Also participating in the visit were three international students currently completing an elective in social medicine and global health at LAU’s Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine (SOM).

Nima Sheth, a fourth-year medical student at the Saint Louis University in Missouri, joined the program because of her interest in social justice and her desire to work with the phenomenon of post-traumatic stress disorder among refugees.

“The team has great energy and everyone shows real empathy with the patients,” she says. “It’s good to be exposed to underprivileged environments, because there’s much more we can help the patients with here.”

More than 8,500 residents currently live in acute privation within the one-square-kilometer bounds of the Shatila camp, one of Beirut’s most impoverished communities.

Established in 2001 by physicians, medical students and volunteers from the American University of Beirut, VOC offers primary care services to camp residents every Thursday, and occasionally for half-days on Saturdays.

The clinic is now run primarily by students and physicians from SOM’s Social Medicine and Global Health program.

Under the supervision of Dr. Mona Haidar, the program’s coordinator and an SOM instructor at LAU Byblos, and Dr. Myrna Doumit, assistant professor and assistant dean at the Alice Chagoury School of Nursing, students participate in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients.

“We believe in the team approach. One person can’t cover all of the patients’ needs, and we cannot function solo,” says Doumit.

“Inter-professional education is the founding pillar of healthcare education and delivery, and that’s what we’re implementing through VOC,” she notes, adding that the nutrition and social work programs will soon be joining.

VOC’s mission is to provide, at minimal or no cost, quality health services to underprivileged and neglected individuals in Lebanon, regardless of race, gender, geographic location and religious affiliation. VOC promotes a message of solidarity among both patients and practitioners.

Despite limited availability of medical equipment at the clinic, the LAU team provides reliable care and responsive support to VOC patients.

Since most Shatila residents can rarely afford the laboratory tests they need, however, financial support is needed to make the clinic an ongoing primary healthcare facility for its patients, as well as a comprehensive learning site for students.

Impressed with the students’ involvement and performance at the clinic, Assistant Vice President for Development Robert Hollback hopes to find ways to increase the community’s involvement with the clinic.

“Our students and faculty members are providing the only healthcare available at the clinic right now,” says Hollback, adding that sustainability remains an unresolved problem since the clinic relies mostly on donations.

“We currently have a $50,000 funding proposal, and we’re waiting for it to come through. But this is still not a sustainable source of funding,” he says.

Up to ten patients frequent the clinic every Thursday, and the numbers are steadily climbing.

“We want to attune our students to the idea that the patients are coming from a certain community, and thus tailor our care accordingly,” Haidar says, adding that community assessment lies at the core of the process.

Lara Oson, a third year medical student at LAU, finds the VOC experience to be genuinely gratifying.

“We get to see the patient from the very beginning, make a plan and discuss it with Dr. Haidar. It’s a big responsibility and we feel that we’re truly making a difference,” she says.

Amanda Youssef, the smallest team member, will pilot the car at the Sepang Formula One racetrack in Kuala Lumpur next July.

The first prize will go to the most fuel-efficient vehicle. Last year’s winner achieved 1,522 kilometers/liter (or 3,580 miles/gallon).

With its emphasis on environment-friendly innovation, the event is an ideal venue for students from LAU’s Industrial and Mechanical Engineering department, a keen advocate of green technologies.

“As mechanical engineers, we need to provide solutions to the global problem of energy consumption,” says fourth-year mechanical engineering major Michel Abi Akl. “In 20 or 30 years it will be too late,” he added.

Seasoned Eco-marathon technical leader Norman Koch discussed event technicalities during a workshop on January 20 at LAU Beirut. Students listened attentively, garnering expert tips for success. It emerged that contestants must comply with oft-overlooked safety regulations to qualify for competition. Front and rear brake systems must separately immobilize the vehicle on a 20 percent incline, for instance.

The logistics and technical requirements of the competition pose quite a challenge for the nine Byblos-based students, who must take care of designing and manufacturing the car, observing safety regulations, shipping parts and even raising funds to cover the costs of the project.

“The students have to apply everything they have learned on the curriculum,” says co-adviser Wassim Habchi. “They also have to interact with the outside world seeking funds, conducting meetings, and presenting their work, which is important for personal development,” adds co-adviser Michel Khoury.

