Academic Profile : Faculty
Assoc Prof Sameer Alam
Associate Professor, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
Email
Sameer Alam is an Associate Professor (with tenure) at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. He also serves as the Deputy Director of the Air Traffic Management Research Institute, where he leads research on AI and Data Analytics applied to Air Traffic Management. Additionally, Sameer holds the role of Co-Director at the Saab-NTU Joint Lab, leading research in Digital and Remote Tower technologies. His research team comprises of 20 research scientist and 6 PhD students. His main research interest is in the design of Human-AI Hybrid systems for advanced Air Traffic Management concepts.
Sameer received PhD in Computer Science, specializing in Machine Learning, from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, in 2008. His post-doctoral research on AI algorithms for risk assessment of advanced air traffic concepts was supported by Eurocontrol (CARE Innov Grant 2009-2010) and Air Services Australia (ARC Grant 2010-2011).
In 2011, he was appointed University Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at UNSW, Canberra, Australia, and later promoted to University Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in 2015. He was then appointed Associate Professor (Aerospace Engineering) at NTU Singapore in 2017, and was granted tenure in 2023.
Sameer has also been a visiting scientist at NASA Ames, California (2011), and École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile (French Civil Aviation University) in Toulouse (2016-2017).
Sameer's research interests are in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms, applied to open research problems in Air Traffic Management and Airport Operations. His expertise encompasses Human-AI Teaming. Conformal Automation, Multi-Agent Systems, Deep Reinforcement Learning, Computer Vision and Learning under Uncertainty. He has authored/co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed research publications in high-impact journals and peer-reviewed conferences.
He became an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligent in 2023, Associate Editor for the AIAA Journal of Air Transport (special issue) 2023, member of the Editorial Board of the Elsevier Transportation Research-Part C in 2018, Associate Editor for the IEEE Intelligent Transportation System Conference (contributed papers) 2024, and appointed on the Program Committee for the prestigious FAA-Eurocontrol's US & Europe ATM R&D Seminar in 2020.
Moreover, his research is recognized by several competitive awards, including:
ANU Science Medal, Australian National University, 2011
Fresh Scientist Award, Science in Public, Australia, 2009
Young Tall Poppy ACT Scientist of the Year Award, Australian Institute of Policy and Science, 2011
Best Paper Award, 15th US-Europe ATM R&D Seminar, Savanaah, US 2023
Best Paper Award, 10th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation, Tampa, Florida, USA 2022
Best Paper Award, 41st Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Portsmouth, VA, USA 2022
Best Paper Award, 13th US-Europe ATM R&D Seminar, Lisbon, Portugal, 2019
Best Paper Award, 49th International Conference on Computers and Industrial Eng, Beijing, China, 2019
Best Paper Award, 8th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation, Barcelona, Spain, 2018
Best Paper Award, 11th US-Europe ATM R&D Seminar, Lisbon, Portugal, 2015
Best Paper Award, 6th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation, Istanbul, Turkey, 2014
Best Paper Award, 9th US-Europe ATM R&D Seminar, Berlin, Germany, 2011
Best Paper Award, 29th Digital Avionics Systems Conference, Salt Lake City, USA, 2010
Sameer also served as a technical consultant for:
Middle East Regional Monitoring Agency for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (2013-2024)
Ministry of Transport and Telecommunication, Kingdom of Bahrain (2015-2024)
Saab Singapore (2020-2024)
In 2019, Sameer initiated the inaugural International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics for Air Transportation (IEEE AIDA-AT) in Singapore. His contributions to academia extend to organizational responsibilities, such as being an organizing co-chair for the 28th Australasian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Canberra, Australia, in 2016, 11th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation (ICRAT), Singapore 2024 and serving as a conference session chair/member PC for various prestigious events.
Beyond his professional endeavors, Sameer has a passion for general aviation flying, fishing, and mountain hiking.
Sameer received PhD in Computer Science, specializing in Machine Learning, from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, in 2008. His post-doctoral research on AI algorithms for risk assessment of advanced air traffic concepts was supported by Eurocontrol (CARE Innov Grant 2009-2010) and Air Services Australia (ARC Grant 2010-2011).
In 2011, he was appointed University Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at UNSW, Canberra, Australia, and later promoted to University Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor) in 2015. He was then appointed Associate Professor (Aerospace Engineering) at NTU Singapore in 2017, and was granted tenure in 2023.
Sameer has also been a visiting scientist at NASA Ames, California (2011), and École Nationale de l'Aviation Civile (French Civil Aviation University) in Toulouse (2016-2017).
Sameer's research interests are in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning algorithms, applied to open research problems in Air Traffic Management and Airport Operations. His expertise encompasses Human-AI Teaming. Conformal Automation, Multi-Agent Systems, Deep Reinforcement Learning, Computer Vision and Learning under Uncertainty. He has authored/co-authored over 200 peer-reviewed research publications in high-impact journals and peer-reviewed conferences.
He became an Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Artificial Intelligent in 2023, Associate Editor for the AIAA Journal of Air Transport (special issue) 2023, member of the Editorial Board of the Elsevier Transportation Research-Part C in 2018, Associate Editor for the IEEE Intelligent Transportation System Conference (contributed papers) 2024, and appointed on the Program Committee for the prestigious FAA-Eurocontrol's US & Europe ATM R&D Seminar in 2020.
