Education

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Environmental Psychology Program. The Graduate School of the City University of New York. April, 1994.

Master of Philosophy (M. Phil.), City University of New York, October, 1986.

Master of Architecture (M. Arch.), Middle East Technical University, Department of Architecture, Ankara, Turkey. September, 1979.

Bachelor of Architecture (B. Arch.), Middle East Technical University, Department of Architecture, Ankara, Turkey. January, l976.

Occupational Experience

RESEARCH AND EVALUATION OFFICER: Bernard van Leer Foundation, Netherlands. 2008 – Cont.

Tasks:

• Managing a research & evaluation portfolio of grants totaling more than €4 Million
• Supervising all evaluations in our 8 countries (Proposal review, review of tools & evaluation design, review of final reports.
• Synthesis of results and presenting them to the rest of the staff and executives.
• Representing the foundation in global events and conferences. Making presentations when applicable).
• Monitoring ongoing evaluations on the ground by making field trips.
• Developing and monitoring a research and evaluation strategy for the foundation. 

CO-DIRECTOR: Children’s Environments Research Group, Center for Human Environments, Environmental Psychology Program of The Graduate Center of The City University of New York. 1998 – 2008.

Tasks:

• Developing funding proposals
• Designing research and evaluation projects
• Managing large research teams
• Writing final reports

REGIONAL CONSULTANT, UNICEF: Regional consultant for UNICEF CEE/CIS (Central and Eastern Europe, Commonwealth of Independent States and Baltic States). 2001 – 2008

Tasks:

• Designing and implementing evaluation studies on UNICEF country programs.
• Writing reports and preparing presentations based on evaluation results
• Meeting with high-level government officials and presenting to them policy options

CONSULTANT, SAVE THE CHILDREN: Post tsunami construction and development in Sri Lanka, India and Indonesia. 2004 – 2008

VICE-PRESIDENT, International Partnership for Youth, LLC. Planning, design and technical assistance to 17 Native American Tribes to build Juvenile Centers. Funded by Dept. of Justice. 2001-2003.

PLANNER/ARCHITECT (Part Time): Department of Juvenile Justice, NYC. Facilities planning, and design, project supervision and evaluation. Programming, design and construction supervision for two juvenile detention centers in New York City for a cost of $65 Million. 1995 – 2008.

Selected Project Experience

(All Experience is as Principal Investigator or Project Director unless otherwise noted)

Participatory Design of the PS242 & Future Leaders Institute (FLI) schoolyards in Harlem, New York 2008

Community-based Research and Participatory Planning with Children and Communities in the Villages of Rumbek, South Sudan. 2007.

Save the Children Training Workshops on Physical Environment August 2006; Importance and relevance of the physical environment.

Evaluation of The Child Friendly Municipality Initiative (MAN) of the Dominican Republic 2006.

Great Explorers. Longitudinal research on the impact of an intensive science education and museum exhibit/visiting program initiated by the Staten Island Children’s Museum. 2005

UNICEF Early Childhood Care and Development (ECD) Research on Family Beliefs and Care Practices in Serbia and Montenegro. Research design, training, data analysis, reporting. 2004.

Community Participation for the Planning and Design of Homes and Community Space in Cooks Nagar, Banda Aceh, India. 2006.

Rebuilding the City: Rebuilding and restructuring the city of Bam after the earthquake. Iran. 2004.

Participatory planning of Mildred Helms Elementary School and Community Park, Newark. 2004.

National Baseline Study on Family KAP (Knowledge Attitudes and Practices) in the area of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD). UNICEF Moldova. 2004.

Making Quality Happen: Case Study of Two After-School Programs (With J. Schwartzman). Funded by the Robert Bowne Foundation Research Grant 2003.

National Assessment of Early Childhood Development and Preschool Education in Georgia. UNICEF Georgia, 2003 – 2004.

Survey Research on Parental Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) in Azerbaijan. 2004.

Participatory research and design of the Maple Avenue School, Newark, NJ. 2004

Great Explorers. Longitudinal research initiated by the Staten Island Children’s Museum. Funded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute Grant. 2003.

Participatory evaluation of the Hartley House After-school Program, Completed as a part of the Bowne Foundation Initiative on Literacy. 2002.

Developing Children’s Areas in Community Gardens, the Development of a new Model for Low-income Areas.2001.

