He received a French engineering degree in 1970, a
Master's and a
PhD degree from the
University of California at Los Angeles Computer Science Department. His PhD work, undertaken under the supervision of Dr
Leonard Kleinrock, a pioneer in the area of networking, was related to the design of large
computer networks. They were among the first to introduce and evaluate cluster-based hierarchical routing. Results obtained then are still very relevant and have recently inspired considerable work in the area of
ad hoc networking. He returned to
Tunisia in 1976 and was given the task to create and chair the first Computer Science School of the country (ENSI). From 1982 to 1993, he chaired the CNI, Centre National de l'Informatique, a Government Office in charge of IT policies and strategic development. He promoted the field of networking in
Tunisia through the organization of several national conferences and workshops dealing with networks. As chairman of CNI, he represented
Tunisia at the general assembly and executive board meetings of the
Intergovernmental Bureau for Informatics (IBI) in Rome, in the '80s, as well as those of the
UNESCO IT Intergovernmental Committee, with a focus on issues related to developing countries. From 1993 till 1999, he served as Dean of ENSI, Ecole Nationale des Sciences de l'Informatique, a School of Engineering dedicated to the training of computer engineers. Since 1999, he continues to teach and serve as director of the CRISTAL Research Laboratory of the ENSI. He is also an advisor in IT fields to the Tunisian minister of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Technology. == External links ==