ABU DHABI, 13th November, 2025 (WAM) -- NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) PhD students Anh Mai and Minghao Shao have been named 2025 Google PhD Fellows, joining 255 students worldwide recognised for innovative research in computer science and related fields.
The prestigious fellowship provides annual funding and connects recipients with leading Google researchers as mentors.
Mai received the fellowship in Systems, Networking, and Cloud Computing for his work at the intersection of databases and prescriptive analytics, a field focused on determining optimal decisions based on data-driven rules. His research aims to make decision-making processes faster, more accurate, and more secure by embedding analytics directly inside databases rather than relying on external tools.
He and his team are developing new algorithms and languages within the open-source DuckDB database management system to make advanced optimisation techniques more accessible to users. The project aims to integrate prescriptive, descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive analytics within the database to improve efficiency and usability.
Shao, awarded in the Privacy, Safety, and Security category, focuses on agentic systems, autonomous intelligent workflows designed to enhance the safety and efficiency of AI-driven applications. His research contributes to building more trustworthy and effective AI systems that can accelerate scientific discovery and industrial innovation.
He conducts his research under the supervision of Professor Muhammad Shafique at NYUAD and Professor Ramesh Karri at NYU Tandon School of Engineering, reflecting the strong collaboration between NYU’s global campuses.
The Google PhD Fellowship Program supports exceptional graduate students pursuing research in computer science and adjacent disciplines, fostering collaboration between academia and industry to address some of the world’s most complex technological challenges.
Times Higher Education ranks NYU among the world’s top 31 universities, making NYU Abu Dhabi the highest globally ranked university in the UAE. Alumni achievements include 24 Rhodes Scholars, underscoring the caliber of talent nurtured at the University.
On the faculty and research front, NYUAD now has four Nobel Laureates and established more than 90 faculty labs and projects, producing over 9,500 internationally recognised publications. According to the Nature Index, NYUAD ranks number one in the UAE for publications in the world’s top science journals.