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Khaled Mahdi is an Associate Professor at the Chemical Engineering department. Khaled holds a PhD in chemical engineering (2000) from Northwestern University specializing on statistical mechanics of complex systems. He received his BASc. in chemical engineering (1993) from the University of Toronto and his master’s degree from Illinois Institute of Technology (1995). Khaled started his career working in Water Resource Division in the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research before moving to Kuwait University to become Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering. He taught 30 different undergraduate and graduates’ courses in engineering and management. He created Introduction to Nuclear Engineering course and introduced Nanotechnology and Project Management courses through selected topics. Khaled has authored or co-authored more than 65 journals articles, book chapters, conference papers, a patent, and a book in different fields. His primary interest is modeling of complex systems and process optimization. Khaled and collaborators established SYNERGY, a research group to study complex networks including social, biological, and financial networks. Khaled served in several academic committees at department, college and university levels and founded AIChE Student Chapter in the chemical engineering department. He received the Best Teaching Award in Kuwait University (2009).
Government and Public Sector Experience, Khaled served as the Secretary-General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development and the National Director of the Country Program Action Plan with UNDP in the Government of Kuwait in the period (2016-2024) and the Head of the Consultants Selection Committee (2015-2018) at national level. He was responsible for building, advocating, and monitoring of the national development policies and programs in Kuwait to achieve its 2035 vision, New Kuwait. He was a member of several boards and councils in the government, to name few: Supreme Council of Education, Council of Government Universities, Public Authority for Industries, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Public Authority for Housing Welfare and Public Authority for Applied Education and Training, Public Authority for Civil Information and Kuwait National Fund for the Development of SME. He served as a member in different high-level committees; Public-Private Partnership, Fiscal budgeting Frame, National Climate Change, Sovereign Rating Governance, National Demography and Labor Market, Kuwait Census, National ICT Strategy, Kuwait Masterplan 2040, Restructuring of Government of Kuwait, Improving of Ease of Doing Business Committee and Anti-Corruption Strategy Implementation. Khaled led the national efforts to implement the SDG Agenda 2030, he headed the delegations to present the Voluntary National Report of Kuwait in 2019 and 2023 in the High-Level Political Forum in the UN as well as advocates empowerment for women, youth, and people with disabilities as well as Child Protection in Kuwait. He established Kuwait Public Policy Center and its Nudge unit, National Knowledge Economy Center, National Development Research Centre, and the SDG Observatory. Khaled represented Kuwait regionally and internationally in the Arab Planning Institutes, Global Green Growth Institute and World Bank Human Capital Conclave. Under his leadership, more than 40 Kuwaiti Junior Professional Officers stationed in UN organizations, more than 3000 Kuwaiti public servants received online training during and post COVID, more than 10 PhD candidates received a scholarship in Knowledge Economy and related fields, streamlined the publishing of Kuwait Annual plans and their quarterly progress reports through one integrated online platform, launching of New Kuwait in 2017 with Government commitments and coordinated and presented government programs. In collaboration with UN organization, led the implementation of more than 20 projects in several national sectors supporting the national plan in government entities. He received the “People First” Leader GCC HR Award in (2018) and several recognitions from national and international organizations for his achievements.
Private Sector Experience, Khaled was the managing director and the chairman of the Construction Waste Recycle (BOT) project operated by the Environmental Preservation Industrial Company in Kuwait (2010-2013). He sat on several boards of industrial and consulting corporations in Kuwait such as Al-Dhow Environmental Projects Company, vice-chair of Arab International Industrial Projects and International Quarries Company, Focus Consultancy. Khaled is representing Kuwait Investment Authority as a board member to Kuwait Care for Hospital Management board (Enayah) as a first PPP project to manage public hospitals in Kuwait (2019). Kuwait Industries Union featured him as one of the exceptional Industrialists (2011)
Advisory and Training Experience, Khaled serves as a consultant for Kuwait University Academic affairs offices on Kuwait University Strategy in (2005). Later he served as an Advisor of the Minister of Planning and Development Affairs office in (2014). Khaled engaged in many consulting projects with several organizations such as UNCC, KNFP, KPC, EPIC, MOE, KIU, CMA and many others. He trained more than 1000 professionals and engineers in project management and leadership. He has participated in more than 90 training courses since (2002) in the public and private sectors locally and regionally as well as internationally.
