MENA NWC Update Fall 2014

Fall 2014 MENA NWC Middle East and North Africa Network of Water Centers of Excellence INSIDE THIS ISSUE Inaugural Meeting of the Board of Directors 1 MENA NWC Welcomes New Centers 2 Research Funding Opportunities 2 Save the Date! MENA NWC First Biennial Congress 3 MENA NWC Incorporated as Non-Profit Organization in Washington, D.C. 4 International Research Presentations 4 Awards to Young Water Scientists Finalized 5 MENA NWC Launches Initial Website 5 Table of PR&D Research Project Awards 6 MENA NWC’s Inaugural Meeting of the Board of Directors at the IWA Congress in Portugal MENA NWC’s permanent Board of Directors met for the first time at the International Water Association’s (IWA) World Water Congress & Exhibition in Lisbon, Portugal. The Board Members are: • Lee Addams Vice-President, Corporate Strategy, Valmont Industries, United States • Thameur Chaibi Interim Deputy Rector, Pan African University (PAU), Ethiopia • Manar Fayyad Vice President, German Jordanian University (GJU), Jordan • Abdelkawi Khalifa Professor, Ain Shams University, and former Minister of Water and Wastewater Utilities, Egypt • Ralf Klingbeil Regional Advisor Environment and Water, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA), Lebanon • Elisabeth Kvitashvili Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for the Middle East, U.S. Agency for International Ghazi Abu Rumman of ICT International demonstrates how electronic sensors can be used to improve on-farm irrigation management to the Application of Near-Real Time Monitoring Systems for Irrigated Agriculture research team outside of Amman, Jordan in March 2014. From left to right: John Wilson of USAID with Board Members Said Ouattar, Ralf Klingbeil, John Waterbury, Waleed Zubari, Abdel Kawi Khalifa, Lee Addams, Harvey Perlman, Hanna Zaghoul, Muwaffaq Saqqar, Jill Smail, and Manar Fayyad. • • • • Development (USAID), United States Harvey Perlman Chancellor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL), United States Said Ouattar Director General, Hassan II Agronomy and Veterinary Institute (IAV), Morocco Muwaffaq Saqqar Water and Environment Consultant Engineer, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Kuwait Jill Smail Science and Technology Advisor, Bureau of Near East Affairs, U.S. Department of State (DoS), United States • John Waterbury Global Professor of Political Science, New York University (NYU) in Abu Dhabi, United States • Hanna Zaghoul Chief Executive Officer, Kawar Energy, Jordan • Waleed Zubari Professor of Water Resources Management, Arabian Gulf University (AGU), Bahrain Continued on page 3