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Organization : American University of Beirut
Acronym: : AUB
Nationality of the organisation of establishment : Lebanon Year of establishment : 1866
college to which your organisation belongs to :
College 5:Professional and academic organisations
Scope of your organisation : Regional: sub-national
National
International
 Are you organiation's activities focused primarily on water and sanitation ? : Yes No
Please indicate your organisation's field(s) of expertise and activities :
  • Water resources management
  • Basic Human needs or health
  • Development or infrastructure
  • Climate or natural hazards
  • Environment or ecosystems
  • Water supply or sanitation
  • Agriculture or food production
  • Human rights or social issues
  • Education or capacity building
  • Human settlements or habitats
  • Regulation and governance
  • Economics or finance
  • Research or development
  • Energy or industry
  • Media awareness
  • International cooperation or humanitarian relief
You may specify your activities by providing a list of more precise keywords:
Description of your Organisation's activities : The American University of Beirut (AUB) is an institution of higher learning founded to provide excellence in education, to participate in the advancement of knowledge through research, and to serve the peoples of the Middle East and beyond. A teaching-centered research university, AUB has around 800 instructional faculty and a student body of around 8,000 students. AUB is one of the most prominent universities in the MENA region, ranking first among 1,000 universities in the Arab World according to the 2017-2018 edition of the QS Arab Region University Rankings, and is a member of the Global Confederation of Higher Education Associations for Agricultural and Life Sciences(GCHERA) network, a global consortium of over 900 universities worldwide dedicated to collaboratively addressing global food and sustainability issues. As Lebanon is situated in the MENA region, one of the world's driest, most water-scarce regions, which depends on climate-sensitive agriculture, water is a critical issue for our institution. This interest is not restricted to Lebanon but has also a regional and global reach since water is an issue that connects us all. Our faculty and programs cover all facets of water from availability, use, reuse, distribution, and policy. Our current water related efforts include the many ways water intersects with other priority areas such as the water/energy/food nexus. This comprehensive range of activities is distributed across AUB's faculties if Arts and Sciences, the Maroun Semaan Faculty of Engineering and Architecture; Agricultural and Food Sciences; Health Sciences; Medicine; The Rafic Hariri School of Nursing; and the Suleiman S. Olayan School of Business. These activities/programs also contain an array of research, educational, corporate and public sector partnerships including many national, regional and international initiatives. AUB also has an Advancing Research Enabling Communities Center (AREC, a 247 acre research farm and educational facility in the Beqaa devoted to the improvement of rural livelihoods in the drylands and offers unique scientific,educational, experiential, and social opportunities. AREC provides a living research laboratory for faculty and constitutes a hub of local community outreach, thereby offering a unique, real life-scale model from which knowledge can be disseminated and innovation can be developed through field research, experimentation and developmental and outreach activities. AUB is also embarking on WEFRAH (Water-Energy-Food-Health Nexus Renewable Resources Initiative), a University-wide initiative and pilot project centered on research and development activities at AREC to achieve primary resources security. It will focus on multidisciplinary research and development innovations in technology, science, policy and learning. WEFRAH's vision is to make AUB a regional hub for innovation in water-energy-food-health nexus and the interconnectedness of renewable resources in arid and semiarid regions. As a comprehensive university, we contribute to all aspects of water an do so nationally, regionally and globally. Please see our website at https://www.aub.edu.lb/ for more information.

Governor representative :
First Name : Rabi Last Name : Mohtar
Title : Prof. Dr. Position : Dean and Professor
Nationality : Lebanon Gender : Male Female
Email : mohtar@aub.edu.lb
background : Rabi Mohtar’s career has focused on conserving natural resources (including land, water, air, and biological resources) that face global challenges such as the increasing demand for food and water supplies for a growing population. Mohtar developed environmental and natural resources conservation engineering programs that evaluate the environmental impacts of land use and water management; developed innovative soil and groundwater remediation technologies; applied numerical methods to biological engineering systems; characterized the soil water medium at the pedon, field, and watershed scales. He also designed and evaluated international sustainable water management programs that deal with population growth and water shortage conditions in arid climates. His research has resulted in improved methods for environmental and natural resources engineering, many of which have been adopted by other professionals and agencies internationally. Mohtar has received numerous international research awards and honors including the Ven Te Chow Memorial Award of the International Water Resources Association and the Kishida International award for contributions to agricultural research. He was founding executive director of Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) a member of Qatar Foundation, founding director of Strategic Projects at Qatar Foundation, and the inaugural director of the Purdue University’s Global Engineering Programs. Mohtar’s commitment to systems approaches and interdisciplinarity has caused his work to focus on engagement and education as well as on research as he sees the need for policy and science to compliment and inform one another. He serves on the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on water security, climate change agenda council, on the board of governors of the World Water Council, the advisory board of the UNFCC momentum of change initiative. Mohtar has over 200 publications including peer-reviewed, and refereed conference proceedings, books and chapters.

Alternate representative :
First Name : Mutasem Last Name : Fadel
Title : Prof. Dr. Postion : Professor and Chair
Nationality : Lebanon Gender :
Email : mfadel@aub.edu.lb
background : Dr. El-Fadel is currently a Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the American University of Beirut (AUB) where he holds the Dar Al-Handasah (Shair & Partners) Chair in Engineering. A Civil Engineer by background, Dr. El-Fadel holds an MS in Environmental Engineering, an MS in Water Resources Engineering, and a PhD in Environmental Engineering, all from Stanford University, California. Prof. El-Fadel has a distinguished record of high impact international and regional publications and is the recipient of the award of Scientific Research Excellence by the National Council for Scientific Research for outstanding contributions to research and distinguished scientific publication record in Environmental & Water Resources Engineering. Dr. El-Fadel has been a registered Professional Engineer in the States of California, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and Michigan as well as Lebanon. He has been for nearly two decades a Senior Expert to the World Bank on environmental and water resources safeguards in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. He has also worked for nearly a decade in the US where he was designated as an expert witness in several US Federal Courts to provide testimony related to cases in Environmental litigation and risk assessment of industrial facilities. Dr. El-Fadel served equally as an expert on projects funded by USAID, USIA, EC, UNDP, UNEP, UNOPS, ESCWA, IDRC, WHO, SIDA, SIWI, GIZ, IRENA, ICBA, CITET, as well as ministries, councils, municipalities, non-governmental organizations, and regional / international firms.

Organisation statement:
Please describe the involvement of your organisation within the World Water Council and state how long it has been involved in World Water Council activities : The American University of Beirut shares a priority interest in our planet's water security and is working to develop technologies and assist policy makers to assure an adequate, safe, clean and equitable water supply for the future. Membership in the WWC would provide a mechanism for our faculty and programs to benefit from the collaborations of the WWC efforts and those of its members. We seek to contribute to the multidisciplinary matrix of WWC membership and its rich mixture of governmental, NGOs, corporate and academic institutions to address the many distinct but interconnected facets of the global water issues.
For what reasons do you wish your organisation to have a seat on the Board of Governors ? AUB has many faculty members with water-related experience will contribute their research and teaching expertise to the dialogue and diplomacy of the WWC. We primarily intend to make use of the WWC as a valuable and resourceful platform for bridging Science to Policy. The global nature of the WWC is consistent with our mission to have regional and global impacts. We have many collaborations and projects around the region and the world which could contribute information and perspective into the efforts of the WWC. This can help the WWC programs and its recommendations achieve their intended outcomes. We also have considerable experience in working across multiple disciplines such as agriculture, engineering, architecture, policy and business. This type of integrated approach is important in addressing such a multifaceted issue as global water security.