Professional Communities Experience, Khaled is a certified project management professional (PMP), PRINCE2 (Fundamental) and a Certified Consulting Engineer (CEng) as well as a certified GCC expert and commercial arbitrator. He is a senior member of American Institute for Chemical Engineers (1989) life-long member of Kuwait Society of Engineers (1993) Project Management Institute (2007), Kuwait Economic Society (2019) besides membership in several professional societies. Khaled cofounded, chair Kuwait Chemical and Petroleum Engineers league (2005), Kuwait Project Management Society (2015), Kuwait Innovation, and Technology Society (2018). He sits on the AUK’s College of Business Administration and Economics Advisory board (2016), the Conference Board advisory board (2018) who he chairs recently, KU’s college of Business Administration of Excellence in Management board (2021) and IDC Kuwait Advisory Council (2023).
Doctor of Philosophy, Chemical Engineering (2000)
Northwestern University, USA
Ph.D. Thesis: Phase Diagrams of Polyelectrolyte Solutions.
Supervisor: Prof. M. Olvera de la Cruz
Master of Chemical Engineering, Chemical Engineering (1995)
Illinois Institute of Technology, USA
M. ChE. Project: Adiabatic Flow of Dilute Polymeric Liquids Using Brownian Dynamic Simulations of FENE Dumbbells.
Supervisor: Prof. J. D. Scheiber
Bachelor of Applied Science, Chemical Engineering (1993)
University of Toronto, Canada
B.A.Sc. Thesis: Thermal and Sonochemical Liquefaction of Coal. Supervisor: Prof. C. Mims
Plant Design Project: Design of an Oil Extraction and Protein Isolates Pilot Plant. Supervisor: Prof. Diosady
Specialization:
Business Management (courses completed at University of Ottawa, Canada 1991)
Nuclear Chemical Engineering (completed at University of Toronto, Canada 1993)
2016 – 2024 General Secretarial of the Supreme Council for Planning, Kuwait
Secretary-General (2016 – 2024)
National Director of the Country Program Action Plan (2016-2023)
Head of the Consultants Selection Committee (2016 - 2017)
Councils and Boards membership
Council member – Supreme Council of Education (2016 – 2020)
Member – General policies committee, Supreme Council of Education (2017)
Council Member – Government Universities Council (2019 – 2024)
Member – Policies and Strategies Committee (2021-2024)
Member, Education / Labor Market Alignment Committee (2021)
Member, Higher Education and Research Policy Committee (2022-2023)
Member, Study the need for Applied University Committee (2023-2024)
Board member – Public Authority of Civil Information (2015-2016), (2023-2024)
Board member – The National Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises Development (2017 – 2022)
- Chairman – Executive, bylaws and regulations committee, SME (2021-2022)
- Co-Chair – Strategies and policies committee, SME (2021 - 2022)
Chairman – Deputy Director-General Selection Committee, SME (2021)
Chairman – Mina Abdullah Industrial Lands proposal evaluation for SME Committee (2018)
Board member – Public Authority for Housing Welfare (2017 – 2024)
- Co-Chair – General policies committee, PAWH (2017-2018), Chairman (2018 -2021), (2021 – 2024)
- Member – Investigation committee, PAWH (2017)
Board of Trustees member – Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (2016 – 2024)
- Member – General policies committee, KISR (2017-2024)
Member – Deputy Director-General Selection Committee, KISR (2019-2020), (2021)
Board member – Public Authority for Applied Education and Training (2019 – 2024)
Member – Investigation Committee, PAAET (2022)
Board member – Public Authority of Industries (2015-2024)
Member – Industrial lots of evaluation committee, PAI (2017)
Member – Consulting study dispute committee, PAI (2021)
