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Hub AI
Sami Al-Arian AI simulator
(@Sami Al-Arian_simulator)
Hub AI
Sami Al-Arian AI simulator
(@Sami Al-Arian_simulator)
Sami Al-Arian
Sami Amin Al-Arian (Arabic: سامي أمين العريان; born January 14, 1958) is a Kuwaiti-born political activist of Palestinian origin who was a computer engineering professor at University of South Florida. During the Clinton administration and Bush administration, he was invited to the White House. He actively campaigned for the Bush presidential campaign in the United States presidential election in 2000.
After a contentious interview with Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor following the September 11 attacks, Al-Arian's tenure at University of South Florida came under public scrutiny.
He was indicted in February 2003 on 17 counts under the Patriot Act. A jury acquitted him on 8 counts and deadlocked on the remaining 9 counts. He later struck a plea bargain and admitted to one of the remaining charges in exchange for being released and deported by April 2007. However, as his release date approached, a federal prosecutor in Virginia demanded he testify before a grand jury in a separate case, which he refused to do, claiming it would violate his plea deal. He was held under house arrest in Northern Virginia from 2008 until 2014 when federal prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss charges against him.
Al-Arian's activities and connections became a factor in multiple political campaigns, including the 2004 United States Senate election in Florida and the 2010 United States Senate election in California.
He was deported to Turkey on February 4, 2015.
Al-Arian was born on January 14, 1958, in Kuwait. His parents, Amin and Laila Al-Arian, were Palestinian refugees who left after the creation of Israel in 1948. After the 1948 Palestine war, Amin had to leave behind the family soap factory in Jaffa and flee towards the Gaza Strip's refugee camps. Amin's family migrated to Kuwait in 1957 where Sami Al-Arian was born. Under Kuwaiti law, his parents had legal resident status but he was not eligible for citizenship. In 1966, his family left Kuwait and went back to Egypt. He received his primary and secondary education at Cairo, Egypt. He left Egypt in 1975, and returned in 1979 for a visit when he married Nahla Al-Najjar.
Sponsored by his father, Sami went to America for education. In 1975, Al-Arian came to the United States to study engineering at Southern Illinois University. In 1978, he graduated with a major in Electrical Sciences and Systems Engineering. At North Carolina State University, he earned his master's degree in 1980 and doctorate in 1985. He worked with Professor Dharma P. Agrawal on physical failures and fault models of CMOS circuits.
He moved to Temple Terrace after he was hired as an assistant professor to teach computer engineering at University of South Florida (USF) on January 22, 1986. He was granted permanent resident status for United States in March 1989. He was promoted from an assistant professor to an associate professor with tenure. He received many accolades relating to teaching including the Jerome Krivanek Distinguished Teacher Award in 1993 and a salary raise based on merit grades via the Teaching Incentive Program in 1994.
Sami Al-Arian
Sami Amin Al-Arian (Arabic: سامي أمين العريان; born January 14, 1958) is a Kuwaiti-born political activist of Palestinian origin who was a computer engineering professor at University of South Florida. During the Clinton administration and Bush administration, he was invited to the White House. He actively campaigned for the Bush presidential campaign in the United States presidential election in 2000.
After a contentious interview with Bill O'Reilly on The O'Reilly Factor following the September 11 attacks, Al-Arian's tenure at University of South Florida came under public scrutiny.
He was indicted in February 2003 on 17 counts under the Patriot Act. A jury acquitted him on 8 counts and deadlocked on the remaining 9 counts. He later struck a plea bargain and admitted to one of the remaining charges in exchange for being released and deported by April 2007. However, as his release date approached, a federal prosecutor in Virginia demanded he testify before a grand jury in a separate case, which he refused to do, claiming it would violate his plea deal. He was held under house arrest in Northern Virginia from 2008 until 2014 when federal prosecutors filed a motion to dismiss charges against him.
Al-Arian's activities and connections became a factor in multiple political campaigns, including the 2004 United States Senate election in Florida and the 2010 United States Senate election in California.
He was deported to Turkey on February 4, 2015.
Al-Arian was born on January 14, 1958, in Kuwait. His parents, Amin and Laila Al-Arian, were Palestinian refugees who left after the creation of Israel in 1948. After the 1948 Palestine war, Amin had to leave behind the family soap factory in Jaffa and flee towards the Gaza Strip's refugee camps. Amin's family migrated to Kuwait in 1957 where Sami Al-Arian was born. Under Kuwaiti law, his parents had legal resident status but he was not eligible for citizenship. In 1966, his family left Kuwait and went back to Egypt. He received his primary and secondary education at Cairo, Egypt. He left Egypt in 1975, and returned in 1979 for a visit when he married Nahla Al-Najjar.
Sponsored by his father, Sami went to America for education. In 1975, Al-Arian came to the United States to study engineering at Southern Illinois University. In 1978, he graduated with a major in Electrical Sciences and Systems Engineering. At North Carolina State University, he earned his master's degree in 1980 and doctorate in 1985. He worked with Professor Dharma P. Agrawal on physical failures and fault models of CMOS circuits.
He moved to Temple Terrace after he was hired as an assistant professor to teach computer engineering at University of South Florida (USF) on January 22, 1986. He was granted permanent resident status for United States in March 1989. He was promoted from an assistant professor to an associate professor with tenure. He received many accolades relating to teaching including the Jerome Krivanek Distinguished Teacher Award in 1993 and a salary raise based on merit grades via the Teaching Incentive Program in 1994.