Environmental Leadership Program

Mohamad A. Chakaki was born in Saudi Arabia to Syrian parents. He grew up playing in the sand and surf on both sides of the Arabian Peninsula, and then on the edges of eastern forests and city streets in and around Washington, DC. His interests lie where the lines blur between East and West, city and nature, art and science, and so on. As a first year PhD student (Fall 2009) at MIT's Department of Architecture these interests are reflected in Mohamad’s working title for his research, "Learning from the University-City in the Gulf." Mohamad will be exploring the connections and/or contradictions across campus planning and curriculum design in the new universities developing in Persian Gulf States like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Mohamad holds a Masters of Environmental Management with a focus on Urban Ecology and Environmental Design from the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, and undergraduate degrees in Religion and Biology from The George Washington University. Mohamad’s passion for nature and for people has led him to work in parks and gardens across the US, with the Peace Corps in Central Africa, and the United Nations in Syria. Before moving to MIT, Mohamad spent 3 years (based out of Washington, DC) consulting on environment and community development projects in both the US and the Arab Middle East.