under the supervision of the Dean of the College of Computer Science and Information Technology, Prof. Dr. Imad S. Alshawi. With God’s blessing, the public discussion of the master’s thesis submitted by the student (Azara Qais Obaid) in the Computer Science Department took place regarding her thesis tagged:
 
 Improving K-means Clustering Using Swarm Intelligence Algorithms with Variable-Length
 Individuals

 The thesis aims to test a set of proposed systems based on three improved swarm intelligence algorithms to choose the main optimal parameters of the k-means algorithm, which are the number of clusters, initial centers, and distance metrics.  Three swarm intelligence algorithms: the Gray Wolf Algorithm (GWO), the Spider Monkey Algorithm (SMO), and the Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) have been optimized to address individuals with variable heights.
  Two types of experiments are performed: the first to find only the best starting centers, while the second test requires determining all three main parameters of the k-means algorithm.
 Experiments showed promising results, as the proposed methods outperformed previous methods by other researchers.  After extensive scientific discussions by members of the committee in charge of the discussion, headed by Prof.  Zainab Najm Nimr, and the membership of each Prof. Iyad Muhammad Jabbar from Shatt Al-Arab University College and Prof. Saba Abdul Wahid Saddam and Dr.  Maitham Abu Al-Hail, Shahid, was a member and supervisor of the thesis. They expressed their comments and directions, and the student’s defense of her submitted work. The thesis was accepted and the student was awarded a master’s degree in computer science with distinction.  We wish our dear students in postgraduate and primary studies further progress and success