A team of AUC undergraduate and graduate students secured the award for the Most Novel Idea at Heart Hackathon, the world’s first total artificial heart design competition, where student teams from around the globe design, prototype and assess their total artificial heart. 

Multidisciplinary with students from different majors, Team Peribsen worked to design, manufacture and develop the business plan for their total artificial heart. They were mentored by Professor Khalil Elkhodary '03, '06 and utilized AUC's new Eltoukhy Learning Factory for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, the first of its kind in Egypt.

Aliaa Moussa, mechanical engineering; Salma Omar, graphic design; and Lana Mahmoud, electronics and communications engineering, represented AUC in the final round of the competition held in Dallas, Texas at the 29th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Mechanical Circulatory Support

Other team members included Abdelrahman Sultan '18, who is pursuing his master's in mechanical engineering at AUC and served as team captain;  and team heads Ahmed Ali '23; Mohamed Waheed '22; Nour Makhlouf '23; and Menna Tallah Hassan '23.
 

"Four cups of coffee a day could help prevent Parkinson's disease and dementia," according to Mohamed Salama, professor at AUC’s Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, who presented his research on healthy aging, the first of its kind in the Middle East, during the Faculty at the Forefront media panel. 

The Longitudinal Study of Egyptian Healthy Aging (AL-SEHA), the first nationally representative panel study on aging in Egypt, aims to fill knowledge gaps that are necessary to set health, social and economic policy priorities. AL-SEHA also works on prioritizing resources and promoting effective strategies for healthcare and social systems in Egypt, in addition to improving the lives of the country’s aging population. The project is set to launch in 2024, thanks to Salama; Hoda Rashad, director of AUC’s Social Research Center; and a team from the center.

"Four cups of coffee a day could help prevent Parkinson's disease and dementia."

“There has been a growing global interest in healthy aging studies because these reveal the challenges and opportunities that will face the world in the future, especially in low- and middle-income countries that suffer from a scarcity of data in this field,” he said.

Egypt is a particularly interesting example since it is the most populous Middle Eastern country as well as the third most populous country in Africa, Salama noted. “Although the Egyptian population is still young, the number of older people is increasing,” he said. “Egypt is in an ideal position to prepare its population for healthy aging based on medical, economic and social research that effectively addresses the multifaceted challenges faced by an aging society.”

"There has been a growing global interest in healthy aging studies because these reveal the challenges and opportunities that will face the world in the future, especially in low- and middle-income countries that suffer from a scarcity" ... This valuable information can also help reduce access inequities and age-based discrimination while facilitating the evaluation of health policies and analytical studies."

The study will include about 20,000 participants aged over 50 representing all of Egypt’s governorates. The study will span at least 10 years, with researchers following up with participants every two years to track changes in their health. Salama and the team will collaborate with government agencies, civil society and not-for-profit organizations in Egypt, in addition to the SHARE project, which researches the connection between policy and the quality of life for European citizens and beyond.

Salama hopes the findings will inform policy and planning to improve healthcare services for older adults in Egypt. “This valuable information can also help reduce access inequities and age-based discrimination while facilitating the evaluation of health policies and analytical studies,” he said.

In addition to paving the way for better health outcomes, the study will also shed light on the impact of climate change and societal changes. “These changes include, for example, the continuing trend toward urbanization, with more older people moving to the cities, which in turn affects the way older people live and creates new challenges related to access to health care services and social isolation,” Salama explained.

AUC and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) have joined forces on Egypt’s Digital Heritage Portal project, alongside providing expert electronics training for engineering students and fresh graduates in the country. 

President Ahmad Dallal affirmed that this partnership is a prime example of AUC’s commitment to serving society, promoting economic and human development in the communications and information technology sectors, and providing assistance and extensive vocational training to give Egyptian youth the tools they require to thrive and compete globally. “We continue to develop our well-rounded liberal arts education to ensure learners are prepared to navigate the evolving labor market while sharing our vision with our governmental and educational partners as well as the private sector,” Dallal stated.

