What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? 

I am interested in researching health inequality and the social and political determinants of health in conflict regions. For my dissertation, I will be researching the impact of occupation and the blockade imposed on the occupied Gaza strip in undermining the health system and its impact on the survival rate for patients diagnosed with non-communicable diseases whose
treatments are unavailable in Gaza.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

Public health is an important field because it addresses health issues from a preemptive, organised and population-based approach rather than a curative and individualistic approach.
Moreover, the importance of public health grows in regions that suffer from fragile health systems that lack the infrastructure and the resources to respond to the health needs of their own population. Therefore, tackling health issues from a preventative approach can reduce the burden of disease on governments and communities.
The Middle East region suffers from a high incidence rate of non-communicable diseases and an already underdeveloped health system. Thus, this region can benefit immensely from a public health approach and preemptive interventions to improve the quality of life and increase health equity.

Where Are You Now?

Currently, Celine is studying at the University of Cambridge where she is pursuing an MPhil in
Population Health Sciences.

What Do You Aspire for?
Celine aspires to complete her master’s degree at the University of Cambridge, specializing in public health.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

After completing her master’s degree, Celine aspires to serve her community in the Middle East
by working towards increasing adequate access to healthcare in the region, particularly in the field of oncology and cancer treatments. More specifically, she hopes to cooperate with governments and organisations in designing prevention and response interventions. Finally, Celine hopes to engage in both quantitative and qualitative research to assess the efficacy of the interventions in the field.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings.

Laith’s research interests are in optimizing the overall quality of life through the leveraging of big data analysis and data analytics. Throughout a collaboration with national and international research teams, Laith worked on projects focusing on the impact of oral status on overall quality of life, and evaluating the prevention efficacy of novel dental materials.

With Laith's igniting passion for improving students' experience in higher education, especially in the developing countries, he has been a core team member of a cross-cultural project with ICL and MIT to capture and address the challenges and strategies of virtual supervision in medical education in Syria.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

As the MENA region has many fragile health systems, the utilization of the scientific and practical gains of clinical research and data analysis will help in developing, synthesizing knowledge and applying skills that enhance the quality of medical delivery.

Key Achievements 

Recipient of AlThuraya MENA Scholarship Award, AlThuraya Foundation.
Laith graduated amongst the top of the cohort at Damascus University. During his undergraduate studies, Laith participated and won multiple awards in research competitions. Moreover, he led initiatives in Syria aimed to foster the research culture among students and provided training on the principles of scientific research. During his master's degree studies in Ireland, he was elected as the Class Representative of his course at NUIG by his peers. Alongside university work, he is actively engaging with postgraduate students from Syria to support them in their research project.

Where are you now?

Laith is currently a master student of Clinical Research at the National University of Ireland - Galway.

What Do You Aspire for?

Laith intends to use his knowledge to revolutionize and lead research that advances healthcare delivery in the developing and developed world.


How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

Laith hopes to use the knowledge and expertise he gained through studying at NUIG to contribute towards advancing clinical and research facilities in the MENA region.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? 

I am interested in Nanoelectronics devices. In nanoscale, we can build and fabricate devices which are smaller in size, faster in speed, and lesser in power consumption than conventional devices.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

Nanotechnology will open the doors for mobile devices with long lasting battery life, high computational portable devices, high density memory storage, and ultrasensitive sensors. My research is on new transistor works based on controlling the movement of
single or few electrons. This device generates much less heat and consumes much less energy compared to current technology, but still many technical problems must be solved before making this device real.

Where Are You Now?

Currently, Mohammed is studying at Aalto University  where he is pursuing an MSc in electronic and Nanotechnology.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

I plan after PhD to start a company to design memory chips based on single electron technology. Hope it will be starting point for Egyptian electronic industry. Also, I will be happy to participate in any activities within AlThuraya Foundation Community.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings.

I'm passionate about Data Science and storytelling through Data. I grew my passion during the pandemic when I was working in e-commerce at its toughest and most unpredictable peak. In 2020, I started my research in Data Science, taking online courses and networking with professionals. I was selected by HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai, for a scholarship for a Data Analyst Nanodegree on Udacity in an initiative called One Million Arab Coders. I was honored to be part of this movement to raise awareness about the power of Data.

