Dr. Ashraf Aly Hassan

When Dr. Aly Hassan pioneered the concept of bio-desalination at the laboratories of US Environmental Protection Agency in 2012, he had his eyes on the Middle East for the application of such an innovative technology. Driven by the need for clean water at low cost and energy, UAE was the perfect destination to move his research laboratory. UAE University supported his research and ensured that this technology would take off. Since joining UAEU Dr Aly Hassan secured about 1.5 million AED of research grants. His research lab consists of 5 MSc, 5 PhD students and a post doc. He branched into other fields such as sustainable biohydrogen production using algae.

Dr Ashraf Aly Hassan received his PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Cincinnati in 2010, MSc in Urban Environmental Management form Wageningen University in 2004 and BSc in Civil Engineering from Cairo University in 2000. His research interests include the desalination of brackish and seawater and production of renewable energy using algal species, the fate and transport of nanoparticle and the impact on biofilm in water distribution systems, microbially induced calcite precipitation, carbon dioxide sequestration, biological treatment of volatile organic compounds, chlorinated compounds and reduced sulfur compounds in off gases.

Dr. Aly Hassan joined UAEU in January 2019 moving from a professor position at the University of Nebraska Lincoln in the USA. He brought over 10 years of academic and research experience and over 5 years of industry experience. Throughout his academic career he supervised and graduated 7 Master and 5 PhD Students. He secured over $1.5M research grants in the USA. He taught at various Universities in the USA including the University of Nebraska Lincoln, University of Cincinnati and Central State University. He won a post-doctoral ORISE Fellowship at the Environmental Protection Agency between 2010 and 2013. He has over 60 peer reviewed publications. Dr Aly Hassan is a Registered Professional Engineer in the State of Nebraska.

A piece in THE about Dr. Aly Hassan s research is found here .

Read an example of Dr Aly Hassan s work on biodesalination  here .