Faculty Bulletin

Salima Ikram, Professor of Egyptology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, and Egyptology (SAPE) participated from May 21-23, 2013 in the Colloquium on African Rock Art and the Pan African Renaissance, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (sponsored by the Centre for Black and African Arts and Civilization and the Trust for African Rock Art).

Salima and her colleague Dr. André Veldmeijer’s work on ancient Egyptian chariots was also highlighted in the Spanish edition of National Geographic. That article can be read by clicking HERE.

Graham Harman, Professor of Philosophy and Associate Provost for Research Administration, participates in an exchange with the French philosopher Tristan Garcia in issue 16 of the journal parrhesia (2013). Garcia’s article “Crossing Ways of Thinking: On Graham Harman’s System and My Own” is followed by Graham’s response “Tristan Garcia and the Thing-In-Itself.”

The exchange can be found HERE.

Amy Austin-Holmes, Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, and Egyptology (SAPE) received a one-year fellowship at Brown University’s Watson Institute of International Studies, and will be spending the 2013-14 academic year there. She has also been offered a short-term visiting scholar fellowship from the Institute of Advanced Studies (IAST) in Toulouse, France, where she will be spending part of this summer.

Our three Award juries have just decided the latest winners of the AUC Faculty Merit Awards for Excellence in Academic Service, Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors, and Excellence in Teaching. Now as ever, the jurors had difficult decisions to make.

Juries include a mix of recent past Award winners and representatives from each of the AUC Schools. Winners will be honored at the June 15, 2013 Commencement ceremonies.

For a full list of past Award winners, please see the following webpage (today’s winners will be added to the list within the next few days):

http://www.aucegypt.edu/fac/awards/Pages/default.aspx

Excellence in Academic Service

•Mahmoud Farag, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Mahmoud has been with AUC since 1971. In recent years he has been most visible through his work in the University Senate. From 2008-2010 he was the first Senate Chair at the New Cairo Campus; since that time, he has been the tireless Chair of the Senate Faculty Affairs Committee. Among his many achievements in the latter role was his success in building consensus for the replacement of the old PPP document by the new Faculty Handbook (the Handbook resolution passed, astonishingly enough, by unanimous vote). From 1992-2005, he served as Vice Provost of the University, transforming AUC’s Faculty Support Grants Program into what it is today. Also while Vice Provost, he founded such familiar AUC entities as the Research Advisory Council, the Graduate Admissions Office, and the Annual AUC Research Conference (which he directed for its first thirteen years of existence). He is also the Director of Engineering and Science Services, which serves more than 600 major public and private sector companies, banks, and governmental agencies, enrolls more than 3,500 trainees, and offers 6 professional certificates and more than 90 intensive courses. These are simply a few of the highlights of Mahmoud’s vast service record, which fully qualifies him for this well-deserved award.

Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors

•Maki Habib, Department of Mechanical Engineering

Maki joined AUC in 2007, having spent much of his previous career in Japan. He is Professor of Robotics and Mechatronics, and his research topics strike a futuristic as well as a humanitarian note. Among the most prominent articles for which he was the lead author are “Efficient Method to Generate Collision-Free Paths for an Autonomous Mobile Robot Based on a New Free-Space Structuring Approach” and “Simulation Environment for an Autonomous and Decentralized Multi-Agent Robotic System.” His work in the area of removing dangerous landmines can be found in such obviously useful works as “Humanitarian Demining: Reality and the Challenge of Technology– The State of the Art,” “Mechanical Mine Clearance Technologies and Humanitarian Demining: Applicability and Effectiveness,” and “Controlled Biological and Biomimetic Systems for Landmine Detection.” Maki is the author of more than 200 refereed journal articles and conference proceedings publications, has written more than a dozen book chapters, and authored or edited six books. Described by one of his colleagues as “the pillar of the Mechatronics concentration in the Department of Mechanical Engineering,” he is known to his students as a tough but likable mentor. Maki is the fourth winner of the Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors Award from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, an AUC record.

