Keynote Speaker

Roster
Mohamed al-Asad - Water Scarcity and Landscaping in the Islamic World: Contemporary Solutions for Historical Problems
Founding director and Chairman of the Board of Directors of CSBE (Center for the Study of the Built Environment) in Amman, a study and research institute that investigates landscaping in dry climates. al-Asad is also an adjunct professor at the School of Architecture at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.

Catherine Asher - Out of the Desert: Water Traditions in the South Asian Landscape
Professor of art history at the University of Minnesota, Asher is the foremost American expert on the architecture of the Mughal period in India and the surrounding region.

Walter Denny - The Art and Architecture of Water in Ottoman Times
Professor of art history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and Charles Grant Ellis Research Associate in Islamic Carpets at the Textile Museum in Washington D.C., Denny is a noted authority on the artistic traditions of the Ottoman Turks.

Agnieszka Dobrowalska - Architecture as a Message: the Sabil of Muhammad 'Ali Pasha in Cairo
A conservation architect who has spent fifteen years working on archaeological and conservation sites in Egypt, Dobrowolska has written books on the building crafts, monuments and urban planning of Cairo.

Howayda Harithy - Sabil-Kuttabs and the Conception of Water during the Mamluk Period
Professor in the Department of Architecture and Design at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Harithy specializes in the architecture of the Mamluk period in Egypt and Syria.

Perween Hasan - Floods of Paradise: The Bengal Delta
Professor in the Department of Islamic History and Culture at the University of Dhaka, Hasan has just completed a book on the early Muslim architecture of Bangladesh.

Linda Komaroff - Sip and Pour: Water Vessels in Islamic Art
Curator of Islamic Art and Department Head, Art of the Middle East, at the Los Angeles County Museum, Komaroff has published widely on the arts produced in Iran under the Mongols. Link

Marcus Milwright - The Archaeology of Urban Water Systems in the Islamic World
Professor in the Department of History in Art, University of Victoria, Canada, Milwright studies labor and craft practices in the urban environment, cross-cultural contacts in the medieval Mediterranean, and the history of medicine.

Venetia Porter - Mysterious Inscriptions on 'Frozen Water': Early Medieval Islamic Rock Crystal Seals
Curator of the Islamic and contemporary Middle Eastern art collections at the British Museum, Porter is currently researching Islamic seals and amulets.

D. Fairchild Ruggles - The Great Mosque of Cordoba: Fruited Trees and Ablution
Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ruggles writes on Islamic gardens from Spain to India.

Yasser Tabbaa - Control and Abandon: Images of Water in Islamic Gardens and Garden Poetry
Dean of Faculty and Deputy Head of Kings Academy in Madaba, Jordan, Tabbaa has written on medieval Islamic architecture, gardens, ornament, and calligraphy as well as contemporary Shi'ite architecture.