Dr. Machaka-Houri
was born in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1976 . She is the third child of a family of
four children. Her father got a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University
of Saint Joseph (USJ), which inspired her two brothers to pursue their
bachelor’s in the same major. Her mother only finished the 9th
grade, and her only sister finished the 12th grade. Dr.
Machaka-Houri, did not decide to get a PhD until later in her life, after she
got married to her beloved husband—Dr. Ahmad Houri. She was the first person to
have a PhD degree in her family, which encouraged one of her brothers to get
his PhD in his field.
After graduating
from high school, Dr. Machaka-Houri applied to many universities. Unfortunately,
she was not accepted into any of them. Or is it fortunately? After her wedding to
Dr. Houri, a postdoc at Scripps
Research Institute, San Diego,
she began to pursue her undergraduate education in interior design at Design Institute of San Diego, a subject she was quite
fascinated with. After having settled into their new life in the United States,
Dr. Machaka-Houri
and her husband began to find great joy in their discovery of the nature around
them, wondering about its beauty, and capturing a plethora of pictures of a
variety of flowers. Dr. Houri’s passion for photography as a hobby, stirred a
passion for Dr. Machaka-Houri with experiences that she fondly refers to as
“amusing” and “amazing”.
After
year and a half, the couple returned to their home in Lebanon, where Dr.
Machaka-Houri received her B.S. in interior design from the Lebanese American
University (LAU), in 2001. But it was the memories of her discoveries of the
flora and her curiosity for the variation in nature, that caused her to pursue
the discovery of the plants and nature around her in Lebanon. At the initial
stages of her exploration of nature, there was only one floral guide available
in Lebanon that only classified about 165 flowers. they encountered a great difficulty in their
attempts to catalogue and discern the different flora around them, causing them
to begin their own field guide and classification of the diversity in plant
life around them. Thus they created
their own floral field guide, based on their collection of pictures and
particular attention to detail. And within a short amount of time, Ahmad and
Nisrine published the first volume of the Photographic Guide to Wild Flowers
of Lebanon in 2001, that consisted
of images and details about 240 species of plants.
Photographic guide to wild flowers of Lebanon – Volume (1)
Example of the floral classification in the Photographic guide to wild
flowers of Lebanon book
Having
published their book, and with a deeply rooted passion for nature, Dr. Machaka-Houri
received her postgraduate diploma in Biodiversity Conservation and Management
in 2006 from the University of London. The journey to her professional
certification in the field of botanical studies and biodiversity, was marked by
her determination to succeed and learn even if it required great lengths and
dedication through long-distance learning. Two years later, in 2008, Ahmad and
Nisrine published the second volume of the Photographic Guide to Wild Flowers
of Lebanon, that classified
additional 400 species. However, even with two major publications, Dr.
Machaka-Houri received a lot of underestimation from her peers, who judged her
place in academia due to her contribution to the field guides with a mere
undergraduate degree. And so in order to validate her place in academia, she
decided to continue her education and get a PhD, becoming one of the most
accomplished women in ecology by 2013. Soon after, in 2014 she went back to USA
with her husband and three beautiful children, to continue her postdoctoral
education with an esteemed fellowship at the department of Plant and Microbial
Biology at University of California, Berkeley.
Photographic guide to wild flowers of Lebanon – Volume (2)
Dr. Machaka-Houri
has continued contributing to the scientific field through her published works,
books, presentations, conferences, and continued research in biodiversity.
Moreover, she was as a coordinator for developing an ecotourism website for the
Green-Line Organization, where she personally worked on the historic sites and
wild flower sections in Lebanon. She also enjoys volunteering at Ibad Al Rahman
Organization to sponsor, the disadvantaged students in Lebanon. With her
contributions to science and society she was awarded the “Women in Science Hall of Fame - 2015” award—program initiated by
the U.S. Department of State. In 2015 she was selected to participate in the “Women's
Innovations in Science Entrepreneurship (WISE)” program, to be conducted
April 11-29, 2016 in the US.
Dr. Nisrine Machaka-Houri and her family
