Mohammad A. Karim is Vice President for Research at the Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, Virginia, and as such he oversees its research enterprise, that incurs $100M in research and development expenditures, and involves six colleges, 20+ research centers, 650+ faculty and 6000+ graduate students. He has been serving as chair of the International Program Committee of the International Conference on Computing and Information Technology (ICCIT) since 2001 and as chair of the Technical Committee of the International Conference on Industrial Electronics, Technology & Automation (IETA) since 2005. Karim is North American Editor of "Optics and Laser Technology," an Associate Editor of "IEEE Transactions of Education," and serves on the editorial boards of both "Microwave and Optical Technology Letters" and "World Journal of Modeling and Simulation." He has guest edited 24 journal special issues.

Prior to joining ODU, Mohammad Karim served as Dean of Engineering at the City College of New York of the City University of New York (2000-2004), Head of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Tennessee (1998-2000), and Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering (1994-1998) and Founding Director of Electro-Optics (1990-1998) at the University of Dayton in Ohio.

Karim is author of 15 text and reference books, over 325 research papers, 7 book chapters, 10 book reviews, 3 US patents, and of numerous technical reports and editorials. His books Digital Design: A Pragmatic Approach (1987), Electro-Optical Devices and Systems (1990), Optical Computing: An Introduction (1992), Electro-Optical Displays (1992), Continuous Signals and Systems with Matlab (2001, 2009), and Digital Design: Basic Concepts and Principles (2008) are used in numerous universities and institutions throughout the world at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He is an elected fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Optical Society of America (OSA), the Society of Photo-Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), Institute of Physics (InstP) of United Kingdom, Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) of United Kingdom, and Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS) and a Distinguished Engineering Fellow of the University of Alabama.

Karim’s area of research encompasses optical computing, information processing, pattern/target recognition, night vision, displays, electro-optical systems, and sensors. The list of his past and current research sponsors include US Air Force, Naval Research Laboratory, US Army, National Science Foundation, NASA, US Department of Education, Ohio Aerospace Institute, US Department of Defense, and Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. During his academic career, Karim served as research mentor of over 57 MS/PhD. students.

Born in 1953, Mohammad Karim completed his pre-university education at Faujdarhat Cadet College and Sylhet Government College in Bangladesh, and received his BS Honors degree in physics from the University of Dacca in 1976, and MS in physics, MS in electrical engineering, and Ph.D. in electrical engineering degrees from the University of Alabama respectively in 1978, 1979, and 1981. Karim was ranked first among the 39,488 students who took the Bangladesh’s Higher Secondary Certificate Examination in 1972, and fourth among the 64,432 students who took the Secondary School Certificate Examination in 1969.

Dr. Karim is recipient of numerous awards: Outstanding Engineering Research Award (1998), Outstanding Scientist Award (1994), Alumni Award in Scholarship (1991), NASA Tech Brief Award (1990), Up and Comers Education Award (1990), and NCR Stakeholder Award (1989). He has been listed in American Men and Women in Science, Marquis International Who’s Who in Optical Science & Engineering, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, Who’s Who in America, Outstanding People of the 20th Century, Dictionary of International Biography, and 2000 Outstanding Scientists of the 20th Century.

Dr. Karim and his wife Setara lives in Virginia Beach, VA, have a son, Lutfi, and two daughters, Lamya, and Aliya.