Name:		Dr. Ahmad Okeil
Company: Address:		Abu Dhabi University P. O. Box 59911 Abu Dhabi, UAE	Tel.: +971 2 5015 739   Fax: +971 2 6192 548 E-mail:ahmad.okeil@adu.ac.ae Website: www.okeil.com

Short Profile of the Person:
Dr. Ahmad Okeil is the chair of the Department of Architecture and Design at Abu Dhabi University, manager of the company Sustainable Design Consultants and the former head of the Institute of the Built Environment at the British University in Dubai.  He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Architecture from Alexandria University followed by a Dr.Ing in Architecture from The Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany.  His Ph.D. thesis work was in the area of Utilization of Solar Energy in Architecture and Urban Design.  He has been involved in teaching in several universities including Alexandria University, Arab Academy for Science and Technology, American University in Cairo, the United Arab Emirates University, the British University in Dubai and Abu Dhabi University.  He has taught a wide range of studio and theory courses, at the undergraduate, graduate and post professional levels.

His research interests are varied and include: Passive Heating and Cooling, Energy Efficiency in Architecture, Urban Planning, and Urban Design, Thermal comfort in Buildings, Building Acoustics and Illumination, Virtual Reality Applications in Architecture and Architectural Education. He engaged as a principal investigator or as a co-investigator in developing and implementing several funded research projects and published in international conference proceedings and scientific journals.

Both his teaching and his research focus on using technology to enhance but not displace traditional methods and techniques. Through university grants he established a Virtual Reality Lab at the UAE University and designed, constructed one of the first virtual reality CAVE systems to be hosted in a department of Architecture.  The facility was used in teaching Architectural Design, Urban Design, Building Construction and History of Architecture courses.

He is an active member of the academic and social communities.  He served as president of the Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design ASCAAD and reviews papers submitted to international journals and conferences in his areas of interests.

As a licensed architect he practiced architecture in his office in Alexandria, participated in national and international design competitions and professional experience. This helps giving his students firsthand experience on the conscientious integration of theory and practice.  Through his company, Sustainable Design Consultants based in Waterloo-Canada, he offers consultations in the areas of environmental design of buildings and sustainability.

Short Profile of the Company:
The ADU has become a force for socio- economic progress, civic engagement, and cultural enrichment of our community. Student enrollment has now approached 3800, the first graduating class of 2008 included over 450 graduates and ADU has continued to attract an increasing number of the best and brightest students from the region. In addition, it has successfully launched its first strategic plan aimed towards achieving academic prominence, and it further established partnerships with the best international universities in Germany, USA, Canada, UK, France, and Australia. The Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has granted re-licensure to Abu Dhabi University in recognition of the quality of its faculty, students and academic programs.