SOUTHFIELD — Dr. Tarek M. Sobh has been appointed as the eighth president of Lawrence Technological University (LTU), announced Douglas Ebert, chairman of LTU’s Board of Trustees.

Sobh, an Egyptian American, is a licensed professional engineer and has served as vice president of academic affairs and provost at Lawrence Tech since 2020. Previously, he was the interim provost and served as the executive vice president of research and economic development and founding dean of the College of Engineering, Business and Education at the University of Bridgeport (Connecticut).

Sobh received a BS in engineering with honors in computer science and automatic control from Alexandria University, Egypt and Master of Science and PhD degrees in computer and information science from the University of Pennsylvania. 

He began his academic career as a research assistant professor of computer science at the University of Utah.

“Lawrence Tech is the creative and innovative university of the future,” Sobh said. “We are the preeminent technological university that prepares students for jobs that haven’t even been created yet. LTU makes a difference in the lives of our students and our community. I look forward to continuing this important work in my new role.”

Sobh is a noted scholar who has authored more than 250 refereed journal and conference papers and book chapters, in addition to 27 books. 

He serves or has served on the editorial boards of 18 journals and has served on the program committees of more than 300 international conferences and workshops in the robotics, automation, sensing, computing, systems, control, online engineering and engineering education areas.

Sobh has presented more than 150 keynote speeches, invited talks and lectures, colloquia and seminars at research meetings, university departments, research centers and companies. His background is in the fields of robotics, computer science and engineering, control theory, automation, manufacturing, AI, computer vision and signal processing.

Sobh succeeds Dr. Virinder Moudgil, who led LTU with distinction as president for nearly 10 years.

“Tarek has been innovative, direct and driven in his role as provost,” Moudgil said. “He has accomplished much in a short time. I have every confidence he will continue Lawrence Tech’s expansion and success.”

Sobh will assume office January 1.