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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.
Join us for the AAAEA-IL 2019 Social Dinner
Dear AAAEA members and Family,
It is with great pleasure that I write to invite you to the AAAEA Social Dinner on Friday, April 26th, 2019, 6:30pm at Hickory Hills Country Club (8201 95th Street, Hickory Hills, IL 60457).
The evening will commence with reception and registration then halal dinner will be served. The event program is full of activities including $1,500 worth of raffle prizes, music and much more.
If you have further questions and suggestions to make our event brighter, please don't hesitate to contact me at mustafa@aaaea.org.
Yours sincerely,
Mustafa Alobaidi
Activity Chair Committee
RSVP:
Adult Members Register by Tuesday, April 23: $39
Adult Non-Members and Registration AFTER Tuesday, April 23: $49
Kids under 13 YO: $25
Sponsorship:
$200 Silver Level: Includes 2 seats
$400 Gold Level: Includes 4 seats (half-table)
$800 Platinum Level: Includes 10 seats (full-table)
Attend the AAAEA-IL Technical Seminar on April 25
Location: Maggiano’s Little Italy At Clark & Grand, 516 N Clark St, Chicago, Illinois 60654
Abstract
Traditionally, IDOT delivered all its program for construction and maintenance through the Design-Bid-Build (DBB) delivery method. Over the years, IDOT has taken the risk for project delays and cost over runs. Many state DOTs have explored innovation in project delivery to include innovative designs, construction methodologies, financing as well as operations and maintenance. The benefits of such delivery methods are more predictable and well managed projects as well leveraging private sector investments to deliver the project earlier than the pay-as-you-go approach. IDOT is currently contemplating the delivery of some of its projects utilizing the innovative approaches to address congestion, operations efficiencies and updating its assets. In this presentation we will discuss what IDOT is doing in identifying, screening, developing and delivering complex public private partnerships (P3) and Design-Build (DB) projects.
Speaker Biography
Sam Beydoun serves as the Bureau Chief for Innovative Project Delivery
at the Illinois Department of Transportation.
He is responsible for establishing and leading the alternative delivery
program that includes public-private partnership and design-build delivery
methods for delivering transportation infrastructure projects including
highway, airports and waterways.
Prior to Joining the Illinois Department of Transportation Sam Beydoun
served as the Acting Deputy Director in the Virginia’s Office of Public-Private
Partnerships (VAP3) where he had oversight responsibility for
multibillion-dollar program in development including design-build and P3
managed lanes projects.
In addition to transportation, Sam’s professional experience includes
business development and management in financial, information technology and
telecommunication sectors. Sam holds a
Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from James Madison University.
He also completed graduate coursework in Systems Engineering at the University
of Virginia. Sam is a certified Design-Build Professional (DBIA) and Project
Management Professional (PMP).
Sponsorships
Sponsorship help support the AAAEA to continue to provide educational and technical seminars. Each company’s sponsorship level will be recognized in the presentation and on attendees’ name tags for their contribution as well as on the AAAEA monthly Newsletter.
Levels of Sponsorship
$200 Silver Level
-Includes 2 seats
$400 Gold Level
-Includes 4 seats (half-table)
$600 Platinum Level
-Includes 8 seats (full-table)
Purchase Tickets Here
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.
Students: Enter our Engineers Week Essay/Poster Contest!
Engineers Week 2019
2019 AAAEA Essay/Poster Contest
Announcement and Rules
The Essay/Poster Contest is sponsored by AAAEA-IL and is open to all students from the 3rd through 8th grades in Chicago and surrounding suburb schools.
The purpose of the contest is to stimulate students to consider careers in engineering by fostering interest in engineering through research, essay writing, creating a poster and interacting with engineers.
Students submit an essay and a poster about either one of the following:
a) An engineer who made a contribution to society. The student should provide details of the contribution/accomplishment of the engineer. The essay should explain who the engineer is and why the student selected him/her. The poster should depict some aspects of the engineer and the engineer's accomplishment.
b) A major engineering project. The student should provide the details of the project. The essay should explain the major project and its benefit to society and why the student selected it. The poster should depict some aspects of the project and it’s unique features.
Rules:
1. The students are divided into three groups: 3rd & 4th grade, 5th & 6th grade, and 7th & 8th grade.
2. There will be at least three first prize winners (one from each group).
3. Students may either enter individually or partner with another student from the same grade.
4. The selected engineer must have received an Engineering Degree from a university. Note that architectural degree, general science degree, etc. are not accepted.
5. The essay must be typed and between 250 to 500 words
6. Contestants should email the following three items:
a) Poster: 1-slide in PowerPoint format. The slide should be neat, creative, with photos and text. Font size should be a minimum of 16 points. See attached suggested template for the poster.
b) Essay: in MSWord or .pdf format.
c) The Entry Form
Submission Deadline is February 8, 2019 by 5:00 p.m.
Winners will be notified by February 15, 2019.
E-mail submissions to Jamal Grainawi, PE, SE Jgrainawi@AAAEA.org or Dr. Soliman Khudeira, PE, SE Soliman.Khudeira@iit.edu. You could also send questions to either email.
The winning essay/posters will be printed by AAAEA and displayed during the Washington Award Banquet and during DuPage Area E-Week Expo at IIT-Rice Campus on February 23, 2019 (for more information, see www.dupageeweek.iit.edu)
Prizes:
The winners from each group will receive the following:
1) First prize for each group: $100
2) Second prize for each group: $50
3) The winner (accompanied by an adult) will be invited to attend the Washington Award Banquet on Friday, February 22, 2019 at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, Rosemont
4) Engineering and/or other book publishing companies normally give other tangible gifts to the winners at the Washington Award Banquet