Prince Sultan University

Center for Sustainability and Climate

SDG 13 Committee

Dr. Dhafer Almakhles

Chair, Communications and Networks Engineering

SDG Higher Committee Co-Chair, SDG-7 Committee Chair

DHAFER J. ALMAKHLES received the B.E. degree in electrical engineering from the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia, in 2006, and the master’s degree (Hons.) and Ph.D. degree from The University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 2011 and 2016, respectively. Since 2016, he has been with Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia, where he is currently the Chairman of the Communications and Networks Engineering Department, and the Director of the Research, Development, and Innovation Unit. He is a member of the IEEE Power Electronics and the IEEE Control Society. Almakhles published more than 200 papers in top scientific journals, and among the top 2% of researchers worldwide as regarded in the Stanford University list. He is considered one of the experts in the accreditation and quality assurance for higher education institutions and programs, where he acts as a consultant and external reviewer for various agents including The National Centre for Academic Accreditation and Evaluation as well as Oman Academic Accreditation Authority. He participated in preparing the national qualification framework for Saudi Engineers as well as the specialized standards and learning outcome for Electrical Engineers in Saudi Arabia.

He is the leader of the Renewable Energy Research Team and Laboratory. His research interests include power electronics, control theory, unmanned aerial vehicles, renewable energy systems, and FPGA applications. He is a senior member of IEEE, member of IEEE Power Electronics, and the IEEE Control Society. He is a Editorial Board Member of various international journals and conferences, including the IEEE and IET.

He is the Chair of SDG-7: Affordable and Clean Energy at Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia.

Dr. Umashankar Subramaniam

Associate Professor of Communications and Networks Engineering Department in College of Engineering

SDG-7 Committee Co-chair

Dr. Umashankar Subramaniam is an Associate Professor of Communications and Networks Engineering Department in College of Engineering at Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia. He has a PhD and Master from VIT University Vellore, India.

He is the Co-chair of SDG-7: Affordable and Clean Energy at Prince Sultan University, Saudi Arabia.