• C. David Welch, former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt
• Black and white old archival photos, scans, Visit Religious Leaders Pope Shenouda
• Sir Magdi Yacoub, cardiothoracic surgeon, Imperial College London, Heart of the Magdi Yacoub Heart Foundation
• John Casson, former UK UK Ambassador to Egypt
• Ahmed Okasha, Psychiatrist, Professor of Psychiatry, Ain Shams University
• Muhammad Tantawi, former Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar
• Mohamed Farid, Executive Chairman, The Egyptian Exchange
• Yoon Soon-Gu, former South Korean Ambassador to Egypt
• Helen Keller, American author, political activist and lecturer
• Helmy Fauzy, Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia
• Sanjay Bhattacharyya, former Indian Ambassador to Egypt
• Louis Greiss '55, Egyptian journalist and writer
• Edith Piaf, French singer and actress
• Thomas Friedman (ALU '74), Pulitzer Prize-winning author
• Fadwa El Guindi '60, award-winning international anthropologist
• Omar Sherif, iconic Egyptian actor
• Former Egyptian President Mohammed Naguib
• Charles Elachi, professor emeritus of electrical engineering and planetary science, California Institute of Technology
• Taha Hussein, literary scholar and former Minister of Education
• Edward Said, professor of English and comparative literature, Columbia University
• Noam Chomsky, professor Emeritus of linguistics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Gro Harlem Brundtland, sustainability movement founder
• David Lipton, First Deputy Managing Director, International Monetary Fund
• Youssef Chahine, award-winning film director
• Amre Moussa, former Secretary-General of the Arab League; Egypt's former Foreign Minister
• Al Gore, 45th Vice President of the United States
• Ahmed Kamal Aboul Magd, law professor, Cairo University
• Fekry Abaza, Egyptian journalist and political activist
• Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry
• Om Kolthoum, legendary Egyptian singer
• Frank G. Wisner, former U.S. Ambassador to Egypt
• Yahya Haqqi, Egyptian writer and novelist
• Nobel Laureate Naguib Mahfouz
• Richard W. Murphy, former U.S. Ambassador
• Yusuf Idris, Egyptian playwright and novelist
• Youssef El-Sebai, Egyptian novelist and former Minister of Culture
• Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State of the United States
• Muhammed El-Sa'di, former President of Al Azhar University
• Boutros Ghall, sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations
• Abbas Ammar, Egypt's Former Minister of Education
• Ahmed Zewail, Nobel Laureate and AUC Trustee
• Don Cheadle, American actor
• Michael Dukakis, former U.S. presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor
• Stephen Walt, professor of International Affairs, Harvard University
• Kofi Annan, Nobel Laureate and seventh Secretary General of the United Nations
• Condoleeza Rice, former U.S. Secretary of State
• Ahdaf Soueif (MA '73), Egyptian novelist
• John Prendergast, New York Times bestselling author, former Director of African Affairs, U.S. National Security Council
• Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States
• Hans Kung, Swiss theolgian
• Shibley Telhami Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, University of Maryland
• James Zogby, founder and President of the Arab American Institute
• Mary Robinson, first female president of Ireland
• Timothy Garton Ash, professor of European Studies, University of Oxford
•  

115,000 square meters of stone, marble and granite were used in the campus construction -- the most stone used in a single project since the Pyramids of Giza.

80% of the external walls are made of sandstone, mostly sourced from Upper Egypt, keeping rooms cool during the day and warm at night.

An international team of architects, seven firms from three countries, designed AUC New Cairo, ranked as the top green campus in Africa.

In 2009, AUC received a special award from the Urban Land Institute for the design and construction of its New Cairo campus.

Thanks to the generosity of our New Cairo campus supporters, whose names can be found all around campus.

$1M+

Mr. J. Dinsmore Adams, Jr.

