Scientist hears the ‘Boeing Code: What others dream, we do’

Amani Alonazi is an artificial intelligence scientist, working in a visual computing center at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. She joined Boeing in 2019.

Alonazi is part of a multidisciplinary Boeing Research & Technology team developing methods that will detect ground hazards for airplanes in airport environments. The work involves the convergence of high-performance computing and AI.

“A new level of intelligence will appear,” said Alonazi, new to Boeing in 2019. “I met with scientists from Seattle, Madrid, Dubai and Saudi Arabia, and I was very excited to see it this diverse. I really wanted to be part of that.”

Alonazi occupies a computing workstation at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, a glistening research facility on the shores of the Red Sea. She and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s first coed institution of higher learning have grown up together. Three years after it opened, Alonazi became a scholarship student there. In 2019, she went to work on its campus as a Boeing artificial intelligence scientist.

“It has a beautiful focus on computer science, technology and innovation,” she said of the school. “It’s kind of home for me.”

Alonazi’s role is twofold: She is part of a global Boeing Research & Technology team advancing aerospace, and she contributes to university research projects.

She has access to the university’s supercomputer, Shaheen, which translates to “fastest bird in the Arabian culture.” She finds inspiration amid a diverse student population that counts 102 nationalities and a faculty that holds international credentials.

Boeing hired Alonazi after she completed a master’s degree and a doctorate at KAUST and obtained a master’s degree from University College Dublin, in Ireland, all in computer science. Her work involves using AI with high-performance computing to detect airport ground hazards. She is highly motivated to create machine-learning methods.

“I heard the Boeing code: What others dream, we do,” she said. “I’m very excited for my journey ahead.” She also mixes math and music. Alonazi picked up a violin in a college office one day and decided she would learn to play it. She became proficient enough to join an orchestra and participate in two concerts.

Alonazi sees a strong connection between her two interests, noting that sounds are often created by computations. “I felt if I learn this, I will be Mozart,” Alonazi said. “It was a good way to distract myself so I come back to work with a fresh mind.”