Dr. Alaa K. Ashmawy is an engineering professor and researcher, a licensed engineering consultant, and a global leader in higher education management. He is the current President of the National Authority for Quality Assurance and Accreditation of Education (NAQAAE), Egypt’s recognized accreditor of pre-college and higher education institutions and programs. He has also been serving as President of Deraya University in Minya since 2021, and Special Advisor to ABET’s CEO, supporting the global engineering accrediting agency with its operations in the Middle East and North Africa since 2020.
Dr. Ashmawy served as Chief Academic Officer at the University of Balamand Dubai in 2021, overseeing the university’s academic operations and offerings. From 2006 to 2020, he was Dean of the School of Engineering at the American University in Dubai (AUD), where he also served as Professor of Civil Engineering. He held teaching and research faculty positions between 1996 and 2006 at the University of South Florida and Georgia Tech, as well as visiting appointments at Universidad de Las Americas in Mexico and the National Research Centre in Egypt.
Dr. Ashmawy has over 30 years of professional experience in the US, Egypt, and the UAE, in higher education and engineering consulting. He was elected the 2020-2022 President of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) and was a member of the Executive Committee of the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) for 8 years. He is the recipient of the 2020 IEOM Society International’s Distinguished Educator Award, and the 2019 IEEE Education Society’s EDUCON Meritorious Service Award. His research in environmental geotechnics and micromechanics of granular materials has been published in leading journals and earned over 1000 citations.
Dr. Ashmawy’s professional service includes volunteer work as Program Evaluator for ABET’s Engineering Accreditation Commission, and as Congress Ambassador for the Dubai Convention Bureau. He is a member of numerous professional and civic organizations including ASEE, IEEE, ASCE, Sigma Xi, and the American Business Council of Dubai.
Dr. Ashmawy earned his Ph.D. and master’s degrees in civil engineering from Purdue University, and his bachelor’s degree with Honors and Distinction from Alexandria University.