Mr. and Mrs. Moataz Al Alfi

Dr. Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor Hon LHD

Dr. Hamza Bahey El Din Alkholi

H.H. Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al-Qasimi Hon LHD

Mr. Theodore S. Bacon, Jr.*

Mr. and Mrs. Paul H. Bartlett

Dr. Sarwat Sabet Bassily*

H.R.H. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Hon LHD

Mr. and Mrs. Richard M. Cashin

Paul I. and Charlotte P. Corddry

Mr. Miner D. Crary, Jr. and Mrs. Mary Crary*

Mrs. Elizabeth S. Driscoll

Mr. Mohamed Shafik Gabr '73

Mr. Paul B. Hannon Hon LHD

Dr. and Mrs. Elias K. Hebeka

Dr. and Mrs. Ahmed M. Hassanein Heikal

Mr. Yousef Abdul Latif Jameel '68, Hon LHD

Mrs. Suad Al-Husseini Juffali Hon LHD

Mr. and Mrs. Bruce L. Ludwig

H.E. Mohamed Loutfy Mansour

Mr. Hatem Niazi Mostafa* and Mrs. Janet Mostafa

Mr. Youssef Ayyad Nabih*

Sheikh Mohammed Wajih Hassan Sharbatly '89

$500K+

Sheikh Faisal Kamal Adham

Mrs. Mary Cross*

Mr. Hassan '73 and Mrs. Jill Dana

$250K+

Mr. Ala M. Al Khawaja

Dr. Barbara Brown and Dr. Steven C. Ward

Professor Gail M. Gerhart

Mr. Abdallah S. Jum'ah '65

Mr. David Rockefeller Hon LHD*

Mr. Khaled Shaheen

Mrs. Linda Joan Vester Greenberg '89

$100K+

Arab African International Bank

Mrs. Sarah Bacon*

Commercial International Bank (Egypt)

Mr. and Mrs. Elias Henry Debbas '68

Mr. William L. Driscoll and Dr. Lisa M. Hoffman

Abla Leheta and Souhail El-Taji El-Farouki '68

Dr. and Mrs. Adel El-Labban '77 '80

Mr. Hesham Helal El Sewedy '88

Sted and Robin Garber

Dr. John D. Gerhart Hon LHD*

Dr. Eng. Mamdouh Mostafa Hamza

Mr. Charles J. Hedlund Hon LHD*

Henkel-Egypt

Mr. B. Boyd and Mrs. Mary Kay Hight

Mr. Lawrence H. Hyde*

Fritz and Lee Link

Mrs. Marion M. Lloyd*

PepsiCo International - Egypt

Dr. Mohamed Eloui Taymour*

The Starr Foundation

Dr. Sadek '87 and Mrs. Suzy Wahba

Anonymous

$50K+

Alcatel - Lucent Egypt

Sheikh Abdulaziz AlSulaiman

Mr. David D. Arnold and Mrs. Sherry Lee Arnold

AUC Parents Association

Mr. Kenneth H. Bacon* and Mrs. Dorothy Bacon*

Mrs. Molly and Dr. Thomas Bartlett Hon LHD

Mr. Hussein Choucri

Peggy Driscoll and Rob Keeley

Egyptian Gulf Bank (EGBANK)

Eng. Emad Zaki El Sewedy '88

Mrs. Miriam Thorne Gilpatric*

Mrs. Inaam Bahgat Hassanein '84, '91

Dr. Ibrahim Abdel Aziz Hegazy '84, '87

Ms. Elizabeth D. Hlavka and Mr. Edwin J. Hlavka

Ms. Edith Crary Howe*

Mr. Tarek Mohamed Ismail

ITWorx

Arthur and Susan Lindenauer

Link Development

Luz and William MacArthur

Mr. Seif Allah Hamdy Mostafa '94

Mrs. Louise W. Moore Pine*

Red Bull Egypt for Import & Export

Dr. Ahmed Hassan Said '85

Mr. Mahmoud Abdel Wahab Saleh*

Mr. Ahmed Mamdouh Sharafeldin '91

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas E. Thomason

Mr. and Mrs. John Elting Treat*

Mr. and Mrs. John A. Urquhart, Sr.*

Visa International (Egypt)

