Auburn University international alumna and Fulbright scholar Basima Abdulrahman, who recently founded Iraq’s first sustainable architecture consultancy, co-chaired the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Annual Meeting in Davos-Klosters, Switzerland.

The meeting theme was “Globalization 4.0: Shaping a Global Architecture in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.” Abdulrahman ­— one of six young leaders from the World Economic Forum’s network of Global Shapers — was among fellow co-chairs as the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, and CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella. Abdulrahman shared her input on how to best build a global architectural landscape that lifts billions of people out of poverty in a clean, green way. Abdulrahman graduated from Auburn in 2014 with her master’s degree in civil engineering. While a student at Auburn, Abdulrahman developed a passion for sustainable building and a rich knowledge of engineering and has since founded her own company, KESK — which means “green” in Kurdish. KESK is Iraq’s first sustainable architecture consultancy.