Professor Omar Knio appointed dean of the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division at KAUST.
About
The life of Professor Omar Knio, recently appointed dean of the Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), could have taken many different paths.
As a young student, three distinct subjects competed for his attention as he considered what to pursue after high school: mechanical engineering, mathematics, and French literature.
“In another world, I could have been a French professor or a mathematician,” Knio said.
Instead, he chose mechanical engineering, completing his bachelor’s and master’s degrees before earning a Ph.D. at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He built an academic career that included appointments at Johns Hopkins University and Duke University before joining KAUST.
“Initially, I came to KAUST in response to a call for proposals for a strategic research initiative program,” he said. “Our project was ultimately awarded, and so I engaged with KAUST initially on a part-time basis in 2012 and 2013. Toward the end of 2013, I determined that KAUST was the right environment to continue my work and decided to move to a full-time role.”
Throughout his time at KAUST, Knio has taken on a series of senior leadership positions that reflect both his academic breadth and institutional experience. These include serving as deputy director of the Strategic Research Initiative Center for Uncertainty Quantification in Computational Science and Engineering and as associate vice president for national partnerships, engagement, and academic liaison at the National Transformation Institute.
Read the full feature on KAUST News.
