I am a PhD student in Computer Science at Concordia University, Montreal, Canada.
I like to do research in machine learning, natural language processing, AutoML, knowledge graphs, and graph neural networks.
About
I'm passionate about making data science more accessible and scalable. My PhD research, supervised by Essam Mansour, focuses on constructing a linked data science platform - one where the semantics of datasets and pipeline scripts are abstracted and linked in a knowledge graph (KG). We enhanced various applications in data science with our KG such as AutoML and data discovery in data lakes. I'm currently collaborating with researchers at Google and Kaggle to explore how our KG can be used with LLMs in a RAG system.
Previously, I completed my Master's degree at Saarland University, Germany, supervised by Dietrich Klakow. I investigated how language models and discriminative models unintentionally memorize sensitive information, and developed a metric to quantify this memorization for a more privacy-preserving AI.
Beyond my research, I enjoy staying active through different sports like skiing ⛷️ / snowboarding 🏂, horse riding 🐎, and hiking 🥾.
News
- [Nov 2024] I was selected to represent Concordia University PhD students in the Quebec Engineering Competition taking place in January, 2025.
Research Projects
These are some of the project I am currently working on:
Selected Publications
- [2024] M. Helali, S. Vashisth, P. Carrier, K. Hose, E. Mansour, - “KGLiDS: A Platform for Semantic Abstraction, Linking, and Automation of Data Science”, ICDE 2024. [pdf] [slides]
- [2022] M. Helali, E. Mansour, I. Abdelaziz, J. Dolby, K. Srinivas, - “A Scalable AutoML Approach based on Graph Neural Networks”, VLDB 2022. [pdf] [slides] [video]
- [2021] A. Helal, M. Helali, K. Ammar, E. Mansour - “A Demonstration of KGLac: A Data Discovery and Enrichment Platform for Data Science”, VLDB 2021. [pdf] [video]
- [2020] M. Helali, T. Kleinbauer and D. Klakow - “Assessing Unintended Memorization in Neural Discriminative Sequence Models”, 23rd International Conference on Text, Speech and Dialogue. [pdf] [slides]
- [2020] N. Herbig, T. Düwel, M. Helali, L. Eckhart, P. Schuck, S. Choudhury and A. Krüger - “Investigating Multi-Modal Measures for Cognitive Load Detection in E-Learning”, 28th Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization. [pdf]
Talks
- [Jun 2024] Linked Data Science Powered by Knowledge Graphs - SAP Innovation Information Session Series.
Contact
I'm always happy to connect. I usually respond to emails within a few hours (my median response time over the past 5 years is 2.4 hours), so feel free to drop me a line.