News
The Library at AUK held an Open House on Tuesday, February 9, for members of the AUK community. The purpose of the event was to introduce the community to the latest equipment and facilities available at the AUK Library, and to engage with the visitors through a variety of activities and contests.
The event activities included online demos and workshops that featured eBooks and other databases, an exhibition of posters created by the Intensive English Program (IEP) and the First Year Experience (FYE), and games such as "The Spinning Wheel" - a trivia game with questions about resources available in the AUK Library and a wheel to spin for prizes, and "The Thinkers Show" - a game that requires participants to identify literary characters based on a series of questions asked. There was also a raffle drawing that gave attendees a chance to win iPads, Kindles, and gift vouchers. The Open House concluded with a musical performance by the group "The Hashtags" - a local music band whose members include several AUK students.
This year's Open House coincided with the launching of the AUK Repository - an online archive database that hosts intellectual output of faculty/staff members, in addition to students' projects and other digital collections. "The AUK Repository will include a wide range of materials that reflect the intellectual wealth of the university, such as journal articles, conference papers and book chapters," explained the. Library Director, Ms. Asma Alkanan, adding "we are currently working with colleges/departments to identify content that is subject for inclusion in the repository. This will maximize accessibility to content created by our own community."
Academic resource vendors and publishers were present through their local agents in Kuwait. Naseej, a major supplier for library products in the region participated in the event and provided promotional materials and short demos for online databases that are available at AUK Library. Naseej also sponsored the raffle's top prize, an Ipad Air, while Virtus Group, who represent SAGE, Lexis-Nexis, and Emerald databases, offered the Kindle Fire prize.
The AUK Library holds more than 42,000 print items in different disciplines, in addition to thousands of eBooks and other electronic resources. Since its existence, the Library has undergone physical and technological upgrades to cater for the growing academic and technological needs of the AUK community.
Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 22nd February 2016
Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2016
The College of Business & Economics at AUK signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Entrepreneurs' Organization - Kuwait Chapter, a non-profit volunteer organization that seeks to develop, promote and support entrepreneurship in Kuwait, during a ceremony held at AUK yesterday. This opportunity will allow the two entities to collaborate through several avenues to enhance entrepreneurship in Kuwait through experience exchange and learning opportunities, such as participation in the Entrepreneurs' Organization's Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA), entrepreneurial internships, project-based engagements, and executive residencies.
GSEA is a premier global competition for student entrepreneurs who actively run a business. AUK students will have the opportunity to participate among more than 1,700 competitors hailing from more than 30 countries, and will be the first to represent Kuwait, and the region, in this growing global competition on entrepreneurship. The Global Finals will be held in May 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand, and GSEA will select nominees to compete in qualifying competitions for the chance to advance. GSEA is an exclusive opportunity for student entrepreneurs to make connections, find resources, and grow their businesses.
AUK's relationship with EO will also provide a unique entrepreneurial internship for students, whereby students can gain experience on how the entrepreneurial companies are run and managed in a variety of industries, such as Information Technology, Sports and Entertainment, Food & Beverage, Distribution, Retail, Medical, and more.
Additionally, students will be engaged in projects that will help them understand all areas of running small businesses, which will be supervised by the faculty, while entrepreneurs who are on the board of EO will assist them by holding discussions, coaching, and mentoring sessions for the students.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by AUK President Nizar Hamzeh, Dr. Jin Wang, Dean of the College of Business & Economics, and Mr. Talal Alawadhi, President of Entrepreneurs' Organization's Global Student Entrepreneur Awards - Kuwait Chapter. "Aside from the fact that our business students will be the first to represent Kuwait in this Global Award, the real purpose of this MOU is to provide them with the opportunity not only to keep abreast of their own special area of expertise, but also to find out what the leading edge is for running businesses in a competitive environment," said Hamzeh of this opportunity.
Ghazi Alhajeri, President-Elect of Entrepreneurs Organization, Kuwait Chapter, explained that the organization is looking forward to giving Kuwait's youth the opportunity to grow and learn how to be entrepreneurs and compete against international peers.
Dean Wang believes that participating in activities of this caliber provides AUK students with valuable insight into the world of business. "This kind of experiential learning experience provides our students a great opportunity to actualize the course material in a real world setting. It will help students to appreciate the value and increase the retention of the course material. Students will be inspired and empowered through thinking, doing, experiencing, and reflective observation," Said Dean Wang.
