TED Community » Mustafa Abushagur

About Me

Dr. Mustafa A.G. Abushagur was born and raised in Tripoli. He earned his B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Tripoli University. In 1975 he moved to the US to finish his graduate studies. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He held several academic positions with the University of Rochester, University of Alabama in Huntsville and Rochester Institute of Technology. His specialty is in the field optical communications and nanophotonics. He has consulted and done research for DOD, NSF, NASA and several companies. He was the founder of two start-up companies. He is the author of more than 140 scientific articles, several book chapters and patents. He was awarded NASA’s Space Act Award.
He joined the Libyan opposition in early 1980 and since 1981 he was on Gadhafi’s hit list. He returned to Libya after 31 years in exile. After the revolution he served as Deputy Prime Minister in the Transitional Government FROM November 2011 till November 2012. After the election of the General National Congress (GNC) he was elected as a Prime Minister on September 12, 2012. His formed cabinet got a no confidence vote from GNC.
Dr. Abushagur now is the Founder and Chairman of the Libyan Policy Institute a think tank based in Libya. He is on leave from his position as a Professor of Electrical and Microelectronic Engineering at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York.