Rate My Professor Hesham El-Askary

Hesham El-Askary is Professor of Computational and Data Science in the Schmid College of Science and Technology at Chapman University, serving as Director of the Computational and Data Science Graduate Programs and the Earth System Science and Data Solutions Lab. He earned his Ph.D. in Computational Science and Informatics, focusing on Environmental Physics and Remote Sensing, from George Mason University in 2004. Additional degrees include an M.Sc. in Earth System Science (2004) and an M.Sc. in Computational Science (2003), both from George Mason University, postgraduate studies in Geophysics from Alexandria University (2000), and a B.Sc. in Geophysics, Physics, and Geology from Alexandria University (1997). His career includes prior roles as Associate Professor at Chapman University since 2011 (promoted to Professor in 2016), Research Scientist at George Mason University's Center for Earth Observing and Space Research (2004-2008), and Associate Professor in the Environmental Science Department at Alexandria University (on leave since 2009).

Dr. El-Askary's research centers on earth system science and remote sensing, encompassing natural hazards, atmospheric events such as dust storms and air pollution, climate change impacts including sea-level rise and coral reefs, anomalous chlorophyll outbreaks, hurricane intensification, microbe transport linked to Kawasaki disease, water resources management, precision agriculture, and sustainable development goals, utilizing machine learning, data mining, and earth observations. He has contributed to projects funded by the National Science Foundation, NASA, United States Department of Agriculture, and the European Union, including serving as regional coordinator for the €3 million GEO-CRADLE initiative under Horizon 2020, which produced Egypt's official solar atlas. Awards include Chapman University's Wang-Fradkin Professor Award (2015), the institution's highest honor for scholarly activity; Game Changer Award from the Orange County Business Council (2018); Alexandria University Alumni Achievement Award (2017); and Saudi Arabia Prize for the best article in Environmental Management (2006). With over 100 refereed publications, notable works feature "Optimal multi-stage arrhythmia classification approach" (Scientific Reports, 2020); "Dust storms detection over the Indo-Gangetic basin using multi sensor data" (Advances in Space Research, 2006); and "Change detection of coral reef habitat using Landsat-5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 OLI data in the Red Sea" (International Journal of Remote Sensing, 2014).