Belic inaugurated as the first recipient of the Al-Sraiya Holding Professorship
Published Oct 14, 2015Dr. Milivoj Belic, professor in the Science Program, gave a lecture, “Freak waves, Talbot carpets and accelerating beams,” 7 Oct. in Lecture Hall 238 on the occasion of his inauguration as the first recipient of the Al-Sraiya Holding Professorship.
Belic’s appointment as Al-Sraiya Holding Professor is a three-year designation along with a $25,000 per-year fund applicable toward research and scholastic activities. The significance is that this is the first time ever that a privately funded professorship was established in Qatar. Regarding being the first, Belic said, “I feel honored and it’s nice to open a door.”
The appointment is a clear signal of Texas A&M at Qatar’s academic stature as the premier engineering institution in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
Dr. Hassan S. Bazzi, assistant dean for research and graduate studies, and the program chairs of the engineering and science programs submitted nominations to a selection committee consisting of five chaired professors from Texas A&M University who in turn made recommendations to Dr. Mark H. Weichold, dean and CEO of Texas A&M at Qatar. Nominees were evaluated on their records of excellence in research, teaching and service, research productivity and impact and engagement with the local community in Qatar.
Belic’s selection stems from his intense research output. He has published 270 papers and 23 papers since just January 2015. Belic also has secured more than $6 million in Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) funding and his research teams have won the QNRF Best Research Team Award in 2012 and 2014.
Dr. Ed Brothers, program chair of the Science Program, said, “Belic has been able to bring to Qatar a wide variety of researchers to collaborate with him. These collaborations effectively have a “force multiplier” effect and result in a massive number of papers and ideas being generated at Texas A&M at Qatar.”
The Al-Sraiya Professorship stamps Belic’s research impact and productivity as elite even among so many laudable and excellent faculty members at Texas A&M at Qatar and it signifies the branch campus’ peerless standing, research-wise, in the region.