Board member – Kuwait Health Care Hospitals Management (Enayah, SOE) (2017 – present)
Chairman – Governance and Rewards Committee KCCHM (2022- present)
Member –Public-Private Partnership Supreme Committee (2020 – 2023)
Member – Technical Committee (2020 – 2023)
Higher Committees membership
Member – Higher Committee for Kuwait Master Plan 2040 (2015 – 2017) – Headed by the Prime Minister
Member – National Committee on Ease of Doing Business and Improving Competitiveness (2016-2020)
Member – Kuwait Census 2020 (2019 – 2020)
Member – Government Program Follow-up Ministerial Committee (2021-2022) – Headed by the Deputy Prime Minister
Chairman – Technical Team of Government Program (2021-2022)
Chairman – Human Capital Domain in Government Program Steering Committee (2021- 2022)
Member – Government Restructuring in Government Program Steering Committee (2021-2022)
Member – Higher Committee for National Energy Policy Implementation (2018 – 2022)
Chairman – Use of Behavior Economics in the Rationalization of Energy (2019 – 2021)
Member – National Committee on Demography and Labor Market (2023 - 2024) – Headed by the First Deputy Prime Minister
Member – Higher Committee for Anti-Corruption Strategy Implementation Monitor (2019 – 2024)
Member – National budget structural frame (2016-2024)
Member – National Committee on Climate Change (2018 – 2024)
Member – Expo 2020 Dubai Kuwait team (2017 -2022)
Member – National ICT (digital transformation) Strategy Committee (2019 - 2024)
Member – Government Restructuring Committee (2023 - 2024)
Member - Expo 2025 Osaka Kuwait team (2022 -present)
Thermodynamics of complex solutions
Statistical Mechanics of complex networks
CFD of chemical and biological systems
Optimization of chemical processes design and operations
Advanced Chemical Engineering Mathematics (ChE 511)
Advanced Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (ChE 521)
Advanced Transport Phenomena (ChE 545)
Advanced Momentum Transfer (ChE 541)
Advanced Process Optimization (ChE 582)
Fluid Phase Equilibria (ChE 561)
Plant Design (ChE 491)
Equipment Design (ChE 493)
Selected Topics in Chemical Engineering: Introduction to Nanotechnology (ChE 484)
Selected Topics in Chemical Engineering: Introduction to Nuclear Engineering (ChE 484)
Selected Topics in Chemical Engineering: Project Management (ChE 484)
Optimization Techniques (ChE 457)
Introduction to Nuclear Engineering (ChE 361)
Mass Transfer Operations (ChE 440)
Mass Transfer Operations Laboratory (ChE 443)
Wastewater Treatment (ChE 463)
Polymers Engineering (ChE 473)
Introduction to Environmental Engineering (ChE 304)
Petrochemical Engineering (ChE 474)
Mass Transfer (ChE 345)
Heat Transfer (ChE 343)
Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics (ChE 340)
Kinetics and Reactor Design A (ChE 324)
Fluid Mechanics (ChE 241)
Fundamental of Chemical Engineering Design (ChE 219)
Basic Chemical Engineering Principles II (ChE 213)
Basic Chemical Engineering Principles I (ChE 211)
Numerical Methods for Engineers (ENGR 308)
Engineering Economy (ENGR 209)
Engineering Thermodynamics (ENGR 208)
Introduction to Engineering Programs (ENGR 099)
Operations Research or Business (QMS 205)
Eric Andrew Finkelstein, Jesse D. Malkin, Drishti Baid, Ada Alqunaibet, Khaled Mahdi, Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Buthaina Abdulla Bin Belaila, Ebrahim Al Nawakhtha, Saleh Alqahtani, Sameh El-Saharty & Christopher H. Herbst The impact of seven major noncommunicable diseases on direct medical costs, absenteeism, and presenteeism in Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Journal of Medical Economics,Taylor & Francis (2021)
