1980, BE, Mechanical Engineering, American University of Beirut (AUB); 1990, PhD, Islamic Studies, Columbia University. Formerly, positions at: 1990-94, Smith College; 1994-2000, Yale University; 2000-03, Stanford University; until 2009, Chair, Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Georgetown University, Washington, DC. Since 2009, Provost and Professor of History, AUB. Expertise: the history of science, Islamic revivalist thought, and Islamic law. Author: Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History, which traces the historical delineations between scientific knowledge and religious authority in Muslim societies, based on lectures delivered at Yale University in February 2008.