From the President's Desk
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AlMuhandes of Engineers and Architects املهندسMonthly Publication of the National Arab American Association VOLUME VIII ISSUE VIII AUGUST 2014 From the President’s Desk... Dear AAAEA Members, the work they are doing to have Summer is almost over. Schools and colleges several educational are either already started or about to start. It is seminars presented CONTACT time for all chapters to start looking into their at the upcoming student chapters and to get their student National AAAEA: members involved with the association Conference. business and activities as well as promoting the Our National By-Laws Ad-Hoc Committee has received several recommendations to amend [email protected] different chapter’s scholarship programs among student members. our national by-laws. These comments are being reviewed and will be presented at the www.naaaea.org As for the national board, the month of August has been very active. I had a meeting with the National Conference for discussion and voting. Our National Career Committee has been very Tri-State board members in New Jersey which lasted for several hours discussing different active all year long sending email things. We talked about what national is doing announcements to our members about job opportunities. If you know of any job PUBLICATION for chapters and what the chapters’ obligations are. We discussed past, present and the vision opportunity, please email them to COMMITTEE: for the future of our organization. It was a good [email protected] so we can share meeting and I hope that every chapter’s them with our members nationwide. Your best candidate for the job, might be someone all the Ayman Alamy involvement with the different national committees increase so every chapter has way across the country from where you are. (Chair) representations in all committees. This is the Our National Publication Committee, chaired best way for any chapter to stay informed by Mr. Ayman Alamy, has also been working Bilal Almasri about what each committee is doing and that very hard preparing several publications related to the national conference as well as (Co-Chair) everyone’s voice is heard. Our National Conference Committee, chaired handling requests from all chapters. The Maha Alsadi by Mr. Bilal Almasri, has been very active as committee is also the one that produces this logistics and details about the upcoming newsletter with information about our Reema Albahri national conference in November are being chapters and the different activities they are running. It is always good to see what every Saed Elahmad finalized. This National Conference will feature, for the first time, several educational seminars chapter is doing for their members and to learn covering topics of interest to most of the from each other success stories. If you have attendees, if not all of them. Thank you Bilal any comments about this newsletter and its ALMUHANDES E - MAIL and the National Conference Committee content, please email them to [email protected] [email protected] members for the work that you are doing. Speaking of educational seminars, the National Please read the remaining part of this Education Committee has recorded two newsletter as it includes a lot of information presentations, “Introduction to PE Exam” and regarding social and educational networking “Introduction to EIT/FE Exam”. These events hosted in your areas. presentations are going to be on our national website and will be available to our members. Together, we can go further! Thank you Dr. Soliman Khudeira, our National Education Committee Chairman, and his Rabih Najib committee for preparing these videos and for VOLUME VIII ISSUE P A G E 2 In This Issue SECTION TITLE PAGE 1 President Message From the President Desk … 1 2 Content In This Issue 2 3 Publications Advertise with AlMuhandes Today 3 4 Appeal APPEAL FROM ALMUHANDES 4 5 Picnic AAAEA-WI Summer Picnic Flyer 5 6 Archive AlMuhandes Archive: 2013 & 2014 6 Board of Directors 7 Building an Institution by Working in Committees 7 Message 8 Picnic AAAEA-Chicago Picnics 2014 Flyer 8 9 Networking AAAEA-TriState Chapter Dinner Gala 9 10 Scholarship AAAEA-TriState Scholarship 9 11 Letter to the Editor Letter to the Editor 10 12 Interview Interview of the month with Osama Elshami 11 13 Outreach AAAEA is going to Boston, and Columbus 14 The Greatest Structural Engineer of the 20th Century 14 Technical 15 Dr. Fazlur Rahman Khan 15 Membership What's in it for me? AAAEA 22 16 Conference 2014 AAAEA National Conference 23 17 Education AAAEA Online EIT/EE Review Course 24 18 Information AlMuhandes Information 25 19 Note AAAEA -National Career Center Needs Your Help 26 20 Note Note from AAAEA -National Career Center 26 21 Picnic AAAEA- Capital Area flyer 27 Arab Poetry Connection - Part 3 22 Heritage 28 أبو الطيب المتنبي, عرب ّي الشخصية وال ّطباع 23 Networking AAAEA-IL 2014 Annual Meeting 