Projects

Selected research, education, and public engagement projects spanning nuclear security, the learning sciences, and emerging technologies.

Nuclear Security

The Language of Nuclear Security

(2020–2023, with King’s College London) — A multi-year research collaboration examining how nuclear security information travels across languages, analyzing large-scale open-source internet data from Jordan, Turkey, India, and beyond. The project produced three publications, in the International Journal of Intelligence and CounterIntelligence and the International Journal of Nuclear Security, and the proceedings of INMM 2021. Publications

Nuclear Security Education & Capacity Building

(2022–present) — An applied research and training agenda on how people learn nuclear security: designing tabletop exercises as knowledge-building tools — developed with the Royal Scientific Society and published in the INMM 2022 proceedings — delivering specialized training courses at the RSS Training Centre, and research bringing the Women, Peace and Security agenda into nuclear security practice in Jordan and Egypt (IJNS, 2025). INMM paper · IJNS article

Learning Sciences & Science Education

Case Studies of Students Doing Science

(Tufts University) — A video-based research project examining the dynamics of learners’ engagement and persistence in science, funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, producing an open library of documented classroom and interview case studies. Role: research team member, contributing case study analysis of students’ science reasoning and classroom discourse. Project site

SiMSAM: Bridging Student, Scientific, and Mathematical Models with Expressive Technologies

(Tufts University · NSF award #1217100) — An NSF cyberlearning project developing a web-based environment for students in grades 5–8 to transform stop-action animations of everyday materials into computer simulations and data visualizations of molecular phenomena. Role: research team member; findings appeared in the Journal of Science Teacher Education and CSCL proceedings. NSF Video Showcase · Project abstract

Engineering & Autonomous Systems

The YAN Project — Autonomous Ground Vehicle

(University of Jordan, 2005–2009) — An intelligent Unmanned Ground Vehicle designed and built by a three-student team from the Electrical and Mechatronics Engineering departments, supervised by the Scientific Research Department of KADDB and funded by the King Abdullah II Fund for Development. Developed in two phases — remote manual control, then autonomous operation — YAN could detect obstacles, plan its route, and drive itself to a destination. Exhibited at KAFD and featured in the national press. Project site · Press coverage

Curating Ideas & Public Engagement

TEDxRamallah — Amman Stage

(Manager & Curator, 2011) — A landmark event in the region’s TEDx history: on 16 April 2011, TEDxRamallah showcased 23 speakers and performers telling stories of Palestine across three simultaneous stages — Bethlehem, Beirut, and Amman — streamed live to twenty cities worldwide. As manager and curator of the Amman stage, I led the venue’s programme and production, hosting speakers who could not reach Palestine and connecting them live to Bethlehem. Amman talks (YouTube) · Event page (TED.com) · Al Jazeera feature.