PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Alaa Maalouf

Alaa Maalouf is a computer scientist whose AI research spans efficient machine learning, robotics, 3D mapping and whale behavior. He coauthored work on coreset-based least-squares solvers and network pruning, ConceptFusion's open-set 3D maps, and a single-step method for adapting language models. In March 2026, he coauthored a Science study that used computer vision and network analysis to examine cooperation at a sperm whale birth. Since 2025, he is the Neubauer assistant professor of computer science at the University of Haifa and a principal investigator at Project CETI, with research roles at MIT CSAIL and Harvard SEAS.

Now at
MIT CSAIL, University of Haifa and Project CETI
Links
Website

Timeline

  1. 2015–2025

    Chip design and research roles

    From 2015 to 2019, he is a chip design engineer at Mellanox Technologies. From 2022 to 2023, he is a lead machine learning researcher at DataHeroes. From 2023 to 2025, he is a postdoctoral researcher at MIT CSAIL with Daniela Rus, a postdoctoral associate at Harvard SEAS and a machine learning researcher at Project CETI.

  2. 2016–2022

    Computer science degrees at Haifa

    He completes an M.Sc. in computer science at the University of Haifa in 2019 and a Ph.D. there under Dan Feldman in 2022. He studies in its Department of Computer Science as an M.A. research student.

  3. 2019

    Fast least-mean-squares solvers

    In 2019, he coauthors Fast and Accurate Least-Mean-Squares Solvers with Ibrahim Jubran and Dan Feldman. The method fuses sketches and coresets to return a weighted subset of d+1 vectors with the same sum as its input, boosts scikit-learn LMS solvers up to 100-fold, and earns a NeurIPS Outstanding Paper Honorable Mention.

  4. 2022

    Pruning networks with coresets

    In 2022, he coauthors a NeurIPS paper with Murad Tukan and Loay Mualem that prunes deep neural networks with coresets and convex geometry. For ResNet50 on ImageNet, their method reaches a 62% compression rate with a 1.09% accuracy drop.

  5. 2023

    ConceptFusion open-set maps

    In 2023, he coauthors ConceptFusion with Krishna Murthy Jatavallabhula, Antonio Torralba and others. It fuses foundation-model features into open-set 3D maps that can be queried with language, images, audio or 3D geometry, and appears at RSS 2023.

  6. 2025

    Compress to Impress

    In 2025, he coauthors Compress to Impress with Shiva Sreeram, Pratyusha Sharma and Daniela Rus. The method removes LASER's exhaustive per-matrix search by inspecting a small, selected set of matrices. A gradient step on 100 samples and a quick scan of the top candidate layers adapt language models to new datasets without fine-tuning.

  7. March 2026

    A sperm whale birth study

    In March 2026, he leads the Science study “Cooperation by non-kin during birth underpins sperm whale social complexity,” which examines a sperm whale birth recorded in July 2023 off Dominica. The researchers use drone footage, computer vision and network analysis to find that members of two matrilines take turns lifting the newborn.

  8. Since 2025

    Assistant professor at Haifa

    In March 2025, he joins the University of Haifa as the Neubauer assistant professor of computer science. He is a senior lecturer in the Department of Computer Science. Since March 2025, he is a principal investigator on Project CETI's Machine Learning & Robotics team and an associate at Harvard SEAS; since April 2025, he is a research affiliate at MIT CSAIL.

Career

  1. Since 2025MIT CSAILPostdoctoral Researcher
  2. Since 2025University of HaifaNeubauer Assistant Professor
  3. Since 2023Project CETIMachine learning researcher, Principal investigator
  4. Mellanox TechnologiesChip Design Engineer
  5. DataHeroesLead Machine Learning Researcher
  6. Harvard UniversityAssociate

Education

  1. University of HaifaMA

From the biography.

  1. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  2. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  3. Google had the most people shaping AI every year from 2014 to 2025Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our estimates of which organizations employed the most people shaping AI each year from 1955 to 2025, tracing the shift from university labs to companies.
  4. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Massachusetts Institute of Technology. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.

Colleagues

People named in this biography, and people with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Alaa Maalouf yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Alaa Maalouf alaamaalouf.github.io. Checked 22 October 2026.
  2. TEDxMIT | TED ted.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  3. Alaa Maalouf - University of Haifa cris.haifa.ac.il. Checked 22 October 2026.
  4. Fast and accurate least-mean-squares solvers - University of Haifa cris.haifa.ac.il. Checked 22 October 2026.
  5. NeurIPS 2019 Awards neurips.cc. Checked 22 October 2026.
  6. Pruning Neural Networks via Coresets and Convex Geometry: Towards No Assumptions - University of Haifa cris.haifa.ac.il. Checked 22 October 2026.
  7. [2302.07241] ConceptFusion: Open-set Multimodal 3D Mapping arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  8. [2510.20800] Compress to Impress: Efficient LLM Adaptation Using a Single Gradient Step on 100 Samples arxiv.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  9. Cooperation by non-kin during birth underpins sperm whale social complexity networkscienceinstitute.org. Checked 22 October 2026.
  10. Incredible Video Shows Sperm Whales Come Together to Birth a Calf: ScienceAlert sciencealert.com. Checked 22 October 2026.
  11. Project CETI •-- About projectceti.org. Checked 22 October 2026.