Following techniques taught in an elective course on racecar aerodynamics, “we draw the car on the computer and simulate tests using Computational Fluid Dynamics software,” says Abi Akl. “We calculate the drag coefficient, then change the height, length and shape of the car accordingly, to optimize our design.”

“We do not have as much experience with motor engineering, so the challenge has been researching steering systems and how to make a chassis,” says Youssef.

“We are not sure how well the values we calculated on the software will correspond to the actual construction, so we might face some difficulties in the manufacturing stage,” she adds.

Habchi points to other hurdles: “The tough part is coordinating shipping, logistics, and communication. We just learned that we cannot ship flammable parts to Malaysia, so we are going to have to find a way to get batteries there.”

The project is likely to cost over $40,000, which the team will have to secure before it starts building the vehicle this month.

The tournament has been a tradition at Shell since 1939, when scientists at a research lab wagered to see who could build the most fuel-efficient vehicle.

“We will be participating every year from now on, so future teams will improve on the original design,” says Dr. Pierrette Zouein, associate professor of industrial engineering at LAU Byblos and chair of the IME department.

“The Lebanese are not a fuel-efficient people,” says Khoury, who envisions a vehicle half the size of a Smart that could one day dominate the streets of Beirut. “It would have solar cells to prevent energy loss and greenhouse gas emissions while stuck in traffic.”

Future LAU students could help make his vision a reality.

As the bus approached Tripoli and navigated the last stretch of road between the highway and the new office at the Safadi Foundation, each of a series of freshly planted blue CEP road signs elicited cheers and applause from CEP director Michel Majdalani and the other passengers.

The two institutions formalized a partnership in June that led to the establishment of CEP's first satellite outside Beirut, allowing the office to extend its reach to Lebanon's second most populous city and its surrounding areas. Seven months later, the center opens its doors to offer a host of specialized workshops, professional certificate and post-graduate degree programs.

“We are proud to be spreading knowledge throughout the North,” says Maya Baghdadi, CEP coordinator for the Tripoli office and a native of the city. “I feel like this initiative is a way to give back to my community, and I expect to see positive outcomes.”

The Tripoli office, as well as another CEP office set to be launched in Zahle on January 26, will play key roles in the social development of both communities. The new offices will offer everything from SAT prep courses for young students to specialized CEP certificate programs in law, business and marketing aimed at both veterans and neophytes of those professions.

“Whatever your background may look like, CEP offers a program to meet your needs,” said Faten Dabboussi, assistant director of CEP, as she outlined the wide variety of program options during the office launching ceremony.

One of the key aims of the new office is to ensure that program fees remain affordable by offering up to 40 percent discounts on programs for those who may need financial support.

“We kept affordability in mind to allow all to enhance their skills and performance — not only the privileged,” Majdalani explains.

Majdalani’s speech at the launch of the Tripoli center outlined several goals, including the cultivation of ethical principles and scientific foundations, the introduction of specialized programs in response to market needs, and the improvement of professional skills through top-notch educational programs.

Mohammad Safadi, current Lebanese finance minister and president of the Safadi Foundation, elaborated on the point about market needs, explaining that high unemployment in the Arab world among educated youth results from a disconnect between educational programs and real world market needs.

“The Lebanese economy essentially relies on human capital which is our biggest national resource,” Safadi said. “We can nurture the national economy by enhancing their educational abilities.”

His wife and vice president of the Safadi Foundation, Mona Safadi, was also present at the ceremony.

The Safadi Foundation was established in Tripoli in 2001 as a non-profit charitable organization working with the community to advance youth education, sports, health and culture. In recent years the organization has increased its emphasis on social development. With the new partnership, CEP has access to the foundation's facilities, which include a library, computer lab and gymnasium.

“Our visions for this partnership coincided in their emphasis on youth,” said Riad Alameddine, General Director of the Safadi Foundation. “We depend on them to build society and bring prosperity to the nation.”

In his ceremonial address, LAU President Dr. Joseph G. Jabbra thanked the Safadis for their charitable programs in the country, characterizing them as “blessed with the best gift in life — the gift of giving.”

