Fawzi Banat is a Professor & Chair of the Chemical Engineering Department at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE. He received his PhD in chemical engineering from McGill University, Montreal, Canada, in 1995 and MSc and BSc in chemical engineering from the University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. Prior to joining Khalifa University, he worked at various universities including Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), University of Bahrain, German Jordanian University, and as a visiting professor at McGill University.
During his career, he performed pioneering and cutting-edge research in a number of important areas that made him an internationally recognized leader in the fields of desalination, food packaging, and biofuel upgradation. Under his leadership, the technology and science of membrane distillation, solar desalination, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, food packaging films, gas aphrons, supercritical extraction of fructose and glucose, extraction of antioxidants, milk and tomato powders, composites and nanocomposites, bifunctional catalysts, photodegradation, capacitive deionization electrodes, and electromagnetic separation of salts from amine and brine solutions have been investigated. These studies provided a number of findings that impacted his field of research. The research findings were summarized in more than 360 papers, more than 120 conference presentations, several patents, and book chapters, resulting in more than 14,000 citations. He co-edited a book on algal biotechnology (Elsevier). He has been a member or/and chair of many technical committees and scientific advisory boards. More than 50 MSc and Ph.D. studies were completed under his supervision, and more than 10 postdoctoral fellows conducted research under his guidance.
In particular, Prof. Banat has built a generation of faculty with more than 10 professors and several leading researchers in industry working in different countries. Prof. Banat has participated in international projects, given plenary, keynote, and invited talks, and supervised students from various countries and continents. He is a Member of the Emirates Scientist Council. Additionally, he serves on the editorial boards of several esteemed journals.
Prof. Banat was ranked in the list of the top 2{eca436d86c222ab3e9dab4c32851a5f0e8b92f21bb36ef315e982b8f746c99ed} of scientists in the world by Stanford University (2020, 2021). He has received numerous awards from various academic, industrial and professional institutions including: "Distinguished University Professor in the Field of Scientific Research" at the 7th edition of the Khalifa Award for Education, Abu Dhabi, UAE (2014), Shoman Prize for Young Arab Researchers/Engineering (2000), "R&D Science Lantern Faculty Award by ADNOC", UAE (2014), "best faculty award for Teaching & Research by Khalifa College (2020)", UAE and the Jordanian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Award for Exceptional Researchers/Engineering (2006). Prof. Banat has also held several administrative positions at various universities, including Department Head, Dean of Research, Dean of Graduate Studies, and Acting Dean of Natural Resources Engineering.
