Born and raised in the Chicago metropolitan area, Mat earned all his civil engineering degrees from Northwestern University and was the first to be selected for an exchange program between Northwestern and the University of Khartoum in 1956-57. His Ph.D. was completed in 1961 and he joined ASU at that time. His years at ASU involved the establishment of graduate programs in transportation engineering, research in the Sudan and seven years as associate dean in the Graduate College followed by seven years in the academic vice president's / provost's office. He was the founding director of the Center for Advanced Research in Transportation prior to returning to the provost's office in 1988 as vice provost for planning. He retired from ASU in 1993.

Soon after retirement Mat became active in ASURA. In addition to serving as President in 2001-2002, he has served in a variety of capacities with ASURA including three stints on the Board, treasurer for two years, chair of the scholarship committee for three years and of the government liaison committee for two years.

Mat was interviewed by ASURA's Video History Project team on December 12, 2007. Both the full interview and a short clip from the interview are available for on-line viewing.

Udated fall 2012