Mohamed H.A. Hassan is president of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and executive director of TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world. He also heads the secretariats of the InterAcademy Panel (IAP) and InterAcademy Medical Panel (IAMP) and serves on a number of committees with other organizations worldwide.

Mohamed H.A. Hassan is a former professor and dean of the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Khartoum, Sudan. He received the order of scientific merit of Brazil and the order of merit of Italy. He is a fellow of TWAS, AAS, the World Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Islamic World Academy of Sciences; honorary member of the Colombian Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences and the Palestine Academy of Science and Technology; corresponding member of the Belgian Royal Overseas Academy of Sciences; and foreign fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

Hassan holds a Ph.D. in plasma physics from the University of Oxford, UK (1974). His research areas include theoretical plasma physics, physics of wind erosion and sand transport.

• Science in Africa: Getting There Slowly (September 20, 2005)