Nael Abu-Ghazaleh, professor of computer science and electrical and computer engineering and chair of the computer engineering program, has been awarded UC Riverside’s Doctoral Dissertation Faculty Award, a campus-wide award from UCR’s Graduate Division to faculty who provide excellent mentorship and support of their graduate students. 

Abu-Ghazaleh was nominated by many current students, alumni, and faculty colleagues at the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE). The award committee called the recommendations “uniformly outstanding” and pointed to Abu-Ghazaleh’s significant and lengthy commitment to graduate teaching over the years. In particular, Abu-Ghazaleh has mentored many female graduate students in a field which typically lacks female representation.  

 "I have had the pleasure to work with talented students that are also outstanding people,” said Abu-Ghazaleh. “I am delighted to be recognized for having had a positive effect on their development and in their life."

Through Abu-Ghazaleh’s noteworthy mentorship, his past Ph.D. students and postdoctoral researchers have pursued successful careers in academia at Carnegie Mellon University, University of California at San Diego, University of New Hampshire, George Mason University, and in industry at Google, Cisco, Intel and IBM, among many others.