Dr. Ahmad Al-Douri ‘21 has entered the next stage of his academic career as a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma.
During his time at Texas A&M University, Al-Douri received a certificate called “An Introduction to Evidence-Based Undergraduate STEM Teaching” through a summer-long program at the Center for Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning (CIRTL), which was instrumental to his professional pursuits.
“The department offered the flexibility to work on a project that touched multiple areas of interest to me and made me aware of opportunities at the college and university level,” Al-Douri said. “Allowing us to be teaching assistants for multiple classes gives you a feel for academic setting, coursework and teaching.”
The certificate, experience and research exposure showed Al-Douri what a career in academia would look like. This led to his current position, which he has held since August 2024, as an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma.
Al-Douri’s master’s degree research focused on optimal allocation of natural gas resources to produce different value-added chemicals. During his doctoral program, he developed a framework for integrating systems reliability and economic assessment into the evaluation of chemical process design alternatives.
Al-Douri was also affiliated with the Mary K. O’Connor Process Safety Center (MKOPSC) during his time with the department, which provided him with a pathway to a postdoctoral position at the University of Maryland.
In Maryland, he worked in the Systems Risk and Reliability Analysis (SyRRA) Lab, which strengthened his ties to the MKOPSC due to the tight-knit field of safety and risk assessment.
Al-Douri hopes to collaborate with Texas A&M again on future research.
“I'll build up my research group while expanding connections to my previous workplaces and apply for joint research funding,” Al-Douri said. “I’m hoping to establish myself as an early career researcher in system safety and risk assessment and get the word out about my group’s work. I am excited to explore opportunities to be a part of bigger projects.”