Dr. Haidar Harmanani is a professor of computer science at LAU and dean of the School of Arts and Sciences with a career spanning over three decades. He holds a BS, MS and PhD in Computer Engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, completed in 1989, 1991 and 1994, respectively.

Dr. Harmanani joined LAU in 1994 as an assistant professor of computer science. During his academic tenure, he fostered academic excellence and innovation, mentored students, and supervised numerous graduate theses and projects. His commitment to education is reflected in his engaging teaching style and ability to inspire students.

As an administrator, he served as the founding Chair of the Computer Science and Mathematics department in Byblos from 2003 to 2011, during which he led the first successful ABET accreditation for the Computer Science program. He also expanded the faculty, introduced state-of-the-art lab equipment, and contributed to the growth of the department’s student body. He subsequently served as the school’s assistant dean in 2011, associate dean from 2012-2014, and again from 2018-2023. He coordinated the design and implementation of the school’s strategic plan, led assessment and accreditation efforts, managed financial planning, and academic planning. He played a pivotal role in launching new programs and steering accreditation. Since 1994, Dr. Harmanani has served on institutional committees and councils contributing to LAU’s mission and its NECHE accreditation.

Dr. Harmanani is professionally active in computing education circles, serving as a CAC ABET Commissioner, EAC Program Evaluator, and a member of ABET’s CAC executive committee. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a senior member of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), an NVIDIA Deep Learning Institute ambassador, and a member of the Gamma Beta Phi honor society. He has served on several editorial boards and contributed to numerous international conferences, serving on the program committees for multiple IEEE conferences.

Research Interests

Dr. Harmanani’s research interests include electronic design automation (EDA), high-level synthesis, design for testability, applications of artificial intelligence and deep learning, and parallel computing. 

SDGs Research Mapping

Dr. Haidar Harmanani conducts research relevant to the following SDGs:

Selected Publications

• Srour, A., Ould-Slimane, H., Mourad, A., Harmanani, H., Jenainati, C., Joint theme and event based rating model for identifying relevant influencers on Twitter: COVID-19 case study, 2022.
• Mourad, A., Srour, A., Harmanani, H., Jenainati, C., Arafeh, M., Critical Impact of Social Networks Infodemic on Defeating Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic: Twitter-Based Study and Research Directions, 2020.
• Marrouche, W., Farah, R., Harmanani, H.M., A Strength Pareto Evolutionary Algorithm for Optimizing System-On-Chip Test Schedules, 2018.
• Harmanani, H, An outcome-based assessment process for accrediting computing programmes, 2017.
• Harmanani, H.M., Ghosn, S.B., An efficient method for the open-shop scheduling problem using simulated annealing, 2016.
• Al-Kawam, A., Harmanani, H.M., A parallel GPU implementation of the timber Wolf placement algorithm, 2015.

Academic degrees

• PhD in Computer Engineering, 1994, Case Western Reserve University, USA.
• MS in Computer Engineering, 1991, Case Western Reserve University, USA.
• BS in Computer Engineering, 1989, Case Western Reserve University, USA.