MEET OUR TEAM

Achieving Excellence Together

Get to know the brilliant minds behind DESAL's groundbreaking work. Our diverse team of experts brings together a wealth of knowledge and experience, united by a common passion for solving the world's most pressing water challenges.

Principal Investigator

Noreddine Ghaffour

Professor

Research Interests: Membrane Fabrication, Water Desalination, Water Treatment, Filtration Processes

Research Scientists

Fouzi Harrou

Senior Research Scientist

Research Interests: Artificial Intelligence, Statistical Data Science, Anomaly Detection, Process Monitoring, Time Series Forcasting, Predictive Maintenance, Explainable AI, Digital Twins, Water Desalination, Membrane Fouling, Biofouling, Water Treatment, Water Quality Monitoring, Smart Water Systems, Data Driven Water Management

Sofiane Soukane

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Translational Research, Innovative Desalination Technologies, Process Scale-up and Equipment Prototyping, Computational Physics, Multiscale Modeling and Simulation

Alla Alpatova

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Desalination, Membrane Processes, Brine Mining, Biofouling, Scaling, Membrane Cleaning, Disinfection Byproducts

Mohamed Obaid Awad

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Low-Temperature Desalination, Nanofiber Membranes, Membrane Science and Engineering, Membrane Distillation, Thin-Film Composite (TFC) Membranes, Photothermal Membranes, Solar-Driven Desalination, Oil–Water Separation, Superhydrophobic and Superhydrophilic Surfaces

Muhammad Saqib Nawaz

Research Scientist

Research Interests: Forward osmosis, Membrane distillation, Membrane bioreactor, Low cost desalination, Hybrid desalination systems, Industrial wastewater treatment.

Postdoctoral Fellows

Jianwei Shi

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: Large-scale spatial data, Machine Learning, Artificial intelligence, Water desalination data

Qian Sun

Postdoctoral Fellow

Research Interests: COF/MOF membranes, Membrane-based separation technologies, Adsorption separation, Smart (responsive) materials, Separation mechanisms

Ph.D. Students

Ahmed Alanazi

PhD Candidate

Research Interests: Sea Water Desalination, Thermal Desalination, Hybrid Desalination Systems, Multi-Effect Distillation, Nanofiltration, Scaling Mitigation

Abdulrahman AlOtaibi

Ph.D. Student

Sara Algurab

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Membrane Fabrication, Desalination, Water Treatment, Fouling Control, Membrane Distillation

Daniel Talbot

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Desalination, Techno-economic analysis, Electrodialysis, Groundwater

Khalid Alhamdan

Ph.D. Student

Research Interests: Water desalination and re-use, Physical membrane separation processes, Membrane fabrication, Renewable Energy

Najat A. Amin

Ph.D. Candidate

Research Interests: Membrane Filtration, Membrane (bio)fouling, Machine Learning, Membrane Cleaning, Desalination, Water Treatment

Master's Student

Fatimah Al Turki

Masters Student

Faris Abusittah

MSc Student

Research Interests: Oily Water Separation, Membrane Separation, Oil Recovery, Produced Water Treatment, Water Desalination, Membrane Surface Modification, Water Reuse

Yaman Sabra

Chemical Engineering Masters Student

Research Interests: Electrodialysis, Reverse Electrodialysis, Water Desalination, Physical membrane separation processes, Ion-Exchange Membranes, Wastewater Treatment, Resource Recovery, Salinity Gradient Power

Research Group Staff​​

Pratibha Pal

Research Specialist