Shene Abba

Shene is an Engineering Project Coordinator and Energy Advisor with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering and over seven years of professional and research experience spanning energy systems, human factors, and geospatial intelligence. Her work integrates energy and utilities assessment, technical inspections, geospatial analysis, and project coordination, with a strong emphasis on evidence-based design and system performance.

She specializes in energy monitoring and diagnostics using thermal UAV platforms and holds a Transport Canada Advanced RPAS license. Her professional background includes energy auditing, utilities assessment, and the application of remote sensing technologies for infrastructure and environmental analysis. She is also pursuing international certification in energy management alongside her graduate studies.

Shene is currently completing a Master of Applied Science in Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. As a Graduate Researcher in the User Performance Lab under the supervision of Prof. Siby Samuel, her research focuses on street lighting systems, energy-efficient illumination, and human factors. Her work examines how lighting design and efficiency influence human performance, perception, and behaviour, particularly in transportation and urban environments.

• PhD (Candidate), Systems Design Engineering
  University of Waterloo – Expected 2029

• Master of Applied Science (MASc), Systems Design Engineering
  University of Waterloo – Expected Winter 2026
• Certified Energy Manager (CEM)
  The Canadian Institute for Energy Training (CIET), February 2023
• Bachelor of Engineering (B.Sc.), Electrical Engineering

• Abdalla, S., Samuel, S., & Singh, A. (2025). Effects of illuminance levels on driver comfort: Evidence from a high-fidelity simulator study. Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (AHFE 2025), 199, 1541–1551.
• Abdalla, S., Shwan, H., Li, J., Samuel, S., & Singh, A. (2025). UAV-based spectral analysis for predicting street lighting efficiency. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Vehicles (submitted).
• Singh, A., Murzello, Y., Lee, H., Abdalla, S., & Samuel, S. (2024). Moral decision making: Explainable insights into the role of working memory in autonomous driving. Machine Learning with Applications, 18, 100599.
• Singh, A., Murzello, Y., Lee, H., Abdalla, S., & Samuel, S. (2022). Explainable modeling of working memory in autonomous driving decision making. Machine Learning with Applications, 3.
• Srinivasan, S., Singh, A., Lee, H., Abdalla, S., Narayan, A., & Samuel, S. (2024). Optimizing intersection design: Insights from older drivers’ physiological responses and gap acceptance behavior at signalized left turns. IEEE Access.
• He, H., Wu, Y., Liu, X., Shen, W., Abdalla, S., Xu, J., Guo, M., & Li, J. (2025). Waterloo Urban Scene Dataset: An annotation-efficient dataset for urban scene classification with minimal supervision. Abstracts of the International Cartographic Association, 10, 104

• Sharratt Scholarship (2025) — Schlegel–UW Research Institute for Aging
  Awarded in recognition of research contributions focused on improving safety, care, and quality of life for older adults. Competitive scholarship recognizing research impact on aging, safety, and quality of life for older adults; includes invited presentation at RIA.