The Honorable Frank G. Wisner

Anonymous

$25K+

Sheikh Ahmed Abdullatif '57

James D. and Mary Claire Bond

Mrs. Rania Ismail '95 and Mr. Ahmed Ismail '97

Mrs. Margaret R. King*

Reverend Richard A. Lundy SP

Mrs. Nadia Niazi Mostafa

Rob and Teresa Oden

$10K+

Mr. and Mrs. Anis Aclimandos

Mrs. Elisabeth Barahim

Kate, Victor and Jack Boyd

Mr. Alexander L. Darling

Mr. Mohamed A. Fattah El Masry

Dr. Hussein and Mrs. Kim El-Sharkawy

Mr. and Mrs. Peter Gajewski

Mr. and Mrs. Mounir Ghabbour

Mrs. Hoda Mohamed Hamed '66, '73

Ms. Deming P. Holleran

Mrs. Mona Ismail Mostafa Ismail '68, '79

Mr. Mohamed Saddik Leheta*

William Quandt

Mr. and Mrs. Fathi Qasem Samarah

Mr. Christopher T. Seaver '80

H.E. Ambassador Samir S. Shihabi '47, Hon LHD*

Mrs. Benjamin W. Thoron*

*Deceased

Hon LHD Honorary Degree

SP Special Program Alumni

The first building secured for AUC was Khairy Pasha's Old Palace Residence. The same building at one time housed the Egyptian University, now Cairo University.
 

AUC owned land near the Giza Pyramids until 1959 and originally had planned to have the campus be by the pyramids.

AUC used to host a traditional tug of war contest between sophomores and freshmen. As reported by the Caravan on November 2, 1951, "The traditional tug of war between sophomores and freshmen will take place on Saturday, January 6 during Assembly time. There will be a ditch filled with mud between the two teams, and the winning team will be the one who can tug the other team into the mud."

In its early days, AUC's Arabic classes assigned students both a "sheikh" and an "effendi." The sheikh was someone who did not speak English, and the effendi was someone who did.

-- Alan Horton, student, written in 1947

Through the years, AUC students have hosted a range of informal contests, notably including a yelling contest in 1945 and a beard-growing contest in 1956. Below is an excerpt about the yelling contest in the January 5, 1945 Caravan edition:

"Leila Shukri beat all other co-eds who took part in a yelling contest last week in the girls' room. The aim of the contest was to see who could reach the highest pitch. Leila Shukri reached the highest Mi note on tiptoes and so scored the highest. Ida Chalvarjian could not yell at all. Every time she tried yelling, she produced a discordant sound."
 

AUC Professor Blase Donadio decided on the spur of the moment to buy a car during his three-day stopover in Rome, managing to bring it back to AUC with him. When he arrived, he described the students' excitement: "The students were all agog to see the miracle car that was brought from Rome in six days. They immediately baptized her Zarifa, an all-inclusive name meaning anything from hellish to angelic. Decals were made by an art student to adorn the window and a woven red Zarifa doll to sit primly on the instrument panel."
 

Chonchette Youssef Rizkalla '63

"I remember a very funny [and] mischievous incident which took place during my sophomore year. It was a history class, and the teacher had some prejudice. She liked some students more than others, and I was among the unlucky ones. It was during winter, and it was a dreary afternoon and most of the students as well as the teacher were half drowsy. We had a report to prepare from some outside readings, which was to be read in the class. I was the first to be summoned to deliver my report. I spoke for 10 minutes. I was told that my report was not full and does not deserve more than a C. I sat with a scowl on my face, dissatisfied with the grade.

After two more reports, a friend of mine was called to deliver her report, which she did not prepare. She snatched my report, and audaciously, she began reading it. A few of the students who saw her take my report began smiling peevishly. Everyone was in suspense, wondering whether the teacher would discover the trick. Amidst the suspense, we fretfully giggled. We were scolded for our misbehavior. I was reprimanded for being so irresponsible as to laugh when my grade was C, instead of listening attentively to the report, which was graded A. Such is luck, fellow students. My report, the one I wrote, was twice-graded: once C for Miss 'Unlucky' and once A for Miss 'Lucky.'"
 

The 1987 Caravan posted a piece titled "Cats! Cats! Cats!" about how the sixth-floor lounge of the Falaki girls' hostel had been filled with cats, who "seem to have mistaken the place for a shelter."

Pierre Cachia '42

"Dr. Howard taught me English. I can still remember his particular technique. Whenever I submitted a paper, if there was one word that wasn't quite right, he would just put a tiny little tick with his pencil underneath it. There was no indication of what the right word ought to be, just a little tick. And I would go home, puzzle over it and spend a couple of hours searching through the dictionaries until I found the right word to replace it by. Well, I think I still do this when I'm working on an article or book. If I put down a word that isn't quite right, I almost see Dr. Howard's little tick underneath it, and I still spend a couple hours searching through the dictionaries until I find the right one."
 

