Teaching Statement & Experience

Teaching was always a priority and a strategic objective of mine when I was at Schlumberger and when I became a faculty member at KFUPM. When I was at Schlumberger, I used to annually teach a course at KFUPM and supervise one capstone design senior project. I have a very deep passion for teaching and mentoring students who will one day be the future engineers and industrial leaders of KSA. My Ph.D and Schlumberger experiences were a strong influence in making me a strong believer in teaching multidisciplinary subjects and using real cases and data in education. I consider as a must experiential learning approaches, which require engaging professionals from various specializations within the university and industry.

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From the very first moment I started teaching as a Graduate Assistant until now, I have always enjoyed giving students extra time. I generally do this through problem sessions, MATLAB exercises and demos, or highlighting applications that relate to some of the job markets within KSA, with particular emphasis on oil and gas applications. Examples include analyzing a seismic geophone as a system for the Signals and Systems students, the notch filter to attenuate the power transmission line 60 Hz harmonics from seismic data acquired nearby them for the Digital Signal Processing students, and so on. To educate myself more on teaching, I have been reading many books related to undergraduate education and reformation of higher education programs. Also, I have attended many seminars delivered by Deanship of Academic Development, KFUPM, related to teaching and learning enhancement methodologies.

Despite being continuously involved for the past 11 years in demanding administrative workload that consumed more than 80-90% of my time, I taught many undergraduate and graduate courses at KFUPM.  At the same time, I was able to establish and introduce a new undergraduate special topics course in the EE department titled "EE499: Geophysical Signal Processing". The course mainly covers the Signal Processing aspects of Seismic Data Processing. This was among the very few multidisciplinary courses in the department and across the University. The course engaged two colleagues from two different colleges, namely, Engineering Sciences and College of Petroleum and Geosciences. This course, which I have introduced, has been on the course registration roster at KFUPM for 9 years. It was also at the forefront of multi-disciplinary academic courses of its kind worldwide. The course was extended to the Ph.D. level and I taught it as well in "EE669- Special Topics in Signal Processing: Geo-Signal Processing". The importance of this course was acknowledged by an authority in the field of education: the IEEE Transaction on Education. Both the undergraduate and graduate version experiences were described in an IEEE Transaction on Education paper, which I have published, with the department and university names in the paper title. More recently, the EE499: Geophysical Signal Processing course has became a standalone course and is listed among the technical electives for our students in the recently approved EE undergraduate program, namely, EE 408 - Exploration Seismic Signal Processing.

In addition to the above course, I have developed, with the help of two colleagues, who are experts in the area (one from Earth Sciences department and one from Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world, Data Processing Center) another course titled "Digital Image Processing for Seismic Data Analysis". The course was offered in term 141 as a special topic. It focuses on Seismic Data Interpretation using Image Processing techniques and algorithms (Seismic Interpretation is the component that proceeds Seismic Data Processing). This course also became among the listed technical electives for our students in the recently approved EE undergraduate program, namely, EE 409 - Image Processing for Seismic Interpretation.

All of these courses that I have established and introduced included:

1. Students working on real seismic data,
2. Field trip visits to learn about seismic data acquisition, and
3. Visits to Saudi Aramco Data Processing Center and CGG Veritas (a famous seismic acquisition and processing company) to engage them with data processing and interpretation experts.

This experiential form of education is relatively new to the EE department, as this interactive education experience allowed the students to see for themselves how Oil and Oil Service Companies deal with seismic data. The students expressed their interest and appreciating of this experience in an excellent evaluation of the courses that averaged was more than 9 out of 10.

The above focused, single-minded and determined academic-teaching efforts yielded several books, a journal publication, a conference tutorial and a few conference papers in prestigious publishing houses and distinguished scientific gathering of world-renowned experts in geosciences and oil industry. KFUPM's name had a visible and impactful presence in these distinguished avenues of knowledge. These activities and publications are listed below and at various sections in this file:

1. A single authored text-book that was published in January 2020, with Cambridge University Press, where this book is specifically tailored as a text-book for Seismic Signal Processing undergraduate and graduate courses like EE408: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/advanced-digital-signal-processing-of-seismic-data/D1DC3A6A47A02888325F0F72092E29F9

2. A text-book with J. Wiley & Sons co-authored with colleagues from the Earth Sciences Department, KFUPM, and a researcher from Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world. The book is titled: "Digital Image Processing for Seismic Data Analysis", and was published in August 2017: http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1118881788.html. This is specifically tailored as a text-book for Seismic Interpretation undergraduate and graduate courses like EE409.

