Menu

I am Heba Aly, a research scientist at Amazon. I got my PhD in Computer Science from the University of Maryland, College Park in 2019. My main research interests include spatial systems, intelligent systems and mobile/ubiquitous computing.

In my research, I focus on challenging problems with applicable real-world utility. I.e. while my research solves fundamental problems in mobile computing and spatial systems, it also addresses real-world problems covering diverse application domains including delivery logistics, health-care, intelligent transportation systems, and geo-target advertising, among others.

(@ MSR in Redmond, WA)

Latest News

Jul'21 Conference paper has been accepted in Amazon CSS'21 for an oral talk (Acceptance rate: 5%)!
Jun'21 Teaser for IEEE SECON'21 paper (AccessMap): video
Jun'21 Serving as a TPC member in ACM SIGSPATIAL'21
May'21 Conference paper has been accepted in IEEE SECON'21!
Apr'21 Serving as a TPC member in Grace Hopper 2021
Feb'21 Serving as a TPC member in IEEE MDM 2021
Feb'21 Serving in the N2Women 2021 board
Jul'20 Panelist in the IEEE MDM PhD forum!
May'20 Serving as a TPC member in ACM SIGSPATIAL'20
Mar'20 Invited talk at Brandeis University.
Feb'20 Serving in the N2Women 2020 board
Dec'19 Officially a Doctor
Oct'19 Paper invited for publication in Communications of ACM (CACM) Research Highlights!
Oct'19 Serving as a TPC member in IEEE MDM 2020
Oct'19 Started as a research scientist at Amazon!
July'19 Selected to participate in Rising Stars in EECS 2019
July'19 Serving as a TPC member in GEOProcessing 2020
June'19 Invited talk at Amazon
June'19 Invited talk at lehigh
May'19 Serving as a PC member in ACM SIGSPATIAL'19
March'19 Journal paper has been accepted for publication in ACM TSAS!
March'19 Invited talk at UC Merced
March'19 Invited talk at UC Irvine
Feb.'19 Invited talk at Penn State
Nov.'18 Awarded best paper runner up in ACM SIGSPATIAL'18
Nov.'18 Passed my PhD Proposal Exam!
Oct.'18 Paper selected as best paper candidate in ACM SIGSPATIAL'18!
Oct.'18 Selected for the NSF grant to attend ACM SIGSPATIAL'18 in Seattle!
Sept.'18 Journal paper has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Sensors Journal!
Sept.'18 Conference paper has been accepted in Mobiquitous'18!
Aug.'18 Conference paper has been accepted in ACM SIGSPATIAL'18!
Aug.'18 Participating in Microsoft Research Principles of Intelligence!
April'18 A new granted patent with Prof. Moustafa Youssef!
March'18 Participating in the annual Women in Research Lean in Event @Facebook!
Show more... Show less...

Projects Honors and Awards

2019 - Paper invited for publication in Communications of ACM (CACM) Research Highlights
2018 - Best paper runner up award in ACM SIGSPATIAL'18
- ACM TSAS Special issue paper invitation
2016 - Best poster award in N2Women workshop at ACM MobiCom 2016
2015 - First Prize Group Category in the COMESA Innovation Awards
- IEEE PerCom top paper invitation for a special issue at Pervasive and Mobile Computing Journal
2013 - Best paper award in ACM SIGSPATIAL
- International Journal on Ambient Intelligence and Computing invitation for a special issue

Scholarships/Grants and Honors

2019 - Selected to participate in Rising Stars in EECS at UIUC
2018 - NSF Travel Grant Award (ACM SIGSPATIAL)
2017 - Selected as one of ten Rising Stars in Networking and Communications by N2Women
- Google Women Techmakers scholarship
- Google Grace Hopper Travel Grant
- NSF Travel Grant Award (ACM SIGSPATIAL)
2016 - University of Maryland Graduate School Dean's Fellowship
- NSF Travel Grant Award (IEEE INFOCOM)
- N2Women Travel Grant (ACM MobiCom)
2015 - N2Women Young Researcher Fellowship
- University of Maryland Graduate School Dean's Fellowship
- NSF Travel Grant Award (ACM SIGSPATIAL)
- IEEE Student Travel Grant (IEEE PerCom)
2014 - Certificate of Appreciation and a Prize from Umm Al-Qura University
- Google Student Travel Grant Award (ACM SIGSPATIAL)
- IEEE Communications Society Student Travel Grant (IEEE SECON)
2011 - Degree of Honor from Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University
Show more... Show less...

Professional Services

Technical Program Committee

2021 ACM SIGSPATIAL, IEEE MDM, Grace Hopper
2020 ACM SIGSPATIAL, IEEE MDM, GEOProcessing
2019 ACM SIGSPATIAL

Reviewer

2021 IEEE TMC, IEEE TKDE, PMC, IEEE IoT
2020 Amazon's Machine Learning Conference (AMLC), IEEE TMC, PMC, IEEE Sensors Journal, IEEE T-ITS, IEEE TVT, ACM IMWUT (UbiComp)
2019 IEEE TKDE, IEEE TMC, IEEE Sensors Journal, IEEE the Computer Journal, IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE T-ITS, IEEE TVT, ACM IMWUT (UbiComp)
2018 IEEE TMC, IEEE TVT, IEEE T-ITS, Journal of Field Robotics, PMC, Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing, ACM TSAS, IEEE TKDE
2017 IEEE SECON, ACM CHI, IEEE TMC, IEEE ICDCS, ACM TSAS, ACM IMWUT (UbiComp), IEEE T-ITS
2016 IEEE INFOCOM'17, IEEE TMC, ACM TOSN, IEEE VTC-Fall'16, IET Intelligent Transport Sys., KSII Trans. on Internet and Information Sys., IEEE Sensors Journal
2015 IEEE TVT, Expert Systems with Applications (ESWA)|Elsevier Journal
2014 IEEE MDM 2014

Volunteer

2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 Student volunteer at ACM SIGSPATIAL
2016 Organizer for the N2Women event at IEEE INFOCOM