Professor Hesham El Gamal delivering a lecture
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New Engineering Associate Dean for Academic Affairs announced

17 June 2021

Professor Hesham El Gamal joins the Faculty of Engineering

Professor Hesham El Gamal looks forward to promoting a culture of academic excellence when he commences as the Faculty of Engineering’s Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.

“I’m delighted that Professor Hesham El Gamal has accepted the role of Associate Dean for Academic Affairs”, said Professor Willy Zwaenepoel, Dean, Faculty of Engineering.

“Hesham’s passion for engineering, combined with his extensive experience in the university sector, places him in an ideal position to elevate the faculty as a provider of world class engineering education and research”.

We asked Professor El Gamal what led him to take the role, and what he hopes to achieve at the university.

What led you to the University of Sydney?

The University of Sydney is known globally for the quality of its scholars and education programs. I am particularly excited by the opportunity to play a positive role in realising Dean Zwaenepoel’s vision of making the faculty of engineering a global brand of academic excellence. Of course, living in a vibrant and multicultural city like Sydney was the icing on the cake.

What are you most proud of in your career so far?

I am very grateful that my scholarly work has been well received in my academic societies and has had a positive technological impact on the mobile industry. But, more than anything, I am most proud of my students and colleagues whom I have played a role in mentoring over the years.

What do you look forward to achieving as the Associate Dean of Academic Affairs?

I really look forward to getting to know all my new colleagues and students at the university. My priority is to promote a culture of academic excellence that empowers our staff and students to reach new heights in their research and education in an enjoyable and inclusive environment.

What excites you about the future of engineering?

I am a firm believer that engineering will continue to play a major role in addressing the most pressing global societal challenges, including sustainability, climate change, and securing our cyber space. Our future success will hinge on two fundamental principles:

1. Training the next generation of engineers to combine a solid understanding of fundamental engineering principles with deep knowledge of the societal context in which these principles are applied. 

2. Embracing cross disciplinary collaboration as a core enabling value in our research endeavours. 

 

Professor Hesham El Gamal

Professor Hesham El Gamal

Professor El Gamal is a Professor of Electrical Engineering, with his most recent roles including the Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Co-Director of the Institute of Cybersecurity and Digital Trust (ICDT) at the Ohio State University.

Originally from Egypt, he received his Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of Cairo and his PhD from the University of Maryland. He has extensive experience in his research area of information theory, and holds key intellectual property in the area of proactive communications, space-time coding and decoding, and graphical code design.

He is a Fellow of IEEE and the US National Academy of Inventors. He has also been recognised as one of the top 1% highly cited and most influential researchers by the ISI web of science (2014-2017).