Arab Professionals End of Summer Picnic
Join us and our network of Arab Professionals for the End of Summer Picnic at Ty Warner Park on Saturday, August 24th. Middle Eastern food will be catered but feel free to bring a dish to share! Friends and family are welcome. Register today!
We look forward to seeing you there!
AAAEA-IL Career Workshop
Join our Career Workshop on Saturday, August 3rd at Reza's Restaurant in Oakbrook for professional networking opportunities! This event is FREE for AAAEA-IL Members and $20 (at the door) for non-members.
AAAEA Volunteer Registration
Use the following application to volunteer in mentoring other engineers to assist engineers land a job.
Apply for the 2019 AAAEA-IL Scholarship
DEADLINE JUNE 15, 2019 4:00 PM CST
Complete and submit the 2019 AAAEA-IL Scholarship Application online
PURPOSE: The Scholarship Award is established by the AAAEA-IL and is presented to Undergraduate and Graduate students in the areas of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Science.
AMOUNT: Depending on the availability of funds, the scholarships will be awarded annually in a determined amount (typically ranges between $1,000 and $2,500). The names of the winners will be presented in October 2019 at the Annual Dinner. The recipient will receive a certificate and check at the AAAEA-IL Annual Dinner, and is required to accept this award in person.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS: The AAAEA-IL Scholarship is available only to:
- Active student members who have paid their 2019 membership dues ($10) to the AAAEA-IL. Applicants may be sponsored by a current AAAEA member who can pay the membership fee. To Check on your membership login to http://aaaea.org/il/wp-login.php and click on Pay/Renew my membership or contact membership chair at membership@aaaea.org.
- Student attending an accredited four (4) years College or University in the state of Illinois, or a resident of Illinois attending college elsewhere. Applicants MUST include in their application proof of Illinois residency or enrollment in an Illinois College or University in the areas of Engineering, Architecture, and Computer Science.
- Applicants must submit a complete application form which consists of:
a) Resume
b) Essay (Topics in Engineering)
c) Extracurricular Activities
d) Copy of official college transcript (showing course grades and cumulative GPA).
e) Letter of recommendation written by a faculty member (from the student's field of study).
f) Proof of AAAEA-membership
g) Headshot photo of yourself to be used in the AAAEA Annual Dinner Booklet
APPLICATION DEADLINE: All application materials are due to AAAEA-IL no later than 4:00 PM CST on June 15, 2019. We do not accept incomplete or late applications.
Applicants will be notified by email of the final decision.
Please do not submit any hand-written documents.
This scholarship application is for AAAEA-Illinois, which is different than the NAAAEA scholarship (National AAAEA). You may apply for both, since these are two separate programs.
2019 The Washington Award
AAAEA IL participated in the Chicagoland Engineering Week ending Feb 22nd with AAAEA famous annual Essay/Poster Contest.
2019 WASHINGTON
AWARDEE | MARGARET HAMILTON
Margaret H. Hamilton is CEO of Hamilton
Technologies. She graduated in 1958 from Earlham in mathematics and philosophy.
Preparing for graduate school, she joined MIT, developing software for
predicting weather on the LGP-30; and for SAGE’s air defense system on the
AN/FSQ-7. Upon hearing MIT needed people to “send man to the moon”,
she joined NASA/MIT’s project to build Apollo on-board
flight software, starting with unmanned missions. For the manned missions, she
led the team that developed the on-board flight software for the command and
lunar modules. She was the Director of the Software Engineering Division at
MIT’s Instrumentation Laboratory. Hamilton developed software to detect and
recover from errors in realtime; including the priority displays interface routines
based on her man-in-the-loop-concepts that gave the software the ability to
communicate asynchronously in realtime with the astronauts – the software and
astronauts running in parallel – within a distributed system-of-systems environment.
With this as a backdrop, the priority displays warned the astronauts in an
emergency by interrupting
the astronauts’ normal mission displays and replacing them
with priority alarm displays – as was the case during the Apollo 11 landing.
Hamilton is the person who came up with the idea of naming the discipline, “software engineering”, as a way of giving it legitimacy. She led an empirical study of Apollo and later efforts, resulting in her systems theory of control. From its axioms, the universal systems language was derived together with its automation and preventative paradigm. Hamilton received the NASA Exceptional Space Act Award (2003) and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama (2016).