This field is very technical and is moving so fast, but we need quality of education and research to be able to put it into action. In other words, research leads to more efficient utilization of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

The beauty of Data Science lies in the fact that it's multidisciplinary. All fields are trying to implement Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning Algorithms to automate their processes and reduce the dependency on human skills in tasks that machines can do. I believe that this is crucial as human expertise is definitely needed in other tasks that machines will never be able to fulfill. Even though the field is very dynamic, and it's evolving super fast with endless opportunities for youth, there is a huge gap in Egypt and the Middle East in terms of expertise. Even though there are initiatives like One Million Arab Coders in UAE, Future Work is Digital and Digital Egypt Builders in Egypt, the progress of building expertise in Data Science needs to be moving exponentially so it can cope with the pace of the field itself. My vision is to bring all this knowledge back and contribute in raising awareness and building the needed potential in the region.

Key Achievements 

Graduated with Cum Laude honors from the American University in Cairo. Completed four Mechanical Engineering internships during my undergraduate degree, and the fifth one was in Nestle's supply chain team where I got hired after graduation. After 2 years of working in Nestle, I worked for Amazon for another 2 years. I was awarded the One Million Arab Coders scholarship award, given to the one million top achievers in the Data Analysis Track across the whole region.

Where are you now?

I'm currently doing a Master's in Data Science and Business Analytics, a program that's ranked third worldwide in Data Science by QSRankings in 2020. The program is delivered by two schools: ESSEC Business School (Ranked second in France) & CentraleSupélec Paris Saclay (One of the top Engineering Schools in France). The Master's is very comprehensive, with research and theoretical content regarding Data Science and also hands-on experience and projects in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. 

What Do You Aspire for?

I am working every day to improve my skill set and competences, increase my knowledge and widen my perspective so I can help in bridging the expertise gap in the Middle East.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

I'm planning to do more research, and to get hands-on experiences that will help me go back to Egypt and the Middle East, partner with entities that can make a difference in the digitization of processes in the Middle East. The region is currently trying to cope with the Digital Era and it needs youth with good skills, passion and potential to create this kind of change.

Research areas:
Yara is interested in neurodegenerative diseases research, with an emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease. She has already completed an internship in which she studied the effects of certain drugs on mice with Alzheimer's. She is also greatly interested in cognitive neuroscience research fields related to sleep, dreams, memory and consciousness, in which she is planning to do internships in the near future.

Key Achievements:
Yara graduated from the German University in Cairo (GUC) with excellence with highest honors. She was a ranked as one of the top 20 students in her class for five semesters. During her studies, she completed many internships in research labs connected to different fields such as pharmacology, biochemistry and cytogenetics. During her senior year of university, Yara became a junior teaching assistant in biology.

Where are you now?
Yara is searching for interesting internships which complement her studies in order to expand her knowledge and expertise in the field.

Why is this field particularly important?
The increase of life expectancy globally has resulted in a subsequent increase in neurodegenerative diseases. However, most of the drugs present in the market currently either treat the symptoms or halt disease progression. Therefore, extensive research in this field in important to alleviate the burden of those diseases and find cures for them.

What do you aspire for?
Yara aspires to gain as much knowledge and experience about the various subfields of neuroscience as she can, and use them to improve people’s quality of life in the future.

How do you plan on giving back?
Yara hopes to do valuable research which could aid in the progress of the field. She also would like to eventually pass on her knowledge to students back in her home country. Moreover, she aspires to collaborate with other researchers in the future to increase the interest in that field and thus the research done on neurodegenerative disease in the MENA region.

Key Achievements
Romy graduated with a 3.99 out 4.0 GPA in her Bachelor's Degree ranking first amongst Industrial Engineering students. She maintained a persistent record being named Valedectorian in sixth grade and later in twelfth grade. 

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings
Yomna’s primary academic interests include examining the UK legal framework on the misuse of private information, the dissemination of misinformation and data protection. Through comparative analysis, she aims to address gaps in the existing legal frameworks of developing countries in the MENA (Middle East, North Africa) region and recommend appropriate legal transplants.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?
When identifying the factors that ultimately led to the Arab Spring of 2011, the dissemination of false information is arguably one that heavily contributed to the political instability in the region. As such, Yomna believes that strengthening the legal framework surrounding this, alongside public awareness of the repercussions of negligent handling of information, is a step in the right direction towards stability in the region.