Establishing a Global Network of Youth Programmes for Drug Abuse Prevention. For the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP), Vienna. 1997–2000.

Evaluation of the Children’s Gardening Program by the Trust for Public Land. 1999

Evaluation of the Drug Abuse Prevention Forum organized by the youth. United Nations Drug Prevention Program. Banff Alberta, Canada. April, 1998.

Post Occupancy Evaluation of the Hasbro Children’s Hospital, Providence,1995.

Park Slope Armory, Re-Use Study, Brooklyn, NY. NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation. 1995.

Teaching (Courses Taught):

Various courses taught on Psychology & environment at CUNY Graduate Center, City College, Rutgers University & PRATT Institute.

Skills

SOFTWARE: Extremely fluent on al Microsoft Office products (both Windows and Mac platforms). Expert fluency on PREZI presentations, Quark Xpress, SPSS Statistical software, NVivo Qualitative data analysis

Graphic & Presentation skills, Video editing, CAD/CAM, photography.

Selected Publications

Climate Change and Environmental Education UNICEF Publications, Innocenti 2013

Children of Seasonal Migrant Workers. Early Childhood Matters. Dec. 2012

Is My City or Community Child-Friendly? Extending Professional Practice in the Early Years – Sage Publications. 2012

Living conditions: The influence on young children’s health. Early Childhood Matters. July, 2012

Strategies for reducing inequalities and improving developmental outcomes. (Patricia Engle, et. Al). The Lancet. 2011.

CHILD FRIENDLY CITIES (CFC) A Situation Analysis and Plan of Action for the City of Bam. Report published by UNICEF Iran Country Office. 2004.

Where do our Children Play? The Importance and Design of Schoolyards. Publication prepared for the New Jersey Appleseed, Public Interest Law Center. Layout, illustrations and production. 2004.

Green Play: Creating Space for Children in Community Gardens (With R. Hart and P. Beeton). Published by the Design Trust for Public Space.

After-School/Youth Literacy Connections: Participatory Program Evaluation (With J. Schwartzman) Literacy Update. February, 2001.

Selected Conference Presentations

Are Foundations Making Enough of a Difference? Presentation at the European Foundation Center conference, Sarajevo, 2014

Key Note Presentation: School Culture and Children conference. Ankara University, 2012 (Presentation published as a University Publication)

How can Foundations Conduct Research: Presentation at the UNICEF Research Conference, Florence 2012.

Key note presentation: A Participatory Perspective in Cities. RoSaCE Road Safety conference, Barcelona, 2009

Designing Public Spaces in Cities: Presentation in Ankara University (Organized by Dept. of Landscape Architecture) 2009.

Participatory Assessment of Communities with Children. Child in the City conference, Rotterdam, 2008

Conducting Research to Assess Community and Parent Child Care and Rearing Practices. Presentation at the UNICEF Regional conference on ECD. Budapest. June 2-4, 2004.

The Bam That We All Want, Social Sector Planning and Development in Bam. May 3- 4, 2004 Pars Hotel Kerman, Islamic Republic of Iran. Organized and Supported by UNICEF, UNDP & NDRII.

Designing Schoolyards. Presentation at the Trust for Public Land (TPL), New York. April, 2004.

Arizona Tribal Justice and Rehabilitation Coalition. (ATJRC) 2003

Affiliations and Professional Activities

Center for Theory of Change, New York. Advisory Committee Member 2013 – 2015.

Children and Violence Evaluation Challenge Fund. Steering committee Member. 2011- 2015.

Children as Actors for Transforming Society (CATS). Advisory Committee Member.

Chamber of Architecture of Turkey. Member. Section of I.U.A. (International Union of Architects) in Turkey. Since 1976.

Editorial Board Member, CYE, an on-line, peer-reviewed Journal of Children, Youth and Environments. 2002 – 2015.

JURY MEMBER: Design Fellowship Awards by the Design Trust for Public Space. May, 1997.

JURY CHAIR, National Art and Design Competition for Street Trees, USDA Forest Service, May 1998.

ADVISORY PANEL MEMBER: Department of Defense Civilian External Review Program for System Performance and Injury Prevention Assessment. July, 1993.

GRANT REVIEW PANEL MEMBER Department of Health and Human Services. Review of Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant applications for NIH. April, 1993; November, 1993 and July 1994.