Commencement isn’t just a time to celebrate the graduates; it’s also a place to highlight the achievements of the incredible faculty who bring the University to life. 

At the Spring 2026 graduate commencement ceremony, Moustafa Youssef, professor of computer science and engineering, was presented with the Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors Award.

“For me, receiving the AUC research excellence award is a deeply personal affirmation of the decision to return to my home and conduct world-class research from an Egyptian base,” shared Youssef. “While I have received recognition from the world's top organizations in my field, being awarded by my own people holds a unique and profound significance.”

Youssef’s research on quantum spatial computing bridges theory with real-world impact, redefining how we track location and sense our environment. Featured in top-tier journals and recognized with multiple best paper awards, his breakthroughs in quantum algorithms allow location-tracking systems to have a global reach. AUC has supported these endeavors by acquiring the first quantum computer in Egypt, speeding up his work in the field of quantum spatial computing.

“AUC has been a vital catalyst for these innovations, providing the support, creative freedom and dynamic environment necessary to pioneer,” Youssef proudly stated. 

Simultaneously, he developed ‘infrastructure-light’ positioning systems. Technologies he created, such as UniCellular and ModeSense, accurately determine a user’s location and transportation mode using data from just a single cell tower. By eliminating the need for specialized hardware, these systems provide critical tracking in GPS-deprived environments—such as helping emergency responders pinpoint victims in high-rise buildings. Not only is this a significant contribution to the scientific community, it also saves lives.

Additionally, Youssef introduced the Human-as-a-Sensor paradigm, which uses brain-computer interaction to harness neural signals as advanced sensing nodes. This foundational work paves the way for future intelligent systems capable of understanding a user's destination directly through their brain activity. 

“Beyond technical innovation, I prioritize societal impact and mentorship by driving global recognition for regional research and fostering student excellence,” he expressed.

Youssef co-led the first-ever Arab World Research Special Sections in the flagship Communications of the Advancing Spatial Computing (2021, 2024). Concurrently, he dedicated himself to cultivating the next generation of researchers at AUC, where undergraduate mentees have repeatedly won top honors in the prestigious worldwide ACM SIGSpatial Research Competition, proving they can compete with peers from the world's elite universities. Projects like the joint undergraduate thesis with the University of Waterloo further demonstrate how AUC fosters the global networks required for modern scientific discovery

“By showcasing regional talent on the global stage, our work proves that world-class scientific leadership can originate and thrive right here in the Middle East and Africa,” he affirmed.

Outside of the university sphere, the world of accurate location tracking touches lives locally and globally. “Locally, we are empowering the regional economy by developing tracking solutions specifically for low-end phones, which enables location-based applications tailored for developing countries,” he shared. 

“The global impact of this research is felt every day by both the research community and normal people,” he added. “Our pioneering work in ‘sensor-less sensing’ has inspired new international standards for wireless networks, potentially turning every WiFi-enabled space into an intelligent environment that can detect movement or monitor health without requiring additional hardware.”

AUC’s Research and Creative Endeavors Award is another credit to a professor who has worked hard to excel in his field and showcase the talent of those around him. “My greatest joy remains watching AUC students excel on international stages,” Youssef said. “This honor is shared entirely with my graduate students, research assistants and global collaborators, whose dedication and hard work made these achievements possible.”

Amid industry professionals and seasoned academics, AUC students Kirolous Fouty and MagdElDin Mohamed were the youngest participants at the 2026 IEEE Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Granada, Spain.  

“At the conference, people were shocked that the research we had done was for a bachelor’s thesis,”  Fouty shared. “They were really proud of the work we were able to accomplish at such an early stage.”

The two computer engineering majors represented AUC at the conference, presenting their senior thesis research on developing a Large Language Model (LLM) that is both efficient and compact. Fellow students Andrew Aziz, Mohamed Abbas, Shaza Ali and Tarek Kassab were also part of the project.

“What impressed me most about this team is that they challenged the assumption that better AI must always mean larger AI," said Cherif Salama, professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and faculty thesis adviser. "Through a disciplined, table-first reasoning pipeline, they built a highly efficient model that outperformed much larger state-of-the-art systems in chart question answering. That achievement is both technically meaningful and educationally inspiring because it shows that undergraduate research can contribute original ideas to one of the most active areas of AI.”

 “What impressed me most about this team is that they challenged the assumption that better AI must always mean larger AI.”

AI industry trends have recently led to bigger and bigger models, which use massive amounts of energy and tend to ‘hallucinate’ or make up data. The computer engineering students used smart engineering to make a more effective model, developing a new kind of pipeline that first extracts the structural data and then feeds that text into the reasoning engine.

“What sets our model apart is its sheer efficiency,” Fouty said. “We proved that you can deliver world-class, high-precision analytics using standard, consumer-grade hardware instead of million-dollar server farms.” 

The students knew they had something special on their hands: not just a great senior project, but also publishable research. “We didn’t want to just do a standard school project; we wanted to build something that could compete on a global stage,” Fouty added.

Once in Granada, the pair packed their days at the conference full of networking, panels and discussions with global researchers, while still sneaking in some time to explore Andalusia. “We made a point to balance our time,” Fouty explained. “We were fully locked into the technical sessions and networking during the day, but in the evenings, we stepped out to experience the city. Walking through the historic streets of Granada, taking in the incredible architecture and experiencing the local culture were the perfect ways to recharge after being surrounded by heavy AI research all day.”

The highlight of the trip was their research presentation, followed by a rigorous questioning period by professional researchers. “We were naturally a bit nervous stepping up to the podium, but our extensive rehearsals truly paid off,” Fouty shared. “The audience was highly engaged, and our presentation sparked several insightful discussions covering everything from our datasets and chart languages to our fine-tuning processes and inference times. Hearing genuine praise and validation from such an elite crowd of global researchers was an incredibly proud moment for our entire team.”

Following the conference, the students’ paper is set to be published in the IEEE Xplore digital library, which is a huge academic milestone for graduating seniors. 

“Professionally, this research opened incredible doors and connections for my goal of becoming an applied scientist,” Fouty stated. “For AI research as a whole, our project helped drive home an important message: The future of AI isn't just about building massive, energy-draining models. By proving that a model 10 times smaller can take the number one spot globally just through better architecture, we are showing that cutting-edge AI can be accessible, sustainable and resource-efficient.”