Nasr Abdo graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Aden, Yemen, followed by two MA degrees from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The first was from the School of Education in Teaching and Learning, and the second was from the Department of Middle Eastern Studies in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language.

Nasr’s professional experience spans more than 16 years, starting as a program assistant coordinator for a US Department of State–funded program to build students’ capacity through language skills in Yemen, followed by an EFL teaching position at AMIDEAST-Yemen. In the United States, he taught Arabic as a foreign language for more than ten years at various institutions, including SUNY Cobleskill, Middlebury Language Schools, the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, the University of Minnesota, and currently Columbia University.

Besides Modern Standard Arabic language courses, he taught Arabic debate skills, Arabic calligraphy, and Gulf and Yemeni dialect courses. In addition, he designed the Yemeni dialect curriculum at Middlebury Summer School.

Outside of the classroom, Nasr facilitates two main extracurricular projects at MESAAS. The first is the Arabic Debate Skills Club “Hikmah,” which he founded in 2023. Since then, the club has represented Columbia University at national and regional Arabic debate championships among US universities, won several awards, and been featured in the Columbia Daily Spectator. The second project is the Arabic Calligraphy project, where Nasr holds regular Arabic calligraphy workshops for the Arabic program students.

Nasr has dual research interests: the first in the Arabic dialects of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second in international and comparative education, with a focus on education in conflict zones and curriculum weaponization.

Nasr is a recipient of several awards, including the US Embassy in Yemen Access Program award, the British Council Global (X)change award, the Fulbright FLTA Program award, and the Telluride Association award.