From brain-sensing to eye-tracking interactive technologies, the HCI Lab's award-winning technologies are changing the way people with disabilities work, live and learn. Through such experience, Dr. Areej has developed a deep knowledge of trends in emerging technologies, innovation ecosystems, medtech, intellectual property (IP) creation and IP commercialization. Towards this end, Dr. Areej served in the role of Executive Director of IP Enablement at the Saudi Arabian Authority for Intellectual Property (SAIP) in 2019 and led the team which spearheaded KSA’s network for WIPO’s Technology and Innovation Support Centers (TISC). Dr. Areej spent her formative years primarily in the United States and worked in the US, UK, and Saudi Arabia. She attended the George Washington University, the University of Texas, City University of London and MIT’s School of Engineering.

More recently, she joined MIT’s Ideation Lab in the School of Engineering as an Ibn Khaldun Fellow, and was an Honorary Fellow at the University of Kent’s School of Engineering and Design. She then proceeded with MIT’s Executive Education programs at the Sloan School of Management, where she focused on Innovation, Management and Leadership.

Prior to joining Alfaisal University, Dr. Areej held several leadership roles in Saudi Arabian academic institutions including King Saud University, Prince Sultan University, Princess Noura University and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). She is a prolific author and keynote speaker and was awarded SAP’s Visionary Leadership award in 2015, Dell-EMC’s Envision the Future Award in 2018, and has spearheaded the Women in Data Science community in Saudi Arabia as Stanford’s WiDS Ambassador for Saudi Arabia, serving in this role since 2017. Dr. Areej currently chairs the ACM Chartered Chapter for HCI in Saudi Arabia, ACM SIGCHI and serves as the Vice Chair for Saudi Arabia’s ACM Chartered Chapter for Accessible Computing, SIGAccess.