The people behind the Academy.

Professor of Mathematics, Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences (NYU), affiliated faculty at NYU Abu Dhabi, and Founder and Principal Investigator of SITE, which was part of the NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute. A 1992 International Mathematical Olympiad gold medallist, the first African and first Arab contestant to win IMO gold, he later placed first in the joint entrance competition of the École Normale Supérieure and École Polytechnique (1994). His distinctions include the Republic of Tunisia's academic prize (1994), the Annales Henri Poincaré best scientific article distinction (2011), an NSF fellowship (2012), Senior Clay Math Scholar recognition (2014), a Chair of Excellence from the Fondation Sciences Mathématiques de Paris (2016 to 2017), the Fermat Prize (2017), an invited address at the International Congress of Mathematicians (2018), the Kuwait Prize (2019), election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2021), and the King Faisal Prize in Science for Mathematics (2022).

Read the full profile →

Professor of Mathematics at the American University of Sharjah and a research fellow at the Laboratoire Paul Painlevé at the University of Lille. Professor Kallel holds a PhD in Mathematics from Stanford University. His research spans algebraic and differential topology, homotopy theory, configuration spaces, and their applications to geometry and analysis. He is a founding member of the Mediterranean Institute for the Mathematical Sciences, which he directed from 2012 to 2022 and now serves as Chairman Emeritus. Sadok Kallel represented Tunisia at the 1985 International Mathematical Olympiad, where he earned a bronze medal. He was the chairman of the Tunisian committee for the Olympiad from 2019 to 2021.

A mathematician, an award-winning mathematics educator and leader in responsible, educator-led AI. Building on a university teaching career that began in 2001, Dr.Zantout's work spans curriculum and program development, assessment design, educational research, instructional technology, mentorship, and institutional service. At NYU Abu Dhabi, she coordinates multi-section mathematics courses and develops evidence-based systems that make students’ invisible thinking visible by tracing how they reason, confront misconceptions, revise, and transfer learning. Her work in responsible AI advances pedagogically grounded systems that preserve educator authority, student reasoning and authorship, authentic assessment, and institutional data sovereignty. Dr. Zantout founded and leads WiMN+AI and the Takāmul Cup. As a founder and director of the Math Olympiad Trainer Academy, she oversees its website, directs its pedagogical framework and curriculum structure, and created the Olympiad-to-Classroom Activity, a model for translating Olympiad problem-solving into classroom practice. Mentorship remains central to her work, from supporting graduate students in developing their teaching to mentoring undergraduate researchers through the REU program. Her teaching has been recognized with three awards at Clemson University and the inaugural NYU Abu Dhabi Palm Teaching Award. In 2026, she was shortlisted for Most Innovative Teacher of the Year in the Times Higher Education Awards Arab World. Dr. Zantout holds a PhD in Mathematical Sciences from Clemson University, where her research focused on automorphic forms and their L-functions. She also holds a BS in mathematics, with a thesis in cryptography, and an MS in pure mathematics, with a thesis in complex analysis. Her central commitment is to expand educational opportunities while maintaining mathematical rigor, academic standards, and the essential role of human judgment.

A mathematician and Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Granada. Dr. Hassainia research lies at the intersection of nonlinear analysis, partial differential equations, and mathematical fluid dynamics, with a particular focus on vortex dynamics, the Euler equations, active scalar models, free-boundary problems, and KAM theory. Dr. Hassainia earned her PhD in Mathematics from Université de Rennes in 2015. She held a postdoctoral appointment as a Courant Instructor at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. She subsequently joined New York University Abu Dhabi as a Research Scientist, where she further developed her research program in nonlinear analysis and mathematical fluid dynamics. She later joined the University of Granada as a Ramón y Cajal Research Fellow after placing first in Mathematics in the 2023 Ramón y Cajal call, a highly competitive distinction awarded within Spain’s “Attraction of Talent” program. Her work has led to significant advances in the analysis of rotating, periodic, and quasi-periodic vortex structures, contributing to a deeper understanding of coherent structures, stability, and long-term dynamics in fluid systems. Her research has appeared in leading international peer-reviewed mathematics journals, including Inventiones Mathematicae, Communications on Pure and Applied Mathematics, Memoirs of the American Mathematical Society, and the Journal of the European Mathematical Society.