I obtained my Bachelor's degree in civil engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) in 2014. Later, I obtained my Master's in structural engineering from the University of Pécs in 2017 (Hungary). In 2018, I moved to Switzerland to pursue my Ph.D. at École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). I conducted my research at the Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics (EESD) laboratory under the supervision of Prof. Katrin Beyer from 2018 to 2022. After that, I worked for a brief period as a postdoctoral fellow at EESD (4 months). After I was awarded the prestigious PostDoc.Mobility grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF), I moved to the USA to join the van Rees laboratory (led by Prof. Wim van Rees).
Contacts are welcome in Arabic, English, or French.
My reseach theses and proposals:
- M.Sc.: Design of reinforced concrete beams using metaheuristic algorithms (Prof. Zoltan Orban [PTE] @ 2018).
- Ph.D.: Geometrical treatise on the modelling of 3D particulate inclusion-matrix microstructures with an application to historical stone masonry walls (Prof. Katrin Beyer [EPFL] @ 2022).
- PostDoc: Harmonic decomposition of the 3D morphology of surfaces for simulating the growth of soft shells and plates (Prof. Wim M. van Rees [MIT] @ 2024).
Gallery of research works and interests:
1. (Meta-)Heuristics for size optimization problems of reinforced concrete beams:
Design of reinforced concrete beams with evolutionary algorithms, such as the PSFHS and PSS algorithms (see the papers below). This NP combinatorial problem cannot be solved efficiently with traditional gradient-based methods. The following figure shows the reinforcement details/sizes typically obtained by the proposed algorithms.
2. Fractal sets and self-affine surfaces:
The following is a render of the distribution of the roots of the zeroth-order Bessel function (of the first kind) obtained by Newton fractal. Such roots are critical for many sciences, such as, image reconstruction, membrane oscillations, waves, etc. This pattern keeps repeating itself for any given resolution (zoom ins).
3. Generating and constructing 2D microstructures:
The following figure shows the usage of Elliptic Fourier Descriptors (EFD) to reconstruct and remesh a 2D microstructure (MIT logo). Each inset, from the figure below, represents the contour reconstruction at a given harmonic degree (k). This is important for studying shape morphology and conducting numerical simulations to solve PDEs (e.g., FEM, DEM, FVM, etc.) over discrete domains.
EPFL logo:
4. Spectral decomposition and surface parameterization of 2-manifolds:
Large portion of my recenet works focused on the morphological analysis of genus-0 open and closed surfaces. Our work focused on proposing new approaches to generalize the existing morphological approaches.
4.1 Spherical cap harmonics (SCH):
[](https://github.com/msshaqfa/spheroidal-harmonics/blob/main/visualization...)
4.2 Disk harmonics (DH):
l
4.3 Spheroidal harmonics (SOH):
New and efficient mapping approaches for star-shaped and non-star-shaped closed genus-0 particles that are followed by surface decomposition via the spheroidal harmonics (SOH) decomposition.
4.4 Hemispheroidal harmonics (HSOH):
Novel mapping approaches: Angle-preserving (conformal), area-preserving, orthagonality-preserving of basis functions, and balanced mapping.
Published papers and preprints:
- 2024
- Choi, G. P. T. and Shaqfa, M. (2024). Hemispheroidal parameterization and harmonic decomposition of simply connected open surfaces.
- Shaqfa, M. and van Rees, W. M. (2024). Spheroidal harmonics for generalizing the morphological decomposition of closed parametric surfaces.
- Shaqfa, M., Choi, G. P. T., Anciaux, A., and Beyer, K. (2024). Disk harmonics for analysing curved and flat self-affine rough surfaces and the topological reconstruction of open surfaces.
- Shaqfa, M., dos Santos, K. R. M., and Beyer, K. (2024). On the conjugate symmetry and sparsity of the harmonic decomposition of parametric surfaces with the randomised Kaczmarz method.
- 2022
- Shaqfa, M. and Beyer, K. (2022). A virtual microstructure generator for 3D stone masonry walls.
- 2021
- Shaqfa, M., Choi, G. P. T., and Beyer, K. (2021). Spherical cap harmonic analysis (SCHA) for characterising the morphology of rough surface patches.
- 2021
- Shaqfa, M. and Beyer, K. (2021). Pareto-like sequential sampling heuristic for global optimisation.
- 2019
- Shaqfa, M. and Orbán, Z. (2019). Modified parameter-setting-free harmony search (PSFHS) algorithm for optimizing the design of reinforced concrete beams.
(To be) Released codes:
- 2024
- Shaqfa, M. (2024). libharmonics-dev: An open-source library for an efficient harmonic decomposition of open and closed surfaces. (To be published) C++23
- Shaqfa, M., and van Rees, W. M. (2024). Spheroidal harmonics (SOH): Morphological analysis of closed surfaces via the spheroidal harmonic basis functions. Developed in Python3.7
- Choi, G.P.T., and Shaqfa, M. (2024). Hemispheroidal parameterization and harmonic decomposition. Developed in MatLab
- 2023
- Shaqfa, M., dos Santos, K. R. M., and Beyer, K. (2023). On the Conjugate Symmetry and Sparsity of the Harmonic Decomposition of Parametric Surfaces with the Randomised Kaczmarz Method. Developed in Python3.7
- 2022
- Shaqfa, M.. PIC2FEM: A simple script for using 2D Fourier descriptors (FD) to transfer gray-scale images to 2D finite element meshes. Developed in Python3.7
- 2021
- Shaqfa, M., and Beyer, K. (2021). A virtual microstructure generator for 3D stone masonry walls. Developed in Python3.7 (To be released soon)
- Shaqfa, M., Choi, G. P. T., and Beyer, K. (2021). Codes: Spherical cap harmonic analysis (SCHA) for characterising the morphology of rough surface patches. Developed in Matlab
- 2020
- Shaqfa, M. and Beyer, K. (2020). Codes: Pareto-like sequential sampling heuristic for global optimisation. Developed in C++14, Python3.7, and Octave
- 2018
- Shaqfa, M. and Orbán, Z. (2018). Codes: Modified parameter-setting-free harmony search (PSFHS) algorithm for optimizing the design of reinforced concrete beams. Developed in C++14, Python3.7, and Octave
Teaching and training activities:
- MIT
- Guest lecturer (Prof. Wim van Rees): Plates and Shells – 2.081.
- EPFL
- Teacher assistant (Prof. Katrin Beyer): Nonlinear analysis of structures – CIVIL-449.
- IUG and Engineering Association (Palestine)
- Training course: Multiple courses in Autodesk Robot Structural Analysis.
- Bashir Siksik & Co.
- Training course: CAD and CAE software such as FreeCAD, NASTRAN, and Autodesk Inventor.