Excellence in Teaching (2 winners)

•Rania Jabr, English Language Institute

Rania is a Senior Instructor who joined AUC in 1990. She is praised by students not only for her abilities as an instructor of English, but for her skills in teaching writing as well. Despite evidence that she can be a rather demanding instructor (“strict” is a word frequently encountered in the course evaluations), the popularity of her classes is considerable. Highly organized, and not inclined to waste even a minute of valuable class time, Rania is praised for leading her classes “at a balanced tempo,” while “communicating with students in a gentle manner.” It is remarkable how often students seem to be almost stunned by their improved skills after spending a semester with her. Indeed, a fair number of students wish that they could take “every class at AUC” with her. “Friendly,” “helpful,” and “perfect” are other words frequently used to describe the classroom persona of Rania Jabr. Her record shows a consistent pattern of teaching excellence.

•Hani Sayed, Department of Law

Hani joined AUC in 2005. Although he was so surprised to be nominated that he did not even submit materials to our office the first time it happened, the testimony of students and colleagues shows an outstanding track record in the classroom. One department colleague writes that Hani’s main strengths as a teacher are “his impressive intellect, a natural teaching ability and commitment to and respect for his students.” He is described as “an intellectual master at the top of his craft,” one who “challenges, cajoles, prods, and provokes” the students to reach new levels of academic performance. Hani addresses not only the top students in the class, but (his colleagues report) has given special attention to students with learning disabilities. One well-travelled former student, who describes herself as “thrilled” to write an unsolicited letter of nomination, found Hani to be an even more skilled teacher than the best professors she had at SOAS in London and at Harvard. Other students frequently describe him as “the best professor I’ve ever had,” and often give even more precise compliments. For example: “[Dr. Sayed’s class is a] class of thoughts; it gives the seeds to grow new scholars.” He is praised for always coming to class prepared, always covering enough material for the full three hours to be fruitful, and always being excited about the class and the material. It would be no exaggeration to say that Hani has changed the lives of many AUC students.

Please congratulate our newest winners the next time you see them. The next set of Awards will be announced in December 2013, for presentation at the February 2014 Commencement ceremonies. For any questions about the nomination or selection process, please contact me at gharman@aucegypt.edu.

Graham Harman, Professor of Philosophy and Associate Provost for Research Administration, is the invited guest speaker on May 30 at the Tilton Gallery, 8 East 76th Street, New York, for Egan Frantz’s art show Ex Nihilio.

Nicholas Hopkins, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, Psychology, and Egyptology (SAPE), participated in a conference on “The evolution of scientific knowledge in the Eastern Mediterranean under European colonial rule: local conditions and transnational contexts of intellectual encounters” held at the German Orient Institute Beirut from May 16-18, 2013. He presented a paper on “The development of Egyptian anthropology between nationalism and European colonialism,” with special reference to the careers of Sayyid Uways and Ahmed Abou Zeid.

The following list includes faculty grants only. Graduate student grants are now handled exclusively by Dr. Amr Shaarawi, Provost and Dean of Graduate Studies. Please contact Dr. Shaarawi’s office for news about the status of applications for Graduate Student Grants.

In some cases, adjustments have been made to the requested budgets; please do not assume that you have received the full amount requested.

My office will process the checks for the following grants as quickly as we can, but please allow some time for this to happen, since there is a very heavy workload for my assistant (Nancy Wadie) once the grant decisions are made. If you have not yet provided a letter of acceptance from the conference for which you have received a grant, please note that no check will be issued until we receive such a letter.

If you see any typographical or other errors, or if you believe yourself to be wrongly missing from this list, please contact me immediately at gharman@aucegypt.edu.

CONFERENCE GRANTS

BUS (School of Business)

*Samer Atallah  (ECON). Seattle, USA. June-July 2013.

*Maha ElShinnawy (MGMT). Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA. August 2013.

GAPP (School of Global Affairs and Public Policy)

*Rasha Abdulla (JRMC). London, UK. June 2013.

*Allison Hodgkins (PPAD). Washington, D.C., USA. June 2013.

*Sherene Seikaly (MEST). Cambridge, UK. June 2013.

*AKM Ahsan Ullah (CMRS). Bangkok, Thailand. August 2013.

