. Michel Abboud**, Charbel Aoun, and Joe Tekli, Unsupervised Dendrogram Text Index and Search using Hierarchical Clustering, IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Computing (ICETC’25), Brest, France (accepted, to appear), 2025. Awarded Best Paper Award. Manuscript in pdf
2. Charbel Bou Maroun**, George Daou**, Charbel Aoun, and Joe Tekli, Evolutionary Single Shot Tokenized GAN for Simulation Environment Generation and Fault Detection, IEEE International Conference on Emerging Technologies and Computing (ICETC’25), Brest, France (accepted, to appear), 2025. Manuscript in pdf
3. Anthony Yaghi, Joe Tekli, Marc Kamradt, Raphael Couturier, Charbel Bou Maroun, Elio Hanna, and Angelo Yaghi. Procedural 3D point cloud generation pipeline for the industrial digital twin. Services Society International Conference on the Metaverse (METAVERSE’25), Hong Kong, China, https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-032-06323-6_2, 2025. Manuscript in pdf
4. Sara Karam**, Ralph Aouad**, Joseph Attieh, and Joe Tekli, Mitigating the Capacity Gap in Knowledge Distillation via Iterative Tutoring. ACS/IEEE 22nd International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA’25), 2025, Doha, Qatar (accepted, to appear). Manuscript in pdf
5. Hala Saadeh** and Joe Tekli, Hierarchical Indexing for Interactive Zooming of Document Clusters, 25^th Inter. conference on Web Intelligent Systems Engineering (WISE’24), 286-303, Doha, Qatar, 2024.  Manuscript in pdf
6. Angela Moufarrej*, Abdulkader Fatouh**, and Joe Tekli, Unsupervised and Dynamic Dendrogram-based Visualization of Medical Data, 25^th International conference on Web Intelligent Systems Engineering (WISE’24), 286-303, pp. 421-439 Doha, Qatar, 2024. Manuscript in pdf
7. 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
8. 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
9. 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
10. 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
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. 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
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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
23. 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
24. 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
25. 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
26. 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
27. 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
28. 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
29. 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
30. 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
31. 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
32. 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
33. 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
34. 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
35. 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
36. 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
37. 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
38. 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
39. 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
40. 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

Magazines:

