DaghirDr N.J. Daghir received his BSc from the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1957 and was immediately appointed by AUB to provide agricultural extension services to the central and northern Beqa'a region in Lebanon, to where he introduced commercial poultry production. He earned both his MSc and PhD degrees from Iowa State University in 1959 and 1962, respectively. In 1962, he helped establish a Lebanese branch of the World Poultry Science Association and was president of that branch until 1984.

During the same year, he started his teaching and research career at the AUB. In 1967, he was promoted to associate professor and in 1975 to full professor. He has served as adviser for over 40 MSc graduate students, many of whom have later received PhD degrees from US universities and are now occupying key positions all over the world.
Dr Daghir is a member of several professional and honorary organizations, and has travelled widely in over 60 different countries of Asia, Europe, Africa and America. He has served as a consultant to poultry companies in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Kuwait, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and participated in lecture tours on poultry production in these countries. Dr Daghir has served on special assignments for several organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, American Soybean Association and the Kuwait Institute of Scientific Research. He also served on many international, regional and national committees such as the International Standing committee of WPSA on Nutrient Requirements and the committee of the International Union of Nutritional Sciences (commission VI, committee 8) on nutrition of poultry.
Dr Daghir has had over 100 articles published in scientific journals and the proceedings of international meetings as well as several chapters in books and compendia. The second edition of his book ‘Poultry Production in Hot Climates’ was published by CABI in 2008. His research has covered a wide range of subjects, such as factors affecting vitamin requirements of poultry, utilization of agricultural by-products in poultry feeds, nutrient requirements of poultry at high-temperature conditions, seeds of desert plants as potential sources of feed and food, and plant protein supplements of importance to hot regions. His research has received funding from the US National Institutes of Health, the International Development Research Centre of Canada and the Lebanese National Council for Scientific Research. He has served as Chairman of the Animal Science Department, Associate Dean and Dean of his Faculty and, for two years as team leader of the American University of Beirut technical mission to Saudi Arabia. From September 1986 to June 1992, he served as Director of Technical Services at the Shaver Poultry Breeding Company in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences and Professor of Poultry Science at the United Arab Emirates University, AI-Ain, UAE, from 1992 to 1996, and as Dean of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences at the American University of Beirut, from 1996 to 2006. He is at present Dean Emeritus at AUB.