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Who We Are

Ondrej Beranek, Postdoctoral Fellow
Beranek was born in Prague, Czech Republic. He recently finished his PhD dissertation at Charles University in Prague concerning the development of Saudi domestic policy, Salafi ideology, and foreign relations after the first Gulf War. He has traveled extensively in the Middle East, Central Asia, and Africa and conducted an intensive training in Arabic language, history and culture at King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. From 2005-2007, Beranek was a visiting scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard.

Kristina Cherniahivsky, Associate Director
Cherniahivsky managed the International Security Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University from 1997-2000. She previously worked in Eastern Europe on issues of democracy and civil society.

Shai Feldman, Judith and Sidney Swartz Director
Before joining the Crown Center, Feldman served from 1997 to 2005 as head of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University. He also serves on the Council of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London and as a member of the Board of Directors of Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. From 2001 to 2003, he served as a member of the U.N. Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters. The author of numerous publications, he earned his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. Short C.V.

Keren Fraiman, Research Assistant
A doctoral student in the Department of Political Science and a member of the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she has worked on several initiatives for the Crown Center. 

Nader Habibi, Henry J. Leir Professor of the Economics of the Middle East
Habibi was most recently Managing Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division in Global Insight. His expertise is the impact of political institutions on fiscal and monetary policy, and economic reform in the Middle East. He holds a Ph.D. in economics and a graduate degree in systems engineering from Michigan State University and has worked as a research fellow at the Middle East Council at Yale University.

Yusri Hazran, Postdoctoral Fellow
Hazran was born in the Druze village of Yarka. He recieved his PhD from Hebrew University in Israel. His dissertation explores the relationship between the Druze community and the Lebanese state from 1943 - 1975. Hazran has taught courses at Hebrew University and most recently at the Open University. He is preparing an article for publication that deals with Lebanese historiography. The working title of the piece is: Between Authenticity and Alienation: The Druze and the Lebanon's History.

Marilyn R. Horowitz, Senior Department Associate
Horowitz is a native of New York City and now lives in Waltham, MA.  She is an avid photographer, designs jewelry, is a member of the Dog Writers Association of America (her 2007 Sunnybank Calendar won the Calendar Category of the 2006 DWAA Writing Contest), and has a monthly column in a professional Collie publication with national circulation.

Kanan Makiya, Faculty Chair
The Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University, Baghdad-born Makiya wrote Republic of Fear, which became a bestseller after Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1991.

Benjamin Rostoker, Program Coordinator
Rostoker received his B.A. and M.A. in Politics from Brandeis University in 2005. He has worked with conflict resolution programs and organizations including: the Israeli Palestinian Negotiating Partners; Middle East Education through Technology; and Mercy Corps Conflict Management Group. In 2007, Rostoker was a teaching and research assistant at the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya in Israel.

Abdel Monem Said Aly, Senior Fellow
The director of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo since 1994, Said Aly is a regular contributor to the Al-Ahram Daily newspaper and a frequent commentator on political affairs for Egyptian and Arab television. Said Aly was a distinguished visiting fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., in 2004. He was also a research fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University in 2003. He founded the International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace and the Egyptian Peace Movement.

Khalil Shikaki, Senior Fellow
Shikaki has directed the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research in Ramallah since 2000, and has conducted more than one hundred polls among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1993. A world-renowned expert on Palestinian public opinion and a widely published author, he has taught at several institutions, including Birzeit University, An-Najah National University, the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, and the University of South Florida. He also was a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., in 2002.

Naghmeh Sohrabi, Assistant Director for Research
Sohrabi was a postdoctoral fellow at the Crown Center from 2005-2007. She received her Ph.D. in history and Middle East studies from Harvard University in 2005. Her dissertation received an honorable mention from the Foundation for Iranian Studies. Sohrabi is currently completing her book manuscript on 19th century Persian travelers to Europe. She has taught courses at Harvard University, Skidmore College, and most recently at Brandeis.