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This Episode is our first episode in Arabic! Born and raised in Cairo, Dr. Tarek Rakha did his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Cairo University. He started his PhD at Harvard Graduate School of Design and then transferred to MIT. After graduation, he worked in top-notch institutions like Rhode Island School of Design, Syracuse University, and Georgia Tech. Currently, he is the director of the Georgia Tech High-Performance Building Lab. During his time at MIT, he was pretty active in the Egyptian community, and he was the president of the Egyptian Student Association.

Dr. Ayman Ismail has more degrees than I can keep track of. He did a bachelor’s in Construction Engineering at the American University in Cairo (AUC) graduating 1995. In the same year, he started an MBA also in AUC and graduated in 1997. Then he did a master’s in MIT in City Planning. graduating 1999. For the following six years, he worked as a consultant in McKinsey, and then the world bank. He then went back to MIT, but this time, for a PhD in International Economic Development.  Few years later he decided to go back to his hometown, Cairo. Today, he is the Abdul Latif Jameel Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship and the founding director of AUC Venture Lab, and he is a co-founder, angel investor, or board member, of several fast-growing startups in fintech, microfinance, and logistics.  In 2012, he was selected as a Young Global Leader (YGL) by the World Economic Forum (WEF).

In this Episode, Daniella Maamari talks about her journey living in different countries, working in two jobs simultaneously and maintaining deep connections with home regardless the distance. Daniella spent her childhood between Lebanon, Canada and Saudi Arabia. After finishing her Bachelor’s degree in the Lebanese American University, she joined MIT in 2017 to pursue her Master’s and graduated right before the quarantine. Our guest likes to do many things at the same time. During her time at MIT, she visited five countries in relation to her work.  Since her graduation, she worked as a researcher at MIT, and now she is the lead researcher in the MIT Future Hertiage Lab. Simultaneously, she is also working Full-time at Urban Designer in Canada. As a proud Lebanese, she was active in the Lebanese community in Boston. Even a few months after her graduation, she helped to organize the MIT Lebanon challenge. And when the devastating explosion took place in August 2020, she wrote a letter to the MIT community to spread awareness and help raise money for Beirut.

Our guest today did his bachelor’s of Engineering in Algeria. Then he went to Sorbonne University in Paris to pursue his master’s and PhD. He then joined MIT as a post-doc in Computer Science where he worked in the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab. He studied compilers for high-performance computing. Now he serves as an Assistant Professor at New York University Abu Dhabi. Meaning he lived in four countries on four continents! He is enthusiastic about giving back to the Algerian community by sharing his experience of studying abroad. In this episode, he will share invaluable career advice, in addition to some insight into his travel adventures.

Ahla w sahla, We're back! UnliMITed is returning with another season, this time featuring an episode in Arabic! Tune in on Tuesday, November 9th, to catch the first of these amazing interviews on your favorite podcasting app. Hosted by our very own Omar Obeya!

The Pi series is back with another incredible student, Zaina Moussa SB'21, who shows us just how many resources exist on campus. From the equalizing Pass/No Record system in place during freshman year and the student-run hands-on culture on campus to the amazing research opportunities and travel experiences available for students, there is so much to do when you're a student at MIT. Tune in to learn more about Zaina's experience and what life is like on campus!

Maya Nasr is a guest who truly embodies the spirit of our UnliMITed podcast. Breaking barriers and paving the way for others to follow, Maya Nasr SB '18, SM '21, and PhD '23 in Aeronautical Engineering has pushed the boundaries set for young Arab women by contributing to the latest NASA launch to Mars through the MOXIE project. Tune in to hear her story and learn about the unlimited opportunities available at MIT. 

Meet Omar Obeya! Born and raised in Egypt, received his Bachelor’s and Master of Engineering degrees from MIT in 2018 and 2019, respectively. During his undergraduate studies, he studied Computer Science with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. He was also the vice president of the Arab Student Organization (ASO). During his graduate studies, he conducted research in MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) on parallel algorithms. Currently, Omar works as a software engineer for a hedge fund based in New York City. Since graduation, Omar has been trying to maintain his relationship with MIT through volunteering in the MIT Arab Conference, MIT Arab Alumni Association and the making of this podcast!

Kicking off our Pi series we have Areen Bahour SB ’16. Areen’s MIT experience showcases many of the opportunities available on campus to connect back with your heritage and learn some valuable leadership skills all while taking a heavy technical course-load.

Dana is a chemical engineer working in Saudi Aramco's newly establish Sustainability (ESG Strategy and Reporting) Team. Dana received a scholarship from Saudi Aramco to study at MIT where she majored in chemical-biological engineering and graduated with minors in biology, and entrepreneurship and innovation in 2020.  During her time at MIT, Dana was President of the Arab Students Organization (ASO) for two terms, through which she founded the MIT Arab Science and Technology Conference (SciTech), now in its third year. Dana then interned at IHS Markit where in 2019 she coordinated the launch of the Arab Energy Innovation Initiative at CERAWeek, the world’s premier global energy conference. This led to her participation in the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative (OGCI) Stakeholder Dialogue during the 2019 New York Climate Week where she was invited to share her thoughts with the CEOs of 12 major energy companies. Additionally, Dana was a recipient of the Young Future Energy Leaders (YFEL) award in 2019 from Khalifa University in the UAE where she was invited to participate at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. Dana is passionate about sustainable development and finding the path to decarbonization from within the Arab world.

Mamoun is head of Business Development at Arab Transit, a Shipping and Logistics company based in Jordan. He is a co-founder and the CEO of Arqflow, a cloud platform founded by MIT alums, that helps businesses streamline supply chain workflows while collaborating with their network partners. Mamoun has over 10 years of theoretical expertise and direct experience in Shipping and Logistics and has been involved in projects focusing on digitization and integrating processes. He holds a master’s degree in Supply Chain Management from MIT and a Bachelor of Commerce degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Toronto. Mamoun is part of the MIT Arab Alumni Association board, serving as the Treasurer.

Nour is an urban planner for Asakura Robinson, an award-winning US-based planning, urban design, and landscape architecture firm. Hailing from Aleppo, Syria, Nour has lived and worked in Kuwait, Montreal, and Boston and currently calls Houston home. She graduated from MIT in 2019 with a Masters degree in City Planning where her Masters thesis evaluated the state of public transportation in Kuwait and developed a framework to assess industry structure models for the regulation of public transportation for the Arab world. During her time at MIT, Nour was one of the founding organizers of the first MIT SciTech conference and was also Graduate Chair of the Arab Students Organization. She also holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Development and Sociology from McGill University. Prior to joining the board, Nour was a volunteer with the AAA working on initiatives like the webinar series. She became a board member, serving as Director of Campus Engagement, to continue working on initiatives important to the Arab world, primarily through maintaining a strong connection between a renowned institution like MIT and the region. She genuinely believes that the AAA can make a difference in the lives of many and she hopes to be a part of that change. Her hope for the next two years is to build a brand for the MIT AAA that is synonymous with growth and innovation in the Arab world.