Short Biography

Dr. Feras Al-Dirini joined the Electrical Engineering Department at KFUPM in September 2017, as an Assistant Professor, coming from the University of Melbourne in Australia, where he was working in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department since 2015. Dr. Al-Dirini completed the PhD degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University of Melbourne - Australia in 2015 and the B.Sc. degree in Electronics Engineering at Princess Sumaya University for Technology - Jordan, with the highest honors, in 2011. In 2009 and 2010, he was an exchange student at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign - USA, and in the summer of 2009, he was a Research Intern with the Institute for Microsystems Technology, Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg - Germany. His research interests are in the fields of Nano electronics and Nanotechnology, within which he has published 15 peer-reviewed journal articles and 12 conference papers, including an invited paper. Dr. Al-Dirini was a recipient of the Australian Postgraduate Award and the National ICT Australia Ph.D. Top-Up Scholarship from 2011 to 2015. He is a member of the IEEE and a member of the Australian Nanotechnology Network.

Education

Ph.D. Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
  The University of Melbourne (UniMelb)
  Melbourne, VIC, Australia
   2015 (Nominated to the Vice-Chancellor’s Prize for Best PhD Thesis in 2015)
   Thesis Title: Planar Nanoelectronic Devices and Biosensors Using 2D Nanomaterials

B.Sc. Electronics Engineering
  Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT)
  Amman, Jordan
   2011 (Highest Honours), Class Rank: 1/48
   Thesis Title: Low Power Passive RFID Transponder Design for Implantable Biosensing

Exchange Program Electrical and Computer Engineering
  University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC)
  Urbana, IL, USA
   2010 (Dean’s Honor List)

Professional Experience

Sep 2017 - Present: Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, King Fahd University of Pertroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia

Feb 2014 - Aug 2017: Lecturer, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Australia

May 2015 - May 2017: Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for Neural Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Feb 2012 - Apr 2015: Research Assistant, Centre for Neural Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Jul 2012 - Jan 2014: Lab Demonstrator and Tutor, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Jun 2009 - Aug 2009: Research Intern, Institute for Microsystems Technology, Tehcnical University of Hamburg (TUHH), Germany

Scholarships & Nominations

• National ICT Australia PhD Top Up Scholarship, National ICT Australia
  A top-up scholarship providing a supplementary stipend and research project funding

• Australian Postgraduate Award, The University of Melbourne
  A prestigious scholarship covering all expenses for PhD study and providing a stipend

• Princess Sumaya Outstanding Student Scholarship, HRH Princess Sumaya Bint Hasan
  A prestigious scholarship covering the entire tuition fees for undergraduate studies

• Nominated to Award for Teaching Excellence, Melbourne School of Engineering
  Nominated by the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Dept. at the University of Melbourne for excellence in teaching Analog Electronics (a Master’s level subject)

• Nominated to IEEE Electron Devices Society (EDS) PhD Fellowship, IEEE EDS
  Nominated by Prof. Stan Skafidas, Prof. Thas Nirmalathas and Prof. Christina Lim.

Honours & Awards

• University Medal, Princess Sumaya University for Technology Ranked 1st in the graduating class of Fall 2011 (48 students)

• First Rank – Engineering Honor List, Princess Sumaya University for Technology Topped the PSUT engineering honor list for three consecutive years

• Dean’s Honor List, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Was included on the dean’s honor list for obtaining a high GPA

• Winner – Health Theme, National Technology Parade, Jordan Best graduation project across all Jordanian universities in the health theme

• IEEE Darrel Chong Student Activity Award, IEEE Region 8 Awarded for founding and leading the IEEE Middle East Student Branch Congress (ME-SBC) Initiative and organizing it for the first time in 2009.

• IEEE Regional Exemplary Student Branch Award, IEEE Region 8 Awarded for leading exemplary IEEE student branch operations at IEEE PSUT student branch, which resulted in increasing the number of members 10 folds (500 members)

• High Achiever Award, Edexcel International and British Council in Amman Awarded for ranking first across all A-Level examinees in Jordan ( > 1000 students)