Bio
Dr. Abou-Zeid is an Associate Professor and Schulich Industry Chair in the Department of Electrical and Software Engineering at the University of Calgary. His research focuses on advanced AI techniques for AI-Native 6G, sensing/IoT, and brain–computer interfaces (BCIs). His team pioneered the development of foundation models for real-world wireless sensing, localization, and communication, including models that directly leverage raw IQ signals. He has been invited to present 10+ tutorials and talks at international venues on foundation models and trustworthy AI for 6G.
Before joining academia, Dr. Abou-Zeid spent seven years in industry at Ericsson and Cisco, where he researched novel communication methods and developed production-grade networking solutions. Many of these techniques were later deployed in service provider networks worldwide. His R&D work led to 20 patent filings and innovations in areas such as intelligent scheduling for VR, reinforcement learning for interference mitigation, 4G/5G spectrum sharing, RF power control, and link adaptation.
Dr. Abou-Zeid is a strong advocate for industry-university collaboration and applied research. At Ericsson, he served on the Government Industry Relations and Talent Development Committees, leading initiatives that established collaborative research projects valued at over $3.5 Millions. He served as the Co-Chair for the IEEE ICC Workshop on Wireless Network Innovations for Mobile Edge Learning and the Corporate Co- Chair for the IEEE LCN Conference 2022. His record spans several prestigious accolades including AI/ML Finalist "Best in Sector" ASTech Award, Best Paper Award at IEEE ICC 2022, Best Student Paper Award at IEEE EMBC 2024, the Schulich Research Excellence Award, Schulich Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, the Software Engineering Professor of the Year Award, and the Schulich Graduate Supervision Award.
Before joining academia, Dr. Abou-Zeid spent seven years in industry at Ericsson and Cisco, where he researched novel communication methods and developed production-grade networking solutions. Many of these techniques were later deployed in service provider networks worldwide. His R&D work led to 20 patent filings and innovations in areas such as intelligent scheduling for VR, reinforcement learning for interference mitigation, 4G/5G spectrum sharing, RF power control, and link adaptation.
Dr. Abou-Zeid is a strong advocate for industry-university collaboration and applied research. At Ericsson, he served on the Government Industry Relations and Talent Development Committees, leading initiatives that established collaborative research projects valued at over $3.5 Millions. He served as the Co-Chair for the IEEE ICC Workshop on Wireless Network Innovations for Mobile Edge Learning and the Corporate Co- Chair for the IEEE LCN Conference 2022. His record spans several prestigious accolades including AI/ML Finalist "Best in Sector" ASTech Award, Best Paper Award at IEEE ICC 2022, Best Student Paper Award at IEEE EMBC 2024, the Schulich Research Excellence Award, Schulich Outstanding Academic Achievement Award, the Software Engineering Professor of the Year Award, and the Schulich Graduate Supervision Award.