Marwan Jamil Muasher studied at the American University of Beirut before coming to Purdue to complete his bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering. Shortly after receiving his Ph.D. in 1981, Muasher returned to Jordan to work at the Jordan Electric Power Company and the Research Institute at the University of Petroleum and Minerals. He founded the Jordan Computer Society and wrote political columns for the Jordanian Times. These activities led him to a position in the Ministry of Planning, where he used his knowledge of computers to spearhead a project to build a national socio-economic database. He later served as assistant to the prime minister, and eventually as part of the Jordanian delegation in Washington, D.C.

Muasher returned to Jordan to run the family business, Jordan Sulfur Chemicals Company, but was soon summoned to serve as director of the Jordanian Information Bureau in Washington, D.C., and then as the spokesperson of the Jordanian delegation to the Middle East peace negotiations. He was co-master of ceremonies for the signing of the Peace Accord on October 26, 1994, and was appointed Jordan's first ambassador to Israel. In 1996 he was appointed to the prime minister's cabinet and returned to Jordan to serve as minister of information. A year later, he was named ambassador to the United States of America, the post which he now holds.

A loyal alumnus, he has returned to the West Lafayette campus several times to meet with political science students and Jordanian student groups and make public presentations. Muasher was awarded an honorary doctorate from Purdue in May 1999.