Welcome to our new Live Event, part of Webinar Series Co moderated by IEEE R8 Action for industry committee and IEEE R8 Section industry Ambassador.
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Guest Speakers:
Michel Haddad is the General Manager – Measurement Solutions Business Unit, Multilane Inc., Houmal, Lebanon. Michel is a growth-driven executive with over 30 years of experience leading high-performing organizations in the technology sector. Known for his visionary leadership and hands-on execution, he has played a pivotal role in building businesses through strategy, innovation, and team development. Michel is currently the General Manager of the Measurement Solution Business Unit at MultiLane, where he continues to drive innovation and growth. Prior to joining MultiLane, he held a leadership role in Space Technology at Tonumus/NEOM in Saudi Arabia and served in various positions at National Instruments (1990–2019). As Managing Director at NI, he led the company’s expansion across the MEA region. In addition, his earlier experience in R&D—as Director of Technology and Section Manager—involved leading teams to develop flexible and competitive product architectures. Michel holds a Master’s degree from MIT and a Bachelor’s degree from George Washington University, where he graduated summa cum laude. He has received multiple awards and holds several patents.
Title of talk: Collaborating for Impact: Successful Industry-Academia Partnerships in Tech
Prof. Sandy Rihana is the Director of the Technology Transfer Office and Head of the Biomedical Engineering Department at the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Lebanon. A Fulbright Scholar at the University of South Florida (USF) and member of the WHO Scientific and Technical Advisory Group on Medical Devices (STAG-MEDEV) since October 2022, she is an expert in digital health, and AI-driven personalized medicine. Prof. Rihana leads USEK’s efforts in technology transfer, IP management, and industry collaboration, with a mission to translate academic research into impactful solutions. She works closely with startups, companies and international organizations to strengthen innovation ecosystems and advance responsible, real-world technologies.
Title of talk: Collaborate, transfer, Innovate!
Moderators:
Walid Karam
industry ambassador . IEEE Lebanon Section
IEEE Senior Member
Mohammad Galal Khafagy
Mohammad Galal Khafagy (S’06–M’15–SM’17) is currently a Radio Strategy & Design Sr. Tech. Lead at Vodafone Egypt, as well as a part-time research scientist at the American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt. Prior to joining Vodafone, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden, from May 2018 to May 2019. Also, from Dec. 2016 to Apr. 2018, he was affiliated with Qatar University as a postdoctoral researcher. He received the Ph.D. degree from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Makkah, Saudi Arabia, in 2016, the M.Sc. degree in wireless communications from the School of CIT, Nile University, Egypt, in 2011, and the B.Sc. degree in electrical engineering from the Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Egypt, in 2009. His team and himself recently won the Vodafone Egypt 2025 Hackfest Business Growth Award, qualifying for the Vodacom Group finals. He also recently received, as a member of the winning team, the Vodacom CEO Innovation Award 2023, as well as a Vodafone Egypt Top Performer for the years 2022-2023 and 2023-2024. Mohammad co-authored around 20 conference and journal papers, in addition to a filed GB patent. His current research and development interests focus more on applied topics such as machine-learning-aided communication systems (like in Open Radio Access Networks), while he also pursues fundamental research on intelligent reflecting surfaces, multiple-antenna techniques, relay-aided communication, performance analysis and protocol design over fading channels, buffer-aided cooperation, and statistical signal processing for communications. He is a long-term IEEE member, and has volunteered since 2007 as a student, young professional, and later as the 2022-2023 IEEE Egypt Section Industry Ambassador. Currently, He is serving as a committee member of IEEE Region 8 Action for Industry. He is also a reviewer in IEEE Transactions on Communications, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology and IEEE Communications Letters.
