Prof. El-Askary received his Ph.D. in Computational Sciences and Informatics from George Mason University in 2004 along with his two MS degrees in Computational sciences and Earth Systems Sciences. In 2015 he earned Chapman University's elite Senior Wang-Fradkin Professorship award. In 2018, he was named a "Game Changer: Orange County Leaders Transforming the World' by the Orange County Business Council. Prof. El-Askary served as the regional coordinator on a $3 ME project under the Horizon 2020 framework. He currently serves as the vice leader to the dissemination work package in the EU InDUST cost initiative. In 2019, Prof. El- Askary contributed among only 200 scientists worldwide to the IPCC report on the Desertification Chapter. He was also invited by the UN secretariat to the COP14 meeting in New Delhi to present on the sand and dust storms side event and to be part of the global sand and dust storms coalition.