The Arab American Engineers and Architects Association held its 4th annual banquet on November 6 at the Farmington Hills Manor, awarding scholarships and celebrating the year’s accomplishments.
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Dr. Mumtaz Usmen Interim Dean of Engineering at Wayne State (r) receives an award from AAEA member Awni Qaqish. PHOTO: Nafeh AbuNab |
Usmen spoke about green technologies such as solar power cells and wind turbines and said that Michigan could be poised to be a leader in those industries despite its troubled economy.
“Eventually each one requires technicians and more engineers and workers,” said AAEA President Maher Abbasi. ” With the experience we have from the auto industry we can build them; we’re more qualified than other states.”
AAEA is a non-political, non-religious professional organization dedicated to strengthening and inspiring members to excellence by providing career and educational enhancement, programs, fellowship and community services.
Special guests included Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard, City of Wayne Mayor Al Haidous, and Detroit Free Press Digital Reporter Alexandra Bahou, who served as emcee for the evening.
Abbasi and the AAEA took a step toward producing future engineers as well as they awarded scholarships to 16-year-old Zaid Almasarweh of Sterling Heights High School, who will attend Michigan-Ann Arbor for computer engineering, and Sahrah Gebara, who is 17 years old and a student of Southgate Anderson High School who will attend Michigan-Dearborn for computer engineering as well. The students were chosen on the basis of their high school accomplishments and the quality of their essay submissions.
AAEA hopes to continue to expand the scholarship program as it continues to grow, and expects to hold another successful banquet next year. It continues to draw from the strong community of Arab American engineers nationwide for new members.
For more information on AAEA, visit www.aaeausa.com.
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