“LAU believes profoundly in not only the responsibility, but the obligation of the institution to serve the other,” Jabbra said. “Our two marvelous institutions are bonding together in order to see to it that the north of Lebanon is well served, and that the young people of this region begin to learn about the importance of thinking about the other.”

Sidon MP and Hariri Foundation President Bahia Hariri and LAU President Joseph G. Jabbra signed the program into life in December. This was followed by the first of several training sessions for the new MAL delegates on January 7.

The three-year memorandum of understanding between LAU and the Hariri Foundation provides for MAL training for over 400 students at Sidon’s Rafic Hariri High School during the first year and spreading to nearly 100 middle and high schools in the Sidon School Network during the second year, with the goal of carrying the program to other Arab countries in the third year.

“We meet here to make sure that our youth will bring glory to Lebanon, the region and the whole world,” Hariri said at the inaugural event.

Jabbra told the audience that the program’s mission is to develop young people’s leadership and diplomatic skills. The youth, he said, are “today’s leaders, not tomorrow’s.”

MAL “teaches its students to learn, to influence, and to lead a legacy,” said Elie Samia, the executive director of Outreach and Civic Engagement at LAU and MAL program director.

A team of 32 LAU students will train teenagers from Rafic Hariri High School in Sidon on practical leadership skills directly related to the social, economic, cultural and political issues facing the Arab world. After seven training sessions, students will participate in a two-day conference simulating the various sessions and committees of the Arab League.

The first training session covered the history of the Arab states and the establishment of the Arab League. The delegates were asked to write down their thoughts about human and civil rights, cultural issues, poverty, peace and security, and women empowerment in the Arab world, which were then collected to form the draft of the “MAL Arab Youth Appeal.”

According to Samia, students gain invaluable leadership experience and other important skills – such as time management, the use of parliamentary procedure, and the dynamics of debating, writing, and editing – through the hands-on training.

“With the passion and enthusiasm of our students, we aim to spread MAL culture and education throughout Lebanon and the Arab world,” Samia said.

At the inaugural ceremony, he thanked Joseph Kanaan, OCE project coordinator, and Cynthia Nassif, MAL program coordinator, who were instrumental in planning the MAL program inauguration.
 

Nadia Azzam, a part-time instructor at the School of Business, organized the trip for students taking her International Marketing class in order to expose them to a “real-life business environment.”

She says that the field visit to the airport required extensive preparation and a number of official permits, but gave students “the chance to see how theories learned in the classroom are translated and applied into everyday business situations.”

“In addition, these field visits prepare our students to network with key authorities in Lebanese Customs in the future,” she adds.

Officials gave students a detailed account of the airport’s import procedures, covering customs inspections, tariffs and penalties, warehouse protocol, and documents required for entry.

A guided tour followed, bringing the students to various offices where they had a first-hand look at systems of document processing, tax payments, and merchandise clearance.

Students got a close look into cargo planes, visited warehouses filled with boxes and parcels, and witnessed freight being inspected, cleared, and electronically scanned before delivery to importers and agents.

Following a briefing by Zaher Abi Ghanem, head of the duty-free zone, the students visited duty-free sections at both the arrival and departure areas.

Dr. John McGill, chairperson of the Department of Management, Marketing, MIS, International Business Systems, and Family and Entrepreneurial Business at LAU Beirut, who accompanied the students, agrees that students learn best from experience.

“The field trip to Beirut Airport offered students many benefits — learning in a new environment, putting knowledge into practice, and exposing them to experience relevant to marketing,” McGill says. “Overall, it was a job well done.”

"The visit was interesting and efficient because we saw a direct application of what we have studied in class,” says business major Ola Chahine. “This enabled us to better understand what happens on the ground."

Fellow business student Sarah Rajeh agrees, adding that she hopes the customs control system they learned about continues to move forward in a systematic way, because in Lebanon, she says, “theories need to be properly implemented.”

This is not the first time Azzam has organized field trips for her students. In May of last year, she took her international marketing students to Beirut’s port, where they were exposed to loading and unloading of containers from docked vessels. In 2010 Azzam’s students visited a company specializing in a full range of international marketing services.

