Bassel Daher, PhD
Dr. Bassel Daher is the assistant director for sustainable development at the Texas A&M Energy Institute, an adjunct assistant professor in biological & agricultural engineering, and a research fellow at the Institute for Science, Technology, and Public Policy at Texas A&M University. Since March 2025, Dr. Daher has also served as a fellow at the Microsoft AI Economy Institute.
With over 13 years of experience, Dr. Daher focuses on systems approaches to address the complex and interconnected global challenges of food system transformation, energy transition, integrated water management, disaster risk reduction, planetary health, and climate action. His work promotes evidence-based, collective action among cross-sectoral stakeholders to advance sustainable, equitable, and resource-secure futures.
Dr. Daher combines expertise in research, education, network-building, and community engagement, with demonstrated success in fundraising and program execution, contributing to securing $8 million from various federal and international funding agencies. Dr. Daher has published extensively, with over 70 highly cited articles, book chapters, and reports covering case studies from regions such as the United States, Northern Central America, Lebanon, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, Morocco, and Bangladesh. He is a frequent speaker at prominent academic, governmental, and industry conferences and forums, demonstrated by 100+ invited talks in over 25 countries, including a TEDx Talk advocating for collective action toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr. Daher has held research positions at Texas A&M University, Purdue University, and Qatar Foundation, and consulted for international organizations including FAO, UNESCWA, UNDRR, IWMI, GIZ, Oliver Wyman, and the Union for the Mediterranean on topics related to sustainable resource management, water-energy-food-environment nexus governance, regional network building, climate-smart agriculture innovations, capacity building, and youth engagement.
Dr. Daher’s achievements include being recognized with the Biological & Agricultural Engineering Departmental Excellence Award for outstanding research in 2019 and receiving the 50th Anniversary Special Award from the International Water Resources Association in 2022. Dr. Daher has also served on the executive board of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) since 2022 and co-chaired the Zero Hunger Pathways Project of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) from 2020 to 2023. Dr. Daher holds a Ph.D. in water management from Texas A&M University, an MS in agricultural and biological engineering from Purdue University, and a Bachelor’s in civil engineering from the American University of Beirut.