Faculty Bulletin

The relevant juries have just decided the latest winners of the AUC Merit Awards for Excellence in Academic Service, Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors, and Excellence in Teaching. Once again, there were strong pools in all three categories, and we saw some of the most difficult decisions in the history of the Awards.

Under current procedures, Award winners are chosen by juries made up of past winners. In consultation with Provost Haroun, this system will be modified somewhat next year in order to balance Award juries between recent winners and representatives of all Schools.

For a full list of past Award winners, see the following webpage (the latest winners will be added within the next few days):

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

Each Award will be presented at one of the two Commencement Ceremonies to be held on June 16. For Research it will be Graduate Commencement; for Service and Teaching it will be Undergraduate Commencement. Winners are expected to attend so that we may honor them.

Excellence in Academic Service

•Aziza Ellozy, Center for Learning and Teaching

No one at AUC will be surprised to see Aziza honored for excellence in service. Jurors were especially impressed by the sheer breadth and diversity of her contributions to AUC. While she is perhaps most associated with her tireless leadership of the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT), Aziza also manages to be both forceful and collegial as a committee member. In recent years she has made important contributions to the Senate Faculty Affairs Committee. In the areas of accreditation and academic integrity, she has long been one of the pillars of our community. Many important search committees have welcomed Aziza as a willing and energetic member. Her contributions to freshman courses have been considerable, particularly with the required Scientific Thinking course. Colleagues also salute her remarkable punctuality and reliability. Indeed, things generally just seem to go better whenever Aziza is involved. In the words of someone who has worked with her often: “I have not asked Aziza, not even once, for a contribution or assistance without receiving her approval even when I knew she was extremely busy… Has anyone ever seen Aziza lose her smile or cheerful behavior and kindness even in the midst of stressed working conditions?” The question answers itself.

Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors. (2 winners.) 

•Rasha Abdulla, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication

This Award is especially well-timed. Rasha has been described by some observers as the world’s leading expert on social media in the Arab world. When she predicted that there would be a revolution in Egypt in 2011, and that Facebook would play a key role, few were willing to believe it. Yet in the wake of January 25, Rasha now finds herself in great demand as a speaker around the globe. She is the author of The Internet in the Arab World: Egypt and Beyond and Policing the Internet in the Arab World. Even before the January 25 Revolution, Rasha had turned the emerging social media into a fascinating academic topic, as you will quickly discover if you are fortunate enough to hear her lecture on the topic. Rasha is a graduate of the American University in Cairo, and is also the first Merit Award winner from the new School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP).

•Ezzeldin Soliman, Department of Physics

Ezzeldin is a remarkably fruitful researcher in two areas in particular: the design of integrated antenna systems, and computational electromagnetics, with more recent interests in the field of plasmonics. He has earned a worldwide reputation for his invention of several new miniaturized antenna devices. Along with such inventions (for which he has already earned three patents), Ezzeldin has also published more than 70 technical papers. Among the most cited articles for which he served as lead author are “Bow-tie slot antenna fed by CPW,” “Propagation of electromagnetic waves in planar bounded plasma region,” and “Dual-polarized omnidirectional planar slot antenna for WLAN applications.” The jury was impressed by Ezzeldin’s ability to turn first-rate academic work in the sciences into practical impact on everyday life.

Excellence in Teaching. (2 winners.)

•Mohab Anis, Department of Electronics Engineering

Mohab was first nominated by a grateful student who noted how difficult it is to analyze electronic devices and circuits, and was amazed by how well Mohab was able to clarify such analysis. Students were especially impressed by his exams, which are described as not just evaluations, but as invitations to original thinking. Among other compliments received from students, “he never tried to jam the course content with material just for the sake of saying he covered it.” Instead, he always gave “ample time for explanation and practice.” Another strong point of Mohab’s courses cited by students was his focus on practical problems rather than allowing students to get lost in vague theoretical aspects of the subject. As one student put it: “I am grateful that Dr. Anis decided to come to AUC. I am finally understanding electronics!” 

•Valerie Carpenter, English Language Institute 

Valerie is noted for being a very popular instructor despite her willingness to accept unpopular teaching assignments. With very high numerical evaluations and nearly uniform positive comments from students, she has established herself as a campus favorite among students who marvel at her accessibility both in person and via email at times that might seem inconvenient. In her course evaluations, we read that “she is perfect in all subjects, even in grammar.” Another student chose to address her directly as follows: “Ms. Valerie you are the best teacher I’ve ever met, and I can’t deny that you helped me so much in learning English in general.” Yet another describes her as “VERY VERY clever, a brilliant… teacher [who] knows how to make her students work hard… She never feels too lazy to do her work even if she is totally exhausted.” She is also cited for her numerous contributions to curriculum development. Given this level of energy and commitment, so appreciated by her AUC students and colleagues, we are pleased to see Valerie as a winner of the Excellence in Teaching Award. 

