His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qassimi, UAE Supreme Council Member, Ruler of Sharjah, and President of American University of Sharjah (AUS), met Dr. Peter Diamond, 2010 recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, at the university today, March 7, 2016. During the meeting, which was also attended by Dr. Björn Kjerfve, AUS Chancellor, and other AUS senior officials, the Sharjah Ruler briefed Dr. Diamond on the vision behind AUS and University City, the programs offered as well as the future plans of the university. The meeting was followed by a lunch hosted by His Highness for the Nobel Laureate.

"It was an honor to meet His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan. Our discussion focused on education and the establishment and development of AUS and its future plans," said Dr. Diamond after the meeting. "This trip has been an extraordinarily educational experience for me," he added.

Prior to the meeting, Dr. Diamond presented an open lecture entitled "Search and Matching in the Labor Market," during which he focused on the US labor market. Dr. Diamond is the first speaker in the newly launched Scholar in Residence Lecture Series, whereby the AUS Chancellor will host a series of distinguished lectures on campus delivered by internationally acclaimed scholars and other prominent figures.

Dr. Kjerfve introduced Dr. Diamond and said, "I am pleased to welcome you to the first presentation in the Scholar in Residence Lecture Series, which gives the AUS community the opportunity to interact with thought scholars in different fields. We are pleased to have Dr. Diamond stay at AUS and interact with our faculty and students over the next two days."

Dr. Diamond, who will stay at AUS for two days to interact with students and faculty members, is Institute Professor Emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and has written on public finance, social insurance, uncertainty and search theories, behavioral economics and macroeconomics. Dr. Diamond has been President of the American Economic Association, of the Econometric Society, and of the National Academy of Social Insurance. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Diamond has written a number of books including Saving Social Security: A Balanced Approach (with Peter R. Orszag), Reforming Pensions: Principles and Policy Choices and Pension Reform: A Short Guide (both with Nicholas Barr), and Behavioral Economics and Its Applications (edited with Hannu Vartiainen).

He was one of the three winners of the 2010 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel "for analysis of markets with search frictions."