“There are many fitness trainers in Lebanon, but few are professionally qualified,” said program coordinator Wael Jaber. He added that demand for the latter is rapidly growing in the Arab countries, and that in Saudi Arabia women trainers are particularly sought after.

Michel Majdalani, CEP director, says that this new endeavor provides a missing link between an existing program and the community. “By providing good standards of practice and by promoting a healthy lifestyle based on professional competence through community involvement, we are projecting a positive image to the public, which then in turn reflects back positively on LAU,” he says.

“At CEP we take a cutting edge idea and out of it create value for society based on practical knowledge, added skills and proven abilities,” Majdalani continues. “And this professional fitness program is a perfect example of that.”

The curriculum draws on SPI’s in-depth, science-based educational programs for personal trainers, instructors, coaches, and athletes.

Over three semesters (fall, spring and summer), students take 11 courses in specialized fitness topics as well as general anatomy and nutrition. Graduates receive a Professional Fitness Diploma.

People of diverse professions with a keen interest in physical fitness have found the program enriching, in some cases even career-changing.

Eli Slaibi, a recent graduate of the program, worked for ten years in hospitality management before discovering his passion for attaining optimal physical shape. “The course opened so many opportunities to me,” he said. Slaibi is now a trainer with Senses, one of Lebanon’s most highly regarded fitness clubs.

Tsoline Bostanian, a student with degrees in accounting and fashion design, said she was “looking forward to helping others improve their physique and keep a healthy state of mind.” She trains up to four times a week. Through the program she has learned the importance of nutrition to those who exercise intensively.

Personal trainer and post-injury rehabilitation training specialist Dima Alameddine said the diploma helped her gain managerial skills she needed in her career.

Most of Alameddine’s clients are medical doctors. Speaking of the benefits of physical fitness, she says, “Regular exercise can help you avoid sickness and enjoy better sleep. Ultimately, life is more enjoyable when you’re fit.”

Students of the program are aware that peace of mind is essential to physical shape, and vice versa. “Some people who try hard to lose weight and constantly think about it have more trouble reaching their desired weight than positive-thinking individuals following the exact same program,” said Jaber.

The event was co-sponsored by LAU and Prepare New York, a community-based coalition of interfaith organizations working to counter religious intolerance. The three women — one Christian, one Muslim, and one Jewish — engaged in a candid, freeform discussion about their decision to wear the veil, and what it means to each of them.

Entitled “Three Women, Three Faiths, Three Choices to Cover,” the panel was an extension of the exhibit itself, which, according to IWSAW’s former director Mona Chemali Khalaf, was designed to help “lead to a better understanding of the universality of the veil,” and result in “more genuine freedom of expression and choice.” Khalaf produced the original Veil(s) exhibit in 2005.

“The veil is an outward sign of an inward reality, of my dedication to God and my brotherhood,” said panelist Sister Chala Marie Hill, a Catholic nun of the Franciscan Handmaids of the Most Pure Heart of Mary in Harlem, New York.

Sister Chala chose her congregation partly because they wore the habit. Sister Chala explained to the audience that wearing the habit, and being recognizable visually as a Catholic nun, has given her the opportunity to publicly minister to people she might not otherwise have reached.

Wearing it has also placed her in a position, she says, where she must address questions and challenges in the public sphere, where the significance of the veil is often ill-understood. She told the audience that this experience has strengthened her faith and improved her ability to help others.

Dr. Sarah Sayeed, a program associate with the Interfaith Center of New York and a veiled Muslim, focused her remarks on addressing what she says is a misconception: that women who wear the veil have no say in the matter.

“The veil doesn’t always have one meaning, even for a single individual. Some aspects we like, and some we don’t,” conceded Dr. Sayeed, who stressed that this doesn’t mean that a woman who covers herself isn’t free. In fact, she pointed out, many women find the veil to be liberating.

This sentiment was echoed by the third panelist, Mrs. Bronya Shaffer, a scholar with the organization Chabad and a Hasidic Jew who covers her hair.

“There is a misconception that women cover their hair to make themselves unattractive, but this is simply not the case,” Mrs. Shaffer said. “In fact I would suggested that most people are decidedly more attractive dressed than undressed,” she added, sending a ripple of laughter through the highly engaged audience.

“The Veil(s) exhibit and panel helped provide a window into some of the most misunderstood and mischaracterized faith-based practices in our time,” said Prepare New York’s Annie Rawlings, who moderated the discussion. “Assumptions abound among people who do not wear any head coverings about those who do — particularly women who do.”

Rawlings said the panel and exhibit help to “bring the practice of ‘covering’, and the voices of the women who choose it, out of the shadows and out of silence,” which she described as vital to her organization’s mission.

The New York office of LAU, which happens to be located in the Interchurch Center where the event took place, has played an instrumental role in showing the Veil(s) exhibit throughout the United States, including in Connecticut, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere in New York City.

The exhibit will make its next appearance in March in Los Angeles, where it will be accompanied by another panel discussion.

“I am many people,” she provocatively replies, her whimsical transparency puzzling her questioner.

Every artist is many-sided, much like a Rubik’s cube, says Lina Khoury, stage director and theater instructor in the Department of Communication Arts, and the director of Al Shaghila.

“An artist can be many things and many personages at the same time: creative, rebellious, devilish, good. Versatility is what makes him or her unique,” she notes.

Fittingly, Nakhle is portrayed on stage by a number of thespians — including a male actor, in order to shed light on the sculptor’s masculine side.

Al Shaghila is based on Edward Albee’s play Occupant, which stages an interview with the late American sculptor Louise Nevelson. In Lina Khoury’s version, however, Louise Nevelson is transforms into the fictional — and deceased — Badiaa Nakhle, a Palestinian sculptor who grew up in Tripoli, later settling in Beirut.

Like Occupant, Al Shaghila is structured as a posthumous interview with the sculptor, chronicling her endeavors, failures and accomplishments. Badiaa is dead but her wit and sensibility are pungently alive, even effervescent, as she looks back on her life with nostalgia and sporadic regret.

Badiaa’s versatility is not only the key to her personality; it also suffuses the roles she takes on in her life. She is a daughter, a mother, a lover, a traveler, and an artist, playing each of these roles with varying degrees of mastery.

“Occupant is a play that addresses an artist’s suffering, something we’re not very familiar with,” says Khoury. We like to focus on the artist’s work and fame, but we don’t always know much about what’s happening inside.”

The young Badiaa’s inner conflicts are indeed at the core of Al Shaghila, catalyzing her transformation into an accomplished and renowned sculptor. Flamboyant but authentic, Badiaa reflects on love, art, sex and depression with such candor that it’s almost impossible for the audience not to identify with her.

“Have you ever lived in the 60’s? Have you ever been a Christian Palestinian woman in Lebanon?” Badiaa rhetorically challenges her interviewer. “Then don’t talk to me about simplicity.”

“All artists go through similar phases in their lives, whether it’s depression, promiscuity or the struggle for fame,” says Khoury.

“At the same time, I really wanted to create an oppressed character that the audience could connect with — this is why I chose to make Badiaa a Christian Palestinian woman,” she adds. “We are all outcasts in one way or another.”

“At LAU, we don’t differentiate among students according to sect, gender, or affiliation,” said LAU President Dr. Joseph G. Jabbra at the ceremony. “We believe in the right of all individuals, of all prisoners, to live in dignity wherever they may live.”

The book assesses the current conditions of women’s prisons in Lebanon and the region, reviewing several rehabilitation projects undertaken in these prisons.

The guide consists of two sections.

The first section focuses on women prisoners’ rights in Lebanon, with reference both to Lebanese prison law as well as international conventions and treaties. It includes a survey of the status of prisons and prisoners in the Arab world and Lebanon, spotlighting prisons in el-Khazen, Baabda, Tripoli and Zahle.

“We first started working in the Baabda prison, visiting the premises to see if a development program could be designed to improve the prison’s condition,” says Nassar. “This intervention stretched over ten years, during which several programs were implemented.”

The second part of the guide comprises practical instructions and strategies to ensure the success of projects undertaken in women’s prisons in Lebanon, and addresses the needs of inmates at the social, psychological, and legal levels. Particularly stressed is the importance of helping prisoners to develop income-generating skills, such as broidering and hairdressing, as a means of achieving social integration upon discharge.