MCIT Minister Amr Talaat emphasized the ministry's plan to strengthen Egypt's position in electronic design, with a focus on electric cars and self-driving vehicles, and commended the extensive knowledge and academic expertise of AUC. “This endeavor seeks to expand the pool of specialized professionals and equip youth with a robust skill set, ensuring they possess the necessary knowledge to excel in these high-value scientific specializations,” said Talaat.

“We continue to develop our well-rounded liberal arts education to ensure learners are prepared to navigate the evolving labor market while sharing our vision with our governmental and educational partners as well as the private sector."

The Role of the AUC Library: Heritage Preservation

AUC's Libraries and Learning Technologies will be collaborating with MCIT to make available Egypt’s rich heritage in a digital format to researchers and culture enthusiasts through Egypt’s Digital Heritage Portal project. “AUC's Libraries and Learning Technologies has a long and distinguished history of collecting, digitizing and safeguarding cultural heritage while also playing a pivotal role in disseminating knowledge and information," said Lamia Eid '88, '92, interim dean of Libraries and Learning Technologies. "We are excited to embark on this journey to share our resources and expertise as Egypt gears up for the launch of the [nationwide] Digital Heritage Portal project."

"We are committed to providing comprehensive metadata for the digitized collection, as metadata plays a crucial role in facilitating search and discovery, enabling scholars to navigate and explore Egypt's cultural heritage more effectively,” she continued.

Equipping Engineering Students with State-of-the-Art Training

"By developing programs that empower engineers and foster local startups and foreign investment, we can unlock the potential of many talented engineers in Egypt, driving innovation and progress,” 

Through AUC and MCIT’s collaboration, engineering students and fresh graduates from all over Egypt will receive world-class expert electronics training conducted in Egypt’s seven centers for electronics development, which are located at AUC and the Smart Village as well as Alexandria, Borg El Arab, Zagazig, Ismailia and Assiut governorates

“Providing expert engineering training is not just about acquiring skills, but more about generating opportunities for job creation and economic growth," said Yehea Ismail, professor and chair of AUC's Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering and director of the Center of Nanoelectronics and Devices at the University who was recently appointed as adviser to Egypt’s MCIT minister. "By developing programs that empower engineers and foster local startups and foreign investment, we can unlock the potential of many talented engineers in Egypt, driving innovation and progress.” 

Providing expert engineering training allows students to not only acquire skills but also generate opportunities for employment and economic growth. With AUC's support, participants across Egypt will receive live and virtual instruction from talented teachers worldwide and hands-on guidance from trained assistants.

With a first-place finish, Yara Ebeltagi, finance major with a minor in economics; Malak Elshennawy, finance major with a minor in economics and mathematics; and Joudy Aly, business and entrepreneurship major, made AUC proud at the Arab Fintech Challenge held at GITEX Dubai 2023. Creating an app called 'Mini Money' that incentivizes youth financial literacy, their project was selected out of international teams from across the region for its capacity to go beyond traditional savings methods and motivate youth with a unique rewards system. 

The students began this startup project as part of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation course taught last spring by Moataz Darwish '95, associate professor of practice in the Department of Management at the School of Business and team mentor. 

"The entrepreneurship project is a cornerstone in this course, with a clear learning outcome of generating a world-class experiential learning experience for students and equipping them with a mix of academic rigor and relevant  practical tools to help them succeed in the outside world," said Darwish. "The students were trained on all aspects of designing an entrepreneurial venture, from framing a customer problem to designing and prototyping a business model to delivering a powerful pitch. The process is very demanding and requires a variety of pedagogical techniques, including experiential workshops, case studies, guest speakers, investor assessment simulation, one-on-one coaching as well as personality and entrepreneurial tests and simulations with support from AUC's Career Center and Eonomics Behavioral Lab."

The Arab Fintech challenge is a competition powered by Fintech Egypt, initiated by the Central Bank of Egypt and sponsored by the EG Bank MINT incubator.

Hear some thoughts from the team about the project, collaborative aspects and the competition process:

Yara Elbeltagi 

“Our collaborative journey in shaping our FinTech solution was enriched by the diverse personalities within our team. Dr. Moataz's endorsement of these differences proved to be a success, as they seamlessly enhanced our decision-making process. 