3. A book with Morgan and Claypool Publishers co-authored with an Earth Sciences Department colleague at KFUPM titled "Processing Reflection Seismic Data using MATLAB^TM". The book aims to attract engineering students and interested researchers from engineering to work on real seismic data sets using a popular programming tool like MALTAB. This will be used for the course projects and computer assignments &/or lab experiments. In addition, 2552 copies have been sold up to the date of this dossier, according to the publisher's website: https://www.morganclaypool.com/action/showMostReadArticles?journalCode=spr Also, the book was very well received by many experts. I quote a statement regarding this book from an email that I received from Professor Clifford Thurber, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor of Geophysics, Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison "I want to thank you for producing such a useful book for reflection seismic processing.  I am an earthquake seismologist teaching an applied geophysics class and your book and associated codes and data completely change the way I can teach our students."

4. A published journal paper in one of the prestigious journals on engineering education, namely, the IEEE Transactions on Education, which resulted in receiving a letter of appreciation from H.E. KFUPM Rector due to the paper's contributions.

5. Two conference papers in the Proceedings of the 6^thIEEE Signal Processing Education Workshop and in the 74^th European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers Meeting.

6. A co-authored book that is under preparation and will be published, with J. Wiley & Sons (the contract is signed), where this book is specifically tailored as a text-book on the subject of Compressive Sensing for Seismic Data Analysis for graduate courses.

7. A co-presented tutorial an Earth Sciences Department colleague titled "Seismic Signal Processing" during the International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP'13), Vancouver, Canada, May 26, 2013, which is considered the flagship conference on Signal Processing. https://www2.securecms.com/ICASSP2013/Tutorial_04.asp 

I can confidently say that the collaboration between KFUPM and Georgia Tech (GT), which has been ongoing for 8 academic years, is, to a great extent, a result of my effort in promoting the area of Seismic Signal and Data Processing.  Probably its most important outcome is the development of in-house expert personnel that would supply the needs of the EE department in this area.  For example, two Ph.D students that were pursuing their degrees in this specific area in mutual research projects between EE department at KFUPM and ECE in GT have finished their graduate work  and are back in the EE department at KFUPM; they are the perfect fit to teach the courses in the area of geosciences & DSP.  In fact, influenced by my effort to promote the multidisciplinary approach to geosciences and DSP, some of my respected professors, who taught me courses at the undergraduate and M.Sc. levels  have started working in the area (see: http://www.kfupm.edu.sa/departments/ee/Pages/en/EE-Collaboration-with-GIT.aspx and https://cegp.ece.gatech.edu/).

On a side note, I have co-prepared the Lab Manual for the Communication Engineering course (EE370) at KFUPM. This manual lasted for 8 years (from 2003 until 2010).

 

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Courses & Labs Taught

 At KFUPM:

1. August 2020-Jan. 2021: Undergrad course EE408- Exploration Seismic Signal Processing. (student evaluation score was 9.19/10.0).

2. Jan. 2020-April 2020: Graduate course EE562-Digital Signal Processing I. (student evaluation score was 9.36/10.0).

3. Sept. 2019-Jan. 2020: Undergrad course EE499-Special Topics in EE, Geo-Signal Processing. (student evaluation score was 9.62/10.0).

4. Sept. 2018-Jan. 2019: Undergrad course EE499-Special Topics in EE, Geo-Signal Processing. (student evaluation score was 8.87/10.0).

5. Sept. 2017-Jan. 2018: Undergrad course EE499-Special Topics in EE, Geo-Signal Processing. (student evaluation score was 8.6/10.0).

6. Sept. 2016-Jan. 2017: Undergrad course EE499-Special Topics in EE, Geo-Signal Processing (student evaluation score was 8.6/10.0).

7. Sept. 2015-Jan. 2016: Undergrad course EE499-Special Topics in EE, Geo-Signal Processing (student evaluation score was 9.54/10.0).

8. Sept. 2014-Jan. 2015: Undergrad course EE499-Special Topics in EE, Geo-Signal Processing (student evaluation score was 8.2/10.0).

9. Sept. 2013-Jan. 2014: Undergrad course EE499-Special Topics in EE, Geo-Signal Processing (student evaluation score was 8.54/10.0).

