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Gray Area is a local initiative aiming to raise awareness on the state of simultaneous inclusion and exclusion experienced by people born of a Kuwaiti mother and non-Kuwaiti father who are not granted the Kuwaiti citizenship. According to Gray Area, “The sporadic implementation, contradiction, and lack of clarity of the laws and legislations concerning children of Kuwaiti mothers often leaves them in a gray area when it comes to their identities. Legally, children of Kuwaiti mothers are not considered Kuwaiti. However, their social and emotional ties often tell a more complex story.”
The evening began with a one-minute video created by Gray Area that immersed the audience into the life and daily challenges of a young man born of a Kuwaiti mother and non-Kuwaiti father. The video reminded the audience that the young man’s story represented multiple lives and realities for many people in Kuwait who are in similar circumstances.
At the end of the video, the first panel took the stage, comprised of four members of the larger Gray Area community and the event moderator, Abdullah Al-Khonaini. Throughout the first half of the event, Al-Khonaini asked the four community members about the various obstacles they face while living in Kuwait, including questions on how they identified the obstacles they face in their day-to-day lives, as well as their successes and accomplishments. The community members recalled that navigating residency presents a major issue, as children of Kuwaiti mothers are not granted permanent residency and must renew their temporary residencies every five years. The community members also touched on their lack of ability to inherit their mothers’ properties, and how this, among many other factors, has caused a general sense of insecurity about the future. They noted that current legislations are causing families to separate, leading some to resort to emigrating to other countries in order to secure a better future. Despite these issues, panelists were personally accomplished, completing higher levels of education, obtaining careers they worked hard to excel at, and have even received local, global, and regional invitations to share their skills, knowledge, and work outside of Kuwait. The panelists noted that their personal successes were a result of tenacious proactivity, and that not all members of the community were able to obtain the opportunities for higher education, employment, or travel.
The second panel was comprised of the Gray Area team, who spoke about their own experiences in establishing the group, as well as their mission to raise awareness for the rights of children of Kuwaiti mothers. The Gray Area team also presented findings from a public survey they had recently conducted on how children of Kuwaiti mothers are perceived. Among the most important findings was that over 90% of those surveyed support the idea that children of Kuwaiti mothers should be able to inherit their mothers’ properties and obtain permanent residency.
The session was then opened to the audience for questions. The Gray Area team discussed the difficulties they face in finding reliable statistics regarding their cause and reflected on the general lack of formal state-level data on this issue. Members of the audience also shared their stories with the community members and asked what the future holds for the Gray Area campaign.
CGS Director Dr. Al-Adwani stated, “It is important to the mission of the Center for Gulf Studies to ensure our local civic activist groups have a forum within which they may present their messages and engage with the community for larger discussion. The large turnout of tonight’s session indicates that our communities want to listen, want to learn more, and want to interact.”
“We believe in the power of raising awareness as the first step towards legal change. There is still so much to be done when it comes to educating ourselves and the general public about the rights of children of Kuwaiti mothers as well as understanding the implications the current laws have on our society as a whole,” said a spokesperson for Gray Area. “We want to thank our community for their support and trust over this past year. We also want to take this opportunity to remind everyone that this is a campaign for all of us—Kuwaiti, half-Kuwaiti, men, women, and everything in the gray area in between—and that social and legal change can only happen when we all come together.”
For more information on Gray Area and to learn more about their campaign, you can follow them on Instagram or Twitter @grayarea_kw
The exhibited projects provide opportunities for students to gain experience by applying their knowledge, showcasing their skills, and paving their career path. In addition, they inspire other students with ideas that they can adopt when the time comes to decide on their own graduation projects. The assessment of the CDPs is a major requirement for ABET accreditation, as it testifies on the quality of the engineering programs and echoes the success of its students. Many of these projects will be further exhibited in Maker Faire Kuwait and the Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) in the UAE, in April 2020.
The exhibition was open to the AUK community where many students, faculty members, and staff were invited. A closed assessment session was also held, followed by an open invitation to the families, friends, and loved ones of the graduating students to share their pride and joy. Each team demonstrated its prototype, while presenting more information using a poster, IEEE-based research papers, leaflets, in addition to a summarizing video displayed at the background.
