Akram Alshawabkeh

Biography

Akram, geo-environmental engineer, joined Northeastern in 1997 and was appointed George A. Snell Professor in 2011 and University Distinguished Professor in 2020. He led several large, federally funded multi-institution research centers in environmental health, including the NIH’s PROTECT Center since its founding in 2010 to study environmental contamination and adverse birth outcomes in Puerto Rico, and the NIH’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Site in Puerto Rico.  He served in many leadership roles in the College of Engineering starting as an Associate Dean for Research in 2015 to Senior Associate Dean for Research and Global Engineering Campus prior to joining the Office of the Provost. Under his leadership, the college built a strong research environment leading to significant growth in research scale and impact.  The college’s annual external research awards during this time period increased from $45 million to over $110 million. Most importantly, through these and other faculty-led initiatives, the College of Engineering became an influential powerhouse in federally funded research, anchoring the university’s research growth. Akram has also supported graduate education and led the expansion of the college’s engineering programs across Northeastern’s growing global network of campuses since 2019.