Mahdi Khemakhem

Full Professor of Computer Science with over 22 years of distinguished experience bridging academia and industry. Currently, I hold dual academic appointments at University of Sfax, Tunisia, and Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, where I lead research initiatives in Artificial Intelligence and Combinatorial Optimization. My academic journey includes a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Polytechnic University of Hauts-de-France (UPHF), France, and Habilitation (HDR) from University of Sfax. As a Senior Research Fellow at the Data Engineering and Semantics Research Unit (DES), I specialize in developing heuristics, metaheuristics, and AI-driven optimization algorithms for complex decision-making systems. My work spans diverse domains: logistics and transportation, cloud/fog computing, healthcare systems, green energy, and Industry 4.0. Beyond academia, I have successfully translated research into industry impact through consulting for FedEx-SMSA, co-founding Filloop.com, and delivering optimization solutions across multiple sectors.