Ezidi software engineer Hazim Avdal is the sole inventor named on a U.S. patent for estimating the cost of database queries. Granted on 5 May 2026, the patent is assigned to cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, where the University of Chicago graduate works.
The patent, US12619610B2, is titled “Estimating cost of query execution on a set of data accessible to a computing system.” Its application was filed on 26 September 2024.
The method estimates how much data a database request would retrieve and uses that estimate to assess the cost of processing it. The patent describes how this can help systems manage their resources, control usage and decide whether to execute, delay or reject a request.
Avdal is also one of four inventors named on a separate U.S. patent application, US20250278478A1, published on 4 September 2025. That filing concerns a system for distributing notifications about database changes. Google Patents lists it as pending.
Originally from Hardan in Iraq’s Shengal region, Avdal survived the Ezidi Genocide of 2014. In a 2018 interview with The Chicago Maroon, he described returning to Iraq after his family fled to Türkiye, becoming a full-time volunteer with Yazda. He later moved to the United States in January 2017 with support from the Clooney family.
Avdal went on to earn both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Chicago. His professional biography describes his work at CrowdStrike on large-scale software services and cybersecurity infrastructure. It also records his earlier work developing software and database systems for Yazda.
