Miguel Mostafá

Biography

Miguel Alejandro Mostafá is an internationally recognized scientist and senior academic leader with more than two decades of experience advancing research excellence, student success, and institutional innovation across research-intensive universities, interdisciplinary research centers, and complex academic organizations. He currently serves as Dean of the School of Science and Engineering at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he provides strategic, academic, and financial leadership for a large, diverse school with significant research, teaching, and public engagement missions. He is deeply committed to inclusive excellence, mentorship, and student access, and is widely recognized for building collaborative cultures that align academic mission, research impact, and societal engagement.

Dr. Mostafá’s scholarly work has helped shape the field of multimessenger astrophysics, which combines data from gravitational waves, neutrinos, gamma rays, and cosmic rays to study the most energetic phenomena in the universe. He has played key leadership roles in major international collaborations, including the Pierre Auger Observatory, the High Altitude Water Cherenkov Observatory, and the Astrophysical Multimessenger Observatory Network, and has served on collaboration boards, technical committees, and international advisory groups. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the recipient of numerous awards recognizing his scientific contributions, mentorship, teaching, and academic leadership. His research has been continuously supported by the National Science Foundation and other federal agencies, and he has mentored graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and junior faculty who now hold positions across academia, national laboratories, industry, and science policy.

Throughout his career, Dr. Mostafá has remained deeply committed to education, mentorship, and public engagement. He has taught across undergraduate, graduate, online, and study-abroad contexts, developed innovative courses linking science to societal challenges, and delivered public lectures in multiple languages around the world. He has been widely recognized for excellence in teaching and mentoring, including receiving distinguished mentoring and teaching awards at multiple institutions. His outreach and engagement efforts reflect a belief that universities must serve as trusted, visible partners in their communities and that scientific literacy is essential to a healthy democracy.

Dr. Mostafá earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the Instituto Balseiro in Argentina, with doctoral research conducted at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, and holds a master’s degree in Nuclear Engineering from the same institution. He is a U.S. citizen and brings a global perspective shaped by academic leadership and collaboration across the Americas, Europe, and Asia. Across roles and institutions, his leadership is guided by collaboration, transparency, and a strong sense of institutional stewardship, with a consistent focus on building academic communities that are innovative, inclusive, and positioned to address the grand challenges of our time.