Our Team

Akram Alshawabkeh

Interim Senior Vice Provost for Research
Interim Executive Director, Innovation Campus

Akram Alshawabkeh, PhD, PE, is the Interim Senior Vice Provost for Research and Interim Executive Director of the Burlington Campus at Northeastern University. A geoenvironmental engineer, he joined Northeastern in 1997 and was appointed George A. Snell Professor in 2011 and University Distinguished Professor in 2020. He leads several large, federally funded multi-institution research centers in environmental health, including the PROTECT Center since its founding in 2010 to study environmental contamination and adverse birth outcomes in Puerto Rico, and the NIH’s Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) site in Puerto Rico.   

Alshawabkeh has held various leadership positions at Northeastern. He was the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Engineering in 2015 and later the Senior Associate Dean for Research and the Global Engineering Campus. Under his leadership, the college developed a robust research environment, resulting in substantial growth in research scale and impact.  Through growth in external research awards and faculty-led initiatives, he has contributed to making the College of Engineering a powerhouse in federally funded research, anchoring the university’s overall research growth. Alshawabkeh has also played a crucial role in activating the Dublin Innovation Institute, fostering connections between Northeastern University’s global network and the European research ecosystem. 

In his current position, Alshawabkeh oversees research across the university network, including the institutes and research-focused campuses.