James Quay, worked at AUC, report from the 1920s:

"Dr. Watson loved to entertain, and at his house, they would set a table and everything would be arranged. During dinner, Dr. Watson would break in with a new subject all set in his mind that would make a good conversation piece. In fact, I believe he had a whole string of topics for conversation scribbled on the inside of his cuff to assure that the table conversation would be kept on the rails and not run off into small matters that weren't pertinent."

James Quay, worked at AUC, report from the 1920s:

"Dr. Robert S. McClenahan was the Dean of the American University in Cairo. He was quite an able man, of big stature and fine presence. He was nearly blind by the time he died. The last time I saw him, he told me about standing on the street, on the corner of 5th Avenue, New York, alone waiting for the traffic to stop so that he could get across with safety. As he stood there waiting, a friendly hand took him by the arm and gave him a little push, and the two of them went across the street in perfect safety to the other side. This stranger turned to McClenahan and thanked him very much. And McClenahan said, 'What are you thanking me for?' 'Why, for getting me across the street,' the stranger responded. 'You see, I'm blind.'" 
 

P.J Vatikiotis, 1944-1948

"General AUC characters in those days were the Zabit, a sort of discipline officer, who, when he was not prowling about, sat at a desk on the right-hand side beneath the central stairway of the main building. He made certain people went to class, did not lie about smoking on campus or cavorting with the odd female, and wrote the list of the day's post on a blackboard precariously hung against the iron railing fence on the main gate."
 

John Badeau, AUC president (1945-1953)

"Naguib Rihany, the great popular playwright of social significance, died suddenly in Egypt. That year, one of our girls had made Naguib Rihany and the social objectives of his plays the subject of her senior thesis, and she spent a year on this. She talked to Rihany and she read all his plays, and when he died, this really was the only account available about his philosophy of acting, a list of his works and how he went about it. It became very valuable. We sent one copy to the Library of Congress. The Egyptian government had a copy. And the girl who did it had a type of education that she just wouldn't get out of a book."

According to the 1953 Caravan, during President Nasser's visit to campus, "he was surrounded during this time by students and visitors anxious to greet him or get his autograph. When he entered the library office, many of the spectators attempted to enter also. When their knocks on the door went unanswered, some jumped in through the window."

It also reports, "When he was given a copy of the Campus Caravan, he was astonished to find the complete story and pictures of Arabic Day already included in the paper. As he looked at his sketch on the front page, he was asked if he was the person show there. He replied that he was and added that the Campus Caravan was a good looking paper."

Charles Watson led a life dedicated to the expansion of education and the promotion of Christian values abroad and specifically in Egypt. Born in Egypt on July 17, 1873, Watson received his early education in the country and his PhD from Princeton University's Theological Seminary in 1899. He began his career by taking charge of a mission church in Pittsburgh. Later, he worked as a teacher and pastor, promoting the works of his church at home and abroad. He was an active member of the Near East Christian Council, a special representative for the Foreign Ministry Board of North America at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, and was part of an Egyptian commission to study a program of national education for the country in the early 1930s. He studied the educational system in Egypt in the early 1900s, and in 1915, organized the Board of Trustees of The American University at Cairo. The legacy of his life and values are still felt through the University today.
 

Liberal Arts

"We must have original and creative minds. To develop such minds is to render a supreme service to the country. Yet, this is no easy task. It calls for constant encouragement of the student to think for himself. It calls for the abandonment of the memorizing system of education. It calls for examinations and research work that will encourage independent thinking. It calls for discussions in classrooms and not mere recitations."

-- "The Place and Program of The American University at Cairo," Commencement Address May 26, 1933
 

"Our institution is here to serve Egypt and the population of Egypt. ... The full recognition of this point is fundamental to any consideration of our program and plans. ... The American University at Cairo has from the beginning laid a unique emphasis on character training in education. ... Our education is directed not merely to the student's head and intellect, but also to his heart and moral character."

-- The Graduation Exercises, The College of Arts and Sciences June 5, 1925
 

Cocurriculars

"No one may secure the diploma of this University without doing more than merely pass examinations on a subject matter. He must give evidence of a total development of life and character that makes him worthy of being called a college graduate. This general development we endeavor to secure by what we call our extracurricular activities."

