Utilizing metagenomics, Rania Siam explores microbial life in brine pools to identify novel microbes and bacterial communities
May 20, 2013
Internationally recognized for his innovative contributions to the field of science education, as well as his research in ultrafast optics and condensed matter physics, Eric Mazur, Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics at Harvard University, will deliver two lectures on the future of science and education. Mazur, who comes to AUC as a distinguished visiting professor at the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT), will speak on Thursday, April 18 at AUC New Cairo and Friday, April 19 at the Cairo Marriott Hotel. Mazur’s first lecture, “Educating the Innovators of the 21st Century,” which will take place at 1 pm in Moataz Al Alfi Hall, will serve as the keynote address for the CLT’s Innovative Pedagogies and Technologies for 21st Century-Learning symposium. Mazur will argue against the current approach to science and technology education, which focuses on information transfer, in favor of teaching through teamwork and creative thinking.
April 16, 2013
Entrepreneurship is key to boosting the economy but culture and education sometimes stand in the way
April 16, 2013
This year's festival seeks to cultivate scientific literacy through a multitude of activities that connect to everyday life
April 8, 2013
Using nanotechnology in devising sustainable desalination methods will minimize the risk of water shortage in Egypt
April 1, 2013
The University's Lutron team works on reconfiguring the public lighting system on campus to reduce energy use
March 27, 2013
A new professional radio studio is now operational at AUC, giving students the opportunity to record audio and musical performances, as well as broadcast radio programs.
March 26, 2013
To tackle the issue of safe waste disposal, scientists and researchers at AUC, in partnership with other universities, are utilizing the fibers of Egyptian and Qatari palm trees to serve as the basis for new fibrous materials that could replace the non-disposable, often pollutant, polymer-based products currently used throughout the industrial world.
March 25, 2013
Today, the world is confronting a dual energy threat. On the supply side of the energy equation, there is a lack of sufficient and secure energy reserves at reasonable prices, which makes countries vulnerable. On the demand side, overconsumption of energy is causing the depletion of natural resources and environmental degradation, from oil spills to contamination of ground water. What is even more threatening is that this demand is continuously on the rise. The 2012 World Energy Outlook study by the International Energy Agency projected that global energy demands will grow by more than one-third until 2035, with China, India and the Middle East contributing to 60 percent of this increase. In post-revolution Egypt, shortages of fuel, such as diesel, natural gas and mazut, have led to a halt in power-plant electricity generation and power outages in several governorates.
March 19, 2013
Amr El-Kadi explains how cloud computing is fundamentally changing the way people use information technology
March 7, 2013
New educational system infuses liberal arts into scientific research to enhance creativity
February 28, 2013
From breast cancer research to micro-sensors, nanotechnology grads are pursuing PhDs in top universities worldwide
February 18, 2013
The new program will focus on water, energy conservation practices and environmentally friendly buildings
February 10, 2013
The newly developed project will enable traffic lights to switch from red to green based on traffic density
February 3, 2013
The lionfish, a fierce carnivorous predator native to the Red Sea and South Pacific and Indian Oceans, has become an invasive species in the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, posing a major threat to marine and coral reef ecosystems. The lionfish was first detected in Florida in the 1990s and is believed to have been introduced into marine life from local aquariums and fish hobbyists. It has since spread rapidly across the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. With few likely predators of the lionfish, its population has grown mostly unchecked, threatening the survival of other herbivorous fish and invertebrates, which may ultimately disrupt the ecological balance of marine life, lead to reef deterioration and force native species to move to other waters to avoid attack.
January 31, 2013
El Haggar emphasizes recycling and preservation of natural resources to achieve sustainable development
January 31, 2013
Distinguished AIG Visiting Professor of Actuarial Science Abdel-Hameed El-Shaarawi received the honorary degree Doctor honoris causa from the University of Lorraine in Metz, France, on December 3 for his contributions to the field of environmetrics, using statistical methods to measure and analyze environmental phenomena and changes. Trained in statistics, El-Shaarawi has been involved in global projects in the field.
December 17, 2012
In Al Ahram Poll, Azzazy was ranked as the best living scientist in Egypt for his applied research on hepatitis C
December 2, 2012
AUC reduced its energy use by 21.7 percent, exceeding the goal of 20 percent set last year
November 14, 2012
Cosmos Radio, the first web-based radio station recently launched by AUC's Society of Physics Students
November 6, 2012
During the University’s suspension of operations in late September, the Center for Learning and Teaching (CLT) was tasked with preparing faculty members to continue their teaching through a blended teaching approach, which is a mix of in-person and online sessions, discussions and assignments. This previously unfamiliar phrase became a reality for faculty and students alike as CLT conducted three days of workshops, providing training and individualized instruction to 136 faculty members in integrating technology and pedagogy on-the-go. These sessions highlighted the growing ease, flexibility and necessity of blended learning at AUC.
