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The master's thesis of Ahmad Qarqaz, a student in the Department of Computer Science at the Faculty of Computer and Information Technology, was discussed in the presence of the discussion committee.

The master's thesis of Ahmad Qarqaz, a student in the Department of Computer Science at the Faculty of Computer and Information Technology, was discussed in the presence of the discussion committee, which consisted of:

• Dr. Malak Abdullah — main supervisor;
• Prof. Mahmoud Al-Ayoub, co-supervisor;
• Dr. Nour Al-Din Awad, an external committee member from Yarmouk University;
• Dr. Ahmed Mustafa was the internal committee member.

The thesis was titled:

"EAST-TCM: Efficient and Attentive Spatial-Temporal Tree Convolutional Model for Region-Based Taxi Demand Forecasting."

It addressed the problem of short-term taxi demand forecasting, a key issue in intelligent transportation systems. The researcher explained that many traditional spatial-temporal models have difficulty dealing with large cities or long time series.

The student proposed a new model, EAST-TCM, which reduces the number of model parameters by approximately 33% while maintaining high prediction accuracy. The model uses multi-level attention techniques (macro and micro) to capture demand patterns according to time and day of the week. It also uses modern algorithms to improve information integration.

The model was tested in New York City (NYC-TLC) for 2018 and 2025. The results showed that the proposed model is highly competitive and accurate, with greater efficiency in terms of memory and computing. This makes it suitable for practical applications in large cities with huge data volumes.

At the conclusion of the discussion, the committee praised the thesis for its scientific approach and practical results. They considered it a valuable addition to the field of artificial intelligence and its applications in smart transportation.

​The discussion was also attended by Prof. Firas Qarqaz, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and the student's father, along with his family, in a remarkable gesture that reflected the family's pride in their son's achievement and the university's keenness to celebrate its distinguished researchers and students.