My Biography
Ali Hadi is Distinguished University Professor and former Chair of the Department of Mathematics and Actuarial Science, Founder of the Actuarial Science Program in (2004), Founder of the Data Science Program in (2019), and former Vice Provost and Director of Graduate Studies and Research at the American University in Cairo (AUC). He is also Professor Emeritus at Cornell University. Hadi obtained his Ph. D. degree with honors in statistics and computer information systems from New York University in 1984.
Prior to joining the American University in Cairo (AUC), he served as a Stephen Weiss Presidential Fellow and Professor of Statistics at Cornell University. During the years 1984-2000, he served as Assistant, Associate, and Full Professor, as well as the chair of the Department of Social Statistics at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He was a member of Cornell's Graduate Field of Statistics and the Department of Statistical Science. While at Cornell, Hadi received several scholarly honors and awards including the the Amoco Foundation Faculty Award, the Outstanding Educator Award, and the Schering-Plough Award for Exemplary Teaching.
Hadi has served as a former Distinguished Visiting Professor at AUC and Clemson University; and a Visiting Professor at the University of Castilla La Mancha (Spain), Neuchâtel University (Switzerland), University of Carlos III (Spain), Cantabria University (Spain), Umea University (Sweden), and New York University (USA).
As an educator, Hadi has taught graduate and undergraduate courses in statistics, mathematics, expert systems, and artificial intelligence, and has won several excellence-in-teaching awards. He has written five books, eight book chapters, and more than 100 articles (see recent publications or download complete CV). His publications received more than 20,000 Google Scholars citations, an h-index of 35, and i-10 index of 60 (See more current citations here). In recognition of his research efforts, he was awarded the “Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavor Award” in 2007 by AUC (See some pictures).
Hadi was elected fellow of the American Statistical Association, a fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, a fellow of the African Academy of Science, and an elected member of the International Statistical Institute. He is a Co-Editor of the Journal of Economic and Social Research, a past Editor of the ISI Review the flagship journal of the International Statistical Institute, a past Editor of the Newsletter of the International Environmetrics Society, an associate editor of Environmetrics, and an associate editor of TEST: Journal of the Spanish Statistical and Operations Research Society.
Hadi is a member of AUC Faculty Senate and has served as the chair of its Academic Affairs Committee. He was also a co-chair of the Reaccredidation Taskforce on Student Admissions and Retention and has served on AUC's Academic Integrity Taskforce, the Taskforce on Learning Space Technology, the Research Advisory Council, twice on the Provost's Advisory Council on Promotion/Tenure, and on numerous other committees on the university, school, and departmental levels.
Ali Hadi was born and raised in Saft El-Nour, a tiny village in Upper Egypt. Upon completion of his Bachelor degree from Ain Shams University in 1972, he worked as a customs officer at Cairo International Airport before leaving for the United States in 1975 to pursue his graduate education on his own expense. While attending the graduate school at New York University, Hadi worked in restaurants to support his family and to pay for his graduate education. Starting as a dishwasher, over the next 8 years – as he pursued his doctorate at NYU – Hadi was promoted to cook, then to first cook, to assistant chef, and, finally, to head chef (see a picture), where he specialized in French-Continental cuisine.