School of Sciences and Engineering News | AUC School of Sciences and Engineering

December 8, 2020

The Future is 360: Integrating Virtual Reality into Construction Engineering

The shift to online learning has led to considerable changes in the way faculty members can teach their courses, including several sacrifices. However, despite the elimination of physical activities, Ibrahim Abotaleb, assistant professor of construction engineering, could not give up the most important aspect of his class: field trips.

December 8, 2020

Research with Impact: Science Alumnae Nationally Recognized for Best Theses

Two AUC alumnae Dina Fouad '12, '19 and Yasmine Abdel Maksoud (MSc '09, PhD '18) were nationally recognized by Egypt’s Engineering Education Sector Committee of the Supreme Council of Universities for “best theses," developing - respectively - materials with enhanced mechanical properties that have promising potential applications in the dental and biomedical fields as well as a water treatment unit to help solve Egypt’s water scarcity challenge.

November 16, 2020

Ten Faculty Members Among Top 2% Impactful Scientists Globally

Ten faculty members from AUC's School of Sciences and Engineering have been named in the Stanford University- Elsevier list of the top 2% most-cited scientists in various disciplines worldwide.

November 3, 2020

Remembering Farkhonda Hassan (1930 - 2020)

AUC mourns the loss of Farkhonda Hassan (MSc '67), professor emerita in the School of Sciences and Engineering. Members of the AUC community shared some memories of and tributes to Hassan, who taught at the University for more than five decades:

November 8, 2020

Using Natural Gas for Cars as an Alternative to Gasoline: Is It the Future?

Egypt's government recently announced a multi-year plan to convert car engines running on traditional fuels to dual-fuel engines that can run on gasoline and natural gas. A parallel initiative sets to replace obsolete vehicles used in Egypt's public transportation system with newer ones equipped with natural gas tanks. News@AUC spoke to Ahmed El-Banbi, professor of petroleum engineering and department chair, and Abdelaziz Khlaifat, professor of petroleum engineering, on the impact of these changes.

October 27, 2020

Reshaping Universities' Infrastructure to Facilitate Education for Autistic Students

Dublin City University (DCU) was declared the world's first autism-friendly university by AsIAm, Ireland's National Autism Charity, through its educational and social support for students and staff on the autism spectrum, and is now working to expand its physical infrastructure and architecture to incorporate autistic needs. On that account, they approached Magda Mostafa, associate professor at AUC’s Department of Architecture and international

October 13, 2020

AUC Faculty Win Egyptian State Prizes for Contributions in Science, Technology

Three of AUC's faculty members won State Prizes in Science and Technology, organized by The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, for their scientific contributions and achievements. State Merit Award

October 5, 2020

Egyptian Team Wins the Regional Finals of Schneider Electric’s Go Green Competition 2020

An Egyptian team of two undergraduate students: Habiba Abdelwahed, construction engineering senior at AUC who is minoring in business, and Abdallah Mohamed from the German University in Cairo, recently won the regional finals of Schneider Electric’s Go Green Competition. Competing against 5,367 participating members across the Middle East and Africa, team “Plastale” took the lead.

September 29, 2020

AUC, University of Lübeck Assemble World’s First Comprehensive Egyptian Reference Genome

Mohamed Salama, visiting associate professor at AUC's Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, physician and clinical neurotoxicologist, together with an Egyptian-German team from the University of Lübeck, assembled and annotated the world’s first comprehensive North African reference genome, EgyptRef.

September 15, 2020

'My Aim is to Inspire' — Meet AUC's Newest Faculty Members

"It is my honor and pleasure to serve the AUC community," said Daniel Ortiz, dean of Libraries and Learning Technologies. "It’s a wonderful University and a marvelous country. I am at home." New faculty members joining AUC this semester span an array of disciplines, research interests, cultural backgrounds and more, but all have one thing in common: They’re excited about joining AUC.

September 1, 2020

Faculty member receives the prestigious Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize by the American Society of Civil Engineers

Ibrahim Abotaleb '12, '15, assistant professor of construction engineering, received the prestigious 2020 Thomas Fitch Rowland Prize for his significant contributions to construction engineering through his paper “First Attempt Toward a Holistic Understanding of the Interdependent Rippled Impacts Associated with Out-of-Sequence Work in Construction Projects: System

September 2, 2020

AUC Welcomes Class of 2024, Begins Hybrid Classes

AUC welcomes the Class of 2024 — with their aspirations and endeavors —while implementing a hybrid model of classes with an emphasis on maintaining a low-density campus, where 93% of classes will be held online and only 7% will meet face to face when required.

August 30, 2020

First Blended FYP Orientation Begins

For the first time, AUC’s First-Year Program (FYP) for incoming students will be blended this fall.

August 18, 2020

AUC Introduces New Courses, Collaborates on International DeVilag Project to Support Egypt's Rural Community

AUC’s Center for Applied Research on the Environment and Sustainability (CARES) — in collaboration with Egyptian and European universities, as well as public and private local entities — is working on a three-year project, DeVilag, to support the Egyptian rural community.

August 11, 2020

Physics Alum Receives MIT Teaching Excellence Award After One Year as Postdoc

One year ago, Mohamed Abdelhafez '11 started working as a postdoctoral associate in physics education technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Today, he has received the 2020 MIT Graduate Student Council Teaching Award has become a full-time lecturer in physics after an overwhelming nomination by students.