Key Achievements
Yomna graduated top of the LLB cohort and was awarded the Highest Achiever Award in addition to the University Champions Award for ‘Academic and Research Engagement.’ During her undergraduate studies, Yomna was the Student Representative for the School of Law in the University Senate, having been nominated by the Head of the Law Faculty. She was also elected as Class Representative by her peers for two consecutive years and held the position of Vice-President of the Mooting Society. Alongside university work, she was a key collaborator in the Interdisciplinary Centre for Law and Innovative Methods (ICLAIM), an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) entity which deals with consumer complaints. Yomna then went on to secure two studentships at the University of Cambridge to pursue postgraduate studies; the Rowan Williams Cambridge Studentship and the AlThuraya Foundation Cambridge Studentship.

Where Are You Now?
Yomna is currently a Master of Law candidate at the University of Cambridge.

What Do You Aspire for?
Yomna aspires to complete her LPC and qualify as a solicitor in England & Wales, specializing in data protection.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

Yomna hopes to raise awareness on responsible handling of information and social media usage by engaging with the youth at high school level.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings
Rofaida is doing an MPhil in Genomic Medicine in the University of Cambridge, her research project will be on cancer genetics, studying DNA variation and which variants is causing or predisposing to cancer in a number of different genes.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?
Scientists and clinicians have spent years to understand cancer and its pathogenesis in a trial to control it. Recent advances in genetic technologies enabled them to have a better understanding of cancer growth, spread and discover novel therapies. That’s why many research areas are developing in this field to analyse and make use of the data generated by next-generation sequencing technology.

What Do You Aspire for?
Research in this field is very productive when it succeeds to have clinical applications. For example, numerous novel anti-cancer therapies in the market nowadays result from successful research. Thus, we aim for our research to share in building a database for the sake of helping many patients. My research will be using the 100,000-genome project dataset which plan to transfer the research results back to clinicians in the NHS.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

Reporting the research results back to the clinicians and maybe publishing it will be beneficial for many cancer patients worldwide. In addition, I plan to transfer the acquired knowledge and research skills to Egypt and may be the Middle East galore.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings

Regenerative medicine, Stem Cells and genes-based therapeutics.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death globally accounting for almost a third of worldwide mortality. The heart lacks the capacity to regenerate after injury and this why studying stem cells based cardiac construct might be of interest for a better cardiac function. Alaa has an interest in regenerative medicine and stem cells-based therapeutics focusing especially on cardiac regeneration. Her research included investigating the cross talk among different cells in the heart in 3D cardiac preparations.

Key Achievements

Alaa graduated medical school in Egypt where she works as a general practitioner. Her research showed us the different effects the cells lining our blood vessels have on heart cells generated from stem cells. Besides serving on the advisory board of different organizations like the Red Crescent and the National Council of Women, she focuses of mentoring youth and delivering medical services to poor villages.

Where Are You Now?

Alaa is currently working as a general practitioner and a teaching assistant in Egypt.

What Do You Aspire for?

Alaa aspires to specializes in cardiology with a further research into cardiac regeneration and in man clinical trials.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

Alaa is working on creating a local stem cell unit where further research and student training can take place with multitude of other projects.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings

Ahmed’s work focuses on health services administration, clinical informatics and global health. His research interests include EHR systems user interface and interoperability, optimizing patient care workflows, patient-centric digital health applications, and technology-driven approaches to creating better health care systems.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

Public health is a field of knowledge and practice that studies what makes and keeps people healthy. It’s not just the quality of healthcare or number of hospitals in a community. The health of a population is a result of everything that surrounds it - the air that we breathe, the water that we drink, the jobs that we have, the education that we receive, our daily habits, and even the extent of social and economic equity.

I chose to specialize in clinical informatics, which is the science that deals with electronic health records system and all aspects of information exchange, because facilitating efficient exchange and aggregation of information is crucial for both providing the highest quality of healthcare, and understanding the health status of a population.

Key Achievements

Dr. Ahmed M. Abdelfattah is a Harvard Presidential Scholar and Alumnus of the Master of Public Health (MPH) Program at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH). Ahmed graduated in June ‘19 with a Masters of Public Health from Harvard University.

He was selected as Class President, representing HSPH class of 2019 in the Alumni Association and leading the class procession into Harvard Yard in the morning commencement exercises.

Where Are You Now?

In July of 2019, Ahmed joined the Information Services Department at Boston Children’s Hospital, ranked as the number 1 Children’s Hospital in the US, where he is working on maintaining and improving the hospital’s Electronic Health Records system, and learning more about the world of clinical informatics.

What Do You Aspire for?