AAAEA judges selected 3 wining students to award during the prestigious
Washington Award dinner on Feb 22nd. The Essay/Poster Contest was
sponsored by AAAEA-IL and was open to all students in the 3rd through 8th
grades in the Chicagoland area schools. Students submitted an essay and a
poster about an engineer that they admire or have made an impact on their life.
The essays explained who the engineer was and why the student admired this
engineer. The poster depicted some aspect of the engineer and the engineer’s
accomplishment. The purpose of the contest is meant to stimulate students to
consider careers in engineering by fostering interest in engineering through
research, essay writing, creating a poster and interacting with engineers.
Below
were the judges and the winners for the 2019 contest.
E-Week Coordinator:
Jamal Grainawi, PE, SE; WSP, AAAEA-IL Trustee
Essay/Poster Judge:
Jamal Grainawi, PE, SE; WSP, AAAEA-IL Trustee
Hussam Alkhatib, PE ; WSP, AAAEA-IL Vice President
Winners:
| 5th & 6th Grade | |||
| Dean Hammad | 6th Grade | Palos South Elementary School | Topic: Douglas Engelbart |
| Naya Kudssi | 5th Grade | Westview Hills Middle School | Topic: Larry Page |
| 7th & 8th Grade | |||
| Naomi Hammad | 8th Grade | Palos South Middle School | Topic: Steve Sasson |
In addition to the judges and the students the dinner was attended by the association president Mr. Amro Kudssi. The new chair of the Women Engineers Mrs. Rund Daod and her husband Mr. Ahmad Saadeh. Here are pictures from the event.
See all event pictures and more at AAAEA Flickr
AAAEA-IL General Assembly & Board Elections recap
The members of AAAEA IL held their general assembly meeting and board elections on December 8, 2018 at Reza Banquets in Oak Brook, Illinois.
The meeting was attended by approximately 50 full members and a dozen of student members and supporters. The meeting began with AAAEA-IL President Amro Kudssi presenting the association's annual report and accomplishments in 2018. Many topics were discussed and reviewed including:
- The introduction of Engineering Champion Program
- Collecting members' career success stories
- Addressing membership issues and unifying database sources of members their specialties specialties, distributions, interests etc.
The group also discussed promotion of the association, perfecting the execution of seminars and events and increasing sponsorship over the last year.
After the annual report, the election committee, led by Mr. Nabil Aldrees, reviewed the election process and announced the newly elected board:
- President: Amro Kudssi
- Vice President: Hussam Alkhatib
- Secretary: Amrou Attasi
- Treasurer: Ragheed Alfarra
- IT & Communication Officer: Ahmad Issa
- Membership committee chair: Khalil Kher
The general assembly meeting ended with an open buffet lunch for all and attendees wishing the new board best of success in 2019.
In the second week of 2019, the new board had a quick vote per AAAEA IL bylaws and unanimously appointed the following members to the board:
- Activity Committee: Mustafa Alobaidi
- Education Committee: Dr. Mustaph Ibrahim
- Career Enhancement Chair: Ahmad Kanani
See CAPERNAUM at AMC River East on January 26
The Midwest Chapter of the Worldwide Alumni Association of the American University of Beirut (WAAAUB) in collaboration with the University of Chicago Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) present CAPERNAUM, a film by Nadine Labaki on Saturday, January 26 at 7:15pm at AMC River East 21 (322 East Illinois St, Chicago IL, 60611). Parking is available.
Seats are limited - get your tickets today!
Watch the trailer for CAPERNAUM
See the list of awards the film has received
SYNOPSIS
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, CAPERNAUM (“Chaos”), a new film by Nadine Labaki about the journey of a clever, gutsy 12-year-old boy, Zain, who survives the dangers of the city streets by his wits. He flees his parents and to assert his rights, takes them to court suing them for the “crime” of giving him life.
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival, CAPERNAUM (“Chaos”), a new film by Nadine Labaki about the journey of a clever, gutsy 12-year-old boy, Zain, who survives the dangers of the city streets by his wits. He flees his parents and to assert his rights, takes them to court suing them for the “crime” of giving him life.