Joudy is the most practical of us, always thinking rationally, Malak is extremely analytic and focuses on the details, always making sure our information is backed, and I felt like I brought forward the creative angle that helped bring our idea to life. 

Since developing the idea initially, these distinct strengths enabled clear communication and efficient development, allowing us to develop Mini Money in synergy. 

Joining the regional competition unlocked a plethora of opportunities for us. To begin with, we gained an internship at Mashreq Bank which was extremely eye-opening and offered us hands-on exposure to the job market. We also got the opportunity to join a three-month FInTech incubation program organized by MINT by EG Bank. Networking was and still remains a great benefit from our participation; we continuously meet professionals and individuals who serve as mentors and give us real advice based on their experiences as well as unlock new opportunities for us."

Malak Elshennawy

“Although the three of us were majoring in either finance or entrepreneurship, our knowledge about FinTech was limited, having been recently declared. Still, our brief moment of hesitation did not stop us from competing, because we have always been committed to succeeding in everything that we did. More importantly, our professor believed in our abilities and urged us to compete. 

Our winning FinTech startup, the Mini Money gamified app with an embedded wallet, is designed to help parents track their children’s spending, increase their financial literacy and give them benefits whenever they save up, such as discounts at their favorite gaming store.  We were continuously changing and updating the app based on feedback from parents, bankers, venture capitalists and AUC faculty. Innovation is a continuous process, and over time, our startup has prospered and changed with help from all these mentors who have changed our perception of both the problem and the feasibility of our solution."

Moataz Darwish, faculty mentor

“The main problem the students tackled in this project was the lack of financial literacy among the youth population. Generally speaking, children don't have an efficient way to track or manage their spending, let alone savings. They possess a limited grasp of the importance of responsible financial management. 

Through the team's Mini Money project, youth will be able to monitor their spending and be incentivized to save through the gamified app experience. The app helps prepare the future generations in financial prudency and efficient financial decision making. The project also serves  parents by helping them  monitor and mentor their children's finances. The solution also signifies the contribution that AUC aims to provide by preparing its students to tackle sizable problems in the Egyptian and emerging markets  with innovative tech and business model endeavors. 

This project was enabled by the tremendous support we receive from the School of Business and the entire AUC community. Nothing is more rewarding to me than to realize my life mission in mentoring and coaching my students to realize their potential and enhancing AUC’s positioning in Egypt and beyond.” 

AUC faculty and graduate students from the chemistry and biology departments as well as the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, joined over 300 researchers from around the globe at the 18th International Conference of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ICBMB) under the theme, “Toward a Better Future for Humanity.”

Hosted at AUC and chaired by Distinguished University Professor of Chemistry Hassan Azzazy, the conference discussed a variety of topics that address global and national challenges to improve human life, from health diagnostics and cutting-edge findings in cancer treatment to genomic studies of neurodegenerative diseases and the production of biofuels from agricultural waste.  

"The conference highlighted the need to form national and regional alliances in specific research areas, develop sustainable research collaborations with relevant African societies, and provide further opportunities and support for young researchers as well as women biochemists and molecular biologists," said Azzazy. 

Organized annually by the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology's Egyptian National Committee, "ICBMB represents the largest regional gathering of biochemists and molecular biologists," Azzazy explained. 

The 18th ICBMB included 78 lectures and poster presentations, with researchers from the Federation of African Societies of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as well as prominent speakers from India, the United States, Nigeria, the United Arab Emirates, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Germany and Egypt. 

"A major highlight this year is the active participation of young researchers and women scientists in various conference activities," Azzazy said.

“For every additional year of schooling a girl receives on average, her country’s resilience to climate disasters can be expected to improve by 3.2 points on the ND-GAIN Country Index, which calculates a country’s vulnerability to climate change in relation to its resilience.” 

This was one of the findings by Omar Basyouny, a mechanical engineering student and Tomorrow’s Leaders Gender Scholars (TLS) alum, whose research examined the intricate relationship between gender equality and climate change. His paper, “Climate Change and Gender Inequality,” which was published in Intersect: The Stanford University Journal of Science, Technology and Society, suggests that gender inequality can have a profound impact on climate change. 