1. Sherif G. Aly, Karima Echihabi, Seif Eldawlatly, Khaled Shuaib, Joe Tekli, Computer Science Education Facing Unconventional Odds: Case Studies from the Arab World. ACM Inroads, 15(1): 6-17 2024. Manuscript in pdf
2. Slim Abdennadher, Sherif G. Aly^C, Joe Tekli, and Karima Echihabi, Unleashing Early Maturity Academic Innovations, Communications of the ACM, 64(4):102-107, 2021. 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 in American Society for Mechanical Engneering - ASME EFx event titled: Artificial Intelligence on the Forefronts of Aviation, organized at Notre Dame University (NDU), Louayze, Lebanon, March 22^nd, 2025.
2. Invited talk by LAU’s Outreach and Civic Engagement office (OCE) in OCE-HESI workshop on AI and Education: Transforming  Learning through Artificial Intelligence, titled: Evolution of Science – From Antiquity to the Modern Era, September 4^th (LAU Byblos) and September 10^th (LAU Beirut), 2024.
3. Invited talk in the International Research & Innovation Centre on Digital Intelligent Systems 2024 workshop, gathering experts in computer science research and academia from France, Germany and Italy. Title of Talk: Bridging the Digitalization Education-to-Industry Gap in Lebanon to Serve the Global Ecosystem (Biarritz, France). May 14, 2024.
4. Invited talk by Mr. Joseph Khalife, Music Composer and Senior Instructor of Music at LAU, as an invited speaker in his liberal arts course, titled: Computer-based Music Generation: Challenges and Opportunities, LAU Byblos campus Selina Korban Amphitheator, February 26^th 2024
5. Invited talk in American Society for Mechanical Engneering - ASME EFx International. Title of talk: Artificial Intelligence on the Forefronts of Space Exploration, Virtual (online), September 21^st, 2024.
6. Educational session interview on Computational Health Informatics and its Impact on Healthcare. Educational Workshop on Pre-clinical Healthcare Students’ Resistance towards AI, organized by Dr. Carmel Bouclaous, Social Medicine Discipline Coordinator and Executive Chief Proctor for LAU National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), LAU Byblos campus Bloc-A Recording Studio, December 6^th 2023
7. Invited talk by LAU’s Outreach and Civic Engagement office (OCE) in OCE-HESI workshop on AI and Education: Transforming  Learning through Artificial Intelligence, titled: Toward AI/XR-enabled Libraries for Smart and Immersive Learning, September 11^th (LAU Byblos) and September 12^th (LAU Beirut), 2023,
8. Invited talk in AI Connect Webinar #15, organized by the US State Department and the Atlantic Council US think tank, titled: Pursuing AI Initiatives in Lebanon: National Training Academy, Industry, and Startups, online, July 27^th, 2023
9. 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
10. 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
11. Invited talk in Elegant Erasmus+ workshop titled: “Enhancing IT Graduates Employability through Skills Development & Curricular Innovation”. September 23, 2020
12. Invited Talk in UN LINKS Meeting titled: Toward Smarter Libraries and Digitizing Collective Intelligence, at UN-ESCWA Beirut, on October 7 -10, 2019
13. 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
14. 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
15. 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
16. 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
17. Distinguished Lecture: presenting research activities during Fulbright Research Mission at University of Michigan, titled: XML Semantic Disambiguation, Dearborn, Michigan, USA, May 11^th 2018
18. 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
19. 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    
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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    
23. 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
24. Innaugural Research Seminar given in the LAU SOE Research Seminar Series, titled: SemIndex: Semantic Aware Inverted Index, duration: 30 minutes, Byblos, Lebanon, October 2014
25. 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: VisionHub: fully-modular computer vision pipeline for multi-stream data. Duration: 6 months (Innovation Program Component 1: October 2025–Nov. 2025, and  Innovation Program Component 2: October 2025-January 2026). Funding: EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). Amount of grant: 48,000 euros (in two consecutive phases). Industry collaborator: InMind .ai, SARL, including a team of 3 senior engineering students funded by the company. Principal Investigator: myself. Personal Role: Lead researcher. Short
• Project title: Intelligent Digital Twins for Optimal Performance of IoT. Duration: 6 months (Innovation Program Component 1:  April 2024 – May 2025, and  Innovation Program Component 2: March 2025 - June 2025). Funding: EBRD (European Bank for Reconstruction and Development). Amount of grant: 48,000 euros (in two consecutive phases). Industry collaborator: SmartSoft, SARL, including a team of 2 PhD students funded by the company. Principal Investigator: myself. Personal Role: Lead researcher. 
• 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: Intelligent Management of Multimodal Health Data for Decision-Making in Big Data Scenarios - IHealth-MD. Duration: 4 years (Sept. 2025 – Sept. 2029). Funding: FAPESP (Research Foundation of the State of Sao Paulo). Amount of Grant: USD 900,000. Partners: Univ. 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 (UPPA), France, Univ. of Calgary (UC), Canada, and Lebanese American Univ. (LAU), Lebanon. Principal Investigators: Pr. Agma Traina, Pr. Marco Gutierrez, and Pr. Paulo Marques, Personal Role: International partner from LAU.
• 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

• Best Paper Award, IEEE International ICETC’25 Conference, Brest, France, 2025
• Applied Research Project Coordinator, EBRD-LAU-InMind .ai, European Union, 2025
• Promotion to the Rank of Full Professor, Lebanese American University (LAU), 2025
• Applied Research Project Coordinator, EBRD-SmartSoft, European Union, 2024
• Granted Tenure, Lebanese American University (LAU), 2022
• 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):

• Program Chair of 28^th European Conference on Advances in Databases and Information Systems (ADBIS), 2024, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-70626-4
• Associate Editor of Springer Knowledge and Information Systems journal (Springer KAIS - top 10 in data mining), (since 2022)
• Guest Editor of Springer World Wide Web journal (Spring WWW - top 15 in databases), special issue for select papers from MEDES’23 and IDEAS’23 international conferences (2024)
• Program Chair of 15^th International Conference on Management of Digital EcoSystems (MEDES) 2023, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-51643-6
• Track Chair of SCADE track in International MEDES Conference (2018)
• Track Chair of I-WECA track in International SITIS Conference (2016-2018)
• 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.

Select Recent School Service (last 5 years):

Select Recent University Service (last 5 years)

Initiatives and Special Events:

Industry Partnerships and Collaborations

• Since Spring 2017, initiating and coordinating a collaboration between LAU and BMW Group, offering select students internships at the company’s seat in Munich, and promoting collaborative projects between both institutions. Since its start, more than 125 distinguished students have conducted their internships in Munich. The collaboration has been expanded to Idealworks, a spinoff BMW Group specializing in robotics and virtualization solutions for logistics automation.
• Select interns have been offered opportunities to conduct research projects in co-supervision with their BMW supervisors. One Ph.D. grant has been awarded to LAU graduate student Anthony Yaghi, co-supervised by Dr. Joe Tekli. Two more Ph.D. positions are in the making, to be launched in 2025-26 under the academic supervision of Dr. Tekli.
• To create a more sustainable and collaborative industry-academia ecosystem, I co-founded and I am serving as Director of the InMind Academy, a non-profit professional training program led by LAU in collaboration with BMW Group, Idealworks, InMind .ai, and Palantir Technologies since Summer 2022. Funded by the industry partners, the academy offers two-month hands-on trainings to university students, before they are evaluated and selected to do their internships in Munich.