One of the biggest challenges in the field of health information technology is the universal health record, which means that every person would have a central, universal record of their medical and health history no matter which provider they went to or where they received their care. Despite all of its obvious benefits for individual and public health, this has been an elusive dream, since the current health IT solutions combined with the local and international policies do not encourage interoperability and information exchange between individual systems.

I aspire to work towards making this dream a reality and I aim to learn all I could about health IT and clinical informatics, both the technology and the policies surrounding them, to equip me for the leadership and advocacy that are needed for this effort.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

As I continue to learn more about this interesting field, I’m planning to gather everything I learn in the form of a teaching curriculum and content, which I’ll make available to the community of healthcare and public health professionals. I also aim to provide career advice and mentorship for young professionals.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings

Hend is interested in cancer genetic epidemiology, her research work is focused on the potential of using genomic information to direct personalised prevention and treatment of cancer. For her MPhil thesis Hend examined the effect of germline mutations of the prognosis of Esophageal cancer.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

Identifying genes associated with cancer and understanding the gene- environment interactions which will help in developing new personalized prevention and treatment strategies.

Key Achievements

Hend graduated from the faculty of medicine, Cairo University with excellence with honors. She was one of the highest achievers in her class and was offered a post at Cairo university. Hend worked for a year and a half as a teaching assistant at the public health department during which she took part in multiple studies and surveys in Cairo and Giza. Hend has just finished her MPhil and passed her exams with distinction.

Where Are You Now?

Hend is looking for a suitable PhD program to pursue her research interests.

What Do You Aspire for?

Hend aspires to have an academic career at Cairo University and to work in the pharmaceutical industry to advance the development of cancer therapies through discovering genetic prognostic factors and understanding the effect of gene-drug interactions on drug response.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

Transferring the knowledge and skills she gained in the University of Cambridge to the doctors and medical students at Cairo University.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings

Zaher research interests are computer vision, artificial intelligence, and machine learning. In addition to, virtual/augmented reality, motion capture, and projection mapping.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

The importance of computer vision in particular is in the problems it can solve. It is one of the main technologies that enables the digital world to see and interact with the physical world. Computer vision plays a crucial role in enabling cutting-edge research across disciplines such as in medicine and humanities.

Computer vision is an overlapping field drawing on concepts from areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning. This makes it a pivotal field for students and specialists in the MENA region, because it enables them to get exposed and build skills in those adjacent fields as well (AI, ML, and deep learning).

Key Achievements

Zaher currently works as a research data specialist at the University of Melbourne’s Data Analytics Platform in the Chancellery. He is part of a team of researchers working to uplift digital research capabilities and enable world-class, data-intensive research across the disciplines at the university.

Prior to his current position, Zaher was for five years the lead software engineer at the Interaction Design Lab (IDL) and Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces (SocialNUI) at the University of Melbourne. He was mainly responsible for building sophisticated, innovative and custom software to support research at the centre.
Zaher graduated as the highest ranking student at the University of Aleppo and received four high academic achievement awards during his undergraduate years. In addition to three postgraduate awards and scholarships which enabled him to study abroad in Sweden and Australia.

In 2011, right after finishing his undergraduate degree. He joined IDscan Biometrics when it was newly formed. He was appointed as AI team leader to lead and form a team of software engineers with AI backgrounds to build innovative document scanning and biometrics solutions. His team at IDscan achieved outstanding results and delivered most of IDscan's core technologies which led to successful exist for all its founders.

Where Are You Now?

Melbourne, Australia

What Do You Aspire for?

Zaher aspires to uplift the capabilities of students and specialists in the region and to lay the foundation of a community of practice in computer vision and image processing for aspiring specialists in the MENA region, particularly in Syria.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

Mentoring aspiring high achieving students from our region, and helping them to realize their full potential. Assisting them in applying to world-class universities and securing scholarships.

After his graduation from Damascus University, faculty of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, getting the fourth position in his class, he soon after started to learn German in preparation for his move to Germany. Raja Moved in 2014 to Germany to pursue higher education specializing in Renewable Energy began on foot to continue his postgraduate studies in the field he loves and decided to study a Master program specialized in Renewable Energy Systems at the Technical University of Berlin TUB.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings

Despite his love for all majors in mechanical engineering, he found his passion in going deeper into the systems of renewable energies, which prompted him to choose this specialty during his study of general mechanical engineering. He started his first serious research in the graduation project, which is focused on a new generation of the wind turbines, followed by two other projects at the University of Damascus in the same direction of study before his traveling to Germany.