“As climate change drives conflict across the world, women become the ones who face increased vulnerabilities to all forms of gender-based violence,” Basyouny said. “Gender inequality is exacerbated by factors of poverty, lack of education, harmful social norms and practices, and insecurities.”

Basyouny’s research focus was to illustrate how advancing gender equality would bring substantial advantages to the world at large. “I wanted to highlight how empowering women – socially, educationally, economically, politically and psychologically – can enable them to contribute their efforts in navigating global challenges,” he affirmed.

 In his paper, Basyouny argues that the detrimental effects of stigmatized traditional roles for women make them more prone to early marriage. “Child marriage is greatly interconnected with high fertility rates, contributing to a significant increase in population, which thus have adverse implications on our climate conditions,” he explained.

The solution? Basyouny opts for nuanced root changes. “I believe that climate change can be most effectively controlled and reduced from a new perspective, innovative and out-of-the-ordinary,” he said. 

Accordingly, Basyouny stresses the importance of empowering women to take part in climate policy and decision making by removing gender disparities in education and the work field. “Equitable access to education can equip women with the information, skills and resources to lead climate action at multiple levels,” Basyouny said. Providing job opportunities for women, namely in the green sector, could lead to more environmentally sustainable action, he added.

Basyouny credits his yearlong journey in the TLS program, funded by the U.S. Department of State, for further developing his interest in gender studies. The scholarship gave him access to numerous workshops, gender-related activities, training sessions, and mentorship under well-established professors, equipping him with the tools he needed to navigate his research and the intersectional angle between gender and environmental problems. 

“TLS has been an indispensable companion throughout my research and publication journey. It helped me in becoming more gender-sensitive,” he explained. 

Moving forward, Basyouny is adamant about making a positive impact as an influential mechanical engineer and social scientist. He hopes that by striking a balance between the two, he could successfully work toward addressing global challenges. His current research is focused on aerospace, green mechanical technologies, space exploration and climate change. 

Basyouny attributes his diverse interests to AUC’s liberal arts program and the TLS program, which both gave him well-rounded knowledge in diverse fields and disciplines. “It’s important to work on topics outside my major, tackling more societal and economic issues such as gender equality and women’s economic empowerment,” he said. “I wish to find varied solutions to environmental problems” and climate change and gender inequality are just the start. 

Photo by  Alaric Duan  on  Unsplash

Hesham Sallam, professor at AUC’s Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology and founder of Mansoura University’s Vertebrate Paleontology Center (MUVP), has done it again.

Today, a team led by the internationally-acclaimed paleontologist announced the discovery of a new species of extinct whale that inhabited the sea covering present-day Egypt around 41 million years ago.

With an estimated length of 2.5 meters and a body mass of approximately 187 kilograms, the new species, named Tutcetus rayanensis, is the smallest basilosaurid whale known to date and one of the oldest records of its family in Africa. 

The name of the new whale draws inspiration from Egyptian history and the discovery’s locale. Tutcetus combines "Tut" — referring to the famous adolescent Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun  — and "cetus," Greek for whale, highlighting the specimen's small size and young age. Rayanensis refers to the Wadi El-Rayan Protected Area in Fayoum, where the whale was found. 

Additionally, the name was chosen to commemorate the centennial of the discovery of King Tut’s tomb and coincides with the forthcoming opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza.

Despite its modest size, Tutcetus has provided scientists with remarkable insights into the life history, phylogeny and paleobiogeography of early whales. 

From Land to Sea

The Basilosauridae, a family of extinct, fully aquatic whales, represent a crucial stage in whale evolution. As they transitioned from land to sea, the basilosauridae developed fish-like characteristics, such as a streamlined  body, a strong tail, flippers, and a tail fin. Their hind legs, which previously served them on land, were no longer used for walking but possibly for mating.

"Whales’ evolution from land-dwelling animals to beautiful marine creatures embodies the  marvelous, adventurous journey of life,” Sallam said. “Tutcetus is a remarkable discovery that  documents one of the first phases of the transition to a fully aquatic lifestyle that took place in that  journey.” 

