Moh El-Naggar

Interim Dean, USC Dornsife

Dean’s Professor of Physics and Astronomy

Mohamed Y. El-Naggar was appointed interim dean of USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences on June 15, 2024. El-Naggar is a highly accomplished academic leader who was instrumental in developing and implementing USC’s Quantum Information Science Strategy, which has been transformative to the university’s Frontiers of Computing Initiative.

From 2021 to 2024, El-Naggar oversaw strategic planning, faculty appointments, and research advancement across the physical sciences and mathematics as a Divisional Dean in Dornsife’s Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.

As a Dean’s Professor of Physics and Astronomy, he and his research group investigate biological electron transfer and energy conversion, emphasizing the interface between the living and nonliving worlds. For the last six years, he has led a Department of Defense-funded multi-university research initiative on living electronics.

Elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology this year, El-Naggar is the inaugural holder of the Robert D. Beyer Early Career Chair in Natural Sciences (2015-2021) and has authored over 75 peer-reviewed publications. He has been featured in news media outlets, including PBS News Hour, Wired, NPR Science Friday, Popular Science, and The Scientist. He is also Editor for the Journal of Bacteriology. His accolades include being honored by President Obama with the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), being named one of Popular Science’s ‘Brilliant 10’ (the magazine’s annual honor roll of “the 10 most promising young scientists whose innovations will change the world”) and receiving a Department of Defense Young Investigator Program Award from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

Dr. El-Naggar received his B.S. degree from Lehigh University (2001), followed by his M.S. (2002) and Ph.D. (2006) degrees from the California Institute of Technology. He joined USC Dornsife in 2006 as a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Earth Sciences, before starting his faculty appointment in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in 2009.