Now Raja works for Skytron Energy GmbH, owned by Alsoenergy Group, which is an American company has many branches around the world. Skytron Energy is active in the field of the solar plants, projects and monitoring systems.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

It is no longer unknown to anyone that the problems of climate change and environmental pollution are today the world's talk and the preoccupation of the governments in attempts to reduce their aggravation. With the daily increasing needs for energy come the renewable energies as the best alternative solution to secure the energy cleanly trying to reach, through organized and studied plans and our cooperation, the environmental neutrality point. In light of the middle east conditions and what it suffers under economic problems, tensions and wars, which they hopefully end, especially in his country, Syria, the region will be in urgent need to clean energy that covers all the energy deficit resulting after the war and that guarantees a better future for Syria and all of the third world countries.

Where Are You Now?

Berlin, Germany

What Do You Aspire for?

He aspires to collect the best knowledge and experiences to leave a footprint in his domain hoping to benefit his country.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

In addition to the advantages his study gives to the environment, Raja is an active person in the civil society. Besides his studies, Raja is interested in poetry. He also is an athlete; he practiced karate and basketball in his country

Back in Syria, volunteered at charities for people with special needs. His community involvement did not stop with his move to Germany; he continued working there as a volunteer at charities for refugees, ASB organization, Caritas Germany and other organizations helping the refugees to integrate quickly and smoothly in the German community. Besides his study Raja worked also as a teacher for the German language.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings

To rethink - from a contemporary point of view - the traditional craftsmanship and cultural heritage of the MENA region.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

In the MENA region we have a lot of wonderful handicrafts and cultural elements that have long suffered from many factors. In the past 20-30 years, craftsmen have become fewer and fewer and our industry has become increasingly weak. Somehow, over time, we will no longer produce anything, but import everything from other countries, finding solutions for this interests me a lot.

Key Achievements

• Winner of the Deutschlandstipendium for talented and high-achieving students (2019)
• Student assistant to Prof. Mark Braun at the HBK Saar (2018)
• Internship in product design at “Zeitraum-Moebel” in Munich - Germany (2016)
• “Tablieh” Project, a design studio that provides low cost furniture made from reclaimed/recycled wood and pallets. Aim was to offer an accessible way and a whole new experience for the youth to buy furniture easily online and to ask for decoration solutions with a delivery possibility. Beirut, Lebanon (2013-2015).

Where Are You Now?

Currently I am Studying Product Design at the HBK Saar in Saarbruecken, Germany.

What Do You Aspire for?

To investigate, innovate, update and disseminate our traditional craftsmanship and heritage, as well as all the work behind them: materials, craftsmen, manufacturing and history among others.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

First to complete my Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in product design, to gather as many experiences as I can and then going back to the region where I can put those in use.

What are your research interests?

Music in peace building and conflict
resolution- Students in conflicted Areas.

Why is this field particularly important?

Many ambitious and hard working students
find themselves stuck in a war zone facing death or losing their education. Offering scholarships to such candidates means a great deal beyond learning, it is a life saving opportunity!
Also using music in peace building
is a great way to bring the world together and remove our differences. Music may not change the current political and social issues we have, but it will definitely inspire people and change makers to act and do something.

Tell us about your key achievements so far.

• Constantin Brâncoveanu Award International for the
• exceptional 2019
• Venus Award Inspirational Woman International 2018
• One Young World Peace Ambassador 2018
• Anne Frank First Ever Promise keeper Award 2017
• UNHCR High Profile Supporter 2017
• Civitella Ranieri Director Guest of Residence 2016
• Women in Conflict Peace Fellowship 2016 & 2019
• Points of Light Ambassador; A recognition from President Bush 2016
• Creative Santa Fe Inaugural Award 2016
• White House Champion of Change; Recognition from President Obama 2015
• World Council of Arameans Peace Ambassador 2015
• Music Department Academic Award, Monmouth College 2014
• Colleges Against Cancer Talent Showcase,
• 2nd place, Monmouth College 2014

Syrian-born Mariela Shaker began playing the violin after joining the Arabic Institute of Music in Aleppo in 1999. She graduated with distinction from the Institute in 2004 and taught violin there for five years while she completed her Business Administration degree at Aleppo University. She was able to survive the war in Syria and flee the country thanks to a full-tuition scholarship to study Music Performance at Monmouth College. Prior to graduating, Monmouth College bestowed upon her one of its highest honors: Excellence in Music Performance. Following her Bachelor of Arts, DePaul University awarded her a full-tuition academic scholarship for her Master’s in Music Performance.

