Dr. Hamed Assaf is the Interim Dean of the School of Engineering at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah (AURAK). He received his Ph.D. in civil engineering (water resources) from the University of British Columbia, Canada in 1991. Before joining AURAK, Dr. Assaf held faculty positions at the American University of Sharjah and the American University of Beirut. Before moving to the Arab region in 2003, Dr. Assaf was a senior risk analysis and water resources engineer in British Columbia Hydro Corporation (BC Hydro), the third-largest utility in Canada.

Dr. Assaf is a leading scholar in water resources management and climate change. He has conducted several studies on the impact of climate change on water resources, vulnerability assessment, water resources modeling, mass disasters, and geostatistical risk assessment of groundwater contamination. Dr. Assaf has several peer-reviewed publications, book chapters, and reports focusing on the issue of climate change, its potential impact in the Arab region, and adaptation options. He has collaborated with several local, regional, and worldwide scholars and convened and chaired scientific conference sessions. He has been invited by regional and international organizations including WMO, ESCWA, UNDP and JICA as a keynote speaker, as a panelist, and as an expert on climate change and water resources issues.