Please congratulate our newest winners the next time you see them.

The next set of Awards will be announced in December, well in advance of the February 2012 Commencement ceremonies. For any questions about the nomination or selection process, please contact me at gharman@aucegypt.edu.

This post contains the list of successful Faculty Support Grant applications for the February application cycle. (Anyone interested in the results of a student grant application should contact me directly.)

AUC is proud of its Faculty Support Grant program, which ranks among the most generous of any university in the world. In addition to looking for your own grant on the list below, please take a few minutes to read through some of the other interesting research topics and conference trips of your AUC colleagues. Enhancing mutual recognition of faculty research is one of the motivations for listing successful grant applicants here in the Bulletin.

If you see any mistaken information in the list, including minor spelling errors in any names, please contact me immediately at gharman@aucegypt.edu. We aspire to have a completely accurate list for each grant cycle.

Official letters of approval will be sent to everyone shortly. However, please note the following two points:

1. My assistant, Nancy, has been asked to help organize the March 31 Commencement Ceremony, and this needs to be her top priority at the moment. This could lead to delays of several days in processing your grant letters.

2. At the request of the Payroll Office, we will no longer be sending approval letters for Conference Grants that have been approved “pending acceptance of paper.” The new policy is that we need to see your acceptance letter from the conference before issuing the approval letter, or at least see your name on the official conference schedule.

CONFERENCE GRANTS

BUS (School of Business)

*Steven Formaneck (Management). San Jose, California, USA. June 2011.

*Dilip Ghosh (Management). Bangkok, Thailand. April 2011.

*Mohamed Hegazy (Accounting). Rome, Italy. April 2011.

*Mohamed Hegazy (Accounting). Istanbul, Turkey. June 2011.

*Maha Mourad (Management). Dubai, U.A.E. March 2011.

*Hamed Shamma (Management). Coral Gables, Florida, USA. May 2011.

*Hamed Shamma (Management). Washington D.C., USA. June 2011.

*Ahmed Tolba (Management). Coral Gables, Florida, USA. May 2011.

*Samir Youssef (Management). Ashridge, U.K. June 2011.

GAPP (School of Global Affairs and Public Policy)

*Hussein Amin (JRMC). Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. April 2011.

*Kim Fox (JRMC). Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. April 2011.

*Gianluca Parolin (Law). Hong Kong. April 2011.

*AKM Ahsan Ullah (CMRS). Bangkok, Thailand. May 2011.

HUSS (School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

*Hala Abd AlHak (SAPE). Montreal, Canada. May 2011.

*Nora Abdel Wahab (ALI). Washington D.C., USA. December 2011.

*Dalal Abo El Seoud (ALI). Washington D.C., USA. December 2011.

*David Blanks (HIST). Beijing, China. July 2011.

*Valerie Carpenter (ELI). Dubai, U.A.E. March 2011.

*Matthew Crippen (PHIL). Toronto, Canada. April 2011.

*Ira Dworkin (ECLT). Baltimore, Maryland, USA. October 2011.

*Lori Fredricks (ELI). Chicago, Illinois, USA. March 2011.

*Atta Gebril (ELI). Nicosia, Cyprus. June 2011.

*Atta Gebril (ELI). Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. June 2011.

*Belle Gironda (Rhet/Comp). Atlanta, Georgia. USA. April 2011.

*Inas Hafez (ALI). Washington D.C., USA. December 2011.

*Mona Hassan (ALI). Washington D.C., USA. December 2011.

*Abeer Heider (ALI). New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA. April 2011.

*Noelle Houssney (Rhet/Comp). Melbourne, Australia. June-July 2011.

*Salima Ikram (SAPE). Chicago, Illinois. April 2011.

*Heba Kotb (SAPE). Montreal, Canada. May 2011.

*Sanaa Makhlouf (ELI). Brighton, U.K. April 2011.

*Gretchen McCullough (Rhet/Comp). Lisbon, Portugal. June-July, 2011.

*Mate Tokić (HIST). Berlin, Germany. February 2011.

*Dan Tschirgi (Poli. Sci.). San Juan, Puerto Rico. April 2011.

*Elena Tzelepis (PHIL). Tainan, Taiwan. May 2011.

*Loubna Youssef (Rhet/Comp). Washington D.C., USA. December 2011.

LLT (School of Libraries and Learning Technologies)

*Amanda Click (Library). London, U.K. April 2011.

*Meggan Houlihan (Library). Beirut, Lebanon. April-May 2011.

