BZU Computer Science Professor is First Fulbright Scholar in Biomedical Ontology

Birzeit University computer scientist Mustafa Jarrar, computational linguistics and ontology scientist, is the first Fulbright scholar to join the Department of Biomedical Informatics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo- U.S.

Jarrar, who will be joining the Fulbright program for the 2016-17 academic year, will work with a number of scholars and researches to leverage his expertise in computational linguistics to contribute to the field of biomedical terminology and scientific ontologies, including processes and actions in the human body.

According to a press release issued by the official News and Information Center of University at Buffalo, Jarrar will explore the techniques of mapping the Arabic ontology, which presents a formal representation of the concepts that the Arabic terms convey, with medical ontologies being developed at University at Buffalo.

Founding chair of UB’s Department of Biomedical Informatics Peter Elkin said  in the press release that Jarrar’s experience will “enable cross-lingual and maybe cross- cultural, knowledge-sharing applications, while also allowing him to establish a long-term research cooperation with members of our department and other UB scholars who are pioneering figures in ontology”.

Fulbright Scholar Program is the flagship international educational exchange program to highly-qualified scientists from around the world to study in the U.S.