PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Tarek Abdelzaher

Tarek Abdelzaher is a computer scientist whose work spans machine learning, real-time computing, cyber-physical systems and social sensing. He earned electrical and computer engineering degrees at Ain Shams University in Cairo and a Ph.D. at Michigan, then joined Illinois in 2005 after serving as an assistant professor at Virginia. His coauthored 2011 Apollo demonstration ranked archived human and sensor data by credibility; in 2014, his paper used Twitter as a sensor network for physical events. He became an ACM Fellow in 2019 and an IEEE Fellow in 2021. In 2026, he coauthored an LLM-powered framework for opinion dynamics; as of October 2026, he is a Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Professor at Illinois.

Works
670
Citations
31,202
h-index
89
Badges

Publication numbers from OpenAlex, as of 22 October 2026.

Timeline

  1. 1990–1999

    Degrees in Cairo and Michigan

    He earns B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from Ain Shams University in Cairo in 1990 and 1994. He completes a Ph.D. in computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan in 1999.

  2. 2005

    Virginia to Illinois

    At the University of Virginia, he serves as an assistant professor and founds the Software Predictability Group. He joins the University of Illinois faculty in 2005.

  3. 2011

    Apollo and participatory sensing

    In 2011, he coauthors a demonstration of Apollo, a fact-finding tool that ranks archived human-centric and sensor data by credibility.

  4. 2014

    Twitter as a sensor network

    In 2014, he coauthors Using humans as sensors, a study that uses Apollo to treat Twitter as a sensor network for observing events in the physical world.

  5. 2019

    An ACM Fellowship

    In 2019, the ACM names him a Fellow.

  6. 2021

    An IEEE Fellowship

    IEEE elevates him to Fellow in 2021 for contributions to cyber-physical systems and real-time computing.

  7. 2026

    OpinioNet for opinion dynamics

    In 2026, he coauthors OpinioNet, a framework that models LLM-powered community agents, each representing an ideological community, to simulate opinion dynamics.

  8. As of October 2026

    Professor and Willett Faculty Scholar

    As of October 2026, he is a Sohaib and Sara Abbasi Professor of Computer Science and a Willett Faculty Scholar at the University of Illinois. His publications cover real-time computing, CPS/IoT, distributed systems, intelligent networked sensing, machine learning and control.

Career

  1. Since 2005University of Illinois Urbana-ChampaignSohaib and Sara Abbasi Professor of Computer Science
  2. 2006–2026University of Illinois System
  3. 1999–2005University of VirginiaAssistant Professor, Founder

Education

  1. 1999University of MichiganPh.D.
  2. 1994Ain Shams UniversityM.Sc.
  3. 1990Ain Shams UniversityB.Sc.

From the biography and OpenAlex affiliations (the years of papers that list the organization), so some years are approximate.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 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.
  2. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorateIncludes University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 84% of people shaping AI with recorded undergraduate and doctoral schools changed institutions for their doctorate. Across 2,116 people with both an undergraduate degree and a doctorate recorded, we trace which undergraduate schools feed which doctoral programs, how often students stay at the same school, and how paths differ by birth-country region.
  3. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. 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.
  4. 11% of AI doctorate holders from 2010 to 2016 founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduationIncludes University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. We estimate how often AI doctorate holders founded or led a company or lab by 10 years after graduation, how waiting times compare between founders and top jobs, and which universities trained the most.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

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

  1. Tarek's Home Page abdelzaher.cs.illinois.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  2. College of Engineering names Willett Scholars | The Grainger College of Engineering | Illinois grainger.illinois.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  3. Demo: Distilling likely truth from noisy streaming data with Apollo for SenSys 2011 - IBM Research d3ccyth396mz21.cloudfront.net. Checked 20 October 2026.
  4. Using humans as sensors: An estimation-theoretic perspective for IPSN 2014 - IBM Research d3ccyth396mz21.cloudfront.net. Checked 20 October 2026.
  5. Abdelzaher, Chan, Karahalios, and Sundaram Honored by ACM | Siebel School of Computing and Data Science | Illinois siebelschool.illinois.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  6. IEEE Computer Society Announces 2021 Fellows computer.org. Checked 20 October 2026.
  7. Beliefs in Motion: Simulating Opinion Dynamics via LLM-Powered Community Reactions experts.illinois.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  8. TAREK ABDELZAHER | ACE Center for Evolvable Computing | Illinois acecenter.grainger.illinois.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.
  9. Tarek Abdelzaher | Siebel School of Computing and Data Science | Illinois siebelschool.illinois.edu. Checked 20 October 2026.