-- "The Place and Program of The American University at Cairo," Commencement Address May 26, 1933

"In our education here, we strive to maintain and even deepen sympathy with the outside world. Not only are our social studies organized for an examination into the problems of Egypt, but the students are taken out to visit hospitals and orphanages, villages and the poorer sections of the city, prisons and factories, so that they may possess this quality so important for every leader, namely, sympathy with the people. ... Sometimes we are criticized for the large place we give in our curriculum to character training, to studies in ethics and to extracurricular activities, but we are persuaded that no part of our training is more important or will contribute more richly to the abiding goal of an independent Egypt."

-- "The Student, The School, and the Nation," Commencement Address May 28, 1937

"No one may secure the diploma of this University without doing more than merely pass examinations on a subject matter. He must give evidence of a total development of life and character that makes him worthy of being called a college graduate. This general development we endeavor to secure by what we call our extracurricular activities."

-- "The Place and Program of The American University at Cairo," Commencement Address May 26, 1933 
 

Public Access to Education

"Our Division of Extension has been developed in recognition of Mr. Public and of his opinion. It not only recognizes his importance, but it also believes that he can be educated and that, if educated, he can become the greatest force [in] the improvement of a country. That is why this University, through its Division of Extension, has sought to affect public opinion by lectures, by the printed page, by the cinema, by radio, by general gatherings and, again, by smaller forums."

-- "The Place and Program of The American University at Cairo," Commencement Address May 26, 1933
 

"The Department of University Extension ... has for its motto, 'Educate all the people.' In opposition to the familiar business term, '--- Company, Limited,' it has been called 'Education, Unlimited.'

-- "The Place and Program of The American University at Cairo," Commencement Address May 26, 1933
 

Bridging the global radiology gap

By Nahla El Gendy

According to the World Health organization, in many medical cases worldwide, clinical considerations are not enough to make a correct diagnosis. radiology, or diagnostic imaging, allows doctors to see inside the body, providing detailed information that is crucial for proper disease diagnosis. As the World Health Organization put it, "diagnostic imaging is a prerequisite for the correct and successful treatment of at least a quarter of all patients worldwide."

The problem? Two-thirds of the world's population lacks access to basic radiology services, whether in the form of X-rays, ultrasounds, CAt scans, magnetic resonance or other procedures -- what HealthManagement.org describes as the "global radiology gap that now poses a threat to public health."

"With technological advances in the last two decades, radiology is expanding rapidly worldwide while the number of radiologists has not increased at the same rate," said Amr Abodraiaa, CEO and co-founder of Rology, a startup of the AUC Venture Lab (V-Lab), Egypt's first university-based accelerator. Abodraiaa became aware of the problem several years ago when he worked on a hospital management system with a startup company in Egypt. "it always concerned me how there was a constant delay in issuing patient reports," he said. "Patients would sometimes have to wait for two or three weeks to receive their final diagnostic reports."

Using artificial intelligence, Rology works to bridge this gap through an on-demand, web-based teleradiology platform that instantly and remotely matches radiology images originating from hospitals with professional radiologists in different parts of the globe. Rology can be easily accessed by radiologists worldwide and doesn't require special hardware.

" Rology helps hospitals provide their patients with a fast and accurate report," said Abodraiaa. "this is crucial because a patient's diagnosis and treatment can only start after the physician receives the radiology report."

Rology operations follow three main steps: upload, match and report. the hospital uploads the patient's medical images onto the system. Based on the first auto analysis, Rology then matches the scan with the optimal radiologist, depending on availability and subspecialty. Afterward, the radiologist writes the final diagnostic report and sends it back to the hospital through a quality control process.

"The health care sector in Egypt is ripe for innovations," said Ayman Ismail 
'95, '97, Abdul Latif Jameel Chair in Entrepreneurship, associate professor at AUC's School of Business and V-Lab founding director. "there is a huge need for expanding access, improving quality of care and reducing costs for health care services in Egypt, especially with the growing population and rising incomes. startups like Rology are using innovative technologies and business models to expand access to radiology services. At the AUC Venture Lab, we are now adding health care as a focus sector and working with entrepreneurs like Amr to introduce new innovations to this vital sector."

