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CSBE Annual Reports

Mohammad al-Asad is an architect and architectural historian, and the founding director of CSBE. He stepped down as director of CSBE in July 2006, and currently is a senior advisor with the center. He studied architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and history of architecture at Harvard University. He held post-doctoral research positions at Harvard University and the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He also has taught at the University of Jordan, Princeton University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was the Alan K. and Leonarda Laing Distinguished Visiting Professor. He has published a number of books and articles in both Arabic and English on the architecture of the Islamic world, and also contributes a column on architecture and urbanism to The Jordan Times, Jordan’s English daily newspaper. The articles are available on the CSBE web site, in the Urban Crossroads section.

He has served as a reviewer for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture since 1989. He also has been a member of the board of directors for a number of Jordanian cultural organizations and commissions including the Jordan Museum, the Royal Society of Fine Arts – The Jordan National Gallery of Fine Arts, and the Amman Commission. In addition, he has served as the Coordinator of the International Academic and Curatorial Committee of the Discover Islamic Art project of the Museum With No Frontiers, which is developing a virtual web-based museum of Islamic art in the Mediterranean. He currently is an adjunct professor at Carleton University in Ottawa.

Jumanah al-Assad Akrouk is an archaeologist and art historian, and an editor at CSBE. She holds a bachelor’s degree in archaeology from the University of Jordan and a master’s degree in art history from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She has worked as a curator for both the Archaeology Museum and the National Heritage Museum at the University of Jordan. She also worked as a financial reporter for AP Dow-Jones, and as an editorial executive at Gulf Hill and Knowlton.

Thaer Haj-Ahmad is an architect and urban planner and an associate of the CSBE Urban Unit. He holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Jordan, and a master’s degree in urban planning, with a specialization in Geographic Information Systems and Information Technology from the State University of New York at Buffalo. He has worked as a planner with the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) and as an associate director at Lovejoy London Land Planning by Design. His previous experience in architecture includes a number of residential and institutional projects as a free lancer and an architect at Symbiosis Designs and S. M. Dudin Architects. He is a member of the American Planning Association (APA) and the Jordan Engineers Association.

Sandra Hiari is an architect and a research and coordination officer at CSBE. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Jordan, and currently is completing a master’s degree in urban planning at the Jordan University of Science and Technology. She completed an architectural internship with Mounir Hajjiri & Associates and Al Hiyari Goussous Architects in Amman. She worked as a junior architect at Sahel Al Hiyari & Partners, where she was the publishing collaborator for the monograph Sahel Al Hiyari Projects.

Fuad Malkawi is an architect and urban planner and an associate of the CSBE Urban Unit.  He is an Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Planning and Head of the Department of Architectural Engineering at the University of Sharjah, the United Arab Emirates.  He holds a bachelor's degree in architecture from the University of Jordan; a master's degree in architecture from the University of Texas, Arlington; and master's and Ph.D. degrees in city and regional planning from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  He taught at the University of Pennsylvania, the Jordan University of Science and Technology, and the Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman. In addition, he has over fifteen years of practical experience in planning and architecture.  He has worked as a regional consultant for many international organizations including the World Bank, the European Commission, and United Nations - Habitat, in addition to numerous public and private organizations in the Middle East.  He currently is a regional consultant for the World Bank on issues related to urban planning, urban management, local governance, and city development strategies in the MENA region.  He also supervised several projects focusing on training and capacity building.

He has published extensively in international journals and participated in numerous conferences worldwide in addition to the various reports published by the United Nations and the World Bank. His latest publication is a historic survey of planning in Jordan published by the Institut Francais du Proche-Orient (IFPO) entitled The Condition of Physical Planning in Jordan, 1970-1990.

Tamam Mango is an urban planner and an associate of the CSBE Urban Unit. She completed her studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she holds a bachelor's degree in urban planning and management science, and a master's degree in city planning with a concentration in international development and regional planning. She was a member of the Jordan National Competitiveness Team at the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, and currently works at the newly established Jordan Agency for Enterprise and Investment Development.

Hania Maraqa is an architect and urban planner, and the associate director of CSBE. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Jordan, a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Arizona at Tucson, and a master’s degree in city planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She worked as a junior architect at S. M. Dudin Architects and Engineers and as a research and coordination officer at CSBE. She also had internships with Ziak Akel and Partners in Beirut, and with the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation in Boston. Hania is a member of the American Planning Association (APA) and the Jordan Engineers Association (JEA).