10. Sept. 2012-Jan. 2013: Two undergrad courses EE499-Special Topics in EE: Geo-Signal Processing (student evaluation score was 9.51/10.0) and EE315 Probabilistic Methods in Electrical Engineering (student evaluation score was 8.12/10.0).

11. Sept. 2010-Jan. 2011: Undergrad course EE499-Special Topics in EE, Geo-Signal Processing.

12. Feb. 2010-June 2010: Graduate course EE669-Special Topics in Signal Processing: Geo-Signal Processing. I was teaching from various books and papers. My student evaluation score was 8.73/10.0. 

13. Oct. 2009-Jan. 2010: Undergrad course EE499-Special Topics in EE, Geo-Signal Processing. I was teaching from various books and papers. The course was partially taught by Dr. Abdullatif Al-Shuhail, Associate Professor, Earth Sciences, KFUPM. My student evaluation score was 9.27/10.0.

14. Oct. 09-Jan. 2010:  Undergrad course EE207- Signals & Systems. My student evaluation score was 9.08/10.0.

15. Feb 2009-June 2009: Undergrad EE201-Circuit Analysis I for two sections. My student evaluation score for the first section was 8.84/10.0 and the second was 9.1/10.0.

16. Feb 2009-June 2009: Undergrad EE201-Circuit Analysis I Laboratory. My student evaluation score was 9.0/10.0.

 

At UQU:

1. Feb. 2012-May 2012: Undergrad courses 802321- Signals Analysis (the students' evaluation score was 4.61/5.00) and 802473- Digital Signal Processing (the students' evaluation score was 4.66/5.00).

2. Sept. 2011-Jan. 2012: Undergrad courses 802321- Signals Analysis (the students' evaluation score was 4.78/5.00 for section 1 and was 4.88/5.00 for section 2) and 802473- Digital Signal Processing (the students' evaluation score was 4.65/5.00).

3. Feb. 2011-June 2011: Undergrad course 802321- Signals Analysis. My student evaluation score for section 1 was 4.88/5.00 and 4.53/5.00 for section

 

At KFUPM while I was affiliated with Schlumberger Dhahran Carbonate Research Center:

1. Feb 2008-June 2008: Taught an undergraduate course at the EE department, KFUPM. My student evaluation score was 9.21/10.0. The course is EE406:  Digital Signal Processing using the latest edition of "Digital Signal Processing: Principles, Algorithms, and Applications" by J. Proakis & D. Manolakis, as the textbook

2. Feb 2007-June 2007: Taught an undergraduate course at the EE department, KFUPM. My student evaluation score was 9.05/10.0. The course was EE207- Signals and Systems using the latest edition of "Signals & Systems: Continuous & Discrete" by R. Ziemer et. al., as the textbook

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Course & Lab Coordination

1. Sept. 2012-Jan. 2013: EE 212- Electrical Circuits Laboratory coordinator
2. Oct. 2009-Jan. 2010: EE 207- Signals & Systems course coordinator
3. Feb 2008-June 2008: EE 201- Circuit Analysis I lab coordinator

Development of New courses and Lab manuals

• June 2009-June 2020: Proposed a new undergraduate special topics course in the EE department titled "EE499: Geo-Signal Processing" where the course was sponsored by the University Administration for a summer assignment. The course focused on signal processing aspects for the application of seismic data sets. In its current state, one-third of the course is spent on providing EE students with the necessary background on seismic theory and understanding of its geophysical aspects. The remaining portion is about signal processing and its application for seismic data sets. The course is extended to Ph.D. level and taught as well as "EE669- Special Topics in Signal Processing: Geo-Signal Processing". Both the Geo-Signal Processing undergraduate and graduate version experiences were described in an IEEE Transaction on Education paper.  As a result two courses as technical electives are listed in the recently approved EE undergraduate program:
  1. EE 408 - Exploration Seismic Signal Processing
  2. EE 409 - Image Processing for Seismic Interpretation
• Summer 2002: Co-prepared the Lab manual for the Communication Engineering course (EE370) at KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. This manual lasted for 8 years (from 2003 until 2010).
  

