Dr. Faisal Abu-Khzam
Faculty
Dr. Faisal Abu-Khzam is the Assistant Dean for Research Collaboration and Partnerships at the Lebanese American University (LAU), a role he assumed in 2025. He is a Professor of Computer Science and has previously served as Interim Chairperson of the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics (2013–2014) and as Computer Science Program Lead (2021–2023). He is also the founding director of LAU’s online Master of Science in Computer Science program. Dr. Abu-Khzam first joined LAU in 2003 as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science.He earned his Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and both his M.S. in Mathematics and B.S. in Computer Science from the American University of Beirut. He is well known in Lebanon for founding and directing the Lebanese Collegiate Programming Contest (LCPC), now the national qualifying round for the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC), which promotes programming excellence and problem-solving skills among university students.
Dr. Abu-Khzam’s research interests span graph algorithms, combinatorics, artificial intelligence, and high-performance computing. His contributions include the development of key methods for parameterized and exact algorithms, record-breaking kernelization bounds, and several of the fastest known exact algorithms for classical parameterized graph problems. His recent work has introduced vertex splitting for correlation clustering, a novel approach with implications for overlapping community detection, as well as new methods for feature selection and graph embedding in machine learning. Through his research, Dr. Abu-Khzam has advanced theoretical foundations while fostering practical applications in areas such as biology and environmental sciences. His research and professional service are internationally recognized; he has served on the program committees of leading computer science conferences and is an Associate Editor of ACM Computing Surveys (CSUR), one of the highest-ranked journals in computer science.