Brief Bio:
Kawkab is a senior academic researcher who enjoys teaching and is energized by her passion for education and interacting with students. During her adolescence, her father, a Muslim and self-taught chemist, would conduct experiments in a makeshift lab in their home. Her hunger for knowledge started early in her childhood and was sparked through her father’s love for science.
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In the early 1900s, my grandparents emigrated from Chechnya, an independent part of Russia and settled in the outskirts of Amman, the capital of Jordan. They chose a small town called Sweileh and they learned to speak Arabic.
I have happy childhood experiences. My grandfather owned a large piece of land that was used to farm wheat. Every year, we celebrated the coming of summer by harvesting some of the wheat while the seeds were still soft. We would light a large fire and roast the wheat allowing the straw and chaff to burn away, leaving the grain intact. We rubbed the burned chaff between both hands, getting ourselves stained by the charcoal while enjoying the taste of the “Fareeke”, the roasted wheat seeds.
Although Chechens were a small minority in Jordan, we spoke our native language, observed our traditions and were a very close-knit community. Our music, celebrations, traditional dresses and attire were quite different from that of mainstream Jordanians. Our cultural events were very festive and rarely segregated men and women which was not the common practice in Jordan at the time. Our weddings were very joyous and upbeat. We had a folk dance called “khelkar” which has a ritual nature based on the Chechen myth on the origin of the Sun and the Moon, representing man and woman.
Growing up, my greatest influence was my father. He was highly respected in our community and was eventually appointed as our community leader. It was an honorary position that entailed issuing statements of endorsement for local matters, mediating conflicts and overseeing the overall well-being of our Chechen community. I heard from others that my father was widely regarded for his selfless nature, strong personality, and fair judgement.
Not only was he a man of faith, but also a lover of science, and a self-taught chemist by trade. He created a science lab within our home, which he restricted us from entering without his permission. Of course, restricting us access to his lab deepened our curiosity about what was inside. As we got older, he allowed us to stand by and watch him conduct various experiments. He liked to collect seeds and plants from different regions within Jordan and would travel to Syria to buy special pots and equipment for his lab. When I was 7 or 8, I remember that he would take me along to the fields and show me a seed and say, “This is what I want you to look for.” My brothers and I occasionally helped him to collect plants. Often, he would reserve time in his lab to examine them closely by himself. Sometimes, I would peek through the door when it wasn’t entirely closed, and I remember feeling fascinated watching him work. He would spend hours upon hours in his lab, and it became very clear to us it was his favorite place to be. I never really got to know what his final products were. Over time, I realized it was the entire process that he loved, without any clear goal or result in sight. This concept really grew on me the older I got, this idea that not everything in life is done for the sake of achieving an outcome. My father’s passion for science had a tremendous effect on me and he is largely the reason why I have dedicated my life towards teaching and research.
I grew up in a large household with nine siblings. It was my father’s dream that we would all complete college and start professional careers. He used to sit us in a circle especially in the winter, and ask us one by one, “What do you want to be in the future?”
During my senior year in high school, I studied tirelessly for my final exams, the results of which were the basis of what field you could study in college. To my misfortune, the city had begun major construction projects in our neighborhood right around this time. It was very hard to concentrate on my studies and my father came up with a plan. He would drive me out to a secluded open area in our neighborhood so that I could focus on my lessons. This was a very special time of my life, because it felt that no matter what obstacle stood in the way of my studies, my father always found a way to overcome it.
My mother also played a big role in my upbringing. Although I was always much closer to my father, I always appreciated my mother for her strength and resilience. My father also constantly pushed her into doing more, and in doing so, she slowly grew into a community leader herself and eventually became recognized as one of the top public service leaders in Sweileh. She used to raise chickens in our backyard, and I remember when I was about 6, I was curious about where eggs came from. I woke up very early one morning, walked over to the chicken coup, crouched behind a concrete wall and kept quiet so I could watch them. I clearly remember feeling awed and overcome by a rush of emotions as I watched the entire egg laying process. But also, I couldn’t eat eggs after that for quite a while!
Being that I was closer to my father, I modeled a lot of my behavior on the things I observed him do. Sometimes, I created my own scientific experiments and even used my younger siblings as test subjects. I used to love reading magazines, and at age 13, I remember finding a recipe for hair dye. I peeled fresh walnut skins, boiled them in water, and followed all the steps. I liked my hair color at the time, however, I really wanted to observe what effect the dye would have. I convinced my younger sister to let me test it and to my surprise, her hair came out a dirty brown and smelled horrible. I got in trouble for that experiment but it was also my first footsteps to becoming a scientist.
In 1987, the same year my first child was born, I obtained my bachelor’s degree in Nursing from the University of Jordan. After working as a teacher for a while, I applied to several schools in the United States in the hopes of completing my Master’s degree. I was eventually accepted into Villanova’s graduate program and was awarded a grant during my second semester. I faced many difficulties during this period, and I always felt like I lacked good mentorship during my time there. After graduating and now with four children, my husband, and I packed our belongings and relocated back to Jordan. We only lived there for a year until I was offered a PhD scholarship at The University of Pittsburgh. Here we developed many close friends who we still keep in close contact with till this day. After my PhD, we packed our belongings again and moved back to Jordan. This time we thought it would be permanent.
