Dr. Prabhat Hajela

In his role as Provost at HBKU, Prabhat Hajela brings with him over four decades of experience in higher education, combining senior leadership responsibilities with a long-standing commitment to teaching and research.

Prior to joining HBKU, Dr. Hajela served as Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, for eleven years. In this capacity, he oversaw all academic programs of the Institute, worked closely with the Vice President for Research to strengthen RPI’s research enterprise, and played a central role in shaping and implementing the Institute’s strategic plan. His leadership contributed to the creation of new academic and research programs, faculty renewal in emerging areas of scholarship, and innovative initiatives to enrich the student experience. Earlier at RPI, he also held senior administrative appointments, including Vice Provost & Dean of Undergraduate Education, and Administrative Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

In addition to his leadership career, Dr. Hajela is internationally recognized as a scholar and educator. He is the Edward P. Hamilton Distinguished Professor of Aerospace Engineering at RPI, a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, and recently served as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2023). His research lies at the intersection of multidisciplinary system design optimization and emergent computing, with pioneering contributions in evolutionary computing, machine learning, genetic algorithms, and heuristic methods inspired by natural systems. He has published over 325 papers and articles, co-authored or edited four books, and currently serves on the editorial boards of several international journals.

Dr. Hajela has conducted research at NASA’s Langley and Glenn Research Centers, the Eglin Air Force Armament Laboratory, and was selected as a Boeing-A.D. Welliver Fellow at the Boeing Company. His contributions have been recognized with numerous honors, including the AIAA Biennial Multidisciplinary Design Optimization Award (2004). He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), and the Aeronautical Society of India (AeSI).

Beyond academia, Dr. Hajela has served in influential roles shaping aerospace research and policy. He is a past Vice President of the International Society of Structural & Multidisciplinary Optimization, a past Chair of ASME’s Aerospace Division, and was a Congressional Fellow in the U.S. Senate in 2003, where he worked on science and technology policy, including aerospace and telecommunications legislation. He has served on multiple National Academies panels and currently chairs the NRC Technical Assessment Board for the Army Research Laboratory.

Dr. Hajela received his undergraduate degree in Aeronautical Engineering (with distinction, 1977) from the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, an MS in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University (1979), an MS in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University (1981), and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from Stanford (1982). He also completed postdoctoral research at UCLA.