OSUM Professor Named to International Think Tank Board

Hassan Aly, Professor of Economics at The Ohio State University at Marion, was recently elected as one of seven new members to the Board of Trustees for The Economic Research Forum (ERF), a regional network dedicated to promoting exemplary economic research to contribute to sustainable development in the Arab countries, Iran and Turkey.

Dr. Aly applies his research to developing countries in general and Middle East countries in particular. In addition to teaching at The Ohio State University, Dr. Aly taught, researched, and consulted in many countries in the Middle East including Egypt, Kuwait, Jordan, and Tunisia.

Most recently, Dr. Aly served as a Chief Research Economist at the African Development Bank (2009-2010). He has over thirty publications in national and international journals (AER, REStat, EDCC, World Development, and Applied Economics, among others).

Hassan Y. Aly joined the Ohio State faculty in 1989 after spending a year at Alexandria University and two years as a visiting professor at Southern Illinois University. He is Faculty Associate to the Middle East Studies Center (1992-Present); Faculty Associate to the John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy (1999-Present); Co-editor of the African Development Review (2009-present) and Middle East Business and Economic Review (2002-2010).

Dr. Aly has served as a research fellow for the Economic Research Forum and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Development and Economic Policies and the International Journal of Applied Business and Economics Research.  In 2004, he was elected to the executive board of the Middle East Economics Association where he currently serving his third term as an Executive Secretary.

In addition to Dr. Aly’s appointment to the ERF Board, newly elected members include:  Ragui Assaad, University of Minnesota; Mouna Cherkaoui, University Mohamed V, Morocco; Hadi Esfahani, University of Illinois; Samir Makdisi, American University of Beirut; Aysit Tansel, Middle East Technical University; and Subidey Togan, Bilkent University.  The new members will serve on the board for five years starting March 2012.

Established in 1993, ERF’s core objectives are to build strong regional research capacity; to encourage the production of independent, high quality economic research; and to disseminate research output to a wide and diverse audience.