Dr. Mohamed Rafiquzzaman

Dr. Mohamed Rafiquzzaman, a member of California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Economic Recovery Team, has been advising the U.S. House Policy Committee on technology issues. He was appointed to the Technology Board of the Committee in September 2003, and is the only South Asia-born American to be on the Board.

“I am assisting U.S. Congress in developing and promoting technology in the public and private sectors to improve the lives of all Americans,” the Bangladesh-born Rafiquzzaman told News India-Times in a recent interview. “I work with Congressman Jerry Weller who is the chairman of the Board,” he said, adding that there are 15 advisers in the Board including him and none other from Asia.

A professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at California’s State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Dr. Rafiquzzaman has distinguished himself in many ways. He is a member of the U.S. Olympic Committee and was chairman of the Contingency Commission of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Committee for Swimming, Diving, and Synchronized Swimming. From 1989-1990, he was computer adviser (State Minister) to the President of Bangladesh. From 1978 to 1988, he was consultant to ARCO, Motorola, Hughes, Northrop, Lockheed, and the Federal Aviation Administration.

Rafiquzzaman, 53, who is married to New Delhi-born Kusum, has written 13 books, most of which have received five stars on Web sites like Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, and eight of which have been translated into Russian, Spanish, and Chinese. He has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from erstwhile East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh), and emigrated to Canada in 1970. He obtained M.S. and Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Canada in 1974. He worked for Bell-Northern Research and ESSO Canada, and moved to California in 1978 to teach at the California State Polytechnic University near Los Angeles. He was also an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, for 5 years.

He is the founder of Rafi Systems Inc., a California-based manufacturer of Intraocular (Cataract implant) Lens.