Johns Hopkins Opens a Sea of Opportunity for ESP Grad

Published February 24, 2025

If you could accompany Ahmed Almarhoon on a coral reef exploration anywhere in the world, he would want you to join him in the Red Sea in his beloved home nation of Saudi Arabia. As a seasoned scuba diving instructor, Almarhoon has been inspired by the stunning, kaleidoscopic underwater ecosystems, and some of the most productive and richest coral reefs in the world. Unfortunately, as this recent Johns Hopkins University MS in Environmental Sciences and Policy graduate has learned, the Red Sea reefs are full of treasures that sadly are dying off because of pollution, coral bleaching, ocean acidification, and coastal development.

It was the need to study the causes of the eradication of these reefs, once teeming with life, and to learn about potential regeneration efforts and solutions that first brought Almarhoon to America eight years ago. After earning a BS in environmental studies at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Mich., he enrolled at Johns Hopkins to equip himself with knowledge that he hopes to leverage into his country’s bold environmental initiative – Vision 2030. Launched in 2016, the project aims to help the country safeguard its environment by increasing the efficiency of waste management, establishing comprehensive recycling projects, reducing all types of pollution, and fighting desertification. The project also hopes to promote the optimal use of water resources by reducing consumption and utilizing treated and renewable water.

“Johns Hopkins University has an outstanding reputation around the world and specifically in Saudi Arabia because Saudi Arabia has opened hospitals that are managed by Johns Hopkins’ administrators,” Almarhoon said. “Because I hope to seek a PhD through the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology here, I knew it was important to complete my master’s at Johns Hopkins.”

Almarhoon points to many of JHU’s terrific classes as pivotal in his journey and found the three classes he took with Program Coordinator Lama Elhatow particularly memorable.

“I memorized every single thing from her classes,” Almarhoon said. “One of the things I will most remember is that we had to provide a full lecture for the class on a topic of our choice. I focused on international water security. I also learned a lot about research and how to reach communities, stakeholders, and decision-makers. Johns Hopkins not only gave me information about the environmental issues in my country but really a world-wide view and a knowledge of the challenges that other regions are facing. I now have the tools to reach out to people and to try to help find solutions to these problems.”

These experiences in front of the classroom now have Almarhoon seeking to teach at the secondary level now that he is home. There he hopes to impart to students the need to reduce, reuse, and recycle and the importance of change.

“You are only one person, so you have to spread that awareness to your family first, and then to your community, and then to your country,” he said. “Change must come from people all around the world who are all sharing the environment.”

Almarhoon is admittedly excited about translating his Hopkins-acquired expertise in environmental stewardship to the next generation of learners. These include his young children with wife, Masuma Almirza – daughter Kiyan, 5, and son, Amar, 2 – who inherited his love of the sea. He is also grateful for the opportunity to position himself as a change-maker in his country and the world because of the ocean of information he was able to dive into while in the program.

“Personally, I brought so many things back with me from America,” he said. “Professionally, I have made friends and contacts with people and professors from around the world. Having come through an excellent Johns Hopkins program, I now have access to research and the evidence of climate change. I am grateful and excited to share it.”