October 23, 2012
AUC is the first institution in the Middle East and North Africa to conduct a comprehensive study on its impact on climate change
October 11, 2012
AUC research team designed a novel test capable of detecting all genotypes of HCV in less than one hour, instead of days
October 3, 2012
An AUC team made up of undergraduate and graduate students became the first in the Middle East and Africa to participate in the Solar Decathlon Europe competition, which is currently being held in Madrid, Spain and will continue to run until the end of September. Competing against 19 teams from other universities worldwide in one of the largest international eco-design competitions, the team’s task is to design a fully operative solar-powered house, which may present a solution to Egypt’s electricity problems.
September 11, 2012
Tarek Shawki’s long-term vision for the School of Sciences and Engineering (SSE) is not only to make it the leading school of its kind in the region, but also to promote its distinction and increase its visibility on a global scale.
September 9, 2012
Aboard a research vessel, biotech grad works to combat global warming.
August 30, 2012
Scientists find answers to Cairo's garbage and water problems.
August 30, 2012
AUC and the University of Waterloo in Canada have established a dual-degree doctoral program in engineering, which will enable engineering and science students to pursue their PhD at either University in order to complete their degree requirements, while eventually receiving two PhD degrees; one from each university.
June 26, 2012
Watch video on AUC's initiatives to promote the love of science amongst Egypt's budding generation
June 24, 2012
AUC and the Zewail City of Science and Technology have jointly established the Center for Nanoelectronics and Devices
June 12, 2012
Physics and fun are rarely correlated. However, in a new approach to learning physics, professors are leaving their textbooks at the door and engaging students in hands-on demonstrations and experiments that are sparking an interest in science and capturing the imagination and creativity of youth, from primary school students to university undergraduates.
May 24, 2012
AUC's Medical Technology Program is the first in Egypt to produce certified international medical technologists
May 15, 2012
AUC’s School of Sciences and Engineering Outreach Program will be organizing its third annual Cairo Science Festival. The festival hosts a multitude of events and is considered to be Egypt’s largest celebration of science, innovation and technology. With the themes of nurturing a knowledge and innovation culture and promoting lifelong learning, the festival will be held from April 21 to May 12 in collaboration with the Cambridge Science Festival.
April 19, 2012
The School of Business and School of Sciences and Engineering have collaborated to jointly hold the 2012 AUC Research Conference titled Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Shaping the Future of Egypt. The conference covers topics such as social entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship education, green innovation and sustainability, as well as the role of civil society in encouraging small businesses and community innovations. It will be held from April 17 to 19 at Moataz Al Alfi Hall.
April 5, 2012
Using nanotechnology, researchers are developing smart energy systems to produce renewable fuels and electricity from sunlight
April 1, 2012
AUC researchers develop a novel test to diagnose HCV, which affects 10 million patients in Egypt
March 8, 2012
Physics and fun are rarely correlated. However, in a new approach to learning physics, professors are leaving their textbooks at the door and engaging students in hands-on demonstrations and experiments that are sparking an interest in science and capturing the imagination and creativity of youth, from primary school students to university undergraduates.
February 15, 2012
On Monday, February 13, Charles Elachi, vice president and professor of electrical engineering and planetary science at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), and director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will deliver a lecture titled “Space Voyages of Science and Exploration” as part of the Zewail Foundation Public Lecture Series in Science and Culture. The lecture begins at 6:30 pm in Moataz Al Alfi Hall, AUC New Cairo, and will be followed by a question and answer session.
February 12, 2012
Mostafa El-Sayed, the Julius Brown Chair and Regent’s Professor and director of the Laser Dynamics Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology, will be delivering a lecture at AUC titled “Gold and Silver: Nanoscale Applications in Solar Energy and Cancer Medicine.” The lecture will explore the use of gold nanoparticles in curing cancer and converting solar energy into electricity. It will take place on February 6 at 1 pm in Moataz Al Alfi Hall, AUC New Cairo.
February 5, 2012
An active participant in several Red Sea expeditions and a leading scientist in the AUC/KAUST Red Sea environmental genomics project that addresses crucial issues in the fields of biotechnology and pharmaceutics, Rania Siam, associate professor of biology and director of AUC’s biotechnology graduate program, will be delivering the upcoming Provost’s lecture titled, “Exploring Life in the Earth’s Extreme: Environmental Genomics of the Red Sea.” The lecture will be held on Sunday, December 11 from 3:30 to 5:00 pm in Moataz Al Alfi Hall.