Rology is already making an impact in Egypt. "We have helped hospitals and radiology centers in various Egyptian governorates to improve their operations by issuing almost 60,000 accurate and timely diagnostic reports since we started operating in October 2017," said Abodraiaa.

Rology currently works with 54 hospitals and private radiology centers across Egypt and has recently started operating in Saudi Arabia and Kenya, with plans to expand its services to new markets in Africa and the Middle East by 2020. "We have five main countries in our expansion plan for this year, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Congo," said Abodraiaa. "it's just the start."

HASSAN AZZAZY
PROFESSOR AND CHAIR
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

Building a low-cost sensor that monitors water quality

The Inspiration

I believe that clean water is a human right. Yet developing countries often lack the capacity to detect and remove toxic metals from their water supply. If you're exposed to those metals -- mercury, cadmium, arsenic and lead -- in your water every day, they accumulate in your body. As they accumulate, they can severely affect your health. They can lower IQs in children, damage organs in people of any age and more. My research team is trying to develop a low-cost testing device -- a colorimetric sensor -- for toxic metals in water.

The Process

The first step was putting together a multidisciplinary team: graduate students with expertise in sensing technologies, nanotechnology and analytical chemistry. Together, we prepared innovative nanosensors, which have been granted patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office; assembled sensor strips; ran tests and compared results. Those results were qualitative; they provided only a yes/no answer for the presence of a specific toxic metal. Similar to pregnancy tests, the color of each sensor strip changes in the presence of a specific toxic metal. We have also developed a portable device that can measure the intensity of the developed color and, therefore, produce quantitative results -- numbers that can be used to assess the exact level of toxic metals in water.

The Next Steps

The next phase of our project is very exciting. We'll develop a tool that can help remove toxic metals from water. In everything we do, we're guided by the idea that our research should contribute practical solutions to address national and global challenges.

The IMPACT

Simply put, the devices we produce will help communities, especially those in remote locations dependent on underground water, to monitor their water quality. Local authorities will be able to assess the toxicity of metals in their water, giving them the information they need to warn community members of danger or to ensure that their water is safe for drinking or other uses.

Four toxic metals -- MERCURY, CADMIUM, ARSENIC AND LEAD -- are among the World Health Organization's Top 10 Chemicals of Major Public Concern.

The Future

AUC is one of the best places in Egypt to conduct innovative research. The high-caliber faculty, the industrious students, the advanced facilities and instruments -- these are all important factors. But the culture of AUC is important too. This is a University that encourages multidisciplinary research, innovation and entrepreneurship.

Read about the newly inaugurated AUC and Alexandria University Center of Excellence for Water.

By Yakin Ouederni

Communicating in Arabic Sign Language with the tap of a phone

Baher Moursy '18, Heba Sakr '18, Youssef Khairalla '18 and Tamara Nagui '17 have always been driven by a desire to give back to their communities whenever the opportunity arises. So when it came time for them to decide on a graduation project in 2017, it was difficult to settle on one of the many ideas they thought of, but they were sure of one thing: Whatever it was, it needed to go beyond being just a thesis project.

After months of brainstorming, they came up with Eshara, a mobile application that translates Arabic Sign Language (ASL) into written Arabic in real time. Eshara works on any device with a camera, using video recognition technology to detect the hand movements of someone speaking ASL and simultaneously provide a written translation.

"Imagine a world in which a student can raise his or her hand in a classroom and sign what he or she is trying to communicate, and everyone else in the classroom reading or hearing the translation instantly," Khairalla said.

The Eshara logo was designed by Yasmine Nagui '16

Due to rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI), the world that Khairalla speaks of can soon become a reality. Eshara relies on computer vision and machine learning, a subset of AI that uses systems to identify patterns and make decisions with little to no human intervention. Both fields are increasingly being used across a variety of areas such as health care monitoring, financial services and transportation. In Eshara's case, the group films people speaking ASL and then programs the software to recognize specific movements as words so that it may provide a written translation.

"Basically, we design and train several AI computing models to associate each ASL word gesture with its corresponding text," said Mohamed Moustafa, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the team's supervisor. "This work of action recognition is actually part of a bigger research topic known as human-computer interaction. Its applications are all futuristic."