31 24 Publications National AAAEA Identity Brochure 2014 32 25 Picture of the Month The Crescent Moon Tower- Dubai 33 AlMuhandes upcoming deadlines 2014 ARTICLES DEADLINE DATE PUBLICATION DATE Thursday, September 25, 2014 Tuesday, September 30, 2014 Thursday, October 23, 2014 Tuesday, October 28, 2014 Thursday, November 20, 2014 Tuesday, November 25, 2014 Thursday, December 25, 2014 Tuesday, December 30, 2014 ALMUHANDES VOLUME VIII ISSUE P A G E 3 Advertise with AlMuhandes Today HALF PAGE AD Monthly $100 FULL PAGE AD Semi-Annual $500 Monthly $150 Annual $800 Semi-Annual $750 Annual $1200 Business Card AD Semi-Annual $125 Quarter Page AD Annual $200 Monthly $75 Semi-Annual $300 Annual $500 Send your advertisement to [email protected] Include your name, address, email and phone number Please be aware that we reserve the right to refuse any advertisement If we create your Ad, it will be extra $100 per page. Payment is due at the time of advertisement AlMuhandes is published on the last Tuesday of every month. Deadlines are on Thursdays AlMuhandes is posted monthly at the National AAAEA website and emailed to over 2000 members & Friends ALMUHANDES VOLUME VIII ISSUE P A G E 4 APPEAL FROM ALMUHANDES ARTICLES STORIES PICTURES EVENTS IDEAS ANNOUCEMENTS This is your publication , and it is PRESS RELEASES as good as you contribute to it. Email your contributions to: INFORMATION [email protected] ENGINEERING We reserve the right not to pub- NEW CORNERS lish any material sent to us. ALMUHANDES VOLUME VIII ISSUE P A G E 5 ALMUHANDES VOLUME VIII ISSUE P A G E 6 AlMuhandes Archive January February March April May June July August 2011 September October November December January February March April May June July August 2012 September October November December January February March April May June July August 2013 September October November December January February March April May June July August 2014 September October November December ALMUHANDES VOLUME VIII ISSUE P A G E 7 AAAEA, Sustainability, Inclusiveness, and Credibility Over the last 18 years, different chapters of AAAEA were formed starting with Chicago in 1996, followed by Texas, Michigan, and Wisconsin in 2003- 2004. The balance of the chapters was established after that. It has been noticed that chapters with standing programs earn their credibility and as a result attracted more members and become stronger. Members like to know that certain events will take place at certain time of the year and they will expect it. Also members do not like events with short notices with poor planning. These kinds of events reflect on the credibility of the chapter poorly. So for chapters who are struggling with membership retention and expansion, please consider planning your activities in advance and make them standing events where member would expect them and plan on attending them which will result in strengthen the association. Programs established by the association and recurring events are essential for the association to gain its credibility. Inclusiveness is an approach where you involve your members and not only the board. We need to make sure that no one is ignored, disrespected, or marginalized in conducting our business. It should be the opposite; the good leadership reaches out, appreciates, and values the contribution of all. This will create a positive environment and attracts others to be involved which will result in strengthen the association. The more members we include in our business, the better ideas we will get, the load will be distributed, and will create a knowledgeable team of volunteers will contribute to your sustainability. The inclusive approach to our work is part of our culture. The openness and reach out to everyone who may be able to contribute gives the members the feeling of ownership in this association. We must stay away from the exclusive approach. It will limit the opportunities and the potential of the association to sustain itself. We are not an exclusive organization, we are an inclusive association. For any association to continue its existence, it must be sustainable. The pioneers in any organization will not live forever. Their energy will not be the same forever, and their circumstances cannot stay the same. These pioneers must attract potential leaders, train them via working in committees and support them leading the association prior to their semi-retirement from the organization. It must be noted that my experience has not been an easy one due to the fact its volunteer work. Some of the trained young leaders have limited their commitment due to career or family reasons and we should expect that. As a result, the sustainability duration will have to be extended to build a reserve of potential young leaders to have enough depth and reserve to sustain the association. Furthermore, I am very concerned about some chapters who were unable to attract fresh blood to join the leadership in the last 10 years.