December 7, 2011
During the seventh Arab Technology Business Plan Competition, an AUC team ranked first for its project to establish NanoDiagX, a startup company that would develop innovative, low-cost and reliable diagnostics for active infections including hepatitis C, tuberculosis and cancer biomarkers.The winning AUC team consists of graduate students Sherif Shawky, Tamer Samir and Mai Mansour;in addition to Ahmed Tolba, assistant professor of management, and Hassan Azzazy, professor of chemistry as well as founder and leader of the AUC team.
November 13, 2011
The European Training Foundation (ETF) has singled out AUC professor and associate dean Hassan Azzazy for his work to advance Egyptian society through entrepreneurship in science and technology. Recognizing entrepreneurship as a focus of global policy makers, ETF cites Dr. Azzazy for launching the kinds of research and development initiatives that not only signal economic prospects for Egypt, but are also germane to the physical health and wellbeing of Egyptians. Dr. Azzazy participated a 2009-2010 ETF pilot project involving examining entrepreneurial learning indicators for third-level education.
September 15, 2011
The Middle East’s first specialized masters degree programs in Robotics, Control and Smart Systems (RCSS) were announced today by the School of Sciences and Engineering, The masters of Science degree in RCSS and the master of engineering degree in RCSS pave the way for AUC scientists and engineers to innovate interdisciplinary products and systems that meet today's most pressing challenges.
September 11, 2011
A group of seniors from the Department of Electronics Engineering recently unveiled their newest invention, a conceptual prototype of an automatic meter reading (AMR) that calculates household power consumption and relays the information gathered to personal electronic devices.
May 26, 2011
In order to make science accessible and fun for everyone, several members of the AUC faculty, and students piled aboard the “Science Bus” this past week on a journey to bring knowledge, and smiles, to the Children’s Cancer Hospital of Cairo.
May 23, 2011
Clint Sprott is not your average professor. Refusing to confine his teaching to the classroom, Sprott has for over 20 years been known for his one-man “showman” style physics magic show, “The Wonders of Physics.” The show, which has played to over 60,000 since 1984, when it was conceived by Sprott, will come to AUC for two performances, on May 9 and May 15.
May 8, 2011
AUC Professor Justin Grubich made his small screen debut this past week in two programs that aired on the National Geographic channel. Grubich, an assistant professor of biology, was featured on the NatGeo programs Explorer and Hooked which documented his recent research expeditions in the Amazon and on Lake Nasser.
May 8, 2011
Sherif Sedky, professor of physics and director of the Yousef Jameel Science and Technology Research Center, will deliver the third Provost’s Lecture of the spring semester on Sunday, May 8. Sedky, who holds six patents and is the inventor of a new miniaturized device that can convert physical phenomena such as infrared radiation into electrical signals, will discuss the impact and potential of emerging nanotechnology. The lecture will be held in Moataz Al Alfi Hall at AUC New Cairo at 3:30 pm.
May 5, 2011
The Second Annual Cairo Science and Engineering Festival opens today at 12: 45 pm in Bassily Auditorium, AUC New Cairo with a lecture by Sir Magdi Yacoub titled, “A Roadmap for Rebuilding and Transforming Egypt.” The festival is organized by the School of Sciences and Engineering Outreach program in collaboration with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Cambridge Science Festival and the University of California, San Diego Science Festival. The three-week event includes lectures, dialogue with Nobel laureates and science luminaries via video conference from the MIT museum, discussion of the role of social media in the Egyptian revolution and other activities.
May 2, 2011
AUC will welcome Science magazine editor-in-chief and former National Academy of Sciences (NAS) president Bruce Alberts on campus Monday, April 11, in an event hosted by School of Sciences and Engineering and Physics Department Outreach Program, when he will deliver a lecture titled “Science and the World’s Future” at the Mary Cross Lecture Hall at 12:45. During his 2009 visit to Cairo, President Obama named Alberts as one of his administration’s three Science Envoys to Islam, along with AUC trustee and Nobel laureate Ahmed Zewail, and Elias Zerhouni, the former head of the National Institutes of Health.
April 11, 2011
The outreach program of the Department of Physics at The American University in Cairo welcomed members of AUC’s internal and external communities to discuss and observe this past weekend’s Supermoon phenomenon. The Supermoon was a mere 356,577 km away from Earth, the closest it has been in more than 18 years. As such, the Moon appeared 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter. In addition to the opportunities to gaze at the Moon through advanced telescopes at AUC New Cairo and AUC Tahrir Square, AUC Physics Professor Alaa Ibrahim presented two public lectures on, “The Science Behind Supermoons and Tsunamis.”
March 22, 2011
The scene at AUC Downtown was vibrant, as more than 250 astronomy enthusiasts gathered to view the solar eclipse on January 4. The attendees comprised students, faculty and staff, as well as members of the public including several secondary school groups. They met in the Science Garden and marveled as special solar glasses allowed them to observe the eclipse’s course throughout the morning. They also had the chance to view the eclipse through Egypt’s first solar telescope.