Eight teams participated in the event, each individually addressing a particular area of technical interest under the supervision of a faculty member from the Engineering Department. The project “Windows Washing Drone”, done by the following students: Amal Al-Hulaibi, Jumanah Sadeq, Salem AlSaif, and Hawraa Wahid won the best project award; while the project “Autonomous Fishing Rod” done by the following students: Mohammad Al-Yaseen, Obaid AlAjmi, Ahmad Al-Saleh, and Naser AlAttal won the Students’ Choice Award. Both projects were supervised by Dr. Seyed Esmaeili. The awards and the certificates of participation were distributed during the evening session of the event.
AUK’s basketball team has also placed third place in the UAAK women’s basketball league. Al-Saleh also expressed his delight with this season's result highlighting that this is a young team that has a lot of potential and is excited to see what the future holds for this team. The women's basketball team is one of AUK's most decorated teams as they have won 5 gold, 3 silver, and 2 bronze medals under the guidance of Coach Wessam Mohamed.
The teams displayed outstanding commitment and determination throughout the season, and have represented great sportsmanship and skills throughout the championship.
The ceremony commenced with opening remarks from Dr. Awwad in which she praised the awardees and congratulated them on their academic achievements. Top achieving students from the different categories were then called to accept their awards from the president and college deans.
38 students were awarded a place on the President's Honor Roll—a high distinction exclusively awarded to those who maintained a 4.0 GPA for the semester, while a total of 110 students were recognized for achieving the Dean's Honor List—a distinction awarded to students who maintained a minimum GPA of 3.7. AUK President, Rawda Awwad, along with Dr. Ali Charara, Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences; Dr. Amir Zeid, Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences; and Dr. Ralph Palliam, Dean of the College of Business & Economics presented the recipients with their awards.
President’s Honor Roll
Abdolaziz Avarian
Abdulwahab Al-Musailem
Ahmad Younis
Aisha Al Saqabi
Ali AlKhuraibet
Amal Radhwan
Amer Khosla
Anas El-Ghabra
Anwar As'ad
Bahja AlQazweeni
David Muharib
Dawoud Boland
Fadheela Al-Sabah
Farah Mobayed
Fatemah Al-Sulaiman
Habiba Anwar
Hala Abou Harb
Huseen BuOlayyan
Islam Rezk
Lavena Jacob
Lolwah AlRoshoud
Malak Hussain
Melissa AbouFarraj
Mohammed Al-Halabi
Mustafa Karkour
Nashrah Quraishi
Naya Kassis
Nazish Quraishi
Noor Abu Salah
Pearla Haider
Rawan Abdelrahim
Rawan Behbehani
Rawan Shalhoub
Reem Qasem
Sara Zayed
Shaymaa AlQallaf
Yara AlQuorashy
Yara Alwuhaib
Dean’s Honor Roll, College of Arts and Sciences
Abdulaziz Redha
Ahmad Dashti
Ali Mahdi
Badreyah Al-Gahtani
Bashayer Al-Anjeri
Chloe Ramey
Dana Alasfoor
Durfishan Rushda
Engy Ibrahim
Fahad AlSabah
Farah Abu Eid
Farah AlShaya
Farah Issa
Fatima alzahraa Al-Sarraf
Fay AlMazidi
Ghadeer Ashkanani
Hana Nassar
Jinan Taqi
Joana Shihadeh
Kaouthar Chebli
Khaled AlAnsari
Khaled AlSabah
Khalid Al-Kharafi
Kholood AlKholy
Kumail Ibraheem
Latifah AlKandari
Lelea Abdou
May Al-Qenaei
Maya Lawand
Mishary AlMesafer
Nada ElGamal
Nagam Abu Ghoush
Nataly Hamayel
Noor ElAli
Nouf Alenezi
Rafah Al-Shohaty
Rawan Boutaiban
Reve Chreif
Roa'a Alawneh
Ruba El-Amine
Saja Alobaid
Sara Al-Arbash
Sarah Raza
Sedra Al-Tujjar
Shafeqah AlTurki
Shaikha AlOraifan
Shamlan Al-Hasawi
Susanna Al-Mufti
Zaina AlFadalah
Zaynab Bakkali
Dean’s Honor List, College of Business and Economics
Aisha AlSaqabi
Bader Al-Majed
Dalal Ali
Dana AlAwawda
Dina Al-Sabeeh
Eman Abdelniaeim
Farhanaz Padpood
Ghada Al Sahhaf
Hamad AlShammari
Karan Purswani
Kumail Ibraheem
Laila Mohammad
Mariana Samir Sadek
Marwa Soliman
Mohamed Suliman
Neeshal Rafi
Nora Al-Bader
Nour Boka
Nour Nassar