Stephen McIlwaine is a Chartered Engineer and the director of CSBE. He has particular experience in the water and environmental sectors, strategic planning, development consulting, and public sector reform. He studied civil engineering at The Queen’s University of Belfast, and was subsequently awarded a doctorate for his work on Britain’s first prototype shoreline wave energy station. He gained his professional experience with Kirk McClure Morton (Belfast), working on engineering design, costing and environmental assessment for projects in the water, wastewater, and marine fields. He also supervised three large-scale construction contracts, and gained his Membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK). Based in Jordan since 1999, Stephen has worked on many engineering projects and environmental assessments for a number of clients in the region, and has more recent experience in strategic planning, policy development, and project management of development and public sector reform projects for public and private sectors, as well as donor clients.

Siba al-Shouli is an architect and urban planner, and an urban planning officer at CSBE. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Birzeit University, and a master's degree in urban and regional planning as well as a graduate certificate in public and nonprofit management from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). She worked as an architect in Palestine. She completed internships in Amman with Almarsam Architects and Engineers, which has amalgamated with the Jordan offices of Omrania & Associates to form Omrania-Jordan, and in Ramallah with the Palestinian Ministry of Planning.

Lara Zureikat is a landscape architect and the technical manager of the CSBE Water Conserving Landscapes Project. She holds a bachelor’s degree in architecture from the University of Notre Dame, and a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of California at Berkeley. She has designed several private gardens in Amman, and has collaborated with local and international architectural firms on the design of public and commercial outdoor spaces. She has a special interest in water conservation, ecology, and the introduction of native plants into designed spaces.

Previous Staff and Associates

Basma Abdallah is an architect who served as research and coordination officer at CSBE. She studied architecture at the University of Jordan after receiving her high school education at the Jubilee School for gifted students. She completed an architectural internship with BCR Arquitectos in Girona, Spain and with Arabtech-Jardaneh, Amman. She also is a guitarist and taught guitar lessons for several years.

Deema Aburizik is an architect who served as research and coordination officer at CSBE. She also served as liaison officer between CSBE and Habitat for Humanity – Jordan. She studied architecture at the Jordan University of Science and Technology and the University of Jordan. She completed an architectural internship with STM & Associates in Houston, Texas, and also worked as a teaching and coordination assistant for the CSBE Architectural Laboratory – Façade Zero. She was chosen among 22 young Jordanians as a member of the Youth Leadership Program (YLP), which is organized by the United Nations University, the International Leadership Institute, and the King Abdullah II Fund for Development. She headed the publishing of the first YLP newsletter Taghyir (Change), and is the founder of a student program aimed at developing recruitment opportunities for young Jordanians, a project supported by INJAZ: Economic Opportunities for Jordanian Youth and by the Community Service Office in the University of Jordan.

Dalia al-Husseini is an architect who served as a research and coordination officer at CSBE. She studied architecture at the University of Jordan. She completed internship work with KEO International Consultants in Kuwait, and held a research position at the Building Research Center of the Royal Scientific Society in Amman, where she worked on the Jerusalem Database Project. She currently is pursuing a master's degree in architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Saja Zarqa Jardaneh is an accounting and business specialist who served as the financial and administration officer at CSBE. She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from John Cabot University in Rome, Italy and a master's degree in business administration from Boston University. She had worked in the Foreign Relations Department at the Housing Bank for Trade and Finance in Amman, and has been involved in voluntary work through serving on the financial committee of the Center for Palestinian Culture.

Rana Khalidi is an environmental specialist who served as a researcher at CSBE. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Birzeit University, and was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for a master’s degree in environmental chemistry and hazardous materials management, which she received from Indiana University at Bloomington. She worked as a hazardous materials specialist on a UNDP capacity building project for the Palestinian Ministry of Environmental Affairs in Ramallah. She also was an environmental educator in the “Children for the Protection of Nature” program that aimed at enhancing environmental awareness among school children in the West Bank. She also served as the monitoring and evaluation assistant coordinator and ISO management representative of INJAZ program at Save the Children Federation in Amman.

Nourhan Kurdi is an architect who served as a research and coordination officer at CSBE. She studied architecture at the Jordan University of Science and Technology and the University of Jordan. She completed an internship with the Bridgeport Design Group in Tampa, Florida. She also was a technical and design engineer at Petra Aluminum Company, where she worked on designing aluminum details, designing promotional items, marketing, and on project estimation and evaluation. She also has had experience in providing training relating to computer aided design programs.

Majd Musa is an architect and architectural researcher who served as the documentation program manager and web site administrator at CSBE. She currently is pursuing a Ph. D. degree in architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has practiced architecture in the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. She has served as a copy-editor for the Discover Islamic Art project, one of the activities of the Museum With No Frontiers (MWNF) project, which is carried out within the framework of the Euromed Heritage program of the European Union. She is the co-editor of the monograph Exploring the Built Environment: Documenting the Presentations of Diwan al-Mimar (under publication). She has authored and co-authored a number of studies and essays on various topics including architectural design, sustainable architecture, history and theory of architecture, and landscape architecture. Those essays were either published on the CSBE web site or in printed form. She has presented papers at international and regional conferences.

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