Our faculty

headshot of Mohammad T. Khasawneh

Mohammad T. Khasawneh

SUNY Distinguished Prof; School Chair; Healthcare Systems Engineering / Health Systems / Manhattan Graduate Program Director; SUNY Distinguished Professor; Director

School of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering; Watson Institute for Systems Excellence (WISE)

Background

Mohammad Khasawneh is a SUNY distinguished professor and chair of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering at °®¶¹´«Ă½. He received his PhD in industrial engineering from Clemson University in August 2003 and his BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology, in 1998 and 2000, respectively. 

Khasawneh’s research is focused on healthcare systems engineering, operations management, and data science. He serves as the director for the Watson Institute for Systems Excellence (WISE), an institute for advanced studies that generates $2.5-3 million in research funds annually. In addition, he is the founding director of the Healthcare Systems Engineering Center, an organized research center (ORC) at °®¶¹´«Ă½.

Since 2003, Khasawneh has been leading a wide spectrum of projects with U.S. hospital systems that focus on applied research in the area of healthcare systems engineering. More specifically, his research is focused on the novel application of systems engineering to transform healthcare systems into high-performance environments that produce better patient outcomes at lower costs. His work is applied in ways that lead to optimal healthcare, including more efficient use of hospital resources; better outpatient scheduling; streamlined patient flow; improved patient satisfaction; reduced hospital-acquired conditions (such as infections and patient falls) through predictive analytics; and improved clinical, operational and financial performance using advanced data science methods.His health systems engineering center generates over $1 million annually in sponsored research from various healthcare and hospital systems.

Building on a successful research program and partnerships with health systems around the country and an academic concentration/minor, at the graduate/undergraduate levels, Khasawneh developed a 12-month Executive Master of Science with a Health Systems Concentration, which has been offered in Manhattan since 2013. He has also been instrumental in developing a new MS degree program in Healthcare Systems Engineering.

Over the years, Khasawneh presented his research at various national and international conferences, including China, India, Mexico, Jordan, Korea, Thailand, Japan, Turkey, Indonesia, and Canada. His research activities thus far have led to 60-plus refereed journal articles, 120-plus conference articles, one patent and three new invention disclosures. In addition, his sponsored research efforts thus far have resulted in over $15 million in external funding and over $39 million in software/equipment grants.

In 2006, Khasawneh received a U.S. Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship to evaluate the use of multi-sensory cues to improve the landing of unmanned aerial vehicles. In 2009, he received another fellowship from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research to design ergonomic computer workstations for very large displays. He received the State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2011, the University Award for Outstanding Graduate Director in 2015, the University Award for Excellence in International Education in 2016, and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Scholarship and Creative Activities in 2021. He is a member of the
Alpha Pi Mu and Alpha Epsilon Lambda honor societies.

Khasawneh also holds Diplomate status with the Society for Health Systems (SHS), a professional society within the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers (IISE) that supports the industrial engineering profession and individuals involved with improving quality and productivity within healthcare. More recently, Khasawneh was also recognized as an IISE Fellow, the highest classification of the IISE membership. He also holds an honorary visiting professor position with the Industrial Engineering Department at Hebei University of Technology in Tianjin, China, and Vellore Institute of Technology in Vellore, India.

In 2022, Khasawneh was named a SUNY distinguished professor, the highest faculty rank that SUNY awards. It is reserved for those who have achieved national or international prominence and an exemplary reputation within their discipline.


Education

  • BS, MS, Jordan University of Science and Technology
  • PhD, Clemson University

Research Interests

  • Healthcare delivery systems
  • Human factors engineering/ergonomics
  • Digital human modeling in manufacturing and healthcare

Awards

  • University Award for Excellence in International Education, State University of New York (2015-2016)
  • University Award for Outstanding Graduate Director, State University of New York (2014-2015)
  • Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, State University of New York (2010-2011)