Dean, College of Engineering and Advanced Computing
Dr. Muhammad Anan is a Saudi academic executive with more than 27 years of combined leadership experience across higher education and the technology industry. He currently serves as Dean of the College of Engineering and Advanced Computing at Alfaisal University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where he provides institution-wide leadership across engineering, computing, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity education, and sits on the University’s Council.
Over more than a decade at Alfaisal University, Dr. Anan has progressed through Chair of the Software Engineering Department, Vice Dean of Academic and Student Affairs, Acting Dean, and Dean, building a consistent record of academic strategy, curriculum development, faculty recruitment and development, and institutional governance. He has led successful national and international accreditation efforts, including NCAAA and ABET, and has been central to strengthening quality assurance and institutional effectiveness across the College.
He has secured and led externally funded research initiatives exceeding SAR 4 million from bodies including the National Cybersecurity Authority, the Ministry of Education Research & Development Office, KACST, and Boeing, and has authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and three book chapters spanning artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things. He has also served as Associate Editor for two international journals and as a regular reviewer for IEEE and Wiley publications, reflecting sustained scholarly leadership.
His institutional and national governance experience includes membership on the Board of Directors of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) Saudi Arabia, and the Advisory Board of the College of Computer Engineering and Science at Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd University. He has built strategic partnerships with international universities and industry organizations, drawing on prior faculty and leadership appointments at Purdue University Northwest and the University of Missouri–Kansas City before joining Alfaisal University in 2014.
Before transitioning into academia, Dr. Anan spent over a decade in telecommunications and IT engineering leadership with Sprint (now part of T-Mobile) and IBM Global Services, and as an IT consultant to Kansas City Power & Light, developing large-scale network management, service assurance, and enterprise software systems. This industry foundation continues to inform his approach to innovation-driven academic leadership and industry partnership development. Dr. Anan holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications Networking from the University of Missouri–Kansas City, an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Kansas, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Missouri, and a B.S. in Computer Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM). He is a Senior Member of IEEE.