Arab American Association of Engineers and Architects AAAEA 2007—2008 EXECUTIVE BOARD Jamal Grainawi, SE, PE Dr. Hiba Abdalla President Vice President Raghad Adeis-Dahhan, SE, PE Ehab Elqaq, PE Secretary Treasurer AAAEA Mohammad Kleit, SE Mohammed A. Khattab IT Officer Activity Committee Dr. Moussa A. Issa, SE, PE Nabeel Aldrees, PE Education Committee Membership Committee Nasser Grainawi/Ahmad Safi GM Sadat, PE Publication Committee Career Enhancement Committee Ayoub Talhami, PE Dr. Soliman Khudeira, SE, PE By-Law E-Week & Essay/Poster Contest Ahmad Basrawi Dr. Mustafa Mahamid, PE Nomination / Election National Outreach Jamil Bou-Saab , PE Dr. Hiba Abdalla Scholarship Women Engineers AAAEA BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chairman - Abder R. Ghouleh, PE Past Presidents - Bilal Almasri Dr. Ahmad Hammad, SE, PE Dr. Soliman Khudeira, SE, PE 2007 Semi-Annual Meeting Members - Hasan Al Gholeh, PE Dr. Sam Elmoursi, PE Friday, November 2, 2007 Ahmad Basrawi Dr. Mohsen Issa, SE, PE Jamil Bou-Saab, PE Dr. Ghaffar Kazkaz Drury Lane Oak Brook John Dasoqi, SE, PE Suheil Nammari, PE Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois Ayoub Talhami, PE Peoria Chapter: President: George Ghareeb, PE UIUC Student Chapter: President: Ibrahim Odeh Going National Together Arab American Association of November 2, 2007 Engineers and Architects Dear Members and Guests: Welcome to the 2007 AAAEA Semi-Annual Meeting. We are glad that you could join us. We are Sponsors delighted to have Dr. Usama Fayyad, Chief Data Officer / Executive Vice President of Research & Strategic Solutions, Yahoo! Inc. as our keynote speaker. We are also happy to have Dr. Munir H. AAAEA greatly appreciates the contributions of many Nayfeh, Professor of Physics at the University of Illinois, as the recipient of the AAAEA Achieve- ment Award; Mr. Ayoub Talhami, PE, as the recipient of the AAAEA Honorary Lifetime Member- companies and individuals in support of the Semi- ship Award; and our honoree, Mr. Hanie Miri, as the recipient of the AAAEA Award of Apprecia- Annual Meeting and AAAEA programs. tion. We also have four exceptional students with us tonight who will be presented with $2000 each for Scholarship Fund winning the AAAEA Scholarship Award. Congratulations. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all who are working so hard to make this Gold Sponsors: $2,000 Semi-Annual Meeting a success, and thanks to all of you who have willingly helped make this year a success too. Our Association is only as strong as our members. I also wish to thank the four past Dr. Ghaffar Kazkaz Creative Designs presidents for their tireless efforts and dedication: Abder Rahman Ghouleh, Dr. Soliman Khudeira, Dr. Ahmad Hammad, and specially Bilal Almasri, who without his continuous guidance and efforts, Silver Sponsors: $1,000 an event like this one wouldn't be possible. Area Wide Property Management A very special thank you goes out to all sponsors who contributed to the AAAEA Scholarship Fund; Hatem El-Agha Ayman Khalil and to all those who sponsored our events. Thanks are also due to those who purchased full tables. We very much appreciate your generosity and hope you will continue to support the AAAEA pro- Bronze Sponsors: $500 & Under grams. Please see page eleven (11) for a list of all of our valued supporters. HBM Engineering Group S.A.M. Consultants, Inc. Terra Engineering Ltd. Once again I want to remind every one that without the support of our members our association would not be as strong and vibrant as it is. Make sure to show your support by participating in our Sponsors Purchasing a Full Table at $350 events and volunteering to help this fine association. Accurate Group Inc. I hope you all have a tremendously beneficial and enjoyable time participating in this event. I look Advance Consulting Group International forward to meeting and talking with all of you. Thank you for coming. Your continued participation Area Wide Property Management has had, and will continue to have, an enormous positive impact on the work of AAAEA and I thank you for that. Basrawi Brothers Concordia Engineering Consultants With warm regards, Delta Engineering Inc. Hatem El-Agha HBM Engineering Group Jamal Grainawi, P.E., S.E. ITW AAAEA President PB S.A.M. Consultants, Inc. Terra Engineering Ltd. AAAEA Scholarship Awards PROGRAM - I The following four students are winners of the AAAEA Scholarship for 2007: Mr. Rajai Zuheir Alrousan Master of Ceremonies He is currently a Ph.D. student in the civil and materials engineering department, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). He published a paper about the shear strengthening of high-strength reinforced concrete Mr. Moosa Matariyeh beams. He also published a paper about the composite behavior of prefabricated full-depth precast con- crete panels installed on precast prestressed girders in the PCI structural journal (2006), three conference 5:00 Registration/Social papers, and submitted four papers in ACI and ASCE Journals. This is his third year as an active member in AAAEA. 