Dr. Danielle Azar is an associate professor of computer science, and was the chairperson of the Computer Science and Mathematics Department. Dr. Azar holds a PhD in Computer Science from McGill University, Canada. She joined LAU as an assistant professor of computer science in 2004.

She has been teaching courses in Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Heuristics, Object-Oriented Programming, Theoretical Computer Science, Advanced Algorithms, Software Engineering, Operating Systems, Algorithms and Data Structures among others both at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Research Interests

Dr. Azar’s research interests lie in the field of artificial intelligence specifically machine learning and meta-heuristics, empirical software engineering and search-based software engineering. Her work focuses on the design of approaches to optimize machine learning prediction models. She is particularly interested in the transfer of knowledge/expertise between different domains.

Professional Memberships

Dr. Azar is a member of the United Nations ESCWA Knowledge Hub and a CERN deputy team leader.

Selected Publications

• F Gerges, DA Azar, J Vybihal, JTL Wang, Early prediction of movie success using machine learning and evolutionary computation in 21st International Symposium on Communications and Information Technologies (ISCIT), 2022.
• A Helwan, D Azar, H Abdellatef, An update on the knee osteoarthritis severity grading using wide residual learning in Journal of X-ray Science and Technology, 1-13, 2022
• A Nader, D Azar, Evolution of activation functions: An empirical investigation in ACM Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization 1 (2), 1-36, 2021.

Textbook:

• J. Vybihal, D. Azar Software Systems, 2020. Kendall-Hunt Pub. ISBN 9781524988654

Academic Degrees

• PhD in Computer Science, 2004, McGill University, Canada.
• MS in Computer Science, Lebanese American University.
• BS in Computer Science, Lebanese American University.