Noting the great impact of machine learning on people's lives, Moustafa emphasized the importance of investing time into developing this field. "Self-driving vehicles are expected to be fully autonomous in a handful of years, bidirectional language translation is helping real-time conversations, and mature models are being developed to recommend your next online purchase," he said.

And it's exactly this type of impact that the team hopes to make with Eshara: creating programs that make people's lives easier by using AI to help underserved populations and inspire others to do the same. "We have the knowledge; we have the technology," Moursy said. "Why don't we use it for the good of society?"

"Be the Future" in Arabic Sign Language by (front row) Youssef Khairalla, Heba Sakr, Baher Moursy and (back) Amr AbdelGhani

Two years after presenting their idea to the thesis panel, the team members are still developing the app. Amr AbdelGhani '19 has since joined the team.

What the team members have now is the demo they created for the graduation project, which is capable of translating individual words and not full sentences. By the end of the year, they hope to accomplish two goals for the app: translating full sentences and being quick enough to produce words in real time. Development takes place in two stages: data collection then programming the machine.

Eshara app design

When the team members initially started conducting research, they were surprised to see that there was no project like theirs targeting ASL speakers in the Middle East. This made the data collection process much more difficult and time consuming. "It took us around a year to collect data for the demo," Moursy said.

One year for 16 words.

Data collection involves choosing words to include in the Eshara dictionary and then filming those words being spoken in ASL. To ensure Eshara's accuracy at all times of the day and in different locations, the team needed to film movements across a wide array of environments and with different people. With no ASL experience and no contacts with anyone who speaks it, the team members had to learn the movements and train their friends to shoot the videos.

"When filming the words, we needed a wide range of skin colors, hand sizes, backgrounds and lighting, and we had to film at different times of the day," Sakr said.

Their project stalled for one year when they lost funding, but AUC secured funding earlier in 2019, and the team got right back to work in July. Since then, they have expanded the dictionary to between 800 and 1,000 words. "Being part of the Eshara team resembles a great opportunity for me to help create something that can directly impact people's lives and has the potential to revolutionize communication with those who cannot hear," said AbdelGhani. "The current progress is unprecedented for Arabic Sign Language recognition, and I believe that we could potentially push this technology to achieve a breakthrough in scalable automatic ASL recognition. The passion and excitement of the team along with AUC's support make this project a fun and fulfilling journey."

Data Collection for Eshara

Turning AUC Tahrir Square into their workspace, the team members meet with ASL professionals and communities in Cairo that cannot hear or speak to film vocabulary. Khairalla, who is currently overseas, is helping with researching quicker and more efficient technologies for the app.

"Speed is our main concern," Moursy said. "The app needs to be able to translate full sentences in real time."

Sign language translating programs do exist for languages other than ASL, but what differentiates Eshara from all others is its accessibility. Most programs use censored gloves or 3D cameras to detect hand movements, while Eshara can be downloaded on mobile phones and works across different software.

"If someone who speaks Arabic Sign Language is sitting right next to me, there would be no way of communicating with him or her," Moursy said. "Eshara would allow me to just pull out my phone and carry out a conversation. We're not realizing that there's a whole demographic of people we aren't talking to."

What started out as a graduation project turned into an initiative to include an often neglected demographic in society. Even AUC Tahrir Square, which started off as a meeting place for data collection, became a space for a community of people working toward a common cause.

"The ASL professionals were really excited about the project and even want to continue helping us for free," Sakr said, emphasizing how this project will allow ASL speakers to enter the workforce more easily, making way for diverse skills and talents that were previously not tapped into. "We're helping to create a better future for them because they can finally be able to take part in regular, everyday life like everyone else."

HASSAN EL-FAWAL
PROFESSOR OF BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES
DEAN, SCHOOL OF SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING
FOUNDING DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL 
HEALTH AND HUMAN ECOLOGY

Setting the foundation for the future of health care in Egypt

The Inspiration

My specific research area is environmental health, with a particular focus on developing diagnostic tests for a range of conditions. But I've always had a broad interest in breaking down barriers that impede meaningful progress for humanity. One such example is our focus on precision health to arrive at a gene-environment model within the demographic and socioeconomic context. One project we're keen on now, in collaboration with colleagues -- most notably Mohamed Salama, physician and clinical neurotoxicologist who recently joined AUC as associate professor at the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology -- and international partners, is establishing a reference genome for Egypt. This is an essential first step in identifying unique vulnerabilities of the population to communicable and non-communicable diseases. In that regard, it is a mission that satisfies both the interests of protecting environmental health and early disease diagnosis.