Stratup Initiatives

• Since 2022, serving as lead scientific advisor to the FitChain LAU startup, founded my LAU alumni and winner of the LAU SPARK competition in 2022. Purpose of FitChain: using Computer Vision technology to detect and track basketball player statistics, and match players having similar skills.
• Since Fall 2022, I have motivated two teams of top senior LAU students to found their own startups:
  • Barnard Reality Labs: winner (1^st runner up) of the LAU Shark Tank competition in 2023, developping an Augmented Reality and Data Processing based solution to reduce clutter in the Operating Room (OR) and extend medical education outside of the OR.
  • SpecAI: Using Computer Vision to detect & report car damage following car accidents or rental.

Student Mentoring through VIP+

Since its inception at LAU in Fall 2021, in collaboration with Georgia Tech, USA, I have participated in the Vertically Integrated Project (VIP+) program, offering six consecutive iterations of the VIP courses revolving around computer vision, machine learning, and robotics applications. VIP aims at providing undergraduate students with a professional training experience spanning multiple courses offered across multiple semesters, working on practical industry oriented projects.

Special Events

Entrepreneurship and Consulting Activities

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 Bateh, Supervised Style Transfer of Point Clouds using Quantum Computer Vision, 2025
2. Kevin Aoun, 3D Point Cloud Compression using Quantum Computer Vision, 2025
3. Mohamad Kalaoun, Modular and Self-Reconfigurable Programmable Matter, 2025
4. Amir Amine, Autoencoder-based Music Feature Engineering to Perform Music Generation, 2024
5. Ali Zayat, Performing Music Generation using Stable Diffusion, 2024
6. Paul El Khouba, Generative Evo-Devo Pipeline for Emotion-based Music Composition, 2024
7. Ralph Aouad, LLM Knowledge Distillation through Task Specific Teacher Prompting, 2024
8. Sara Karam, Mitigating the Capacity Gap in Knowledge Distillation via Iterative Tutoring, 2024
9. Charbel Bou Maroun, Evolutionary Single Shot Tokenized Generative Adversarial Network, 2023
10. George Daou, Finding Faults in Autonomous Robot Control Software Using Unity Simulations, 2023
11. Carla Ghanem, Data Deduplication Decision Maker in Connected Environments, 2022
12. Khaled Baghdadi, Image Deduplication in Connected Environments, 2022
13. Rami Naffah, Survey of Knowledge-Based Recommender Systems: Challenges and Directions, 2022
14. Roland Salloum, A Short Survey On Action Recognition In Sports, 2022
15. Anis Ismail, Planning Chemical Syntheses with Deep Neural Networks and Symbolic AI, 2021
16. Hala Saadeh, Thematic Exploration of Textual Data using Cluster-based Structure Indexing, 2021
17. Farah El Akhoum, Similarity-based Unsupervised Web Vector Graphics Semantization, 2021
18. Michel Abboud, Unstructured Text Search and Mining using Hierarchical Clustering, 2021
19. Sylvana Yakhni, Data Dedupliucation in Connected Environments, 2021
20. Hussein Maziad, Pre-processing Techniques for End-to-end RNN-based Conversational AI, 2020
21. Joseph El Chakar, Depthwise Separable Convolutions & Variational Dropout in YOLOv3, 2020
22. Abdelkader Fattouh, Mirrord Dendrograms Data Visualization Tool, 2020
23. Heba Harb and Hamza Noueihed, 3-D Visual Simulator of a Semantic Sensor Network, 2019
24. Joseph Atiyeh and Clara Akiki, Unsupervised Region-based Image Annotation, Summer-Fall 2019
25. Sarkis Sarkissian, Knowledge Elicitation from UN Resolutions, Summer-Fall 2019
26. Agapius Bou Ghosn, Semantic-aware Indexing of Semi-structured data, Summer-Fall 2019
27. Jad Saba, Frequency-based Distributional Thesaurus Creation. Summer-Fall 2019
28. Hagop Jamkojian, Automated Social Image Annotation. Summer 2017
29. George Salloum, Personal Health Assessment and Nutrition Recommendation. Summer 2017
30. Ralph Abboud, Music Sentiment-based Composition. Summer 2016
31. Christian Kallas, A Prototype for Semantic Querying and Evaluation of Textual Data. Summ. 2016
32. Issa Ayoub, Personalized Social Image   Management & Querying. Summer 2016
33. Mireille Fares, Unsupervised Sentiment and Affect Analysis of Textual Data. Summer 2016
34. Marc Al Assad, Optimizing the Design & Implementation of SemIndex. Fall and Spring 2015