Dr. Ahmad holds undergraduate degrees in Chemistry and Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from Rice University. Prior to joining Masdar Institute, Dr. Ahmad taught at the University of Houston and Rice University, and held the position of Sr. Environmental Engineer at the environmental risk management firm, GSI Environmental, in Houston, USA. He is a licensed Professional Chemical and Environmental Engineer in the State of Texas, USA. As Principal Investigator of several Federal research grants in the US, Dr. Ahmad has led multi-disciplinary and multi-institution teams to address environmental contamination problems in the U.S.