The team's findings have been published in Communications Biology, an open-access journal from Nature Portfolio publishing high-quality research, reviews and commentary in all areas of the biological sciences. Through detailed analyses of the teeth and bones of Tutcetus using CT scanning, the team reconstructed the growth and development pattern of the species. Rapid dental development and small bone size suggest that the whale was precocial, meaning it was able to move and feed itself from birth.

The discovery also adds to our understanding of basilosaurids as successful, competitive and adaptable during their transition from land to sea. The team's findings suggest  that this transition likely occurred in the (sub)tropics. 

“Modern whales migrate to warmer, shallow waters for breeding and  reproduction, mirroring the conditions found in Egypt 41 million years ago,” explained Abdullah Gohar, a PhD student at Mansoura University, member of Sallam Lab and a co-author of the study. “This supports the idea  that what is now known as Fayoum was a crucial breeding area for ancient whales.”

The study’s lead author, Mohammed Antar, from the MUVP and the National Focal Point for Natural Heritage, added, "Tutcetus significantly broadens the size range of basilosaurid whales and reveals considerable disparity among whales during the middle Eocene period. The investigation of early layers in Fayoum may reveal the existence of an older assemblage of early whale fossils, potentially influencing our current knowledge of the development of whales.”

One thing is certain: this major discovery is likely one of many more to come. In recent years, Sallam and his team’s discoveries include the bones of a 34-million- year-old rodent, a 37-million-year-old gigantic catfish, snake and legless lizard fossils and the first evidence of a 100-million-year-old Abelisauroid, a meat-eating dinosaur, in Egypt’s Bahariya Oasis, among others.

"The Eocene fossil sites of Egypt’s Western Desert have long been the world’s most important for understanding the early evolution of whales and their transition to a fully aquatic existence,” said Erik Seiffert, chair and professor of integrative anatomical sciences at the University of Southern California and a co-author of the study. “The discovery of Tutcetus demonstrates that this region still has so much more to tell us about the fascinating story of whale evolution". 

Read more about Sallam’s work in AUCToday.

All pictures courtesy of Hesham Sallam.

Entrepreneurship is a key component of Africa’s economic progress, but gaps between research, investing and implementation may hinder a startup’s success. AUC assisted in filling these gaps by hosting the first entrepreneurship workshop of the Afretec Network, an international organization that aims to encourage digital growth through the collaboration of higher education and the private and public sectors throughout Africa. 

The event brought together the six member universities, business owners and policymakers to develop a plan to support digital transformation through innovative startups.

“The workshop’s objective is to support programs that will improve inclusion, alleviate poverty, create startups and jobs and generally improve the economy,” stated Yehea Ismail, chair of the conference and professor and chair of the Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering. “We are trying to create a new and dynamic Africa.” 

The Afretec Network, founded by Carnegie Mellon, features three pillars: teaching and learning, knowledge creation and entrepreneurship. As a member university, AUC is involved in all three pillars of digitalization. Under Ismail’s guidance, the workshop aimed to develop the entrepreneurship pillar’s action plan for the coming years, including the budget for proposed projects, with funding provided by the Mastercard Foundation.

Venture capital leaders, government officials, United Nations representatives, thought leaders from six African countries and prominent successful entrepreneurs came together during the event to share unique insights on the ways universities can become more involved in the creation of startups.  

“Entrepreneurship is a tricky phase for a university,” explains Tim Brown, director of research and professor of engineering and public policy and electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University Africa. “Universities know how to teach and how to research, but their role in incubating startups and accelerators is less clear. We want to help universities identify where they can be most impactful, in addition to funding innovative products.” 

Africa faces unique economic and structural challenges, which this workshop aims to address by encouraging digital transformation. According to Ismail, most investment projects in Africa focus on high-tech projects, which are typically software apps that offer quick solutions using pre-existing systems, like a food delivery app collaborating with pre-existing restaurants. These high-tech projects are attractive to investors because they require less research and offer quicker returns, but Ismail suggests that Africa needs deeper technological developments. 

“A high-tech application could monitor your water quality and tell you if you’re at risk for disease, but a deep-tech project could fix the water processing and distribution system at the source,” Ismail says. “High-tech projects treat the symptom; deep-tech projects treat the cause.”