GSE (Graduate School of Education)

*Jennifer Skaggs (GSE). Atlanta, USA. June 2013.

HUSS (School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

*Saiyad Ahmad (ARIC). London, UK. May 2013.

*Mona Amer (SAPE). Miami, USA. June 2013.

*Dalia Basiouny (ARTS). Barcelona, Spain. July 2013.

*Amy Carrillo (SAPE). Miami, USA. June 2013.

*Aissa Deebi (ARTS). Venice, Italy. May-June 2013.

*Iman Hamam (RHET). Oxford, UK. September 2013.

*Sanaa Khabbar (RHET). Istanbul, Turkey. September 2013.

*Mounira Soliman (ECLT). Strasbourg, France. June 2013.

SSE (School of Sciences and Engineering)

*Mohamed F. Aly (MENG). Portland, OR, USA. August 2013.

*Mustafa Arafa (MENG). London, UK. July 2013.

*Lamyaa El-Gabry (MENG). San Antonio, TX, USA. June 2013.

*Mohamed El-Morsi (MENG). Portland, OR, USA. August 2013.

*Abdel Hameed El-Shaarawi (MACT). Anchorage, AK, USA. June 2013.

*Nermine El Sissi (MACT). Hartford, CT, USA. July-August 2013.

*Ezzat Fahmy (CANG). Montreal, Canada. May-June, 2013.

*Walid Fouad (BIOL). Boston, USA. June 2013.

*Yasser Gadallah (EENG). Cagliari, Italy. July 2013.

*Galal Galal-Edeen (CSCE). Como, Italy. June 2013.

*Ali Hadi (MACT). Anchorage, AK, USA. June 2013.

*Awad Khalil (CSCE). Las Vegas, USA. July 2013.

*Ahmed Moustafa (BIOL). Paris, France. June 2013.

*Ashraf Nassef (MENG). Portland, OR, USA. August 2013.

*Mohammad Sadek (MACT). Balikesir, Turkey. August 2013.

*Ezzeldin Sayed-Ahmed (CANG). Cape Town, South Africa. September 2013.

*Mohamed Serry (MENG). Barcelona, Spain. June 2013.

*Mohamed Shalan (CSCE). San Francisco, USA. June 2013.

*Tamer Shoeib (CHEM). Oviedo, Spain. July 2013.

*Khaled Tarabieh (CANG). Graz, Austria. September 2013.

*Ahmed Waly (CANG). New Delhi, India. September 2013.

*Noha Youssef (MACT). Lagow Lubski, Poland. June 2013.

RESEARCH GRANTS

BUS (School of Business)

*Mohga Badran (MGMT). “The Effect of Positive Organizational Capital and Organizational Culture on Commitment, Job Satisfaction, and Performance.” Cairo. September 2013-April 2014.

Core Curriculum

*Fady Morcos (Core). “AUC Cubesat–Phase II.” Cairo. July 2013-March 2014.

GAPP (School of Global Affairs and Public Policy)

*Shahjahan Bhuiyan (PPAD). “Can Good Governance Be Achieved in the ‘New’ Egypt? Assessing the Role of Arab Spring and People’s Revolution.” Oslo, Norway. July-August 2013.

HUSS (School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

*Dalia Basiouny (ARTS). “EraseHer!” Cairo; New York, USA; Beloit, WI, USA. May-June 2013.

*Richard Fincham (PHIL). “Self-Subverting Reason and Irrational Faith: The Role of Humean Skepticism in the Development of German Idealism/Qualitative Freedom.” Tübingen, Germany. August 2013.

*Nenad Jovanovic (ARTS). “The Legacy of Brecht in Contemporary Nonfictional Film.” Berlin, Germany. June-July 2010.

*Gretchen McCullough (RHET). “”The Marvellous Pink Villa on the Battle of Bull Run St.” Annamakerrig, Ireland. July 2013.

*William Melaney (ECLT). “The French Novel: Flaubert, Proust, Butor.” Chicago, USA. August 2013.

*Ian Morrison (SAPE). “Religion and National Identity in Québec.” Montreal and Québec City, Canada.

