Faculty Bulletin

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. This semester in particular, 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 February 16, 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

•Jennifer Bremer, Department of Public Policy and Administration

Jennifer joined AUC in 2007. She is an almost ubiquitous figure on campus, so it was not surprising to hear jury members tell stories of her service well beyond department and school duties. Perhaps her best-known service work was in rebuilding the depleted Public Policy and Administration unit into a full-fledged department in the School of GAPP. The department has now expanded to 12 faculty and 150 students and offers three graduate degrees. Jennifer is also actively involved in building links between AUC and the surrounding community, whether through community-based learning classes, collaboration with local groups and government organizations, or the promotion of corporate responsibility. Her service activities extend beyond the walls of AUC as well. She serves as executive director of the US-Egypt Friendship Society (a non-profit organization dedicated to building stronger ties between the U.S. and Egypt), and was appointed to the US-Egypt Business Council in December 2005 by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez. Her extensive international experience includes long-term assignments in Egypt and Mexico and more than eighty short-term assignments in the United States and thirty other countries, emphasizing policy reform, trade and investment, corporate responsibility, infrastructure development and private enterprise promotion.

Excellence in Research and Creative Endeavors

•Mohab Anis, Department of Electronics Engineering

Mohab joined AUC in 2008 from the University of Waterloo in Canada. Despite his relative youth, his work has already been cited more than 1,000 times by other researchers. His research interests are integrated circuit design and design automation for VLSI systems in the deep submicrometer regime, and the management of technological innovation. He is the author of two books and more than eighty articles, of which the most frequently cited are “Dynamic and leakage power reduction in MTCMOS circuits using an automated efficient gate clustering technique,” “Design and optimization of multithreshold CMOS (MTCMOS) circuits,” and “Multi-threshold CMOS digital circuits: Managing leakage power.” Mohab is no stranger to awards, having already won the 2009 Early Research Award from the Ministry of Research and Innovation, Canada, the 2004 Douglas R. Colton Medal for Research Excellence (in recognition of excellence in research leading to new understanding and novel developments in microsystems in Canada), and the 2002 International Low-Power Design Prize. Along with his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering, Mohab holds an M.B.A. with concentration in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and a Masters of Sciences with concentration in Management of Technology.

Excellence in Teaching (2 winners)

•George Marquis, Department of Rhetoric and Composition

George returned to AUC in 2006, and is now Acting Chair of the Department of Rhetoric and Composition. His demanding classroom workload and meticulous attention to detail are greatly appreciated by students. Numerous AUC alumni have found George’s classes to be of direct professional benefit in their post-AUC careers, whether in sales, marketing, or politics. By constantly shifting the pace of course activities, he keeps his students alert and attentive. Students in his classes say that they “learn something new in this class every day,” that “this is the most amazing class I’ve ever taken,” and that George is a “sincere, compassionate, understanding person” and is “very devoted.” He is also known for providing assistance beyond the call of duty to other AUC departments and schools. A colleague offers further praise: “George’s application and pedagogical use of instructional technology is often leading edge and is often copied by the other instructors… Due to his student-centered and interactive teaching style, he is also very much in demand as a teacher trainer and has done a great deal of outreach work for ministries in Egypt, Abu Dhabi, and USAID, as well as corporate training programs.”

•Jehane Ragai, Department of Chemistry

Jehane joined AUC in 1970, and has served the university with distinction on both campuses. Positive student comments are numerous. A study abroad student remarks: “it is very rare that I come across a professor that I find both to be brilliant within her profession as well as a fantastic professor on the material that she has mastered throughout her life.” Another student says that Jehane “can make anyone improve no matter how weak they are at the subject.” Still another compliments her sense of humor, as well as her versatility in teaching students how to make blog posts and sharing her love of archaeology– a well-rounded approach that greatly impressed jury members. In addition to her normal teaching load, Jehane has participated extensively in the Scientific Thinking program, where her lecture on the detection of art forgery using chemical techniques was a great favorite. A colleague perhaps sums it up best: “Dr. Ragai raises the interest of students, succeeds in drawing them into the subject matter at hand, and manages to actively engage them in their learning process, while maintaining the highest levels of scholarship. This has led her to be not only a popular teacher among the student body at AUC, but also a highly appreciated one.”

Please congratulate our newest winners the next time you see them. The next set of Awards will be announced in May 2013, for presentation at the June 2013 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.