A Journey of Discovery II

• Paige Smith
• petroleum institute
• PI
• eerc
• wie

Students visiting Professor Amr Baz’s laboratory

The second Journey of Discovery, the annual Spring Break visit of the women students from PI, Arzanah campus, along with their Director, happened March 25-April 1, 2011. The trip was co-organized by the WISE Program Director and Arzanah Campus Director Dr. Nadia Alhasani and Dr. Azar Nazeri, Research Manager of the University of Maryland’s Energy Education and Research Collaboration (EERC). One of the objectives of the trip was to provide an opportunity for women PI students to visit Engineering programs at a partner institution, expose them to cutting-edge research and technology and to inspire and enhance their commitment to science and technology.

The major component of the itinerary was the visit to the University of Maryland, College Park campus, touring state-of-the-art research laboratories and attending presentations and workshops mostly conducted by female professors at University of Maryland. Among the laboratories visited were two chemical engineering laboratories, Dr. Raghavan's Lab and Dr. Anisimov’s Light Scattering lab, the ME laboratories of Microelectronics Interconnects Laboratory, Micro-Robotics Laboratory, Virtual Reality Laboratory, Nano-Fabrication Laboratory and the University Nuclear Reactor. The party also attended lectures given by leading scientists in the field of MEMS and nano- fabrication engineering.

The Arzanah students were invited to attend a capstone design lab where the student groups were working on their senior projects. The busy itinerary did allow for visits to Washington DC, Georgetown, Baltimore (Maryland) and old-town Alexandria (Virginia). Included in the trip were opportunities for students to visit several renowned museums such as the Natural History Museum, the National Air and Space Museum, and the National Art Gallery – East Wing, and Air & Space Museum. The professors giving tours to Arzanah students described them with the following words: "curious, inquisitive and always with the best questions".

Aside from supervising the trip, Dr. Nadia Al Hassani held many meetings during this trip with faculty and UMD management. She met with Dr. Balachandran, the acting chair of the mechanical engineering program; Dr. Smith, the Director of the WIE; Dr. Nazeri, The Research Manager of EERC and Dr. Al-Sheikhly, the Director of the Nuclear Reactor at UMD. She also had a follow-up meeting on the "PI Strategic Plan" with Dr. Ali Mosleh, professor of mechanical engineering, Dr. Balachandran and Dr. Nazeri.

Published April 20, 2011