“Prisoners, especially women prisoners, are deprived not only of their freedom, but also of their basic needs and human rights,” said Dr. Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, director of IWSAW at the launching ceremony.

Indeed, among the reforms initiated were providing prisoners with day-to-day needs (such as soap and sanitary pads) and facilitating contact with their families and children, in addition to helping with anger management and conflict control.

“Four percent of the world’s prisoners are female,” says Nassar. “This guide is a cry out to all the people working in this field: let’s unite our forces instead of overlooking — or competing against — each other. Let’s work together for better results.”

Following a rigorous selection process, half of this year's 400 applicants were invited to present their papers at the event, which took place over four days at the Crowne Plaza on Hamra Street.

Conference Chair Dr. Haidar Harmanani, professor of computer science and assistant dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, said this year’s conference included an unprecedented number of keynote speeches, panel discussions, and tutorials, and aimed to stimulate constructive debate by proposing an array of "visions for the future" of the field.

Electronic engineering is indeed in a growth phase. It may seem a rarefied field of research but its subject permeates modern life, from cell phones to microwaves, medical images to biometric passports, underpinning our systems not only of telecommunications and digital entertainment but also those of energy and health care.

"Electronic engineering is a rising, still relatively new field with an accelerating turnover of new research," says Technical Program Chair Dr. Fadi Kurdahi, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Irvine. “For that reason, many papers are published at conferences rather than in journals."

A session on nano-based systems served to confirm Kurdahi’s point about the field’s cutting edge Cellphones, MP3 players, and computers are ever more densely packed with functions powered by silicon transistors. The average laptop now contains more than 50 million transistors, each around 100 nanometers in length. Soon, however, the silicon transistor will reach its lower size limit, thwarting the industry's drive to create smaller, faster systems.

Nanotechnology could overcome this impasse, superseding silicon with microscopic molecular devices that could transform electronics. Conference Chair Dr. Mohamad Sawan of the University of Montreal predicted that a terabyte hard drive the size of an apple seed will appear within the next five years.

Several presentations addressed environmental concerns. A keynote speech by Dr. Bernard Courtois, director of Multi-Project Circuits (CMP) in France, outlined new methods of reducing energy consumption with low-power electronic devices. Professor Andreas G. Andreou of Johns Hopkins University noted that production of a single microchip consumes 40 kilograms of water and produces four kilograms of waste.

Adreou predicts that implantable microchips will be integral to health care in coming decades, facilitating diagnosis, drug administration, and patient monitoring.

Sawan’s work exemplifies Adreou’s prediction. As the Canada Research Chair on Smart Medical Devices, Sawan is advancing real-time diagnostic tools by circulating blood and cells through microchips, as well as developing "brain machines."

“Through CT and MRI scanners have furthered our knowledge of the brain, we have yet to discover precisely how human vision happens, or how an idea is formed," he says.

Sawan hopes to decipher neurotransmitter connections that cause diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, and then to create implantable microelectronic devices that directly connect to the neurosystem, allowing experts to monitor the brain and wirelessly modify the implanted device to optimize treatment.

Middle East-based electronic engineers contributed over 17 percent of papers presented at the conference, which also attracted numerous Arab expatriates. Hazem El Tahawy, managing director of Mentor Graphics Egypt, expressed satisfaction with this turnout, stressing the importance of developing a regional electronics industry structure to support emerging local talent.

The conference offered LAU students a unique opportunity to interact with international industry professionals.

"This exposure to different perspectives on such a wide range of topics will help me to narrow my focus on when I begin my own research," said Fouad Kada, an electronic engineering graduate student at LAU Byblos.

Alluding to LAU's recent string of ABET accreditations in engineering and computer science, Harmanani said, "this conference takes it to the next level by shifting the focus from teaching to advanced research."

Luiz Santos of the University of Santa Catalina in Brazil commented on the conference's organization and dynamic atmosphere. "People are interacting a lot in small sessions, which really fulfills the goal of establishing international connections," he said.

Next year's ICECS will be held in Seville, Spain.