Ms. Shannon McCarthy,Deputy Center Director has been working at MEDRC since it was founded in 1996, in the framework of the Middle East Peace Process (MEPP). MEDRC members include the Palestinian Authority, Israel, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, USA, Netherlands, Japan and Korea. MEDRC is dedicated to creating cooperation programs on water availability and promoting desalination technology. Ms. McCarthy is the Deputy Center Director of MEDRC. Ms. McCarthy works to mobilize international support, recruit additional country memberships, further develop programs for PA, Israel and Jordanian (Core Parties) cooperation and consistently refine the Center’s overall global research, capacity building and development program strategies.

The global desalination industry and researchers have made remarkable progressin cost, energy reduction and environmental impact during the last decade and these developments are far from an end. MEDRC works to continually encourage further cooperation with government, industry and academia. Ms McCarthy believes that fresh water does not have to be a cause for conflict, but instead a reason for peace, cooperation and technology transfer. Ms. McCarthy has played a significant role in building knowledge networks and cooperation related to these issues. Ms. McCarthy believes there is great synergy between IDA and MEDRC, with each organization having a unique and dynamic role in promoting Desalination and Water Reuse technology solutions to the world.

Prior to working at MEDRC, Ms. McCarthy was a consultant to the US-Arab Chamber of Commerce working on trade development and to the Institute for Social and Economic Policy in the Middle East at Harvard University. She worked with international aluminum manufactures for trade with US distributors at The Aluminum Group, has experience in developing new markets for intellectual property with Scientific Dimensions Inc, and worked for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in global business development. Ms. McCarthy studied International Relations at San Francisco State University.