Raghda Zaher
Rawan Nabaa
Reem Salameh
Sara El Bab
Shaikha Al-Hendi
Shaikhah AlMousa
Urooj Mudassar
Yasmeen Mohamed
Yousef Mustafa
Dean’s Honor List, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Ahlam Dashti
Alaa Al-Ajmi
Ali Abouzeid
Anwar AlAjmi
Asmaa Lulu
Aya Kandil
Dalal Al-Junaidel
Dallya Mulla Hwaech
David Liang
Esraa Theyab
Farah Hamoudah
Farah Kheder
Fatima Matook
Ghareeb Thiab
Hawraa Wahid
Hussien Hammoud
Laila Dallol
Lubna Al-Jayyar
Mahdi Al-Jadi
Majed AlDhafeeri
Mariam Khalil
Mohammed Ismail Miah
Noha Mahmoud
Noura Allahow
Omar Soliman
Palwasha Shaikh
Rassim Melaab
Reham Kablaoui
Sarah Saad
Sayed Abdullah Al Qallaf
Turki AlAjmi
Wasmeia AlRashidi
AUK Professor of Accounting, Dr. Ahmed Kholeif and Associate Professor of Management, Dr. Aly Mansour are continuing their roles as mentors to the teams; their guidance has broadened students’ views on corporate strategy, helped to identify interactions with the different functional areas of a company, guided students in recognizing market conditions in which they compete, and assisted in creating an awareness of the impact of their decisions on the organization within an environment designed to encourage and develop teamwork for company growth.
Ms. Randa of the Adnar Group, specialization in consulting, training and recruitment praised the performance of AUK teams and extended messages of congratulations to the teams.
In his talk, Dr. Hegazy began by distinguishing the different generations and their varying consumer profiles— demographically, psychologically, and their buying patterns. His lecture focused mainly on the growing consumer segment of millennials and generation Z, profiling them as digital natives, multi-taskers, and having an entrepreneurial spirit along with an increasingly short attention span.
Understanding their characteristics helps marketers shape their marketing strategy which is important as they represent a powerful consumer base and buying power. In Kuwait, almost 24.6% of the total population fall within the Gen-Z (5-24 years old) category.
Dr. Hegazy noted, “Unless we research them comprehensively and unless we adapt our marketing message and adapt our communication to be relevant and appealing to Gen Z, we will not be able to attract and retain our future markets as brands.” As such, the growth of this consumer segment has introduced alternative marketing methods such as content marketing, viral marketing, and buzz marketing. Dr. Hegazy outlined an eight-step strategy for marketing to Generation Z. The strategy centered around being more active online, and mainly involved advocating user-created content, leveraging on using influencers and creating a more authentic and humanized brand.
Dr. Ibrahim Hegazy is a Professor of Marketing at the American University in Cairo. In 1990, Hegazy received his Doctorate Degree (PhD) in Marketing and International Business from George Washington University. In addition to his position at AUC, Dr. Ibrahim Hegazy is currently a member of the Egyptian Parliament. Dr. Ibrahim Hegazy was the Chairman of the School of Business Council (2013-2014), the Chairman of the Management Department (2004-2008), visiting marketing professor at George Washington University - USA (2002-2004). Dr Hegazy also served as an adjunct faculty member at ALBA Graduate School of Business between 2008 & 2017 teaching at the MBA program. Between 1995 and 2008, Dr. Hegazy served as the director of the MBA program at the Management Department – AUC. Furthermore, between 1995 and 2002, Dr. Hegazy served as the Director of the Institute of the Management Development at AUC, one of the leading Training centers in the Middle East. Hegazy is an active member of the American Marketing Association, the Academy of Marketing Science, the International Advertising Association, the American Chamber of Commerce in Egypt, and the Academy of International Business.
