Engr. Prof. Dr. Athar Mahboob, TI is an academic leader par excellence. Dr. Athar Mahboob is currently the Vice Chancellor of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur, a large public sector university of the southern Punjab region. Earlier, Dr. Athar Mahboob had been the Vice Chancellor of Khawaja Fareed University of Engineering & Information Technology, Rahim Yar Khan, Pakistan. He obtained his PhD in Electrical Engineering from National University of Sciences & Technology, Pakistan in 2005 and obtained BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering both from Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA (1992,1995). He has over 25 years of teaching, research and industrial experience in various prestigious universities and organizations in Pakistan and abroad.

In addition to teaching and research, over the last 25 years Dr. Athar Mahboob has performed IT Consultancy assignments for many reputable organizations in the public and private sectors. His consultancy assignments have included PTCL, Pakistan Security Printing Corporation, Peoples' Steel Mills, Institute of Bankers, Pakistan, EFU General Insurance, Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and many others. In addition, Dr. Athar Mahboob founded Ibn Khaldun Systems in 2005 and has undertaken more than 100 industrial projects in the financial, manufacturing, services and defense sectors.

Being fully involved with both industrial and academic environments has allowed Dr. Athar Mahboob to educate, train and mentor student engineers in real-world engineering problem solving. He has been the favorite teacher and career coach for literally thousands of his students and colleagues over the last 25 years. His in-depth understanding and simultaneous deep involvement with Pakistani academia and industry is simply impossible to find in any other person.

Based on his tremendous contributions to Science, Engineering & Technology education, Dr. Athar Mahboob was decorated with the civil award of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz (TI) by the President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan on 14 August 2012.