The Virtual Realm
of Saleem H. Ali
Email: saleem@alum.mit.edu
"Ideals
are like the stars, we may never reach them
But like the mariners of the sea we chart our course by them"
(Carl Schurtz)
Saleem H. Ali
is an Associate Professor of Environmental
Studies at the University of Vermont's Rubenstein School of Environment
and Natural
Resources, and
on the adjunct faculty of Brown
University’s
Watson Institute for
International Studies.For the 2007-2008 academic years, he also
served as the Associate Dean for Graduate Education in Natural
Resources at the University of Vermont. For the 2008-2009 academic
year, Dr. Ali was on sabbatical working on a sole-authored book
pertaining to mineral resources and the environment, based at the Brookings
Institution's research center in Doha, Qatar. The
book is titled Treasures
of the Earth: Need, Greed and a Sustainable Future. His
research
focuses on the
causes and
consequences of environmental conflicts and how ecological factors can
promote
peace. He is also on the visiting faculty for the United Nations mandated University for
Peace (Costa
Rica), where he teaches a course on Indigenous Environment and
Development Conflicts. Much of his empirical research has focused on
environmental
conflicts in
the mineral sector and he is the author of Mining,
the Environment and Indigenous Development Conflicts
(published the University
of Arizona Press,
2004). His most recent edited volume (published in November
2008) is Earth
Matters: Indigenous Peoples, The Extractive Industries and Corporate
Social Resposibility (edited with Ciaran
O'Fairchellaegh). He is also the editor of the widely
acclaimed
volume Peace
Parks: Conservation and Conflict Resolution (MIT Press, September, 2007),
which has received cover endorsements from E.O.
Wilson, George Schaller and Achim Steiner, and a foreword by Julia
Marton-Lefevre.
Dr.
Ali is a member
of the World
Commission on Protected
Areas and the IUCN
Taskforce on Transboundary Conservation. He has also been involved
in promoting environmental education in
madrassahs (Islamic religious schools) and using techniques from
environmental
planning to study the rise of these institutions in his ethnic homeland
-- Pakistan,
leading to a sole-authored book published in January 2009 by Oxford
University Press titled Islam and Education:
Conflict and Conformity in Pakistan's Madrassahs.
Some
of his current research on environmental health perception in mining
areas and social responsibility in the mining sector is supported by
the
Tiffany
&Co.
Foundation .
Prior
to embarking on an academic career, Dr. Ali worked
as an environmental health and safety professional at General Electric
(based at GE headquarters in Fairfield,
CT, and at silicone resin
manufacturing sites in New
York). He has served
as a consultant for the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, U.S.
Fish and
Wildlife Service and Health Canada
as an Associate at the Boston-based consulting firm Industrial Economics Inc.
Pro bono projects include a mining impact prospectus for the Crowe
Tribe of Montana
and research assistance to
Cultural
Survival (an indigenous rights NGO).
He is
also a professional mediator and has conducted workshops on
consensus-building for private and public interests, as well as peer
review of research publications for the World Bank, the International Institute for Sustainable
Development, The
Woodrow Wilson Center, the Journal
of Environmental Management, the Journal of
Environmental Planning and Management, the Natural
Resources Forum and Yale University
Press.
Research appointments include a Public Policy Fellowship at Griffith University
in Brisbane,
Australia, a Baker
Foundation Research
Fellowship at Harvard Business
School
and a parliamentary internship at the U.K. House of Commons. Teaching
experience includes courses on environmental planning, conflict
resolution,
industrial ecology, research methods and technical writing. Professor
Ali
received his doctorate in Environmental Planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT), an
M.E.S. in environmental law and policy from Yale
University, and his
Bachelors in
Chemistry from Tufts University
(summa
cum laude).
Thanks
for visiting my web page.
FOR LINKS TO MEDIA
STORIES AND ONLINE WRITINGS CLICK HERE
FOR
LINKS TO MY REGULAR COLUMNS IN PAKISTAN'S DAILY TIMES CLICK HERE
I
also moderate a listserv on ecological mineral management called
"Ecominerals" which aims to provide free information exchange related
to responsible management of mineral resources. Please email me if you
would
like to be added to this listserv: saleem@alum.mit.edu
Last modified October 15 2009 01:00 PM