Moreover, his research is recognized by several competitive awards, including:
ANU Science Medal, Australian National University, 2011
Fresh Scientist Award, Science in Public, Australia, 2009
Young Tall Poppy ACT Scientist of the Year Award, Australian Institute of Policy and Science, 2011
Best Paper Award, 15th US-Europe ATM R&D Seminar, Savanaah, US 2023
Best Paper Award, 10th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation, Tampa, Florida, USA 2022
Best Paper Award, 41st Digital Avionics Systems Conference (DASC), Portsmouth, VA, USA 2022
Best Paper Award, 13th US-Europe ATM R&D Seminar, Lisbon, Portugal, 2019
Best Paper Award, 49th International Conference on Computers and Industrial Eng, Beijing, China, 2019
Best Paper Award, 8th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation, Barcelona, Spain, 2018
Best Paper Award, 11th US-Europe ATM R&D Seminar, Lisbon, Portugal, 2015
Best Paper Award, 6th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation, Istanbul, Turkey, 2014
Best Paper Award, 9th US-Europe ATM R&D Seminar, Berlin, Germany, 2011
Best Paper Award, 29th Digital Avionics Systems Conference, Salt Lake City, USA, 2010
Sameer also served as a technical consultant for:
Middle East Regional Monitoring Agency for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (2013-2024)
Ministry of Transport and Telecommunication, Kingdom of Bahrain (2015-2024)
Saab Singapore (2020-2024)
In 2019, Sameer initiated the inaugural International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics for Air Transportation (IEEE AIDA-AT) in Singapore. His contributions to academia extend to organizational responsibilities, such as being an organizing co-chair for the 28th Australasian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Canberra, Australia, in 2016, 11th International Conference on Research in Air Transportation (ICRAT), Singapore 2024 and serving as a conference session chair/member PC for various prestigious events.
Beyond his professional endeavors, Sameer has a passion for general aviation flying, fishing, and mountain hiking.
Artificial Intelligence methods for Air Traffic Management and Airport Operations Machine Learning Swarm Intelligence and Ant Colony Optimization Genetic Algorithms and Evolutionary Computation Multi Objective Optimization
- A Top-Of-Descent Prediction Model for Optimal Continuous Descent Operation and its Integration in the AIR-LAB Ecosystem
- Artificial Intelligence for Air Traffic Management
- Future Airspace Architecture Fostering Human-AI Hybrid Automation to Cater to Future Air Traffic Demand
- Future Airspace Architecture subsystems
- Human-AI Hybrid Toolkits
- Mixed Airspace Integration CONOPS Models For Singapore
Courses Taught
MA7932 Air Transportation Systems
MA0218 Intro to Data Science & Artificial Intl.
MA4880 Airport Operations and Systems
MA4881 Air Traffic Management
MA6932 Fundamentals of Air Traffic Control
MA1008 Introduction to Computational Thinking
MA2006 Engineering Mathematics
MA0218 Intro to Data Science & Artificial Intl.
MA4880 Airport Operations and Systems
MA4881 Air Traffic Management
MA6932 Fundamentals of Air Traffic Control
MA1008 Introduction to Computational Thinking
MA2006 Engineering Mathematics
Supervision of PhD Students
Yash Guleria 2020 - Present Main Supervisor Data Driven Ground Delay Management under Weather and Traffic Uncertainties
Lam Jun Guang Andy 2019 - Present Main Supervisor Machine learning for airport management and tower control
Lim Zhi Jun 2019 - Present Main Supervisor A Multi-Agent Approach for Extended Arrival Manager in Fragmented Airspace using Machine Learning Methods
Ky Gregoire Arthur 2021 - Present Co-Supervisor Virtual Centralized Air Traffic Flow Management
Nguyen Yen Duy 2020 - Present Co-Supervisor Air Traffic Flow Management
Thai Van Phat 2019 - 2023 Main Supervisor Detection, tracking and classification of small flying objects in wide-area (Graduated)
Zeng Yixi 2019 - 2022 Co- Supervisor Machine learning for hybrid AI-Human Control-Automation (Graduated)
Hasnain Ali 2018 - 2022 Main Supervisor Machine Learning Algorithms for Airport Surface Movement Optimization (Graduated)
Wai Lun Cheung 2015 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Optimizing arrival and departure management coupled with surface management and runway optimization techniques (Graduated)
Chunyao Ma 2018 - 2023 Main Supervisor Machine Algorithms for Airspace Safety and Traffic Flow Management (Graduated)
Lam Jun Guang Andy 2019 - Present Main Supervisor Machine learning for airport management and tower control
Lim Zhi Jun 2019 - Present Main Supervisor A Multi-Agent Approach for Extended Arrival Manager in Fragmented Airspace using Machine Learning Methods
Ky Gregoire Arthur 2021 - Present Co-Supervisor Virtual Centralized Air Traffic Flow Management
Nguyen Yen Duy 2020 - Present Co-Supervisor Air Traffic Flow Management
Thai Van Phat 2019 - 2023 Main Supervisor Detection, tracking and classification of small flying objects in wide-area (Graduated)
Zeng Yixi 2019 - 2022 Co- Supervisor Machine learning for hybrid AI-Human Control-Automation (Graduated)
Hasnain Ali 2018 - 2022 Main Supervisor Machine Learning Algorithms for Airport Surface Movement Optimization (Graduated)
Wai Lun Cheung 2015 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Optimizing arrival and departure management coupled with surface management and runway optimization techniques (Graduated)
Chunyao Ma 2018 - 2023 Main Supervisor Machine Algorithms for Airspace Safety and Traffic Flow Management (Graduated)