Jihad Abdallah Al-Sana is a Professor of Computer Science at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and an expert in visual technologies. He is considered one of the pioneers of the high-tech sector in Arab society in general, and in the Bedouin community in particular.

He has published dozens of academic papers and registered five patents. Together with other Bedouin partners and Giora Yaron, he founded the Siraj Association, which serves as a subcontractor for high-tech projects with the goal of promoting employment opportunities in the technology sector within the Bedouin community.

Biography

Jihad Al-Sana was born in Tel Arad to a father who worked as a truck driver and a mother who was an illiterate homemaker. He grew up in Lakiya, in a home without electricity.
He attended the Arab Orthodox High School in Haifa and earned both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

At the beginning of his career, he earned his living as a shepherd. Between 1993 and 1995, he worked at Scitex and lived in Ramat HaSharon and Tel Aviv.
From 1995 to 1999, he pursued a Ph.D. in Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality at Stony Brook University in New York, USA. During his doctoral studies, he also worked for a period of time at IBM.

In 1999, he joined the faculty of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. He served as Head of the Visual Media Laboratory in the Department of Computer Science, and from 2015 to 2017 he served as Head of the Department of Computer Science.

In 2011, TheMarker magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the Israeli economy.

In 2017, he co-founded Siraj together with Sarah Abu-Kaf, Khader Al-Sheikh, Giora Yaron, and Smadar Nehav. Siraj is a software development organization, registered as a nonprofit association, that serves as a subcontractor for high-tech development projects.
The organization’s mission is to create high-tech employment opportunities for the Bedouin community in the Negev.

Prof. Al-Sana is a social activist involved in a wide range of projects and organizations dedicated to advancing education within Arab society in the Negev.
He serves as Chair of AHD – the Academic Association for the Development of Arab Society in the Negev, which initiated the establishment of the AHD School for Excellence in Science in Hura, the first school specifically designed for gifted and outstanding students from the Bedouin community in the Negev.
He is also a member of the Steering Committee for Expanding Access to Higher Education for Arab Society at the Council for Higher Education.

Source: Wikipedia