Deep-tech projects develop slowly, requiring significantly more research and time before the investments start paying off. While Afretec will fund both high-tech and deep-tech projects, the emphasis on deep-tech will allow leading research universities like AUC to contribute to both the science and business sides of these startups on a more feasible timeline. 

In addition to research and development, the workshop also invited speakers from the private sector to offer their perspective. Deji Macaulay is the CEO of Truthware Solutions, which offers assistance in digital transformation for the Nigerian government, including the insurance, transport and health industries. As an investor from the private sector, Macaulay offered an important connection between academic and private organizations.

“My goal was to show how universities can become more involved in the ecosystem of the private sector,” Macaulay states. “Universities are very good at inventing things, but true innovation requires these creations to be implemented in the market, which is why connections to the private sector are key.” 

AUC is well-positioned to facilitate this connection due to its longstanding relationship with research, business and government. 

“AUC is a leading institution in entrepreneurship in Africa because there is a broad environment of support and interest from the highest levels of the government and the institution,” says Nithaya Chetty, dean of the Faculty of Science and professor of theoretical and computational physics at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. “Egypt is facing difficult conditions for development, but I believe this has spurred the Egyptian people and government to be more innovative.” 

Each country in Africa faces a unique set of challenges in its development, and Afretec aims to provide the platform for these countries to collaborate, from Egypt to South Africa. 

“Entrepreneurship has been considered as one of the most essential solutions to the three-pronged challenges, poverty, unemployment and inequality, of most African countries,” explains Karim Seddik, AUC’s Afretec network coordinator and professor and associate dean for graduate studies and research in the School of Sciences and Engineering. “The intelligence, creativity, knowledge and technological skills of African entrepreneurs are crucial to meet the continent’s development objectives of a sustainable and more equal future.”

A bolt of energy rattles the bonds of a water molecule: H₂O. The links between the molecule begin to snap as the oxygen and hydrogen particles are pulled to separate compartments. The hydrogen molecules are collected and pressurized until their gaseous form transforms into a liquid, the process guiding these powerful particles to their new life: green energy. This process, called electrolysis, has existed for several years; now the goal is to expand its application by producing green hydrogen and clean water simultaneously.

Ehab El Sawy, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, recently received funding from Egypt’s Academy of Scientific Research and Technology to pursue this endeavor. 

“Traditional forms of green hydrogen production utilize clean water in their process. This is more expensive and inefficient; clean water should be prioritized for necessities like drinking,” El Sawy explains. “Our proposal is to utilize wastewater and salt water to produce the hydrogen energy in a way that generates clean water as a byproduct.”

This solution is a two-for-one deal. A small village with a contaminated lake could use this new technology both as an energy supplier and as a way to make its water safe for drinking. 

But why green hydrogen?

“It has local and global benefits,” El Sawy says. “Right now, most of our energy comes from fossil fuels that produce toxic gasses like carbon dioxide, sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides — all of which are an environmental disaster. Green hydrogen requires energy to create, so making it ‘green’ means ensuring the source of energy for the electrolysis is renewable, like wind, solar, geothermal, or tidal sources.”

Green hydrogen has become a popular alternative to fossil fuels internationally over the past two decades, with buses, trains and cars running on this climate-friendly alternative from the United States to Japan. In addition to its liquid form, which can be pumped like traditional gas, green hydrogen can also be put into fuel cells, similar to batteries. In the future, these fuel cells may be able to power houses and buildings as a replacement for power grids. 

This climate-friendly energy is perfect for Egypt. “Here, we don’t have an abundance of fossil fuels like the Gulf region or lithium for lithium-based batteries like Australia,” El Sawy explains. “What we do have is plenty of sun and salt water.”

This project is interdisciplinary: El Sawy along with Nageh Allam, professor in the Department of Physics, use their expertise in electrochemistry and materials design to refine the compartments that produce the hydrogen through electrolysis so they can function at max efficiency. Meanwhile other AUC faculty, like Ahmed El-Gendy, professor and director of the environmental engineering graduate program, and Anwar Abd ElNaser, assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry, study the water treatment and desalination system. El-Gendy and Abd ElNaser monitor bacterial growth on electrodes, desalination efficiency and the physics of the molecular movements, in addition to exploring the benefits of this new technology on public health. 

