Dr. Ali earned his Ph.D. in Architecture and Design Research from Virginia Tech in 2012. Dr. Ali joined the Department of Architecture at Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor in 2015. Dr. Ali teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in architectural design, building materials and construction, and building assemblies and tectonics. He developed two undergraduate and graduate courses in building materials and made significant curriculum changes to the Master of Architecture program in the materials and methods required NAAB accreditation criteria. Dr. Ali's research focuses primarily on the role of design in the Circular Economy paradigm and the transformation of industrial waste-flows to building products and systems. He has received over $465,000 in competitive research funding between 2015-2020. Dr. Ali is a frequent peer reviewer for top-tier journals and conferences. He has obtained one patent, written eight peer-reviewed journal articles, one book chapter, and sixteen papers in top conference proceedings. He has presented his research in more than 25 national and international conferences. He was the keynote speaker at the Scandinavian architecture conference PLÅT18 in Sweden and the Circular Economy Roundup at Austin Technology Incubator. Dr. Ali has chaired 2 doctoral committees, 17 master's committees, and served on 7 others. Dr. Ali received the J. Thomas Regan Interdisciplinary Prize in 2016, and the Architecture Research Centers Consortium (ARCC) New Researcher Award in 2018. Dr. Ali’s work has been cited in numerous prestigious press including the Steven Myron Holl Foundation’s critical research archive, William Zahner’s Steel Surfaces book by Wiley, General Motors Green, Living Architecture Monitor, and Texas Architect Magazine.