Entrepreneurs Organization, Kuwait, is a non-profit volunteer organization that seeks to develop, promote and support Entrepreneurship in Kuwait. EO Kuwait, in which members are founders of small & medium size companies and established business leaders in their communities, are exploring ways to utilize their skills and experience to enhance future entrepreneurship opportunities. Member entrepreneurs seek to achieve its purpose goals through experience sharing and learning opportunities.
Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 18th February 2016
Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2016
In celebration of Kuwait National and Liberation Days, Dr. Lisa Urkevich, Professor of Musicology/Ethnomusicology and Chair of the Department of Music and Drama at AUK, will hold a talk on Tuesday, 23 February, to discuss her book, Music and Traditions of the Arabian Peninsula: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar. The volume, which includes 200 images and a CD with 31 musical examples, is the result of almost two decades of pioneering fieldwork that spanned thousands of kilometers across the Arabian Peninsula.
In her talk, which comes as part of the AUK Faculty Speaker Series, Urkevich will present key book concepts and share her field research experiences in dealing with the many variegated Peninsula areas, subcultures, and rich and dynamic performing arts, many of which have been unknown beyond local communities until now.
Music and Traditions of the Arabian Peninsula has been lauded by critics from around the world. Niel van der Linden, writing for The National (Abu Dhabi News) praises, "Not only is it the most comprehensive book in English on the music of this part of the world, [Music and Traditions of the Arabian Peninsula] is also one of the most comprehensive books on music anywhere in the Middle East and North Africa."
World music reviewer Richard Dorsett (USA) concurs, "This fine volume opens more doors to understanding the region than you might expect...[it] is among a handful of the best books on traditional music" (Roots World).
But the work is not just of interest to musical enthusiasts. As noted by Dr. El-Sayed El-Aswad, Chair of Sociology at UAE University, "It is a welcome contribution to the scholarship of the Middle East, in general, and the Arabian Peninsula and Gulf societies, in particular" (Middle East Media and Book Reviews Online).
Urkevich's talk will take place in the Auditorium of the AUK Campus at 6 pm on Tuesday 23 February. Music and Traditions of the Arabian Peninsula is available for purchase at the AUK Bookstore, Jarir, and Amazon.com.
About Lisa Urkevich:
Lisa Urkevich PhD is Professor of Musicology/Ethnomusicology and Chair of the Department of Music and Drama at AUK, where she teaches courses on the music and rituals of the Arabian Peninsula. Throughout 2015-16 she has been appointed a Visiting Scholar at Harvard University, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, where she is investigating the earliest recordings of Arabia (1906). She is the author of numerous writings on Peninsula culture and the producer of the CD and booklet, "Kuwait: Sea Songs of the Arabian Gulf" (Multicultural Media 2014). Urkevich was recently honored with the 2015 University of Maryland Alumna of the Year Award. www.urkevich.com.
Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 18th February 2016
The Department of Computer Science & Information Systems (CSIS) at AUK has become an official member in the Oracle Academy. The membership grants AUK access to a wide range of classroom courses, self-study instructions, expertly developed learning materials and curriculum, training, workshops and resources. Oracle Academy assists our CSIS students in becoming “job ready” professionals by the time they graduate and prepares them for the demands and enormous opportunities of the Information Economy. In addition to this, CSIS is a member of in the Cisco Networking Academy (CNA), an academy that offers courses for the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) programs, and prepares students for other computer-related courses, and an associate Member of SAP University Alliances Program, the world's largest provider of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to manage and integrate different business operations, supply chain management and customer relationships.
To learn more about Oracle Academy, click here.
Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 8th February 2016
The American University of Kuwait (AUK) and Lothan Youth Achievement Center (LOYAC) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to enhance and benefit student participation in personal and professional development programs.
The MOU will enable students to pursue internships, attend workshops and seminars, volunteer, and support various community outreach programs. In addition, participating students will be able to receive certification from LOYAC.
Based on the agreement, AUK students can start exploring opportunities with LOYAC. Placement will be done based on students' interview skills, majors and overall fit for various jobs and companies. By establishing this MOU, students will be exposed to a wide spectrum of experiences and training that will prepare them for their chosen professional careers and personal development.