The exhibition’s artwork was provided by AUK Associate Professors at the Department of Art & Graphic Design William Andersen and Maryam Hosseinnia, as well as AUK alumni Myriam Kotb and Omar Al-Nakib, among other well-known artists from Kuwait and abroad. Proceeds from the auction went towards the Sudan Doctors Union—an independent and non-partisan organization devoted to the development of qualified and unprejudiced healthcare in Sudan. Professor William recognized the success of the event, noting that all the artwork sold, and all the money was donated.
The team at Manifesto13 commented, "Manifesto13 is proud to announce that our silent auction to fund medical aid has raised over KD1,235 for the Sudanese Doctor’s Union! We wish to offer a big thank you to the artists who donated their work and the generosity of the bidders who made the silent auction a success."
As part of their activities, the National Assembly organized the Constitution Day competition which required students to answer a short online quiz to enter the draw for valuable prizes. The competition’s five winners will be announced on December 5th, and they will receive various cash prizes.
The director of the library, Ms. Asma Al-Kanan, commented, “We try to collaborate with governmental and non-governmental institutions to bring opportunities to our students whereby they learn about Kuwait’s history, culture, and government. Students had the opportunity to interact directly with representatives from the National Assembly and ask questions that might help them in their studies.” She also recognized the significance of this national anniversary by saying, “The issuance of the constitution was a significant moment in the history of Kuwait which laid down the system of government and the main principles of liberty, justice, and equality.”
One of the National Assembly’s representatives, Mr. Mohammad Al-Awadh, commented, “It was a really interesting event, we enjoyed being in the library to pass information about Kuwait’s constitution and history to faculty, staff, and especially students. It was interesting to explore their knowledge in this area and had a great time discussing what this information can add to their studies.” The representative also mentioned that his favorite part was the interaction with the AUK students and adding to their knowledge in a way that compliments their education.
The workshop was attended by faculty, students, and alumni from the Department of Art & Graphic Design. At the workshop, Ms. Ismail introduced attendees to the process involved in the production of stories, illustration, and publishing for children. Following this, Ms. Ismail conducted an illustration activity to help the attendees express their creativity and experiment with illustrating children’s books.
One of the attendees, AUK student Raghad Mustafa, expressed, “The ideal individual isn’t someone who never fails, it's someone who creates an equilibrium between failing and succeeding. And that is what Yasmeen Ismail began to introduce in the illustration workshop.”
The chair of the Department, Professor William Andersen recognized the significance that such opportunities present to students as they expand their horizons beyond what is taught in the classroom. He added that since the Department of Art & Graphic Design does not have a children’s book illustration course, that this was a unique opportunity to learn from an expert; as he states, “We’ve collaborated with the British Council for many years, and they always bring in people that add a lot of value to the programs and skills we provide to our students.”
Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) successfully concluded the first KOC Oil & Gas Techathon organized in collaboration with its academic partner, the Center for Research in Informatics, Sciences, and Engineering (RISE) at the American University of Kuwait (AUK).
The country-wide technology marathon took place on November 14th-16th and brought together 76 participants of which one third comprised of women. Each of the 12 competing teams was composed of oil & gas professionals including employees of KOC, as well as students and graduates of computer science, petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, geology, graphic design, and business studies, coming from AUK, Kuwait University, and a number of private universities in Kuwait. Over the period of 48 hours, the teams worked to devise solutions for challenges related to the oil & gas sector. The main topics of challenges were oil & gas operations, drilling operations, and HSSE (Health, Safety, Security, and Environment). Throughout the event, subject matter experts (mentors) were guiding the teams and answered their questions; among the mentors was Mr. Mohamed Malek, a digital architect from Microsoft.
The closing ceremony on the evening of November 16th announced 3 winning teams: iLana Team (1st place), A-Team (2nd place), and Cruel Oil Team (3rd place).
iLana Team tackled three challenges related to gas turbine compressor health, pipeline failures, and errors in electric submersible pumps. A-Team proposed a solution for the predictive maintenance of electric submersible pumps, while Cruel Oil Team came up with a solution for the foresting of gas flaring pollutants concentration.
