The master's research thesis was entitled: “A Convolutional Neural Network Framework for the Identification of Individual Neuronal Biomarkers based on Functional Brain Connectivity using Magnetoencephalography”. The research was jointly supervised by Dr. Ahmed Hasasneh from the Natural, Engineering, and Technology Sciences / Arab American University of Palestine, and Dr. Jürgen Dammers from the Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM) / Jülich Research Center (Germany). In her thesis, Ms. Abdellatif designed a supervised deep learning framework for identifying individuals based on neural biomarkers (Also known as brain fingerprinting), where the data used was based on Magnetoencephalography of young healthy adults. The model made use of the Siamese Neural Networks, which are based on Convolutional Neural Networks to extract the necessary features for the classification process.

It is worth noting that Ms. Abdellatif has obtained her bachelor’s degree in Mechatronics Engineering from Birzeit University in year 2017, and then went on to work for the high-tech giant, Intel corporation, where she specialized in her job for five years in the fields of computer science and project management. Recently, Ms. Abdellatif was awarded a scholarship for a PhD fellowship by the Palestinian German Science Bridge (PGSB), where she started her fellowship in December of this year at the Jülich Research Center in Germany to obtain a PhD in Data Science for Neuroimaging Analysis. The doctoral research will be focused on the usage of deep learning algorithms for analyzing neuroimages of neurologically healthy people as well as people with psychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s and depression. The research will be jointly supervised by the AAUP, represented by Dr. Ahmed Hasasneh, who is specialized in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, and the Jülich Research Center, represented by Dr. Jürgen Dammers, who is leading the group for Magnetoencephalography at the INM.

It is also worthy to mention that the AAUP was one of the leading educational institutes in Palestine to establish the Data Science and Business Analytics program in the Department of Natural, Engineering, and Technology Sciences. In addition to that, AAUP has recently established the faculty of data sciences, the first of its kind in the Arab region, which offers many specialized programs at the levels of BSc., MSc., and PhD. Therefore, the university has already started in preparing and building human competencies specialized in this promising field. 

Ms. Abdellatif would like to conclude the article with an inspiring quote that resonated deep with her during her educational journey, where George Washington Carver, who was born into slavery and then became one of the world’s most prominent researchers in agriculture, said:

Education is the key to unlock the golden door to freedom