Dr. Iyad Abu-Jeib in Brief

EDUCATION: I earned a B.S. with high distinction from Birzeit Univresity. I was student No. 1 (highest GPA) at the University that academic year. I earned my first M.S. degree in computer science from The American University in Washington D.C. with a GPA of 3.83 (out of 4) and my second M.S. degree in applied mathematics from The University of Nebraska at Lincoln with a GPA of 4.0 (out of 4). I earned my Ph.D. (doctorate) in applied mathematics (with many computer science courses) also from The University of Nebraska at Lincoln with a GPA of 3.96 (out of 4).

TEACHING EXPERIENCE: I taught one semester in high school (that was before I earned my first M.S. degree). I was a teaching assistant for several years at The University of Nebraska at Lincoln. When I finished my Ph.D. I became a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineering at The University of Nebraska at Lincoln. I taught there 4 courses in two semesters (one of the courses is a graduate course in the mathematical theory of finite automata and computational complexity - CSCE 935). Then I moved to the State University of New York in 2001. The teaching load is 3 classes/semester. But (not counting this semester), I taught an average of 11.33 credits per semester. I earned my tenure there and taught there until 2007. I was promoted there to Associate Prof. in Computer Science. Then, I moved to Birzeit University. I was hired there as Associate Prof. of Mathematics. (Birzeit University used not to transfer promotions from anywhere at that time, and it used to reevaluate the record again.) I taught there for one year. Then, I resigned because of family matters and moved to the Arab American University (which is close to my hometown) where I'm now. After that, Birzeit University convinced me to teach Master's courses for them. I agreed to do that for one semester only, because of family matters.
GRADUATE TEACHING EXPERIENCE: I taught graduate master's courses at three universities so far. I also taught graduate Ph.D. (doctorate) courses.

POSITIONS: I was offered positions at companies and academic positions such as Vice President, Assistant to Vice President for Academic Affairs and several deans positions. I declined all of those.

Some of My Awards: When I was undergraduate, I was on the dean's list several times and earned two fellowships. I was offered two M.S. fellowships and a Ph.D. fellowship (but declined one of the M.S. fellowships and the Ph.D. fellowship). I was also offered a Ph.D. teaching assistantship which I accepted. While I was working on my Ph.D. I received two awards and two teaching certificates from The Parents Association and the Teaching Council at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

FAMILY: I have a brother with a Ph.D. in Hydrology from Germany (he lived in Germany for many years) and another brother with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the United Kingdom (he is still in Britain). A Third brother is a civil engineer. A fourth brother is a mechanical engineer. One of my sisters is a school teacher.

COMMENTS FROM MY FORMER STUDENTS: Here is what two of my former students said to me (by e-mail) after I either left the university where the student is or after the student moved to another university. Those students are or were at good universities (I deleted the names of the students and their universities):

"You might not remember me, but my name is ... and I was in your Discrete Math and CS 1 class last year, Spring semester. Anyway, I'm going to ... now and I haven't had any teachers yet that are even close to how good a teacher you were!"

"The other day stuff I learned from your class came up in another class and I remembered perfectly what you had taught us. Your class is one of the few I can actually say I remember and learned in. I really appreciated your teaching style and wish we had more professors here like you. How have you been doing? Are you still in New York? "

For more comments from my students, click here.

COMMENTS FROM MY FORMER PROFESSORS: Here is what 4 of my former professors said about me:

1. "Iyad is an excellent scholar, a proven teacher and an indvidual of high ethical standards."
2. "You are the most faithful student and friend I ever met."
3. "Remember that you are a very good teacher and scholar."
4. "I am proud of you Iyad. I really am."

1. "In summary, I believe Dr. Abu-Jeib is an excellent instructor who demonstrates that he is well prepared, cares about the quality of the lesson he is presenting and cares about the welfare of the students."
2. "Overall I was favorably impressed. An excellent job."
3. "Overall, I was impressed with the quality of his presentation."
4. "Dr. Abu-Jeib used a variety of instructional strategies, including guided discussion, individual work, and group work. Overall, I would say that this class was organized and conducted in expert fashion!"
5. "In all I was impressed with how the class went."
6. "In conclusion, Iyad was very well organized, very knowledgeable and well prepared. He definitely reaches out to students."
7. "Overall, the class was a lively dialog between the instructor and the students."
8. "In all I found Dr. Abu-Jeib to be a very conscientious teacher. His lessons are well thought and well delivered."
9. "In general, I found the students were very attentive and responsive. The example programs were illustrative without being overly complicated, and it was obvious Dr. Abu-Jeib has a thorough grasp of the material and was able to get his points across."
10. "The students appeared comfortable and contended. The instructor was well prepared and the Java program he presented was a well-chosen example of a class of useful interface functions."
11. "Dr. Abu-Jeib did an excellent job in teaching the material he had planned for the lecture. In this regard, he was very well organized. My summary: he delivered a solid performance in this particular class."
12. "Overall, I find Dr. Abu-Jeib to be a very organized, competent and enthusiastic teacher, and I enjoyed the visit very much."
13. "Dr. Abu-Jeib has an excellent classroom presence. He seems very approachable to his students. The atmosphere is class was very friendly. At the same time, Dr. Abu-Jeib lecture was very rigorous. He was able to explain clearly the difficult material. In my opinion, Dr. Abu-Jeib is an excellent teacher and did wonderful job in this class."

Computer languages and web stuff I learned: C++, Octave, Pascal, Java, Fortran 77, Fortran 90, QBASIC, GW BASIC, Visual Basic, LISP, Prolog, MODSIM II, HTML, PERL, CGI, JavaScript. In addition to that, I learned many softwares for math, databases, statistics, typing scientfic stuff, etc (such as PARADOX, ORACLE, Power Builder, Latex, Maple, Mathematica, SYSTAT, etc). But, by the way, I forgot many of those I learned :-)