ABOUT US
Mohd. Homayoun Qayoumi is an Afghan-American, who was born in Afghanistan and has completed his elementary education in Kabul, Capitol of Afghanistan. Mr. Qayoumi in 1968 succeeded to receive a scholarship to attend the engineering school of American University of Beirut. After Graduation as Electrical Engineer from A.U.B. he was hired as Telecommunication Engineer in Saudi Arabia. In 1977, he moved to Abu-Dhabi where he worked as Electrical Engineer in one of the largest electric companies in the region.
Mr. Qayoumi from onset of his schooling was an ambitious student who always wanted to challenge himself for higher goals. As an engineer in Abu-Dhabi he noticed that there is more to study and to learn in the vast field of engineering. In 1978 he moved to United States and enrolled in university of Cincinnati. M. Homayoun Qayoumi within a year received his masters in Nuclear Engineering from University of Cincinnati and stayed as staff engineer in same university. In 1985, Mr. Qayoumi received his PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from University of Cincinnati.
Dr Qayoumi after receiving his PhD, moved to Northern California in 1986, and started his new career in San Jose State University. Dr. Qayoumi for next 10 years worked in San Jose State University to the level of Associate Vice President. In 1996, he moved to University of Missouri to work as Vice Chancellor for next 4 years.
Dr. Qayoumi in year 2000 returned to California and served initially as Vice President for Administration and Finance and later as Chief Financial Officer in California State University in Northridge. While serving at CSU Northridge as CFO, he completed rebuilding the campus after the Northridge earthquake, build the first one megawatt solar poser system in Southern California, the 11th largest fuel cell in the world, and the first 1700 seat performing arts center in San Fernando Valley. All of these projects were completed on schedule and within budget. The total cost was over half a billion dollars.
In 2006, Dr. Qayoumi moved to California State University Eastbay (formerly known as Cal-State Hayward) and served as President for next 5 years. Prior to Dr. Qayoumi's arrival at CSUEB the student enrollment remained stagnant for over three decades. While at CSUEB, the first time that enrollment increased in a significant numbers. In five years he built a new Business & Technology building, new Student Union, first Dining Building, Administration & Student Services Building, Student Recreation Building, a 1.25 Megawatt fuel cell plant, and constructing enough Student Housing that tripled the prior capacity. This was more construction than the prior three decades at CSUEB.
With optimum achievements at CSUEB, in 2011, Dr. Qayoumi moved to heart of Silicon Valley, San Jose State University where he served for next four years and recognized as President Emeritus. In the four years at San Jose State, as the president of university, Dr. Qayoumi completed the New Student Union and begun renovation of the existing Student Union Building, Campus Wellness Building, Uchida Hall, and begun a new 850 bed Student Resident Hall, more than the prior 15 years. Today, for the first time academic performance record of SJSU athletes is second in California. The University ranking has improved. Today the Engineering program at SJSU is ranked number two nationally among its peer institutions, and ranked number one for software engineering.
As San Jose State University's 28th President, Dr. Qayoumi has dedicated his exemplary leadership toward improving engineering education. Silicon Valley Engineers council writes: �Dr. Qayoumi is a trailblazer in transforming higher education delivery models and pioneering audacious strategies in building the STEM pipeline.�
Dr. Qayoumi serves as senior member of IEEE. Dr. Qayoumi is also the first chair of the Cybersecurity Committee for the Department of Homeland Security Higher Education Advisory Council. He also co-chairs the Cross-Sector Cyber Security Working Group (CSCSWG): This is a national group consisting of NICE (National Initiative for Cybersecurity), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST). Their mission is to provide a mechanism in which public and private sector participants can develop concepts and strategies that advance cybersecurity education and workforce development. Dr. Qayoumi also serves on the board of CCST. The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) Senior Fellows include California's most distinguished and accomplished scientists and technical experts, who work with CCST to provide politically neutral, expert advice and solutions to science and technology-related public policy issues. There are 137 CCST Senior Fellows and Dr. Qayoumi is the only Moslem member of this distinguished group.
Awards:
Dr. Mohammad Homayoun Qayoumi during his career has received many awards for his achievements.
APPA Meritorious Award: For the past 60 years APPA (Association of Facilities Administrators for Higher Education) APPA's highest individual service award has only been given to no more than three individuals per year. They have only given it twice to one person namely Dr. Qayoumi. Moreover, he has been the first and only Moslem and obviously first Afghan getting this award.
NACUBO Distinguished Business Officer: The National Association of Colleges and Universities Business Officers (NACUBO) recognizes one or two university chief financial officers annually. Dr. Qayoumi is the first Moslem who received the NACUBO award.
Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame: This award is given by the Silicon Valley Engineering Council which is the umbrella organization of over 40 engineering societies where they have inducted two to three individuals a year. Some of their prior inductees include: Bill Hewlett, David Packard, Gordon Moore, Steve Wozniak, William Shockley, etc. Throughout its history Dr. Qayoumi is the second Moslem that had gotten this Award. The first was Professor Lutfi Zadeh (AskarZadeh) from Iran who is known as the father of fuzzy logic.
Dr. Mohammad Homayoun Qayoumi is currently serving as Chief Advisor of Technology, Infrastructure and Human Capital to President Ashraf Ghani, President of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
An Ever-Growing Story
Dr. Qayoumi is married to Najia Karim Qayoumi. Najia K. Qayoumi works as dietitian in one of the hospitals in Northern California. She has received her masters in Biology. Najia K. Qayoumi is also a poet who has published many poetry books. Mrs Qayoumi is active in Afghan community of Bay Area and serves on board of directors of many community cultural and literary associations.