This is not the first time AUK partners with LOYAC; the two parties signed their first MOU in summer 2007, whereby AUK granted internship credits to AUK students employed by the LOYAC Summer Program.
About LOYAC:
LOYAC was founded by a group of committed women in Kuwait as a proactive response to the violence that shock the world in September 11, 2001. The founding members of LOYAC recognized that youth can be led towards peace by providing them with opportunities for personal growth, experiencing the joy of service and developing their professional skills through on job training internships that builds self confidence
LOYAC runs several programs for the youth to develop their professional skills, enhance their personal growth and to help them find their sense of purpose by extending themselves to others. Today, LOYAC has grown to be the first choice of the youth in Kuwait when it comes to innovative and high quality programs. LOYAC was able to engineer several paradigm shifts in the Kuwaiti community by introducing youth as young as 6 years to community service and emphasizing on the importance of service oriented jobs in restaurants and hotels. In response to the needs of the youth across the boundaries of Kuwait, LOYAC opened its first chapter abroad in Jordan in 2008 and in Lebanon in 2009 and in Yemen in 2015.
Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 2nd February 2016
The Center for Continuing Education (CCE) at AUK will be holding a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) informative session next Tuesday, February 2nd. The seminar is an initiative from CCE to raise awareness among the professional community about the CMA credential and professional value at both personal and corporate levels.
The seminar will take place on Tuesday at 1:45pm - 3:15pm at room number B-205 at the AUK campus. The seminar will be open to public and free of charge.
Following the introductory Seminar, CCE will be launching its first CMA course, starting February 9th.
The course is designed to prepare participants for the CMA (Certified Management Accountant) test, enabling professionals to master finance functions and deliver value within their organizations, as well as equipping them with a competitive advantage in today's complex business environment.
The aim of the CMA program is twofold; at a corporate Level, it is aimed at enhancing the knowledge base and professional recognition of expertise acquired in the management accounting domain; and at a personal Level, it provides professionals with higher opportunities for career promotion in the management accounting positions, together with higher job packages.
The CCE CMA program is suited for university graduates or working professionals, with at least two years of professional experience in Management accounting and or financial management or in the areas specified by IMA.
The CMA courses will be delivered by Dr. Ayman Haddad- Associate Professor of Accounting at AUK; Mr. Robin Bhattacharya - CMA, CFA, recipient of Gold Medal Award for attaining the world's highest exam scores; and Mr. Yaser Al-Natour - CMA, CPA
CCE was established in 2004 and, in addition to offering language courses in Arabic, English, French and Spanish, offers an array of courses and workshops aimed to assist in the personal and professional development of individuals and groups within the public and private sectors. Course offerings are specifically tailored to meet the needs of their clients, whether they are independent groups or corporations.
Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 1st February 2016
The Writing Center Diwaniya Book Club at AUK participated in Story-time, an initiative conducted in collaboration with Dar Al Athar Al Islamiyya (DAI), in which members volunteer to read stories for children at the Amricani Cultural Centre. This initiative goes in line with the Book Club's mission of promoting reading within the community. This year's first reading was of Oh! The Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss, who graduated from Dartmouth College, AUK's international partner institution, in 1925.
This collaboration is part of a community outreach project led by Hanouf Aljuhail, Assistant Director of Learning Support Services, and members of the Writing Center and The Diwaniya Book Club. The reading session was conducted by Omar Khalil, the Diwaniya's President, and Dana Maan, Treasurer, and was supported by Aljuhail and Hala Botros, the Academic Support Specialist at the Writing Center and Diwaniya Book Club Advisor.
"We selected Dr. Seuss's Oh! The Places You'll Go! for this event because it delivers an inspirational and important message to children; believe in yourself and strive to achieve your dreams no matter how difficult it may seem sometimes. It is a powerful message conveyed through the popular and catchy Dr. Suess rhymes, which the children find fun to read and listen to," explained Aljuhail. "Through this initiative, we aim to encourage children to love reading and help them see the endless possibilities it'll bring to their lives," she added.
The children enjoyed listening to the story being read and interacted with the readers as they performed parts of the story for them. Following the reading, the children all received balloons containing quotes from the book as mementos of the experience.