SSE (School of Sciences and Engineering

*Karim Addas (PHYS). “Force Calibration for Optical Traps Employed for Microrheology of Non-Equilibirum Cytoskeletal Systems in vivo.” Göttingen, Germany. June-July 2013.

*Mohab Anis (EENG). “Design of Memristor-Based Integrated Circuits.” Cairo and Waterloo, ON, Canada. July-December 2013.

*Joumama El-Rifai (PHYS). “Laser Annealed Poly-SiGe for Flexible MEMS Applications.” Cairo. July 2013-July 2014.

*Abdelhamid Galal (PHYS). “A Study of the Dynamics of Josephson Junctions in Bose Einstein Condensates in Optical Lattices.” Florence, Italy. June-July 2013.

*Wael Hassan (CANG). “Experimental Assessment of Seismic Vulnerability of Shear Critical Deep Beam-Column Joints: Phase 1.” Cairo. May 2013-February 2014.

*Mohamed Nour (CANG). “A Parametric Investigation of Magnetic Treatment of Brackish Water: Implications for Agricultural Development in the Western Desert of Egypt.” Cairo. May-August 2013.

*Adham Ramadan (CHEM). “Hybrid Nanocomposite Membranes for Forward Osmosis.” Cairo. May 2013-May 2014.

*Ahmed Sherif (CANG). “Configuration of Hospital Inpatient Room Window Openings for Provision of External View, Daylighting and Energy Efficiency.”

*Ezzeldin Soliman (PHYS). “Full-Wave Analysis of Plasmonic Transmission Lines: Application to the Design of Wire_Grid and Corporate Nantenna Arrays.” Cairo and Leuven, Belgium. January-December 2013.

TEACHING ENHANCEMENT GRANTS

BUS (School of Business)

*Steven Formaneck (MGMT).  “Simulation Games in Operations Management Courses.” Cairo. September 2013-May 2014.

SSE (School of Sciences and Engineering)

*Sherif Aly (CSCE). “ABET Program Evaluator Training.” Baltimore, USA. June 2013.

*Ezzeldin Sayed-Ahmed (CANG). “Steel Sculpture.” Cairo. September-December 2013.

Elham Metwally, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Public Policy and Administration, is the co-author of a paper accepted for presentation at Conference Track #10 of the International Academy of African Business and Development (IAABD) Conference, May 14 – May 18, 2013, at GIMPA, Accra, Ghana.

The paper is entitled “Leadership Effectiveness in Africa: Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and Uganda,” and is co-authored by Thomas A. Senaji, Samuel Sejjaaka, Elham Metwally, Hassan Adedoyin Rasaq, Bill Buenar Puplampu, Evans Sokro, Terri Lituchy, David Ford, and Betty Jane Punnett.

Ahmed Moustafa, Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology, has been awarded a DAAD fellowship (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, or German Academic Exchange service) to work on the molecular evolution of microbial eukaryotes.

Jehane Ragai, Professor in the Department of Chemistry, has been involved in the following recent activities:

•On March 27, 2013, during the conferring of the L’Oral-UNESCO awards to the laureates and the celebration of the 15^th anniversary of the establishment of the awards by the late Nobel Prize winners Christian de Duve and Pierre Giles de Gennes, Dr Ragai was asked, as a jury member, to present and to summarize the work  of the five laureates at the French Academy in the presence of the President of the Academy. The five laureates then gave presentations of their work.

•She also published an article entitled “Synergistic Effect between TiO₂, Zirconium and Carbon in the Photodegradation of Methyl Orange and Methylene Blue” in the recent Volume 31, Number 2&3, 2013 double issue of the journal Adsorption Science and Technology. This double issue was dedicated as a Festschrift to Professor K.S.W. Sing in honor of his 65^th year of active work and research in the field of adsorption, which also coincided with his 88^th birthday.

•She was invited as a plenary lecturer at the International Conference on Women in Science and Technology in the Arab countries held in Kuwait from April 21-23, 2013, where she gave a lecture entitled ”Can Science authenticate a painting?”