Who We Are

Mona Atia

Principal Investigator

Mona Atia is an Associate Professor of Geography and International Affairs at the George Washington University and Director of the Middle East Studies Program. She is a critical development geographer whose areas of expertise include Islamic charity and finance, philanthropy and humanitarianism, housing/urban development, the production of poverty knowledge and the spatial politics of marginalization. She is author of Building a House in Heaven (University of Minnesota Press, 2013). She currently holds a five-year NSF CAREER award for a project entitled “The Impact of Poverty Mapping on the Geography of Development.” The project examines the production, use and impact of poverty mapping in Morocco and France.

Said Samlali

Morocco Coordinator

Said Samlali, Laureate of the National Institute of Planning and Development in Rabat and PhD student at Mohammed V University, is a specialist in local development policies. Currently, he is coordinator of the project POVMAP in Morocco with George Washington University. He also has solid skills in social housing policies in Morocco and has conducted in this context an analysis of the resistance of slum residents to the program “City without shantytown” funded by the Arab Council of Social Sciences.

Grace Doherty

Graduate Research Assistant

Grace Doherty is a consultant specializing in open source GIS and cartography, qualitative research, and event planning where she is engaged in two World Bank Group disaster risk management projects in Africa. As a research assistant at the Geography of Development project in 2016 and 2017, Grace led on the participatory mapping workshops in Morocco, conducting mapping trainings with rural residents. Grace has a Master of Science in Geography from the George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in Global Studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

Madalena Monnier-Reyna

Graduate Research Assistant

As a research assistant at the Geography of Development project in 2019 and 2020, Madalena has assisted in the qualitative analysis of materials regarding poverty in France using CAQDA software. Madalena also translated interviews conducted in Roubaix, France and contributed to the Poverty in the Middle East curriculum modules. Her own research focuses on street art, feminist protest, and public space in France. Madalena is currently a first year graduate student in Geography at the George Washington University and has a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs and Geography from the George Washington University.

Johanna Belanger

Undergraduate Research Aide

Johanna Belanger is a research aide for Dr. Atia and the Poverty Mapping and Development team. Her work includes contributing to, and analyzing, OpenStreetMap data, and website development. She also assisted with the Poverty Mapping Workshop Dr. Atia held at the Institute for Middle East Studies in January 2018. Johanna is a senior at The George Washington University seeking a B.A.in International Affairs, with minors in Arabic and Geographic Information Systems.

Former Team Members

Matthew Mittler

Graduate Research Assistant

Matthew Mittler currently contracts as a GIS Analyst for Wachs Water Services, a water infrastructure solutions firm. His role in The Impact of Poverty Mapping on the Geography of Development project was developing and testing the spatial accessibility model using field data collected in rural Morocco. Additionally, he has provided GIS support for the project by conducting geospatial analysis and converting field data into accessible digital formats. Matthew received his Bachelor of Science from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Geography, and his GIS Graduate Certificate and Master of Science from The George Washington University in Geography.

Tyler Overfelt

Graduate Research Assistant

Tyler Overfelt is a young professional with a background in international development, emergency management, and geospatial information systems. He is currently enrolled as a master’s student at the George Washington University, where he has focused on politics and stabilization in North Africa. During the poverty mapping project, he assisted with workshops in rural Morocco, translated information for further research, and developed structured datasets for use with GIS software. His professional background includes freelance writing, providing programmatic support, and creating GIS products. He currently works at the National Democratic Institute in Washington, DC.

Sandy Maroun

Graduate Research Assistant

Sandy Maroun is a graduate student doing a Master of International Policy and Practice at the Elliott School of International Affairs at the George Washington University. Sandy worked as a research assistant at the Geography of Development project in 2017 and 2018. Sandy started her career as a journalist in Lebanese and regional media outlets and worked for the last eleven years in the advocacy and policy and media and communications departments in development and humanitarian agencies and Non-Governmental Organizations.

Juan Pablo Cortes

Undergraduate Research Aide

Juan Pablo is a research assistant working under Dr. Atia. He is contributing to the project by creating base maps of previously unmapped regions by synthesizing crowd-sourced and privately collected data. Juan Pablo is a rising Senior at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, where he studies Geography and International Affairs.

Ethan Casserino

Undergraduate Research Aide

Ethan is a research aide working under Dr. Atia. In his work, he has contributed to the organization of collected data and the coordination of crowd-sourced data creation and analysis. Ethan is a rising senior at the George Washington University in Washington, DC, where he studies Geography and International Affairs.