Mariela served as Concertmaster for the Monmouth College Chamber Orchestra and violin faculty at Monmouth College. She appeared as solo concert violinist with the Mesopotamian Symphony Orchestra at the California Theater and organized by the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR), gave her debut recital at the Kennedy Center to commemorate World Refugee Day on June 20, 2015. President Obama named her Champion of Change for World Refugees and honored her at the White House in 2015. During that same year, she also performed for members of the U.S. Legislature. Her engagements in 2016 included an invitation by Cate Blanchett and the first Scottish Minister for performances in London and at the Beyond Borders International Festival in Scotland, respectively. On the invitation of the International Rescue Committee, she performed for Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan. In 2017, Mariela was appointed UNHCR High Profile Supporter and was also honored with the Anne Frank Promise Keeper Award.

Her more recent performances and speaking engagements have included programs at the United Nations, the White House, Aspen Ideas Festival, Harvard University, MIT, and many more in London, Scotland, Geneva, Netherlands, UAE, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong and all over the US. Mariela prides herself on her mission: to use her music to build bridges, promote peace, and to raise awareness for the plight of the Syrian people. As a refugee, Mariela’s remarkable work ensures that not only her music, but also her voice be heard around the world for refugees in need.

Mariela has received many accolades in Syria and was invited to participate
in the Dubai Arabian Competition and to play with the Emirate’s Youth Symphony Orchestra. In 2009, she joined the Syndicate of Artists in Syria.
From 2013 to 2015, she served as a concertmaster for the Monmouth College
Chamber Orchestra. Mariela appeared as a concert violinist when she performed solo with Mesopotamian Symphony Orchestra in California Theater. She recently gave recital at the Kennedy Center on June 20, 2015 in celebration of World Refugee Day which has been organized by UNHCR. Mariela has been recently selected as a Champion of Change for World Refugee and was honored at the White House, 2015.

Where are you now?

Based in London and Chicago

What do you aspire for?

I aspire to make this world a beautiful place to live in. I will always play my violin and sing my home through music and story telling. I would like to be a spokesperson to an international NGO to continue to speak up the truth and inspire people to give without borders.

How do you plan on giving back to the community?

I received a wonderful opportunity to teach violin at Monmouth College upon graduating
from DePaul University in 2017. I thought this is a very good way to give back to the community whom I love and to the place that I call home. I have also been involved in dozens fundraising events to support refugees and displaced people including vulnerable
students and children.

Key Achievements

He successfully earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 2014 graduating with an exemplary GPA of 3.92 out of 4.00 . At IIT, he was a regular on the Dean’s List, and was invited to join honour societies.
More, Muzaffar has passed the national Fundamentals of Engineering exam. With his steadfastness and determination, he was able to take on a full-time job in the competitive market while still a student at IIT.
He was a Structural Engineer at J3 Engineering Group LLC., Chicago, Illinois for two years where he was involved in designing different systems of structures especially Precast Concrete and in sales and marketing. Two years after graduation. In the process of pursuing his passion and finding what he truly loves, Muzaffar –with advice from his mentor, Hossam Shobokshi– decided to start his career in real estate. Muzaffar didn’t fear trying something new and he took the risk aiming for unlimited personal and financial growth.

Where are you now?

Al currently resides in Chicago and thinks that real estate could be the home for his career. 4 years after starting his career in real estate, Muzaffar started his own brokerage under the name "Zoubi Realty". His vision is to sell real estate under hiw on brand and improve the customer service that client get through real estate transactions. Muzaffar also aims to recruit other agents to work under his brand and wants to provide them with what truly works to succeed in this field where other companies might care only about adding names to their roasters in an industry over saturated with incompetent agents. With another advice from his mentor, Hossam Shobokshi- Muzaffar decided to dive more into the lending industry and went through the required education and licensing to earn his license as a Loan Originator. That will also enable Muzaffar to provide the clients of Zoubi Realty with a one stop shop service.

What do you aspire for?

Muzaffar has an entrepreneurial spirit and his dream is to grow ZoubiRealty and make an impact in the international real estate arena.

How do you plan on giving back to the community?

Muzaffar believes in paying back to the community, help others and pay it forward. Muzaffar donates to IIT that is dear to his heart on monthly basis. He also tries to help and donate to Althuraya Foundation whenever possible. On a career level, he tries to help new real estate agents learn how to build a successful career as he did for himself.

