AUD School of Engineering hold an Advisory Committee Meeting

The meeting was led by Dr. Khaled Soudki, the Dean of School of Engineering at AUD and was held on AUD premises.

The meeting was attended by Mr. Elias Bou Saab, Vice President of AUD, along with Dr. Jean-Lou Chameau, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology, who flew in from Atlanta to address the committee on the background of the relationship between AUD and Georgia Institute of Technology.

The remaining esteemed members of the committee included Dr. Matar Al-Tayyer, Chairman of Roads and Transportation Authority, Mr. Hamed Zaghw, VP & Head of Dubai Office of Parsons, Mr. Jim Sokolowski, CEO of Holcrow, Mr. Samir Khoury, General Manager of Consolidated Contractors, Dr. Essa Bastaki, Director of Education Training in R&D Department of Dubai Silicon Oasis, Mr. Khaled Lootah, Manager of Planning & Operations at DEW, Mr. Qusai Shared, Chief of Engineering & Operations at DEWA, Mr. Obeid Mishar, General Manager-Dubai Region at Etisalat, Mr. Mazen Jabri, UAE Manager of CISCO, Mr. Abdullatif Al-Mulla, General Manager of Microsoft, Mr. Suhail Issa, CEO of Emitac, Mr. Fred Durie, Executive Director of Emaar and Mr. James Wilson, CEO of Nakheel.

The meeting started with opening remarks from Dr. Jihad Nader, Provost and Chief Academic Officer, welcoming the local, regional and international committee members for attending the meeting and contributing to the meeting's agenda with their academic and professional experiences.

Several issues were discussed at the meeting including the School of Engineering's status with its current staff, programs and enrolment and the school's developments and achievements with an emphasis on the students' continuous outstanding performances. Also discussed were the future plans for the school to become a magnet for the best faculty, staff, program and students in the region.

Other future plans for the school of engineering included providing programs that are relevant to the region, becoming a source of information to create a dialogue between the university and the community, raising the profile of engineering in the area, and providing leadership when addressing emerging technology.

Dr. Soudki commented, "The Advisory Committee is the sounding board that will put the AUD School of Engineering on the World Map. We expect to be the best in the region in our field."

Dr. Soudki also stressed how the Engineering environment in the region is highly dynamic and fast moving and that one must rise up to the standards and maintain up-to-date programs and facilities to sustain the status of the AUD as a high quality education provider in the region.

Dr. Soudki concluded saying, "We view the advisory committee members as our university's stakeholders and the committee as an ongoing mechanism, a continuing process to help the AUD in achieving excellence in all its programs."