*Meggan Houlihan (Library). Athens, Greece. May 2011.

SSE (School of Sciences and Engineering)

*Sherif Abdelazeem (EENG). Beijing, China. September 2011.

*Mustafa Arafa (MENG). Washington D.C., USA. August 2011.

*Gregg De Young (MACT). Thessaloniki, Greece. July 2011.

*Ayman Elezabi (EENG). Ayia Napa, Cyprus. May 2011.

*Lamyaa El Gabry (MENG). Vancouver, Canada. June 2011.

*Justin Grubich (BIOL). Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. July 2011.

*Ossama Hosny (CANG). Miami, Florida. June 2011.

*Alaa Ibrahim (PHYS). Cape Town, South Africa. April 2011.

*Jeff Langman (CORE/PENG). Monaco. March-April 2011.

*Magda Mostafa (CANG). Tokyo, Japan. September-October 2011.

*Mohammad Sadek (MACT). Vilnius, Lithuania. June-July 2011.

*Sherif Safar (CANG). Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. June 2011.

*Nagwa Sherif (CANG). Bari, Italy. May 2011.

RESEARCH GRANTS

BUS (School of Business)

*Angie Abdel Zahar (Accounting). “The Association Between CEO Incentives and Complex Outsourcing Decisions.” Cairo. March-October 2011.

GAPP (School of Global Affairs and Public Policy)

*Jennifer Bremer (PPAD). “Cairo’s Neighborhood Watch Groups: A Case Study of Spontaneous Collective Action.” Cairo. March-May 2011.

*David London (JRMC). “25^th January Multimedia Exhibition.” Cairo. March-July 2011.

HUSS (School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

*Agnes Czajka (SAPE). “Migrants and Refugees in Revolutionary Egypt: Discourses of Nationhood and Foreignness During and in the Aftermath of the January 25^th Uprising.” Cairo, Egypt. June-August 2011.

*Aissa Deebi (PVA). “My Dreams Have Destroyed My Life.” Germany and Palestine. May 2011.

*Lori Fredricks (ELI). “Investigating Tajikistani EFL Teachers’ Views and Experiences Through Critical Literature Circles.” Dushanbe, Tajikistan. May-August 2011.

*Atta Gebril (ELI). “Conceptions of Assessment Among Egyptian Pre-Service Teachers.” Sohag, Egypt. March 2011-March 2012.

*Amy Motlagh (ECLT). “Beyond the Boundaries of Nation: Dreaming of a Modern Iran in Cairo.” Princeton, New Jersey, USA. June-July 2011.

SSE (School of Sciences and Engineering)

*Sherif Aly (CSCE). “Novel Software Engineering Practices for Pervasive Systems.” Ottawa, Canada. June-December 2011.

*Khaled Nassar (CANG). “Digital Fabrication Techniques for Low-Cost Housing Using Local Sustainable Material.” Cairo. June 2011-March 2012.

*Sherif Sedky (PHYS). “Laser-Based Processing of Thin Films for MEMS Applications.” Palto Alto, California, USA. July 2011.

*Ezzeldin Soliman (PHYS). “Novel Miniaturized Antennas for Radio Frequency Identifcation (RFID) Systems.” Leuven, Belgium. June 2011.

*Suher Zada (BIOL). “MicroRNA as a Novel Diagnostic and Therapeutic Tool on HCV-Induced Liver Fibrosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma.” Cairo. March 2011-March 2012.

RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT GRANT

GAPP (School of Global Affairs and Public Policy)

*Rasha Abdulla (JRMC). “Social Media and Political Participation: The Case of the Egyptian Revolution.” Cairo. February-June 2011.

*Naila Hamdy (JRMC). “State Media and Private Media vs. Social Media: Monitoring and Analyzing Media Coverage of the Egyptian Revolution 2011.” Cairo and Alexandria, April-July 2011.

SSE (School of Sciences and Engineering)

*Hassanein Amer (EENG). “Effect of Failure Criteria on WSN Lifetime.” Cairo. March 2011-February 2012.

TEACHING ENHANCEMENT GRANT

HUSS (School of Humanities and Social Sciences)

*Frank Bradley (PVA). “Teaching Creativity: Current Trends and Critical Encounters.” Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. March-April 2011.

*Sophie Farag (ELI). “Skilled Helping and Feedback.” Canterbury, U.K. July 2011.

*Wael Mahallawy (PVA). “Pro Tools Training Professional Certification Package.” New York, USA. April 2011.

SSE (School of Sciences and Engineering)

*Christian Bauriedel (CANG). “Supplements to Enhance the Performance of the 3D-Lab.” Cairo. June-December 2011.