Soumaya El Barrak, a doctoral student from the University of Abdelmalek Essaadi, National School of Applied Sciences of Tangier (ENSA-Tanger) in Morocco, is visiting the University of Houston College of Technology as a Fulbright Scholar. Her major field of study is telecommunications and networking engineering. The 12-month Fulbright program will allow her to deepen her knowledge in cognitive radio sensor networks for smart buildings. Her research project in the College of Technology focuses software-defined radio (SDR) and the collection of heterogeneous sensor data that will be used to determine how to improve energy efficiency in buildings.
Soumaya’s mentor is Dr. Driss Benhaddou, associate professor, computer engineering technology, computational health informatics, and network communications. They met during the US/Morocco Workshop on Sensors and Wireless Networks for Smart Cities in January 2016 and again in Rabat-Morocco during the International Conference on Smart Digital Environment (ICSDE'17). Benhaddou served as the principal investigator and organizing committee chair for the conference workshops.
“This international experience has reshaped my view of the world and helped me to improve my communication and organizational skills,” said Soumaya. “By winning this Fulbright and, I have the opportunity to study among the best in the information technology domain.”
Fulbright is a program of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. It is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries.