Mechanical engineering undergraduate student Reem Mahmoud is one of 30 global recipients of the McCall MacBain Scholarships at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. The scholarships are the result of a landmark C$200 million gift (about E£4,4 billion) in 2019 by John and Marcy McCall MacBain, the second-largest single donation in Canadian history.

Designed to encourage purposeful leadership, the McCall MacBain Scholarships enable students to pursue a fully funded master’s or professional degree at McGill, while participating in mentorship, coaching and a leadership development program.

“I was overwhelmed with joy, gratitude and disbelief,” said Mahmoud. “They had to repeat the announcement twice as I couldn’t believe it. I was in my university’s dorms so I called my mom and ran up to my friends to tell them. Everyone was cheering loudly.”

Mahmoud is the first student from Egypt to earn this award. She underwent a rigorous seven-month selection process, including a final round of interviews in Montreal.

“The whole experience was very rich and surreal. I had an amazing chance to get to meet each of the finalists and each was very inspirational in their own way,” said Mahmoud. “It’s amazing how much this experience immersed us in the McCall MacBain Scholars community and Montreal as a whole. I’m very grateful for how supportive and warm everyone was, including the McCall MacBain scholars, from the very moment we landed in the airport.”

Each scholar was chosen based on their character, community engagement, leadership potential, entrepreneurial spirit, academic strength and intellectual curiosity.

Mahmoud is studying mechanical engineering, an unusual choice for women in her hometown, at the American University of Cairo. She organizes campus-wide events for the student life office, oversees marketing for a charity club, and helps run weekly activities for children at local orphanages. Mahmoud also served as the human resources executive of the Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers student chapter and, as an engineering intern and project leader at a manufacturing plant, worked with her team to reduce line stops and interventions. Her academic interests include aerospace mechatronics and drone technology and she will pursue a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at McGill.

“The scholarship represents hope and a wide-open floor for enabling change,” she added. “It gives sincere guidance to help each one of us navigate their own unique pathways. I wouldn’t have been able to pursue my dream of graduate studies without the generous support provided by the McCall MacBain Scholarships. And with its leadership focus, I’m sure I’ll better apply what I learn with a community-oriented perspective and a keen eye for global impact.

“Reem’s selection is a tribute to the time and energy she has put into improving the lives of others,” said Natasha Sawh, dean of the McCall MacBain Scholarships. “Our volunteers looked not only for academic strength, but for leadership qualities like integrity, kindness, grit and an ability to motivate a team to address tough challenges.”

To recognize additional talent, the McCall MacBain Scholarships and McGill University also offered 96 entrance awards ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 each to top candidates who were not selected for the cohort. Altogether, this year’s 126 scholarships represent an estimated commitment of nearly $3.3 million in tuition and living costs alone, which will be complemented by mentorship and leadership development programming. Applications will open in June 2023 for September 2024 admission.

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.

International student Sara Carere has never experienced a month quite like Ramadan in Egypt. Living in wust el balad, or downtown Cairo, Carere has fasted with friends from Assiut, eaten suhoor on the street with her neighbors and watched hours of musalsalat (Ramadan TV series). 

“I was most surprised by how special and collective fasting feels,” Carere says. “Back home in the Netherlands I had some Muslim friends who fasted, but seeing Ramadan on a country-wide scale is incredible.”

Carere fasted the first two days of Ramadan to understand what her Muslim friends and neighbors were feeling firsthand. “It was really hard for me,” Carere recalls. “Maybe it's because I haven’t done it before, but not drinking water was so tough. That first iftar was incredible, though; water and dates have never tasted so good.” 

As a Middle Eastern studies student from the University of Groningen, Carere has spent her study abroad year at AUC making friends from all over the world. Her iftars have included traditional Egyptian foods and sweets, like molokhia, mahshi, kunafa and atayef, in addition to international foods, like Spanish omelets and pasta bolognese.

“I’ve really enjoyed this month because my roommates and I always have dinner together at iftar. Planning the meals, going grocery shopping and visiting the local market in Sayeda Zaynab to see the lanterns has been a lot of fun,” Carere says. “The fresh fruit juice from the street vendors is so good. My favorite is the coconut drink, sobia.” 

