Since 2015, I have served as Assistant to the President of the Malta Conferences Foundation (MCF), a nonprofit organization that uses science diplomacy as a bridge to peace in the Middle East. I am the Science Diplomacy Chair of the Board of the Northwestern Science Policy Outreach Taskforce (SPOT) and a member of the National Science Policy Network (NSPN) science diplomacy committee. Read the guest editorial “Chemistry for Peace” I wrote with Prof. Zafra Lerman, President of MCF, published in the American Chemical Society Chemistry and Engineering News here.

Science Diplomacy Lectures

On January 25, 2021, I organized and moderated a virtual talk with Dr. Fadila Boughanemi, Deputy Head of Unit for Asia, Africa, and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) at the European Commission, Directorate General for Research and Innovation. Her lecture was titled “EU International Cooperation Strategy in Research and Innovation – A Contribution to Science Diplomacy” and focused on the EU’s science diplomacy activities in Africa and MENA countries. The talk was the first in the new Science Policy Outreach Taskforce (SPOT) Science Diplomacy Series. View a recording of the event:

On November 4th, 2019, I organized and moderated an event at Northwestern University featuring Prof. Zafra Lerman (President of the Malta Conferences Foundation), Prof. Omar Farha (Northwestern University Chemistry Department and President of NuMat Technologies), and Dr. Suleiman Halasah (Founder and Co-Director of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies Jordan-Israel Center). The event was sponsored by Northwestern’s Science Policy Outreach Taskforce (SPOT). Read more about the event in SPOT’s December Newsletter or view a recording of the event:

Malta Conferences Foundation

Since 2016, I have served as assistant to the President of the Malta Conferences Foundation, Prof. Zafra Lerman. The Malta Conferences are the only platform in the world where scientists from 15 Middle East countries, Morocco, and Pakistan can meet face-to-face with four Nobel Laureates and develop collaborations on water, education, environment, and entrepreneurship. In 2017, I attended the Malta VIII Conference, supported by the University of Illinois President’s Research in Diversity Travel Award. Read more about the Malta Conferences Foundation: www.maltaconferencesfoundation.org. Read the guest editorial about Malta IX in the American Chemical Society Chemistry and Engineering News I co-authored with Prof. Zafra Lerman: https://cen.acs.org/education/outreach/Malta-conferences-use-science-diplomacy/98/i10.