Senior projects, Summer and Coop Students' Supervision

Senior projects: All the senior projects are related to applications of signal processing to geophysics and petro-physics

• Sept. 10-Jan. 2011: Supervised a senior project group at the EE department, KFUPM. Project title: Design of a Seismic Geophone Sensor.
• Oct. 09- Jan. 2010: Supervised a senior project group at the EE department, KFUPM. Project title: 3-D Porosity Estimation from CT-Scanned Geological Cores.
• Oct. 08-Jan. 09: Supervised a senior project group at the EE department, KFUPM. Project title: Development of an NMR Signal Classification GUI Tool using MATLAB.
• Sept. 07-Jan. 08: Supervised two senior project groups at the EE department, KFUPM. Projects titles:
  • Development of a Seismic Analysis Tool Using MATLAB
  • Development of a Time-Frequency Analysis Tool for Seismic Applications Using MATLAB

Summer and coop students' supervision

• March 2009-present: supervised 8 co-operative students and examined 2. Also, I've examined more than 10 summer training students
• July 2008-August 2008: When I was affiliated with Schlumberger, I supervised two summer interns from KFUPM working on signal and video processing applications 
  

Thesis & Dissertation Supervision and Advising

Ph.D. thesis supervisor

• Jan. 15-Jan. 18: Ph.D. thesis advisor for Arbab Latif, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "3D Radon Transform for Seismic Data Processing".

 M.Sc. thesis supervisor

1. Jan. 2015-Dec. 2016: M.Sc. thesis advisor for Shahabuddin Mohammed, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "Efficient Seismic Imaging of Hexagonal Sampled Data".

2. Jan. 2014-Dec. 2015: M.Sc. thesis advisor for Syed Abdul-Salam, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "Prestack Migration-Explicit Depth Wavefield Extrapolation FIR Sparse Filter Design for Visco-Acoustic Model".

3. Jan. 2014-May 2015: M.Sc. thesis advisor for Haroon Ashraf, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "Efficient Approach for Processing of Hexagonally Sampled Exploration Seismic Data Using Spiral Architecture".

4. Jan. 13-Dec. 14: M.Sc. thesis advisor for Mohammad Y. Naveed, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "Towards Accurate Seismic Imaging using Phase Shift Plus Interpolation for Visco-acoustic Media".

5. Nov. 2012-May 2014: M.Sc. thesis advisor for Arbab Latif, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "Compressive Sensing and its Application to Seismic Data".

6. Sept. 2012-Dec. 2013: M.Sc. thesis advisor for Muzzamel Naseer, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "The Design of Finite Impulse Response (FIR) Wavefield Extrapolation Filters".

 

Thesis & Dissertation Committee Member

Ph.D. thesis committee membership

• Jan. 2015-April 2016: Ph.D. thesis committee member for Abdi Talib Abdalla, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "Aspect Dependent Efficient Multipath Ghost Suppression in TWRI using Compressive Sensing", supervised by Dr. Ali Muqaibel from EE, KFUPM.

 M.Sc. thesis committee membership

1. Jan. 18-Dec. 2018: M.Sc. thesis committee member for Loay A. Shabaneh, Computer Science (CS), KFUPM. The thesis title is: "Road-service Anomaly Detection Using Smart Phones: A Deep Learning Approach", supervised by Dr. Farag Azzedin from (CS), KFUPM.

2. Jan. 2016-Jan. 2017: M.Sc. thesis committee member for Muzammil Behzad, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "Compressed Sensing Based Image Denoising: Novel Patch-Based Collaborative Algorithms", supervised by Dr. T. Al-Naffouri from EE, KFUPM.

3. June 07-Nov. 09: M.Sc. thesis committee member for Baber Hasan Khan, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "Application of Random Matrix Theory to Wireless Broadcast Problems and Seismic Signal Processing", supervised by Dr. T. Al-Naffouri from EE, KFUPM.

4. June 2007-June 2008: M.Sc. thesis committee member for Ahmed Abdul Quadeer, EE, KFUPM. The thesis title is: "(SEMI) Blind Channel & Data Recovery in OFDM", supervised by Dr. T. Al-Naffouri from EE, KFUPM.

 Postgraduate supervision

• Sept. 2015-present: Supervising Mr. Abdullah F. Al-Battal on the area of seismic wavefield extrapolation. This has resulted in a published paper as well as one under review. 

• Sept. 07-Jan. 08: Supervised two students from EE, KFUPM, on the EE562: Digital Signal Processing graduate course. Provided them with seismic processing based term projects & few introductory lectures on seismic data processing.

• Jan 2007-June 2007: Joint supervision with Dr. T. Al-Naffouri from EE, KFUPM, on the EE662: Adaptive Filtering & Applications graduate course. Provided the course with seismic processing based term projects & few introductory lectures on seismic data processing.