Chaouki Tanios Abdallah is a Lebanese-American engineer and academic administrator who served as the 22nd President of the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

Early life and education

Abdallah was born and raised in

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...

. He began his education at the

Saint Joseph University Saint Joseph University of Beirut ( French: ''Université Saint-Joseph de Beyrouth'', abbreviated to and commonly known as "USJ") is a private Catholic research university located in Beirut, Lebanon, which was founded in 1875 by French Jesuit mis ...

before earning a Bachelor of Engineering degree from Youngstown State University. Abdallah earned a Master of Science and PhD in

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from Georgia Tech.

Career

Abdallah was active in designing international graduate programs with Latin American and European countries. In 1990, he co-founded the Ibero-American Science and Technology Education Consortium (ISTEC), which includes more than 150 universities in

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

and the United States. Abdallah's teaching and research speciality is systems theory, particularly related to

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

ic control and communications systems. He is a recipient of the Millennium Medal of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

. He has published more than 300 peer-reviewed papers and seven books, including ''Robot Manipulator Control: Theory and Practice'' (2003, with Lewis and Dawson). He joined UNM's Electrical and Computer Engineering department, chairing the department between 2005 and 2011. He served as provost of the UNM between 2011 and 2016, after which he became president from 2017 to 2018, initially in an acting capacity. Abdallah left the

to serve as executive vice president for research at Georgia Tech.

References

American people of Lebanese descent University of New Mexico faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-academic-administrator-stub