Syeda Saleha Raza
Education
-
Ph.D. in Computer Science, Faculty of Computer Science, IBA, Karachi, Pakistan (2009–2015) —
Thesis: A Framework to Build Collaboration in a Team of Agents via Imitation - M.S. in Computer Science, SZABIST, Karachi, Pakistan (2003–2005) — focus on Software Engineering and Data Mining
- B.S. in Computer Science, University of Karachi, Pakistan (1997–2000) — first position, Department of Computer Science
Research Interests
- Nature Inspired Computing
- Machine Learning/Data Mining
- Probabilistic Reasoning
- AI for Social Good
Biography
Dr. Syeda Saleha Raza has been Program Director of Computer Science at Habib University since August 2024 and served as Assistant Dean of the Dhanani School of Science and Engineering from August 2025 through July 2026. She has been Associate Professor of Computer Science since September 2021, having joined Habib as Assistant Professor in August 2015, where she conducts undergraduate Computer Science courses, engages students in research, and builds industry linkages.
Before Habib, Dr. Raza was a Ph.D. scholar and faculty member at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi (2009–2015), and earlier an Assistant Professor at the National University of Computer & Emerging Sciences (FAST), Karachi (2007–2009). She began her career in industry, rising from Software Engineer to Senior Software Architect at TRG and Itim Systems (2001–2007). Her doctoral research applied imitation learning to build collaborative strategies for teams of autonomous agents, work presented at the IJCAI and AAAI doctoral symposiums; during her Ph.D. she held the Australian Endeavour Scholarship (2011) at the University of Technology Sydney and interned at Microsoft Research, Cambridge (2012) with the Machine Learning and Perceptron Group.
Dr. Raza led the development of Karachi Koalas, the first Pakistani team to compete in the World RoboCup Soccer Simulation 3D league (2011–2014, finishing 5th in 2013), and developed IBAyes, a freely available probabilistic reasoning tool for Bayesian network inference. At Habib, she continues to supervise award-winning undergraduate research in AI for social good, including recent work presented at GHTC, EvoMUSART, and ICOST.
Selected Publications
- Zafar, I., Shahab, R., Azfar, J., Raza, S. “Optimizing Dietary Plans Using Evolutionary Algorithms.” EvoApplications, Italy, 2025.
- Rubab, F., Naeem, R., Pervez, S., Hafeez, S., Raza, S. “Prompt Emergency Response: PLSP Mobile Application for Effective Cardiac Arrest and Trauma Management in Pakistan.” GHTC, USA, 2023.
- Ahmed, O., Abid, S., Junaid, A., Raza, S. “Fabric Sketch Augmentation & Styling Using Deep Learning & Image Synthesis Techniques.” EvoMUSART, Czech Republic, 2023.
- Kumar, A., Haider, G., Khan, M., Zahid, R., Raza, S. “‘Saathi’ — An Urdu Virtual Assistant for Elderly Care.” ICOST, Paris, 2022.
- Raza, S., Haider, S. “Using Imitation to Build Collaborative Agents.” ACM Transactions on Autonomous and Adaptive Systems (TAAS), 11(1), 2016.
Honors & Awards
- US TechWomen Fellow, 2018 (hosted at Adobe HQ, Silicon Valley)
- Grace Hopper Faculty Scholar, 2016
- Microsoft Research Intern, Cambridge, UK, 2012
- Australian Endeavour Research Fellowship Award, 2011
- First Position, BS (Computer Science), University of Karachi, 1997–2000
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