CAPERNAUM follows Zain, a gutsy streetwise child as he flees his negligent parents, survives through his wits on the streets, takes care of Ethiopian refugee Rahil (Yordanos Shiferaw) and her baby son, Yonas (Boluwatife Treasure Bankole), being jailed for a crime, and finally, seeks justice in a courtroom.
CAPERNAUM was made with a cast of non-professionals playing characters whose lives closely parallel their own. Following her script, Labaki placed her performers in scenes and asked them to react spontaneously with their own words and gestures. When the non-actors’s instincts diverged from the written script, Labaki adapted the screenplay to follow them.
While steeped in the quiet routines of ordinary people, CAPERNAUM is a film with an expansive palette: without warning it can ignite with emotional intensity, surprise with unexpected tenderness, and inspire with flashes of poetic imagery.
Although it is set in the depths of a society’s systematic inhumanity, CAPERNAUM is ultimately a hopeful film that stirs the heart as deeply as it cries out for action.
Thank you: AAAEA-IL 22nd Annual Dinner a great success!
The Arab American Association of Engineers and Architects (AAAEA) of Illinois held its 22nd Annual Dinner with great success on Wednesday, October 3, 2018 at Drury Lane, Oak Brook. The event began with an hour of networking, followed by a welcoming message by the president of the association, Amro Kudssi, MSc. This year, 20 engineering students were awarded with AAAEA scholarships. The Service Award for 2018 went to the Chairman of the AAAEA Board of Trustees, Mr. Issam Rayyan. The dinner also featured two distinguished speakers, Elizabeth "Liz" Gorman, Executive Director, Illinois Tollway, and Omer Osman, Deputy Secretary of the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT). During the event, the guests watched an inspiring video by AAAEA titled "A Full Generation Has Passed By." AAAEA Illinois extends sincere thanks and appreciation to the event sponsors, guests, and volunteers who made marking our 22nd year of service a great success.
Watch a quick video recap of the event
See photos from the AAAEA-IL 22nd Annual Dinner
Watch our new documentary "A Full Generation Has Passed By"
Thank you for attending our 2018 Summer Picnics!
AAAEA-IL thanks our members, families, and friends for making our 2018 Summer Picnics at Ty Warner Park a great success! Our picnics offer the AAAEA-IL community an opportunity to come together while enjoying delicious food and fun for the entire family. Through our picnics, our community is able to meet, network, and grow. We appreciate you joining us and look forward to even more fun next year!
See photos from our 2018 Summer Picnics
AAAEA-IL Social Event a great success!
Dear AAAEA Community,
Thank you for making the AAAEA-IL Social Event on March 24 a great success!
Held at Chateau Del Mar in Hickory Hills, the event offered an opportunity for AAAEA-IL members to socialize, network, as well as play games, trivia, and win prizes during a raffle. Attendees enjoyed a wonderful Middle Eastern dinner, traditional dabke dancing, and a DJ. Our two emcees, Jameeleh Shelo and Ahmed AbdelAzizi, carried the evening with grace and brilliance.
As part of the program, we announced the launch of our Engineering Champion initiative which connects established engineers in the U.S. with newly arrived engineers from the Middle East with the goal of advising the newcomers on the U.S. engineering field so that they can successfully enter the job market. We encourage you to sign up to be an Engineering Champion by helping our newly arrived immigrants.
The Social Event also included a segment in which tens of prizes and gifts were awarded, with the biggest raffle prize of a 55” 4K TV going to AAAEA National President, Mr. Jamal Grainawi!
We thank the following sponsors for their continued support of AAAEA-IL: HBM Engineering Group, WSP, AES Services, Inc., Michael Baker International, Collins Engineers Inc., Concordia Group Ltd., Chicago Testing Laboratory, Inc., Delta Engineering Group LLC, DLZ Architecture Engineering and Planning, Dusable Design Engineering and Construction Management, Ecology and Environment Inc., GSG Consultants Inc., HDR, HNTB, Jacobs, Lakeshore Engineering LLC, Millenia Professional Services, Stantec, Terra Engineering Ltd., Terracon Consulting Engineers and Scientists, and V3.
We would love to hear your thoughts about the Social Event. Please take a few minutes to provide your feedback by completing this survey. You can also forward this email to others who attended the event.Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you soon!
Sincerely,
The AAAEA-IL Board
See photos from our Social Event!