Living in downtown Cairo has immersed Carere in the Ramadan spirit. “The first night we walked around downtown until suhoor. Everyone seemed so happy and energetic,” Carere recalls. “We spent the night playing dominoes at an awha (local coffee shop) and drinking tea. It’s been a great chance to practice my Arabic.”

Ramadan has also highlighted some amusing cultural differences between the Netherlands and Egypt, particularly with regard to watching musalsalat. “In the Netherlands, we usually watch a show in silence and discuss it after,” Carere explains. “Watching the shows here with my Egyptian friends involves a lot more commenting and asking questions. I like it; it's more engaging. My favorite shows so far are Al Maddah and Al Soffara.”

At other times, the month feels bittersweet for Carere. “Seeing everyone breaking fast with their families and spending so much time together does make me a little homesick,” Carere says. “Thankfully, my dad is coming to visit next month, and I am so excited to show him how special Egypt is during Ramadan.”

Armed with fruit and a desire to help the small Egyptian village of El Bahtiny in Ismailia, seniors Yara Yousry, Heidi Mahmoud, Aliaa Moussa and Mariam El-Halabi are working to fashion biodegradable fishing nets out of locally sourced, cost-effective banana fibers in order to revive the village’s ailing economy.

The four AUC students will be setting sail in Norway this fall after being selected among 15 teams for the World Federation of United Nations Associations (WFUNA) program, Under the Starry Sky. The project also placed second in this year’s Student Union Real Life Competition at AUC.

The nine-month WFUNA program aims to empower young people who want to help promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by helping them implement an innovative and impactful project. 

“El Bahtiny village is beautiful but underprivileged. Our project aims to revive the village’s fishing community,” Mahmoud said.

Traditionally, fishing nets are made from nylon and silk — costly materials that recently, due in large part to the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, have become too expensive for the local community to purchase and use. “Sixty percent of the biomass of a banana tree goes to waste. It's locally available and a great solution to Egypt’s import and export issue,” said Moussa. 

Transforming a Village

Beyond developing the nets, the quartet is handling the logistics of sourcing banana fibers from the city of Sohag in Upper Egypt, as well as providing training for men and women alike in weaving the nets. “We especially want to incorporate women into our project,” Moussa said. “The village is very conservative, so teaching women how to make the nets at home will allow them to join the economy without breaking social norms.”

Down the road, the women hope that El Bahtiny will become an eco-tourism hotspot, similar to Fayoum’s Tunis Village. “We want it to become a place where people can spend the day fishing and getting to know the hospitable local community,” Moussa said.

With Mahmoud, Moussa and El-Halabi representing AUC’s mechanical engineering program and Yousry hailing from architecture, the group has received support from AUC faculty from both disciplines on the project, including Sherif Goubran, Momen El-Husseiny, Salah El Haggar and Hanadi Salem. Additionally, the program itself held an intensive four-day training in January to boost the team’s project management skills. 

“When I found out that we were selected, it felt like my future had just started – like this is what I'm gonna be doing for the rest of my life,” Moussa said.

Currently in the design and testing phase, the team will present the project at sea in Norway this September, with plans to create different types of nets for different fish down the line. 

“Working on this project has made me feel more ambitious in enacting change and impact within my community as an Egyptian,” Mahmoud added. “I am eager to seek more opportunities."

An AUC team is working to produce green hydrogen at low cost without the use of fossil fuels.

Why Hydrogen?

Hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in essentially any area. It can be processed into fuel for airplanes and ships. It can be burned to generate electricity, power cars or facilitate industrial processes that require a large amount of heat. Factors related to the storage, transport and safety of hydrogen, as well as how it compares economically with other fossil fuel replacements, will determine where it becomes common.

Like natural gas and oil products, hydrogen can be burned to produce heat or electricity. Unlike other fuels that produce CO2 when they combust, hydrogen reacts with oxygen in the air to produce H2O — good old water. 

For hydrogen to serve as a climate solution rather than a problem, it must be produced using renewable energy or fossil fuels offset by carbon capture and storage systems. At present, producing green hydrogen from renewable energy sources is expensive, which is why 95% of hydrogen globally is produced from non-renewable fossil sources.

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