Story-time was filmed by Kuwait Television channel (KTV1). Members of the Writing Center and Diwaniya club were interviewed about their experience and about the collaboration with DAI.
The Diwnaiya Book Club hopes to instill the love of reading within the community and encourage AUK students to become better writers. The Diwaniya holds monthly meetings at the Writing Center where members read selected books and prepare for events to promote reading in the AUK community.
About Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, is the international partner institution to the American University of Kuwait (AUK), as defined by the Private Universities Council of the State of Kuwait (Resolution no. PUC (5/21-2/2005). Dartmouth and AUK have worked closely together since 2003, when the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding that facilitated a series of advisory, consultative, and cooperative projects.
About Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah (DAI)
Dar al Athar al Islamiyyah (DAI) is a cultural organization based around the private art collection owned by Sheikh Nasser Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah, founder of The al Sabah Collection and his wife, DAI director general and co-founder Sheikha Hussah Sabah al Salem al Sabah. Since its inception in 1983, DAI has grown from a single focus organization created to manage the loan of the prestigious al Sabah Collection of art from the Islamic world to the State of Kuwait to become an internationally recognized cultural organization.
Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 31st January 2016
Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2015
The AUK Women's Basketball team triumphed in the University Athletics Association of Kuwait (UAAK) finals. Playing in the finals opposite the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK), they earned the winning title with an impressive score of 29-19.
This is the 4th year in which AUK has participated in this league, and was among several universities and colleges in Kuwait competing for the championship. Led by coach Wessam Mohammad, the team's efforts did not go unnoticed as he praises their performance throughout the competition, "We approached all games with the same mentality as a final game, we got better all the way to winning the championship. Special thanks to Dean Hanan Muzaffar and Mr. Omar Mehdi for their great support; to all the fans who stood by our side throughout the tournament. And finally, thanks to all the players for their determination, desire and unselfish play."
The team displayed outstanding athleticism and drive throughout the season, and went undefeated in all their games.
Coach Wessam Mohammad
AUK Winning Team
Senior Graphic Design student Fatemah Al-Shobbar was chosen as one of the winners of a typography competition hosted by the Srishti Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, India.
The competition entitled, 'Experimental Typography' called for international students and professionals alike to design a poster using language, script, or calligraphy.
Out of over 1000 submissions, Fatemah's poster was chosen by a blind jury, and is one of 44 winners that will be displayed in an exhibition during the Typography Seminar and Workshop from 25-27 February, 2016 at the Srishti Institute.
This marks the third year that students in the GDES 421 class have participated in this poster competition and have made it onto the winners list. Fatemah's work can be viewed here: http://www.typoday.in/poster_result-161.html
The Art and Graphic Design Department degree program offers a balance of theory and practice in the art and science of visual communication. The program cultivates cultural and aesthetic sensibilities while emphasizing critical thinking, analysis and problem-solving through the teaching of design history, methodology and technologies in order to produce designers capable of meaningful design in a diverse global community.
Fatemah Al-Shobbar's Work
AUK held the 3rd Annual Electrical & Computer Engineering Exhibition 2015 (ECEE'15), in which alumni and students presented and demonstrated projects to compete for the Best Project Award, as well as the Students Choice Award. The event was organized by the AUK Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, along with student teams from the AUK-IEEE Student Branch (IEEESB).
The exhibition was inaugurated by Dr. Esmaeili, Chair of the Organizing Committee, and was followed by presentations and demonstrations of projects by students and professionals. The keynote speech entitled, 'Project Management: What, Why and How?' was delivered by Mr. Bassam Hamady, Chief Resident Engineer at SSH. The speech was followed by three presentations given by representative engineers Mr. Haider Al-Mosawi, Mr. Ahmad Marafi & Mr. Hashem Bahbahani, from Sirdab Lab, and Coded respectively.
Following the presentations, Dr. Issam Damaj, Chair of the ECE Department announced the formation of the ECE Department Technical Teams which fall under the AUK IEEE Student Branch. A total of eight teams were formed, each is dedicated towards a specific technical interest. Each team is supervised by an Engineering faculty member and serves as a capstone design project incubator for junior and senior students. The team-based structure facilitates technical discussions, activities, and ideas specific to each team's scope of interest.