6:00 Welcoming Remarks Mr. Rachid Amine He is an Undergraduate Senior at the Illinois Institute of Technology and plans on receiving his Bachelor By Dr. Hiba Abdalla, Vice President / Chairman of the of Science in Chemical Engineering in December 2007. He has had several internships throughout the Semi-Annual Meeting Committee last four years including ANL (Argonne National Laboratory) where he worked as a research assistant on two projects. He also worked as a Battery Engineer for an Indianapolis-based company named Enerdel where he tested battery modules. In addition, he played a role as a design engineer in a project led by State of the Association Professor Said Al-Hallaj where the objective was to design a geothermal power plant. This project was By Mr. Jamal Grainawi, PE, SE, President very successful and came in at third place above more than thirty other projects presented on the Inter Professional (IPRO) day. Services by AAAEA He is also a member of quite a few organizations and associations namely, the Muslim Student Associa- By Mr. GM Sadat, PE, Career Enhancement Committee tion (MSA), the AAAEA for the past couple of years, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) and the IIT International Student Organization (ISO). Chairman Ms. Ghadir Haikal Student Chapters She is a PhD Student at University of Illinois. Currently a member of Chi Epsilon, a civil engineering honor society, Tau Beta Pi, an engineering honor society, and the Arab American Association of Engi- By Mr. Abder Rahman Ghouleh, Chairman of the Board of neers and Architects (AAAEA). She had taken part in various educational projects within the civil engi- Trustees neering department and the college of engineering such as the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineer- ing and the Illinois Science Olympiad programs. Her efforts to help students contributed to her inclusion in the Incomplete List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent at the University of Illinois for the past three Peoria Chapter years. She has served as one of two student representatives on the Graduate Affairs Committee in the By Mr. George Ghareeb, PE, Peoria Chapter President Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering for two years. She was a Fulbright scholar during the period of 2002-2004, and served as a good ambassador of the Arabic culture during that time. National Outreach Effort Mr. Omar El Anwar He is a PhD student at University of Illinois and has vast experience as a design engineer on projects in By Dr. Mustafa Mahamid, NOC Chairman/ the Middle East and a research assistant in a project funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation. National Steering Committee Chairman He was the first to introduce AAAEA to the student of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC); he is a co-founder/Vice-President of the first AAAEA student chapter. He is the Treasurer for AAAEA Achievement Award the Egyptian Student Association in North America (ESANA) and served as Vice President last year. Presented to Dr. Munir Nayfeh ESANA-UIUC provides social and cultural service to the students and families, and interacts and co- operates with student organizations on campus. He is a member of the ASCE and its student chapter at Professor of Physics, UIUC UIUC. He is involved in other community organizations such as CIMIC which provides social, educa- tional, and spiritual services to the Urbana-Champaign community at large. Dr. Nayfeh Research Achievements PROGRAM - II (Continued) 7:00 Dinner Activities in the Arab world: Role of Arab scientists and technologists abroad (ASTA) in its development • Co-founded the Network of Arab Scientists and Technologists Abroad (ASTA) headquartered Services by AAAEA - By Mr. GM Sadat, Career in Urbana, Illinois, USA, and at the HCST (Jordan) Enhancement Committee Chairman • Co-organized congresses of ASTA in Jordan, Palestine, Lebanon, and the United Arab Emir- ates. AAAEA Award of Appreciation • Published on the role of ASTA in the development in the Arab World (Al Taawon (Riyadh), Arab Journal of Science (ALESCO, Tunis), Almuhandes (Jordan), AlTadrib AlTaqani (Honoree): (Riyadh), AlFuheis (Chicago) Mr. Hanie Miri, Past AAAEA Executive Board Member • Represented ASTA in the deliberations and addressed the Meeting of Arab Ministers for Re- search and Higher Education held in Algeria (1995) and in Riyadh (1998) on the role of ASTA. Honorary Lifetime Membership Award • Co-organized and participated two symposia at the Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) in Washington DC on the role of ASTA in the development of the Arab World. Presented to Mr. Ayoub Talhami, PE, AAAEA Board • Held Arab-American community meetings (Chicago, Indiana, Orlando, Champaign, Washing- of Trustees, and By-Law Committee Chairman ton) • Co-founder of the Arab Science and Technology Foundation (ASTF) in Sharjah, UAE Scholarship Awards • Presented the role of ASTA on Arab television (Jordan, Syria, Tunis, Sharjah, Algeria, Dubai, Saudi Arabia) and on BBC and Voice of America, Nature, Al Wasat, Al Arabi, Al Yamama, Al By Mr.