Mohammed Gharawi is a third-year doctoral candidate at the College of Computing and Information at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. His research interests are related to the areas of IT governance, cross-boundary information sharing, comparative e-government, and transnational research.

Since I joined the Information Science PhD program, I have been connected to the CTG through different channels including my professors, colleagues, and the IISRN research group. Additionally, I regularly explore the news, publications, and reports that are published through the CTG website. This relationship has contributed to shaping my research interests. Therefore, I decided to join CTG to have the chance to explore and learn more about my area of study.

Additionally, I believe CTG is the right place to learn the skills of applying theory to practice. As a PhD student who plans to work as a consultant for government agencies in the future, I found CTG is the right place to build these skills, which I will definitely need to succeed in my future career.

After I completed my Master of Science in Computer Science degree from the University of South Florida (USF) in 2001, I worked as an instructor and consultant for the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in Saudi Arabia for more than five years. Working for the IPA was a great experience for me as it provided me a chance to understand the nature of work in government.

In fall 2007, I joined the PhD program at SUNY. Since that time I have been collaborating with different teams and research groups toward working on research areas related to my research interests.

After completing my degree, I will return back to my home country, Saudi Arabia. I will be working for the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) as a faculty member. My primary tasks at the IPA will include training, consultations, and conducting research within the public sector domain.

The tasks I am learning at CTG are aligned with what I will be doing in my future work at IPA. At CTG, I have the chance to work with key persons in my area of study and that will allow me to build the skills to be good researcher in the area of e-government. Also, at CTG, I will learn the skills to be a consultant as I will have the opportunity to work on various consultation projects.

I love watching soccer games and I am a big fan of Barcelona (globally), and Al Nasser, (locally), a famous soccer team in Saudi. I like to to go to the stadium to watch important soccer games whenever I get the chance to do so.