AUC students are also involved in the process. Undergraduate and graduate research assistants help develop the materials in the lab throughout the school year and summer. Recent PhD graduates are also funded in the lab, offering them the opportunity to conduct research while attending international conferences and workshops.

“It has been a privilege to work with such a collaborative team,” El Sawy says. “Our project is still in the initial stages, but with more funding and research, I believe we can turn this design into a reality.

“I don’t consider myself to be just Egyptian or just American. You can even hear it in the way I speak. I blend English and Arabic together all the time when I talk. I’m not one or the other; I’m both.” 

Born in Egypt and raised between Cairo and New York City, Moetaz Abdelhalim shares his thoughts on studying abroad in his home country and being a third-culture kid. He is a living testimony of what National Arab American Heritage Month celebrates. 

U.S. President Joe Biden officially recognized April as National Arab American Heritage Month (NAAHM) this year in an effort to acknowledge the rich heritage of the community and their contributions to American society. Through NAAHM, people like Abdelhalim have the opportunity to engage in conversations about their experiences growing up  balancing two cultures: the one of their parents and the one of their new homes. 

Abdelhalim’s parents moved back and forth from Egypt to the United States during his childhood, alternating between the two cultures for years at a time. “I only started to realize that my situation was unique when I was around 10,” Abdelhalim recalls. “That’s when I started to notice how different Egypt and the U.S. really are.”

For Abdelhalim, America has a distinctly individualistic culture compared to Egypt. “In the U.S., it feels like everyone lives by themselves and for themselves. Egypt has a much stronger sense of community and a feeling that we’re all in this together,” he states. 

On the other hand, there are pockets of similarities within the United States that remind Abdelhalim of Egyptian culture: “I live in Astoria, a neighborhood in New York City with very large populations of African, Latin American and Arab people. I feel a much stronger sense of community there than anywhere else I have been in the U.S. To me, it’s the place that feels most similar to Egypt.” 

A major difference that third-culture kids often have to wrestle with is the expectations of their parents versus the norms of their host culture. According to Abdelhalim, many of his American peers had parents who were much less strict, allowing their children more freedom to study what they want and pursue any career they wish. For immigrant parents, however, the stakes are higher.

“My parents worked their entire lives to be able to come to the U.S. and give me a good life,” Abdelhalim explains. “They pushed me towards STEM majors because they wanted to make sure I had a good, stable career. They were stricter than other parents, but it's because they wanted me to have a good life.”

Now back in Egypt while studying abroad at AUC, Abdelhalim’s Egyptian-American identity is often a subject of discussion, but he has become much more comfortable with his blended background. 

“Sometimes other Egyptians will make jokes about how I’m not ‘really Egyptian’ because I don’t like certain foods like kunafa or when I order chicken strips and fries at a restaurant,” Abdelhalim says. “Honestly, they don’t bother me because they’re just jokes. I’m just not adventurous with my food. It doesn’t mean I’m not Egyptian.” 

Other aspects of his identity stick out more, like his often English-Arabic mixed dialect. “When I first got here, I could barely form a sentence in Arabic because of how anxious I was about messing up or not using the right slang,” Abdelhalim recalls. “After the first week, I realized that if I just accepted that I was going to make mistakes, then I would learn a lot quicker and be happier.”

Acceptance and flexibility are major skills that being a third-culture kid has taught Abdelrahim. “My childhood gave me a very unique perspective,” he says. “When I encounter challenges or obstacles, I have learned to see them very plainly: Either the situation can be changed and will be changed, or it can’t be changed and we need to accept it.” 

The determination and perseverance of immigrants and their children in America is integral to the nation’s identity. For the Arab-American community, which began as far back as 1880, NAAHM is an opportunity to celebrate their history and acknowledge their contributions to American society. 

“I’m happy this month was recognized as a national holiday. It makes me think about my mom,” Abdelrahim states. “She wears the hijab, doesn’t speak English fluently, has an accent –– and her name sticks out. She has faced so much Islamophobia and racism in America. I don’t think this month solves that problem or erases her struggles, but I think it's a step in the right direction.”