When I reflect on my two moves to the US for my Master’s and PhD, I cannot help but think of my children and how difficult it must have been for them to move from place to place, start new friendships, and attend new schools each and every time. My husband was a prominent criminal defense attorney in Jordan but during my studies, he was the stay-at-home Dad. He sacrificed his career and life’s work to ensure our family remained whole and intact. His nurturing nature served as a backbone to our household when I had little to no time to help with household duties and raising our children.
In 2004, I was teaching at The Hashemite University of Jordan, a public university north of Amman, and got the tragic news that my father had passed away. I began to feel the need for change and was ready for something new. In 2008, my second son graduated from high school and my eldest son was accepted into a Master’s program at State University of New York, Buffalo. So, I sent my resume to a university in the northwest of the US and was interviewed over the course of a week via video conference. A few days later, I was offered a position as Assistant Professor, and for the third time, we packed our apartment and began the relocation process yet again. In 2009, I was granted an H1B guest worker visa and eventually, I applied for permanent residency through the University. I am now a citizen of the US, as well as a Jordanian; this place has slowly grown into where I call “home.”
What I love about science is that it triggers me to question human behavior and search for answers using rigorous research methods. There is nothing more rewarding than being able to generate my own scientific evidence on health issues that I deeply care about, construct that evidence into medical practice, college teaching, and public education. I value science because it connects people from all different walks of life and backgrounds for the sake of innovation.
I inherited my Islamic faith from my parents. My father’s faith always stood as an example to me, and his influence on me throughout my life has been immeasurable. He was very inclusive, open minded, and never imposed any restrictions on his children. Growing up, my siblings and I never heard, “You are allowed to do this or that.”
My faith allows me the ability to engage in deep reflective internal dialogues. I engage in daily meditation practices, and in many instances, I question my own thoughts and actions to seek more knowledge and truth. I consider this practice to be very beneficial both mentally and spiritually, and it strengthens my faith, allowing me to get to know my inner self. This learning curve makes me more comfortable with who I am and makes me love life.
Before fully committing to my practice, it was important for me to evaluate how my intellect and my faith aligned with one another. Questioning and acknowledging any doubts I had about my value system led me to be a firm believer that my faith encourages intellectual thinking that is not constrained by any specific ideology.
I practice Islam because every ritual is meaningful to me in its own unique way. The first and most important practice is the five prayers (salah) each day. Whether I am at work or outdoors, I am constantly self-conscious about praying at each one of those five designated times; and this can be challenging sometimes. Every day, I start with the morning prayer which occurs prior to sunrise. Although this is one of the shortest prayers of the day, I like to take my time praying in the morning. At times, I feel as if I have entered another dimension during my prayer. I feel pure and mindful afterwards, as I do rosary and supplicatory prayers and think about my kids and pray for each one of them separately.
The practice of fasting during Ramadan is another aspect of my faith that I look forward to every year. Fasting is my annual spiritual vacation. I find it to be a very liberating experience, allowing me the time to meditate, pray, and reach a feeling of peace. The power to be able to place restrictions on physical needs and be distant from material wants allows me to live and experience every single detail of my daily life and enjoy it. This month is also important to me because I am surrounded by my family and feel happy and at peace. In fact, anytime Ramadan nears its end, I begin feeling sad and long for more.
I firmly believe that faith and science both intersect. Science is questioning what you see around you with human behavior, having these questions answered through rigorous design, curiosity with a unique perspective, and trying to find quantitative ways of answering.
I don’t think I would have been committed to my faith if there was a slight chance that it would restrict my career path or pull me in a different direction that I am not comfortable with.
In my work, I am very passionate about tobacco cessation and eliminating the burden of tobacco use amongst individuals, families and communities. I take a lot of pride in how I started building my research program from the ground up. It started with a very low budget study which was completed in Jordan. After moving to the U.S, that small scale work led to the development of multiple large-scale initiatives, one of which was federally funded.
I have this notable memory when I was conducting a randomized clinical trial to test the effect of nicotine in waterpipe “hookah” tobacco. The topography system suddenly stopped working moments before the participants arrived. It was frightening because I had imported the device from Lebanon and with the time difference, I wasn’t able to get in contact with the manufacturer. I called my son who was now a mechanical engineering instructor. Luckily he was close-by and was able to pinpoint the damage and fix the issue on the spot. No interruptions occurred to any of my test sessions with the participants, something I thought was inevitable after the equipment malfunction. This was a very memorable moment with having my family help me out in my science in that moment of crisis. My family is proud of where I am in my career and I am fortunate to have kids who value hard work, ambition, and selflessness
I am also passionate about music and have always wanted to learn to play a string instrument, specifically, the Oud, which is a lute-like stringed instrument of Arab origin. Throughout my life, I have become more and more appreciative of the sacrifices my father made to ensure I would reach my goals and make an impact on the world around me. His love for his community has translated into my own life’s work, and his selflessness has fueled me to innovate and constantly push for more. My family continues to be the source that fuels my love for life and humanity. I hold each one of my family members dear and close to my heart in their own special way. I am captivated and taken away by the way my relationship with my children has evolved over time, beginning as a nurturing parent and now shifting into the role of a caring friend. My life has come full circle, and every life experience I endured has made me into the researcher and academic I am today.
I am both a practicing Muslim and a Scientist. Islam serves to inform me of a philosophy that my mind is otherwise limited in understanding. I suppose that admitting to what we don’t know serves as the basis of faith in religion, but more than that, it’s a starting point that sparks curiosity and ultimately the pursuit of scientific inquiry. Therefore, I think that religion and science are compatible, and without a doubt, both have enriched my life.
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