He received his PhD in environmental planning from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MES in environmental law and policy from Yale University, and his BS in chemistry from Tufts University. He is the author of Mining, the Environment and Indigenous Development Conflicts (University of Arizona Press, 2003) and more recently Treasures of the Earth: Need, Greed, and a Sustainable Future, the topic of this seminar (Yale University Press, 2009). This year National Geographic has chosen Professor Ali as one of 10 "Emerging Explorers" worldwide (official announcement to be made in the June 2010 issue of National Geographic magazine), and his work was profiled in Forbes magazine last year.