Dean, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut (FAFS-AUB)

TEES Research Professor at Texas A&M University

Dr. Rabi Mohtar is the TEES Endowed Professor at Texas AM University, College Station, USA. He is the Founding Director of Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) a member of Qatar Foundation, Research and Development and the Founding Director Strategic Projects at Qatar Foundation Research and Development. He was also the inaugural Director of the Global Engineering Programs at Purdue University, Indiana USA.

Professor Mohtar focused on conserving natural resources (including land, water, air, and biological resources) that face global challenges such as increasing food and water supplies for a growing population. He developed environmental and natural resources conservation engineering programs that evaluate the environmental impacts of land use and water management; developed innovative soil and groundwater remediation technologies; applied numerical methods to biological engineering systems; characterized the soil water medium at the pedon, field, and watershed scales. He also designed and evaluated international sustainable water management programs that deal with population growth and water shortage conditions in arid climates. His research has resulted in improved methods for environmental and natural resources engineering, many of which have been adopted by other professionals and agencies internationally.

He received numerous international research awards and honors including the Kishida International award for contributions to agricultural research. He served on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on water security since 2009-11 (vice chair 2011), climate change agenda council 2011-present), board of governors of the World Water Council (2012-present), advisory board of the UNFCC momentum of change initiative (2012-present), advisory board of the President of the University of Alberta Water Initiative (2012-present) among many other global leadership roles. Prof. Mohtar has published over 200 publications including peer-reviewed articles and refereed conference proceedings; and book chapters.