Dear colleagues,

KAUST commenced a global search for a Provost in October 2019, and I am delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Carin as our new Provost. The newly defined Provost position will provide strategic and administrative leadership in all matters pertaining to faculty, students and education programs, including recruitment, retention, promotion, development of talents, as well as curriculum, dual/joint degrees, online and continuing education, and new academic programs. Through these activities and beyond, he will be leading KAUST to achieve increasingly higher levels of academic excellence and recognition. The Deans will report directly to the Provost, who will report to the President. Dr. Carin is expected to arrive at KAUST in early February 2021.

Dr. Carin brings to KAUST extensive leadership and administration experience from a top tier institution in the United States. He is coming to KAUST from his present position as Vice President for Research at Duke University. He previously also held a number of distinguished positions at Duke including the James L. Meriem and William H. Younger Distinguished Professorships of Engineering, Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and Vice Provost for Research. Duke is ranked #20 in the world and #5 in the U.S. by THE (Times Higher Education, 2020) University rankings.

Dr. Carin is a world class researcher in the areas of AI & Machine Learning; he has been among the most prolific researchers in that field, publishing extensively in the most-competitive AI/ML forums. Across all fields of computer science (not just AI/ML), he is ranked #435 worldwide and #279 in the U.S. (by guide2research). His background in AI is very relevant to the new digital thematic priority at KAUST, and will help attract top caliber talent to the Kingdom. He is a Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) since 2001, and has co-authored over 450 academic papers with a Google Scholar H-Index of 86. He likewise has a strong track record of recruiting pre-eminent faculty as the Lead of the Duke Science & Technology Initiative (where several U.S. National Academic Members were hired) and through his other administrative positions at Duke. Larry also brings extensive understanding of the dual mission of KAUST; as part of his role as Vice President for Research, he oversaw the Duke Office of Licensing and Ventures. He co-founded the Signal Innovation group (accquired by BAE Systems in 2014) and established Infinia ML, another successful start-up, to commercialize his research in AI/ML.

Prior to his tenure at Duke University, Dr. Carin held Assistant and Associate Professor positions at the Polytechnic University in Brooklyn (now New York University Tandon School of Engineering), New York. He received his Ph.D., M.Sc. and BS degrees in Electrical Engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.

At KAUST, Larry will be joined by his wife and two of their four children. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to welcome Dr. Carin and his family to KAUST!

I want to also thank Dr. Yves Gnanou for his great service as Vice President, Academic Affairs. Yves will take on a new role as Special Advisor to the President with a focus on teaching and learning whilst also supporting Larry in his transition to KAUST as Provost. 

Finally, let me extend my sincere appreciation for the hard work and diligence of my colleagues in the Provost Search Committee consisting of Prof. Donal Bradley, Mr. Farooq Al Janahi, Prof. Osman Bakr, Prof. Wolfgang Heidrich, Prof. Pierre Magistretti, Prof. Xiangliang Zhang and Ms. Kathy Farrell (coordinator).