January 5, 2011
The ArabNet Roadshow recently came to Egypt in their self-proclaimed “funky branded bus” to offer a free training workshop on entrepreneurship in the technology sector titled “Speed Up Your Startup.” Hosted by the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (EIP) at the School of Business, the workshop offered insight into fundraising, business law and the latest trends in Web space.
January 2, 2011
Sir Magdi Yacoub, world-famous heart surgeon and professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial College London, will speak about scientific achievement and giving back to others in a lecture titled “In Search of Excellence.” The lecture, hosted by the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, will be held on December 8 at 1 pm at Moataz Al Alfi Hall.
December 3, 2010
As the promise of nanotechnology for the diagnosis and treatment of disease becomes increasingly evident, AUC researchers are looking to stay ahead of the curve, pursuing advanced research and innovations to unlock the might of compounds smaller than the eye can see. Professor Hassan Azzazy, associate dean for graduate studies and research, and Sarah Radwan, graduate biotechnology student, have conducted research on the potential use of gold nanoparticles for efficient detection of active viral and bacterial infections. They published their research findings in the journal of Expert Reviews in Molecular Diagnostics, winning the National Best Publication Award in life sciences and a cash award of LE 20,000.
November 2, 2010
Supporting its goal of providing equal opportunities to distinguished students, AUC has launched Al Alfi Biotechnology Fellowship program that provides funding for five qualified Egyptian students to attend AUC’s reputable biotechnology program on a full scholarship. Business leader and vice chairman of AUC’s Board of Trustees, Moataz Al Alfi, funded the program and noted that it provides another level of success for the university. “It is another milestone in AUC’s history in educating the future leaders of Egypt and the Arab region,” he said. “AUC’s biotechnology program will be recognized world-wide in the coming years as Dean Medhat Haroun, Professor Rania Siam and their colleagues continue their groundbreaking research.”
October 20, 2010
As Jupiter made a rare appearance within sight of the naked eye, visiting assistant professor Alaa Ibrahim told a crowd of nearly 300 stargazers on the first floor of the School of Sciences and Engineering that we have the huge planet to thank for the science of meteorology and technology such as global positioning systems (GPS.) Ibrahim, a physicist, organized Earth’s Close Encounter with Jupiter: A Stargazing Session and Multimedia Presentation to coincide with a major astronomical event that occurred last week when Jupiter, the largest planet of the solar system, was at its closest distance to Earth (only 370 million miles away). This is closest the two planets have been since 1963, and the closest they will be until 2022. Jupiter was the brightest object in the southeastern sky and will gradually fade from view over the next few months.
October 3, 2010
AUC launches the first graduate level program in food chemistry in Egypt, which will develop food chemists who are capable of supporting Egypt’s food industry and monitoring food safety. “Despite the greatest need in developing safe products in Egypt, the study of food chemistry is not widely offered. Accordingly, AUC has taken the lead to develop a high level program that will meet the nation’s needs for food production and security,” said AUC Professor Hassan Azzazy, chair of the Department of Chemistry, and founder and director of the food chemistry program.
September 2, 2010
The petroleum and energy engineering department received a gift of more than $15 million in software and licenses from Schlumberger, the world’s leading oilfield services company. This software is the basis for all exploration and drilling operations used by almost all operators in the oil and gas industry.
May 12, 2010
AUC graduate chemistry students received second place at the second awareness campaign model conference at Cairo University, School of Medicine, organized by the Recruitment and Training Committee composed of pharmacy students from different universities. The participating team came from Cairo University, Ain Shams University, Helwan University, German University in Cairo and AUC.
May 3, 2010
In an inaugural ceremony on campus, AUC announced the launch of the Master of Science scholarship program in environmental and water resource engineering and management, in cooperation with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation (MWRI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The scholarship program is designed to provide young professionals within MWRI the opportunity for graduate study at AUC.
March 11, 2010
AUC has secured a partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to host on its server MIT’s OpenCourseWare (OCW) site, providing faster access to this online resource for those living in the Middle East and North Africa. The Web-based publication allows anyone to access course content, such as syllabi, lecture notes, slide presentations and assignments from both undergraduate and graduate courses offered in different departments and schools at MIT.
March 1, 2010
Following recent on-campus activities led by the AUC Science Outreach Program, including star-gazing and eclipse-observing events, several students and professors have taken their scientific knowledge to Cairo’s children. The group was invited to participate in an ongoing series of workshops hosted by the Journalists Syndicate near Tahrir Square, where Alaa Ibrahim, assistant professor of physics, and several dedicated students have been teaching children every Saturday about science and developing an age-appropriate curriculum.
January 13, 2000