What are your research interests?

Abdelrahman is an electrical engineer. My main research interest is the future of energy systems, especially the integration of high shares of variable renewable energy resources, such as wind and solar.

Why is this field particularly important?

Energy has always been the main driver for all of our innovations and creations, and our modern society heavily relies on the continuous supply of energy and electricity to sustain virtually all aspects of life. However, we are currently in desperate need to radically change how we supply this energy, as we cannot afford to rely indefinitely on fossil fuels with their high greenhouse gases emissions and their negative impacts on global climate change. Therefore, it is of paramount importance to research the optimal pathways for energy systems decarbonisation. This challenge proves difficult as it’s of multidisciplinary nature, and requires expertise from the engineering, economical, and political domains.

Tell us about your Key achievements so far.

During his undergraduate summer breaks, Abdelrahman had the opportunity to work as an engineering intern in prestigious companies such as P&G and BMW. In summer 2015, he was able to join the Technische Universität München (TUM) in Germany for a research internship in the Informatics Department, working on Reachability Analysis with application on Power Systems stability. After finishing his BSc in Electrical Power Engineering from Alexandria University, he decided to continue his graduate research in the field of power systems and smart grids. His main research interests are energy systems, cyber-physical systems and active distribution networks. In summer 2018, he was a research intern at the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, where he worked on the smart grid pilot project at EPFL.

Where are you now?

After obtaining his masters degree, Abdelrahman is currently working as research engineer at the Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) government research lab. He is working on multiple projects related to the integration of high shares of renewable energy resources in the power systems.

What do you aspire for?

Abdelrahman is planning to pursue his PhD in electrical power systems to acquire deeper knowledge in the field of energy systems planning.

How do you plan on giving back to the community?

Abdelrahman deeply believes in the urgent need to transform the perception on how we supply and consume energy. However, while the challenge is global in nature, every region, country, and community may have a different answer depending on the available resources and potential. Abdelrahman aspires to contribute to his community by getting involved in planning the future energy infrastructure in his home country, Egypt. If we carefully plan our energy future, it will be a formidable opportunity to boost our economy and save the planet in the same time.

What are your research interests?

Distributed Systems, Software Performance, Software Architecture.
Elias is a Senior Software Engineer and a native of Syria. He started coding at the age of 11. He is passionate about software architecture and distributed systems.
He attended the University of Aleppo where he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electric and Electronic Engineering, with a concentration in Telecommunications.

Why is this field particularly important?

Telecommunications is the Backbone of the internet and data being transferred between all humans, servers and all devices around the world.
Tell us about your key achievements so far.
In 2013, he moved to Chicago for graduate school. He attended Illinois Institute of Technology, where he got his Master’s degree in Information Technology and Management. He graduated in 2014 with a 4.00 GPA. At his time there, he was a Teaching Assistant (TA); he was also a research assistant in the Real Time Communications Laboratory working with Professor Carol Davids. His research was focused on webRTC technology and testing the performance of webRTC apps in enterprise environments.

Where are you now?

After graduating in 2014, he worked as a software Engineer Consultant in Manhattan, where his focus was on enterprise web applications. He was assigned two different projects with Fidelity Investments (from January 2015 until August 2015). Then he has joined Weight Watchers as a full time full stack Software Engineer from 2015 until 2018. Currently, Elias is a senior full stack engineer at JPMorgan Chase where he joined in September 2018

How do you plan on giving back to the community?

Mentor students about choices in tech and advise on student visa situations.

What Are Your Research/ Vocational Interests? Describe Research/ Project and Findings

Omar is passionate about the field of medicine and the rapid advancements of technology supporting the field. Omar spent the summer and fall of 2015 doing molecular imaging research at the Medical Imaging Research Center in Chicago funded by the prestigious program for undergraduate research at IIT. He was selected to participate in Armour's undergraduate research program, Armour R&D. He earned the Runner Up Award for Summer 2015 at the 2nd Annual Armour R&D Expo 2016 where he presented the work he conducted with Assistant Professor, Kenneth Tichauer, to optimize imaging protocols for a novel cancer imaging device.

Why Is This Field Particularly Important? How Does It Address a Gap in the Region?

Advances in Technology and medicine have been halted due to the ongoing circumstances the region is facing. A need for technical capabilities and innovation is going to be necessary to address the gaps in rebuilding the region once the situation is stabilised and ready to be rebuilt.

Key Achievements

He graduated with honors from Little Village School in Damascus in 2012 with a Syrian Baccalaureate diploma. 