KOC Deputy CEO for Planning and Finance, Bader Al-Attar expressed his admiration of the Techathon and praised the participants on their innovative solutions to the real-world challenges they were assigned; Al-Attar also asserted that KOC is looking forward to hosting another Techathon in the future.
Dr. Rawda Awwad, President of AUK, emphasized on the mutual values and principles shared between both AUK and KOC: “In its mission to enable for its students and broader community discovery and exploration, AUK has found an important collaborative partner: Kuwait Oil Company. Among others, KOC's values reflect the principles that we as an institution are also trying to uphold: caring for people, partnership, integrity, and innovation. That level of collaboration that you see today—between the private and the public, the individual and the community—is an unnegotiable key-stone. This is how we move forward, and how “we” all can make a difference.”
Dr. Amir Zeid, Dean of the AUK College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS), praised the partnership between AUK and KOC as well as the diversity of the participants: “We are pleased to be the academic partner with KOC for this event. I am proud to see many AUK students and alumni from multiple disciplines participating in the event. We are looking forward to a long-term partnership with KOC for more events and research initiatives.”
Prior to the winners’ announcements, each team presented and demonstrated their solutions to a judging panel composed of; Dr. Adel Al-Abassi, former Deputy Managing Director of Technology Research & Management at KPC; Ms. Anaam Al-Jenaa, Teamleader of Information Technology Operations at KOC (IT Group); and Mr. Toufic Halabi, Microsoft Regional Energy & Resources Lead. The judges then convened to select the 3 best teams based on specific selection criteria.
The winner, iLana Team, led by AUK alumnus Ali Kelkawi, proposed a solution that consisted of predictive modeling and analysis of gas turbine compressor health, pipeline failures, and errors in electric submersible pumps, which can lead to reductions in financial costs and potential manpower needed to fix these errors. Different machine learning models were built and deployed as part of a web application where users can easily leverage these models using their own datasets, as well as learn more about the process and theory behind the derived models.
“KOC’s first annual Techathon gave students and professionals of different fields the chance to come together and innovate solutions related to the oil & gas sector. I am thrilled to see the rising interest in data science in different sectors in Kuwait, as reflected in some of the challenges tackled during this competition. I am extremely proud of my team’s continuous success and hope to inspire others to become part of such successful events,” expressed Kelkawi.
The second winning team, A-Team, worked on a new method for the analysis of the data on electric submersible pumps (ESP) failures called “Narrow Network.” This method combines a huge amount of data received from 100 ESPs, and it predicts the types of errors and failures along with the overall probability of failures in the future.
The third winning team, Cruel Oil Team, developed a solution that forecasts any emissions resulting from the flaring process. The forecasts are then used to define a clear plan ahead to at least minimize the errors that result from the designs of the flares.
About RISE
The AUK Center for Research in Informatics, Sciences, and Engineering (RISE) serves as AUK's primary source for multidisciplinary research and development (R&D) activities. The Center employs a holistic approach to R&D by integrating academic disciplines, and forging connections between local & international innovators, academia & industry, and technology & society.
Mr. Ali Al-Naqeeb, Manager of Corporate Information Technology Group at KOC
AUK President, Dr. Rawda Awwad
(From left to right) AUK President, Dr. Rawda Awwad; KOC CEO, Mr. Emad Mahmoud Sultan; KOC Deputy CEO (Planning & Finance), Mr. Bader Al-Attar
(From left to right) RISE Director, Dr. Amir Zeid with members of the judging panel, Mr. Toufic Halabi, Microsoft Regional Energy & Resources Lead; Ms. Anaam Al-Jenaa, Teamleader of Information Technology Operations at KOC (IT Group); Dr. Adel Al-Abassi, former Deputy Managing Director of Technology Research & Management at KPC
KOC CEO, Mr. Emad Sultan presenting a plaque to RISE Center Director, Dr. Amir Zeid
First place winners of the Techathon: Team iLana
Group photo of the winning teams with the judging panel and key administrators from AUK and KOC