Among the proceedings of the exhibition were sessions from Dr. Abdulrahman Abdulazim from IET Kuwait Local Community and Dr. Feda Al-Shahwan from the IEEE Kuwait Chapter, in addition to a seminar from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Seminar Series 2015 (ECESS'15) given by AUK Adjunct Professor, Dr Stacey Al-Ghawas,.
Towards the end of the event, the judging panel, comprised of Dr. Ashraf Zaher, Associate Professor of Computer Engineering and Dr. Jibran Yousafzai, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering selected Project Leap as the winner of the Best Project Award. HTCC: Haskell to Handel-C Hardware Compiler came as the winner of the Student Choice Award that was voted for by the students.
AUK President, Professor Dr. Nizar Hamzeh, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Rawda Awwad, and the Electrical & Computer Engineering Department Chair Dr. Issam Damaj presented the awards to the participants and winners in each of the project categories.
"I would like to congratulate the winning project teams and all their fellow participators for a job well-done," said Dr. Damaj "ECEE'15 provided a unique and exciting opportunity to encourage undergraduate research, cross-collaboration, and social networking among students, alumni, and professionals in the field."
A new addition to the ECEE exhibition this year was an off-campus tour to ALARGAN International Real State Company, one of the leading real estate companies in Kuwait. The title of the tour was "Let's Think Green in Buildings" and included a visit to ALARGAN green building, the first LEED Platinum certified project in Kuwait. During the visit, ECE faculty members and students were given the chance to tour the different sections of premises and explore the environmental solutions employed in the project. The tour also included a presentation from Mr. Khaled K. Al Mashaan, Vice Chairman and CEO of the company and another presentation from the head of the IT Department. At the end of the tour, certificates were awarded to participating students.
Dr. Seyed Esmaeili, Head of the (ECEE'15) Organizing Committee, said: "We are proud of our students who continue for the third year running to present high-quality capstone projects. We continue on our activity of organizing the ECE Seminar Series, which is tailored to support our 'ABET Student Outcomes' outside the classroom, and continue to be of interest to faculty members and other professionals. In addition, the ECE Department will continue its collaboration with universities as well as companies in both the local and private sectors"
About the Winning Projects:
Project Leap:
Team: Muhammad Haq and Adnan Merish
Supervisor: Dr. Mohammed El-Abd
Project Leap is a smart city solution that employs modern and dynamic approaches to enhance the quality of life in cities. With a futuristic look to technology, modern cities need to have human-like mechanisms that allow systems or subsystems to analyze data and make optimal decisions through utilizing Information and Communication Technology (ICT). The term 'leap' signifies sudden change, which relates with the project's purpose and title, Project Leap, implying a change in the city. The project proposes a parking system, traffic system, smart house, streetlight system, monitoring system and a mosque, all of which address the aspect of smart living, smart environment, smart governance, and smart mobility.
HTCC: Haskell to Handel-C Hardware Compiler:
Team: Ahmad Ablak
Supervisor: Dr. I. Damaj
Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are widely used reconfigurable computing (RC) systems. FPGAs have become very popular in research and industrial applications in different fields, such as, security, signal processing etc. Recently, there has been considerable focus on the development of high-level synthesis (HLS) and rapid prototyping hardware/software co-design tools. The targets of co-design tools are high design productivity, simplicity, reduced time-to-prototype, correctness, to name a few. HTCC is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) that is capable of compiling a subset of Haskell to Handel-C, in addition to, automatically generating VHDL, Verilog, EDIF, and SystemC. The design of HTCC compiler includes lexical, syntax and semantic analyzers. The compiler is generated from ANTLR tool by providing a subset of Haskell grammar. HTCC successfully connects to external tools, such as, DK Design Suite, Altera Quartus, and ModelSim. The developed compiler targets an Altera DE2-70 Board with its CYCLONE II FPGA and an Altera DE4 Board with its STRATIX IV FPGA. The targeted area of application is cryptography.
The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering strives to provide high-quality engineering education centered around the key principles of liberal arts, specifically, lifelong-learning, critical thinking, and effective communication. The department prepares students to become successful engineers, and be able to contribute effectively to their profession and community.
Released by the Office of Public Affairs on the 11th January 2016
Photography by the Office of Public Affairs (C) 2016