Omar participated in IIT Engineering Themes, a program that allows undergraduate students to expand on their education by attending workshops, field trips, and completing projects based on the current Themes: Water, Health, Energy, and Security. In addition to his extracurricular activities, he maintained a 3.85 GPA and was included on the Dean’s list every semester for the duration of his time at Armour.
Outside of IIT, Omar was an active member of the broader IIT community. He is a Leadership Academy scholar, was a resident adviser for three years, served as a conference housing assistant, and participated in MEDLIFE's medical brigade to Lima, Peru in 2014 to help communities in need gain access to healthcare.
A recipient of the Clinton E. Stryker Distinguished award for outstanding service to campus life, Omar always found time to serve others on campus and beyond. As part of Illinois Tech’s Alternative Spring Break for two consecutive years, he helped to build houses in North Carolina and West Virginia through Habitat for Humanity.
Omar is also committed to giving back to his home country and to help provide others with the education he received. As part of Jusoor's giving campaign, he raised $1,400 to help young Syrian refugees get access to education. He was also an active member in the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) and was a founding member of the Syrian Club at IIT. During the summer of 2016, Omar interned at Goldman Sachs in NYC as a summer analyst in the operations and risk management division.

Where Are You Now?

Omar is currently a Data and AI consultant at Microsoft

What Do You Aspire for?

Omar aspires to continue growing in the field of technology and be in a position where he is always challenged, working with collaborative teams, and improving the experiences of his customers and stakeholders.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

Through mentorship to other Syrian students aiming to study outside the country through SYE organization

What are your research/vocational interests? Describe research/project + findings.

Humanitarian response, health systems strengthening and governance rebuilding in fragile states

Why is this field particularly important? How does it address a gap in the region?

My country, Syria, has been considered one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world since 2011, with a level of destruction and social upheaval unseen since World War 2. That’s why responding to the immediate needs of the people in Syria, while having a vision for future reconstruction and governance rebuilding, is very important to me. Unfortunately, the MENA region has many fragile states in which governance is a key issue that is hindering their progress and stability.

Key Achievements

While working in response to the Syria Humanitarian Crisis, I became the first National Health Cluster Coordinator, the highest strategic health coordinating body led by the World Health Organization for the cross-border health response within Syria. And in 2018, I was the recipient of Johns Hopkins School of Public Health MPH Syrian Scholarship award

Where are you now?

I am still in Baltimore, USA, and I have just started working as Senior Programs Manager at the American Relief Coalition for Syria in Washington, DC.

What do you aspire for?

I look forward to returning to the MENA region, and contributing in rebuilding or advancing governance in the countries there.

How do you plan on giving back to the community?

Currently I am working with different stakeholders on discussions related to the current response to the Syrian Humanitarian Crisis and future vision for the country, using my knowledge and expertise in public health and humanitarian response, gained through studying in Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and working in Syria and Somalia. In the future, I hope I will be able to contribute to the efforts of other countries in the region whenever needed and requested.

Key Achievements

Bashar’s team won the 1st place in the Innovation Showcase Competition during his graduating year at Illinois Tech. He was a regular on the Dean’s List and was invited to join the Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society. Bashar has started his career in Aerospace Engineering at Collins Aerospace where he was awarded 2 Excellence Awards for his leadership and focus on results. Bashar is currently part of a highly selective leadership development program at Collins.

Where Are You Now?

Bashar is currently in a leadership development program at Collins Aerospace where he is doing several job rotations across the business to develop insight into business administration, customer experience, and to broaden his engineering horizons. Bashar has worked in his first rotation as a Systems Engineer specializing in customer (Boeing) support in Everett, WA. He is now doing a rotation in Operations Program Management at Collins Aerospace, Evacuation Solutions, in Phoenix, AZ.

What Do You Aspire for?

I aspire to be one of those who shape the future of the aerospace industry. Many challenges present themselves to human civilization now, from making commercial air travel more sustainable and environmentally friendly to reaching Mars and expanding the human reach in the universe. Those challenges call upon us to work together, build teams and bridges, and make the human destiny of reaching far and beyond a reality.

How Do You Plan on Giving Back to the Community?

Currently, I’m mentoring other Syrian highschool students who have a passion and want to pursue it. In the future, I plan on making donations to non-profit organizations that help make education available to children across the globe. The numbers of children that are missing basic education due to conflict or poverty are horrifying and this issue calls upon us all to take action and help.