Ghufran Al-Shiridah, Khaled Mahdi and Maytham Safar, System and Method for Determining the Feedback Capacity of Information Distributed in Complex Networks (Cyclo-Feed). US Patent Docket 23588.65 (2018)
Ghufran Al-Shiridah, Maytham Safar, and Khaled Mahdi, Mobile Communication Networks. “History of Social Networks: Past, Present and Future", Encyclopedia of Social Networks and Mining (ESNAM). Co-edited by Reda Alhajj and Jon Rokne, Springer Verlag, (2014)
AlShiridah, Ghufran; Mahdi, Khaled; Safar, Maytham; Facebook feedback capacity modeling. Social Network Analysis and Mining (SNAM) 3:4, Springer Vienna (2013)
Safar, Maytham; Mahdi, Khaled; Farahat, Hisham; Albehairy, Saud; Kassem, Ali; Alenzi, Khalid; Approximate cycles count in undirected graphs. International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems, Taylor & Francis (2013)
Ibrahim Sarkhoh, Khaled Mahdi, and Maytham Safar, Estimation Algorithm for Counting Periodic Orbits in Complex Social Networks. Information System Frontiers, Special issue Semantic Information Management .15 (2), 193-202 (2013)
K. Mahdi, L. Jamal and M. Safar Cyclic Entropy of Collaborative Social Network, IET Communications, 6 (12), 166-1617 (2012)
Maytham Safar, Khaled Mahdi, Hisham Farahat, Saud Albehairy, Ali Kassem, Khalid Alenzi, Approximate Cycles Count in Undirected Graph. International Journal of Computational Intelligence Systems (IJCIS) (2011)
Maytham Safar, Khaled Mahdi and Sadeq Torabi. Network Robustness and Irreversibility of Information Diffusion of Complex Networks. Journal of Computational Science, Special issue on social computational systems, 2 (3), 189-314 (2011)
Maytham Safar and Khaled Mahdi Social Networking and Community Behavior Modeling: Qualitative and Quantitative Measures, pp. 214, IGI (2011)
A. Eltoukhy, M. Safar and K. Mahdi, Modeling, Analysis and Characterization of Dubai Financial Market as a Social Network chapter in: Software Engineering and Computer Systems: Communications in Computer and Information Science, 181, Part 4, 443-454, Springer (2011)
G. Zahedi, A. Lohi and K. Mahdi, Hybrid modeling of ethylene-to-ethylene oxide heterogeneous reactor. Fuel Processing Technology 92, 1725-1732 (2011)
K. Mahdi, M. Al-Rashed, A. Alsairafi and J. Wójcik, CFD Simulation of A Conical-Cylindrical Crystallization Unit Multi-Phase Eulerian Model. Kuwait J. Sci. Eng., 37 (2B): 145-160 (2010)
M. Safar, N. El-Sayed, K. Mahdi and D. Taniar, Entropy Optimization of Social Networks using an Evolutionary Algorithm. Journal of Universal Computer Science 16 (6), 983-1003 (2010)
K. Mahdi, M. Safar, and S. Torabi, A Model of Diffusion Parameter characterizing Social Network IADIS International Journal on WWW/Internet, 7 (1), 136-151 (2009)
Khaled Mahdi, Maytham Safar, Ibrahim Sorkhoh, and Ali Kassem, Cycle-Based versus Degree-based Classification of Social Networks, Journal of Digital Information Management, special issue, 7 (6), 383-389 (2009)
K. Mahdi, Maytham Safar and Hisham Farahat, Analysis of Temporal Evolution of Social Networks. Journal of Mobile Multimedia, 5 (4), 333-350 (2009)
K. Mahdi, G. Zahedi, R. Gheshlaghic, and A. Lohi d, Characterization and modeling of a crude oil desalting plant by a statistically designed approach. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 61:116–123 (2008)
Khaled A. Mahdi and Zuzana Drobiova, Phase Behavior of DNA Solutions in the presence of Salts, Fluid Phase Equilibria, 242, 103-109, (2006)
M. Riazi, K. Mahdi and M. Al-Qallaf, Generalized Correlation for the Viscosity of Hydrocarbons Based on Corresponding States Principles and Molar Refraction. Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data, 50, 1-5, (2005)
Khaled A. Mahdi and Monica Olvera de la Cruz, Phase Diagrams of Salt-Free Polyelectrolyte Solutions. Macromolecules, 33, 7649-7654, (2000)