SOUTHFIELD — Dr. Tarek M. Sobh has been appointed as the eighth president of Lawrence Technological University and will assume office Jan. 1, announced Douglas Ebert, chairman of LTU’s Board of Trustees.
Sobh, a licensed professional engineer, has served as vice president of academic affairs and provost at Lawrence Tech since 2020. Previously, he was the interim provost; and the university executive vice president, research and economic development and founding dean of the College of Engineering, Business and Education at the University of Bridgeport (Connecticut).
He received a Bachelor of Science in engineering with honors in computer science and automatic control from Alexandria University, Egypt, and Master of Science and PhD degrees in computer and information science from the University of Pennsylvania. He began his academic career as a research assistant professor of computer science at the University of Utah.
Sobh succeeds Dr. Virinder Moudgil, who has led LTU with distinction as president for nearly 10 years. “Dr. Moudgil has been an exemplary leader and tireless advocate for Lawrence Tech,” Ebert said. ”During his tenure, LTU has seen exponential growth in partnerships and programs along with the development of more residence halls and state-of-the-art buildings and laboratories.”
“Lawrence Tech is the creative and innovative university of the future,” said Sobh. “We are the preeminent technological university that prepares students for jobs that haven’t even been created yet. LTU makes a difference in the lives of our students and our community. I look forward to continuing this important work in my new role.”
Moudgil praised Sobh as being “innovative, direct, and driven in his role as provost.”
“He has accomplished much in a short time,” Moudgil said. “I have every confidence he will continue Lawrence Tech’s expansion and success.”
Sobh is a noted scholar who has authored more than 250 refereed journal and conference papers and book chapters, in addition to 27 books. He serves or has served on the editorial boards of 18 journals, and has served on the program committees of over 300 international conferences and workshops in the robotics, automation, sensing, computing, systems, control, online engineering and engineering education areas.
Sobh has presented more than 150 keynote speeches, invited talks and lectures, colloquia and seminars at research meetings, university departments, research centers, and companies. His background is in the fields of robotics, computer science and engineering, control theory, automation, manufacturing, AI, computer vision and signal processing.
Sobh’s selection is the culmination of a 6-month national search process that attracted a large number of outstanding candidates and was aided by R. William Funk and Associates, a leading higher education executive search firm based in Dallas. A 16-person selection committee led by Trustee Victor Saroki with representatives from faculty, staff, students, alumni, community leaders, and trustees narrowed the pool to three candidates. Lawrence Tech’s full Board of Trustees reviewed the recommendations of the LTU community and made the final selection.
