About LAU

Governance and Administration

Dr. Nadim Farajalla

Chief Sustainability Officer

Dr. Farajalla joined LAU in March 2024 as Chief Sustainability Officer.

In this role, he will lead the development and implementation of LAU’s sustainability strategy, promote a culture of sustainability across all departments, and ensure the university’s positive long-term environmental and social impact.

Dr. Farajalla started his career in the private sector as a senior scientist at Stone Environmental, Inc., Montpelier, Vermont, US. He then spent five years at Dar al-Handasah (Shair and Partners), Lebanon, as a senior environmental engineer on projects that ranged from water resources and associated infrastructure, environmental impact studies and management plans, to hydrological studies and erosion assessment and mitigation.

In 2009, Dr. Farajalla founded and headed the Land, Water and Environment Department at the consulting firm SETS International with projects in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt, and Oman. He subsequently founded and directed the Climate Change and Environment program at the American University of Beirut’s Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs. 

His research focuses on the opportunities and challenges in implementing Agenda 2030 in Lebanon and the region with a special emphasis on integrating the sustainable development goals into an academic framework, especially on university campuses and in curricula. He continues to work on the impact of climate change on human settlements and activities through extreme events of flooding and droughts; the impact of climate change on security; and the nexus of water-energy-food and climate change with a focus on adaptation and resilience.

Dr. Farajalla obtained an MS in Irrigation Engineering from Utah State University in 1989, and an MS and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of Oklahoma in 1995. 

Contact:
Dr. Nadim Farajalla
Chief Sustainability Officer
Lebanese American University
Tel. +961 1 786456, extension 3009

nadim.farajalla@lau.edu.lb