Rate My Professor Bassam Alameddine

Professor Bassam Alameddine is the President of the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK). He was appointed to this role in August 2025, succeeding Dr. David Schmidt. Prior to joining AURAK, Professor Alameddine served as President of Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) in Kuwait, where he oversaw institutional growth, academic innovation, and operational excellence. Under his leadership at GUST, the university rose to 36th place in the QS Arab Region Rankings, secured major institutional accreditations including QAA, AACSB, ABET, and ACA, and increased research output fivefold. He established the College of Engineering and Architecture, launched interdisciplinary programs aligned with market needs, and implemented the Students’ Performance Enhancement and Active Retention (SPEAR) system, which improved student retention and success rates by 56 percent.

An accomplished scholar, Professor Alameddine is the Founder and Principal Investigator of the Functional Materials Group, with research focusing on carbon capture, gas separation, hydrogen storage, and environmental remediation, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. His work has secured over $2.5 million in competitive research funding and resulted in numerous peer-reviewed publications and conference papers. His career includes appointments at Columbia University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), and the University of Fribourg. He holds a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry, a Master’s in Materials Science and Engineering, and a Postgraduate Certificate in Senior Leadership from the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School. Professor Alameddine is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC) and serves on multiple advisory and scientific boards while advising organizations in the energy, cosmetics, and scientific sectors. He is trilingual in English, French, and Arabic.