The Process

We're collaborating with a number of institutions in Europe and the Middle East. It's a vast, interdisciplinary project that requires the team efforts of medical health professionals, biomedical scientists and engineers, as well as the expertise of colleagues in the social sciences. In one way, we're doing what every good research project does: defining gaps in our knowledge, asking the relevant questions, designing an adaptable approach, running tests, analyzing big data and refining our methods. But we're doing these things at the most advanced level and with diverse expertise.

The Next Steps

A complete database that reflects the efforts of researchers and practitioners across Egypt will inform the country's health policy and its management of health care and will establish AUC as an enabling partner for researchers in Egypt. Not at all coincidentally, AUC has developed two graduate programs -- a master's and doctorate in global public health -- that focus on these issues. The graduate programs, in turn, are part of our new Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology, which is designed to address worldwide challenges: food scarcity, environmental degradation, burgeoning populations, the spread of diseases associated with industrial development and much more.

The IMPACT

The reference genome for Egypt will provide a database for comparative studies and a repository for shared information on the genetic basis of health and disease to advance personalized medicine and health care among the Egyptian population. It will empower researchers and clinicians to better identify risk -- diagnosing diseases such as cancer, neurodegenerative conditions and heart disease -- while mitigating risk or customizing treatment. Simply put, it is the future of health care in Egypt that should inform policy.

The Future

AUC recently celebrated its centennial. To me, this project -- as well as the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology -- represents the dawn of our second century of service. It's about working together across borders, across disciplines in a spirit of progress and collaboration to find solutions.

Read about the Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology.

Training Social workers to respond to children in crisis

CARIE FORDEN
PROFESSOR OF PSYCHOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHOLOGY

The Inspiration

How do we protect children from neglect and abuse? That's a critical question in Egypt and around the world. I'm collaborating with UNICEF and Egypt's Ministry of Social Solidarity to answer it. We're trying to enhance the skills and capabilities of professional social workers -- the people who often have the best chance of improving the lives of children in these situations.

The Process

The team at AUC includes Yasmine Saleh '91, associate professor of practice in the Department of Psychology, and many students who have worked as interns and research assistants. Here's what we do: We conduct assessments to determine the kinds of training that social workers need to be effective in serving children -- for example, training in gender-based violence, alternative care, positive parenting and psychosocial support for trauma. Then we develop training courses with lots of hands-on activities, produce the materials to support them and lead the courses. We conduct evaluations of the training sessions to help ensure they are effective and improving social work practice. We also train new trainers so the work can spread far beyond us.

The IMPACT

We've trained more than 400 social workers in Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Sharqiya and North Sinai; developed 33 days of training curricula; and certified nine local trainers. If we can sustain this approach, the potential impact of the project is huge: Social workers across Egypt will be better able to protect and support children, youth and families, and the changes that UNICEF and the Ministry of Social Solidarity are trying to implement will be embedded into the national system of social work training and practice.

93% of children aged 1 to 14 have been exposed to violent disciplinary practices by their parents or caregivers, including psychological and physical violence.

UNICEF, citing the 2014 Egypt Demographic and Health Survey, published by the Ministry of Health

The Next Steps

In the next two years, we plan to train and certify an additional 500 social workers. The chances of success are high. A recent call for a training of trainers on gender-based violence drew more than 300 applicants. We're also supporting the ministry's efforts to move from placing children in orphanages to placing them in alternative parental care and helping them create a new system to certify child protection social workers.

The Future

AUC is the ideal place to do this work. Our community psychology program -- focusing on collaboration with community partners, creating positive social change and building professional practice skills -- is unique in the region. We're able to attract high-caliber students; they're true partners in this project. AUC's reputation for excellence means that our community partners welcome the chance to work with us, and trainees see our programs as prestigious. And the University is truly committed to community engagement. Work like ours is valued and sustained, which then helps us ensure that social workers and the children they serve are valued and sustained.