The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) board of trustee's executive committee has voted unanimously to appoint Jean-Lou Chameau as the next president of the university. 

 

Dr Chameau, who has served since 2006 as the president of the California Institute of Technology, will become the second president of Kaust later this year.   

 

The chairman of Kaust's board of trustees, Ali Al-Naimi, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources for Saudi Arabia, announced the appointment.

 

"We could not have found a better president for Kaust.  Jean-Lou Chameau's track-record as a researcher, educator and distinguished academic leader make him uniquely qualified to lead the next phase of Kaust's development," Al-Naimi said

 

Al-Naimi also thanked the board and, particularly, the search committee, "for ten months of hard, careful, and now fruitful work to find and recruit the perfect leader for Kaust." 

 

The incumbent president, Choon Fong Shih, expressed his delight with the executive committee's decision, noting that, "having worked with Jean-Lou in the past, I have observed his broad understanding and deep insights in research and education.  He has a genuine affection for his faculty and students.  Our Kaust community is thrilled at the prospect of his taking up the baton to lead Kaust in its journey to build a research university with global reach and impact."

 

A native of France, Dr. Chameau received his undergraduate education at the Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Arts et Metiers in France and later received his PhD in civil engineering at Stanford University.  He has had a remarkable career in a number of US institutions.  Prior to joining Caltech, he had an exemplary record as the dean of engineering and then provost at Georgia Tech. - TradeArabia News Service