Advisory Council
Mr. Omar Masri
Edgo
A graduate in finance from George Washington University, Omar subsequently completed a two-year training programme at the Philadelphia National Bank/Wharton Business School in the United States.
He then worked as a fund manager at Foreign & Colonial Emerging Markets in London, where he structured and managed the first regional Middle East investment fund.
In 1996 he founded Atlas Investment Group, one of the leading Investment banks in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2004 the Arab Bank acquired Atlas and established it as its investment banking arm (AB Invest). Omar became Arab Bank's first Global Head of Investment Banking.
Omar joined Edgo as a managing director in 2006. He is a board member of several local, regional and European public and private companies as well as financial institutions. He is a member of the Young Presidents' Organization in Jordan and was selected as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Mrs. Mai Masri
Masri Family
Mai Masri is a director/producer who studied film at UC Berkeley and San
Francisco State University where she received her BA in 1981.
She has directed and produced sixteen award-winning films that have been
screened worldwide and received more than 60 international awards including the
Trailblazer award in Cannes, the Asia-Pacific Screen award in Australia and the
Luchino Visconti Award in Italy.
She has served as a trustee in several institutions including Television Trust
for the Environment (UK), and Welfare Association steering committee in Lebanon.
She also oversees the Masri Development Foundation projects in Lebanon.
Dr. Zaher Dawy
American University of Beirut - Provost
As part of his role as the provost at the American University of Beirut, Dr Zaher Dawy has broad oversight of the many dimensions of academic life across the university, including teaching and learning, scholarship and research, academic strategic initiatives, co-curricular activities, and outreach.
Dr. Dawy joined AUB in 2004 and is a tenured professor of electrical and computer engineering
at AUB’s Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture (MSFEA) with research
interests in wireless networks, internet of things, and biomedical engineering. He is a widely
published scholar who has made significant research contributions and maintained extramural
funding for his lab at MSFEA. Dr. Dawy is also an exceptional administrator with a wealth of
experience, whose recent service at AUB includes roles as associate provost (since 2017),
interim provost (July-December 2020), chair of the Graduate Council (since 2017), chair of the
University Research Board (2015-2020), founding coordinator of the joint MSFEA/FM(Faculty
of Medicine) Biomedical Engineering Program (2015-2020), and co-founder of the joint
FHS(Faculty of Health Sciences)/MSFEA Humanitarian Engineering Initiative (since 2017). He
has also played a key role in the restoration of tenure at AUB. An alumnus of AUB (BE ’98), Dr.
Dawy earned his doctorate in communications engineering at the Munich University of
Technology.
Dr. Nesreen Ghaddar
American University of Beirut - Endowed Qatar Chair in Energy Studies and Professor
Nesreen Ghaddar is the Director of the Munib & Angela Masri Institute of Energy and Natural Resources, Endowed Qatar Chair in Energy Studies and Professor at the American University of Beirut.
Dr. Ghaddar obtained her PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1985.
Her primary research focus is in the area of efficient cooling, thermal comfort, solar energy applications, and energy conversion.
STEERING COMMITTEE
Chair | Dr.
Nesreen Ghaddar | Department of Mechanical Engineering
Biogaphy 
farah@aub.edu.lb 
+9611350000 ext: 3594
Dr. Abdel Fattah Abdel Rahman | Department of Geology
Biogaphy arahman@aub.edu.lb +9611350000 ext: 4170
Dr. Joseph Zeaiter | Department of Chemical Engineering and Advanced Energy
Biogaphy jz08@aub.edu.lb +9611350000 ext: 3548
Dr. Mazen Al Ghoul | Department of Chemistr
y
Biography mg05@aub.edu.lb +9611350000 ext: 3999
Dr. Rabih Jabr | Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Biogaphy rj30@aub.edu.lb +9611350000 ext: 3637
Dr. Fadl Moukalled | Department of Mechanical Engineering
Biogaphy fmukalled@aub.edu.lb +9611350000 ext: 3406