Tag: Egyptian Americans

EGYPTIAN-AMERICAN: An interview with Sarah Shendi, the First Female Muslim Egyptian-American Police Sergeant

A few days ago, Egyptian-American Sarah Shendi took an important step by becoming the first Egyptian Muslim police sergeant to serve in the US police service, setting an example for others like her.

Shendi on May 24 took the constitutional oath with the Case Western Reserve University Police Department, Ohio, US.

Ohio has approximately 3,200 officers. Shendi joined them as the first Arab Muslim woman to hold the position of sergeant.

She had previously served with the Copley Township Police, and Ohio Governor Mike DeWine appointed her as the first director of the law enforcement and employment office in the state of Egyptian-Muslim descent.

The decision was warmly welcomed by the Arab community in the US, which in turn suffered for decades from marginalization due to the terrorist attack of September 11.

Shendi’s new rank marks a step forward.

She was born in Saudi Arabia and lived between Saudi Arabia and Egypt until she reached the age of six, and her family moved to the US in 1991.

Q: Why did you choose to be a policewoman?

A: Since we moved to the US in 1991, I have always been fascinated by law enforcement here in this country, especially because it’s so different from anywhere else in the world. I also fell in love with the uniform, and I always wanted to help others.

From my point of view I think it is the best job on the planet.

Q: What are the biggest issues that you faced on your way to becoming a policewoman?

A: I have learned that your greatest enemy is yourself and what goes on in your mind. I wish I had believed earlier in my life in this wise saying, then I would not have wasted so much time, doubting my decision, or trying to please others.

This is the secret of happiness and success in life.

Q: How difficult is it to be a Muslim woman in Western society?

A: Being a Muslim woman is difficult anywhere whether in a Western or Middle Eastern society. Women face special and unique challenges. Everywhere we go. I like to say pressure is a privilege. I’ll take a good challenge any day of the week. I believe in leading by example and doing the right thing. The rest is up to God. Always be confident, wise, honest and honorable.

Q: Usually, Arabs living in a foreign country face an identity crisis – did you?

A: I don’t really have an identity crisis because I’ve been living here for almost 30 years, I feel at home here in the US, and when I go to Egypt I feel at home there too.

I just love being around good people, I preferred being in the Middle East when I went on vacation last October because I love seeing mosques everywhere and hearing the call to prayer when it’s time to pray.

But I can’t say I’ve had an identity crisis. I am who I am, no matter where I live.

Q: Being a policewoman is risky. How did your family deal with your decision?

A: My family has been supportive of anything I choose to do since day one. They may not have welcomed my decision at first, but they still supported me. Then they saw how good I am at my job, and how much of a difference I make to the lives of the people around me. They started to understand why I love what I do.

Thank God I have the most amazing family and they have been so supportive in all my good and bad days.

Q: Did your family make sure that you speak Arabic since you speak the language well?

A: I think speaking Arabic is very important. My dad wouldn’t let us speak English at home growing up here in the US. At the time I didn’t know why, and I used to get resentful sometimes, but now as an adult, and being in law enforcement, I appreciate it so much because it allowed me to help so many people.

Q: Are there Egyptian customs that you adhere to in your family?

A: Although we have lived in the US for more than 30 years, we adhere to many cultural practices and do our best with our religion. I am proud to be Egyptian, proud to be Muslim, and also proud to be American. I love Egyptian culture and the Islamic religion and in my opinion this is what makes me a good policewoman.

Q: Have you ever been to Egypt on a visit with family?

A: The last time I went to Egypt with my family was about ten years ago or more. My sister chose to have her wedding in Egypt and it was a wonderful time with my family. We haven’t traveled together as a family since then, but I do go on vacations sometimes.

Q: What do you like most when visiting Egypt?

A: I love being around people who speak my language and have the same religion as mine. I feel at home when I visit Egypt. I also love hearing and speaking Arabic, seeing nice and kind people everywhere you go, I also love Egyptian food and landscapes. I am very proud of Egypt because it is where my parents were born and raised and they are the real reason I am where I am now.

Q: Are there specific Egyptian foods that you like very much?

A: I love my mom’s cooking the most. I love beans a lot and I also love koshari. I think Egyptian food is the best middle eastern food there is, and of course my mom is the best cook in the world.

Q: Do you follow any dramas in Egypt or about Egypt?

A: I don’t watch any Egyptian TV. But I listen to Egyptian singers like Amr Diab and Tamer Hosni.

Q: From your experience, what advice you would like to give to women in general?

A: Be yourself, be confident, and don’t give in to the pure pressures around you. We are surrounded by so much fakery on social media, on TV and in the entertainment industry, everyone wants to tell you what to wear, what to eat and drink, and how you are supposed to look. I would never listen to any of that because it’s not real advice, and it’s not healthy.

You will never find happiness through others. True happiness comes from within, knowing you are good enough. I will tell everyone in general to always work with pure intentions.

Religion is also very important to me and I always tell young people not to miss prayers for any reason. We get the chance to talk to God at least five times a day and this is not something we should take for granted. It’s a privilege.

Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm

source: http://www.egyptindependent.com / Egypt Independent / Home> Features-Interviews> Main Slider / b Al-Masry Al-Youm / June 05th, 2023

source/content: egyptindependent.com (headline edited)

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AMERICAN / EGYPTIAN

ARAB AMERICANS: 06 Groundbreaking Innovations by Arab Americans

Americans born in or with ancestral ties to Arab-speaking countries have made countless significant scientific, medical and engineering contributions.

While Americans born in or with ancestral ties to Arab countries have made countless significant scientific, medical and engineering contributions, most have never made it into record books. From cryptography, to the artificial heart, to the iPod, here are a few examples of some of the major advancements by Arab Americans.

1. Television Transmission and LCD Screens

Born in Nabatieh, Lebanon in 1895, Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah studied and then taught mathematics at the American University of Beirut before immigrating to the United States in 1921. After a brief stint studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Al-Sabbah earned a master’s degree in engineering sciences from the University of Illinois, says Lujine Nasralla, communications specialist at the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, Michigan.

“In 1923, General Electric (GE) hired him to work in its Engineering Laboratory under a contract that awarded him a dollar for each of his patents,” Nasralla explains, noting that between 1927 and 1935, he applied for patents for 52 of his inventions while working at GE. Some of the patents Al-Sabbah was awarded during his time at GE include three for innovations in television transmission technology (granted between 1928 and 1930), and two for cathode ray tubes (1935).

Though Al-Sabbah died in a car accident 1935, GE engineers continued to rely on the technology he invented, including developing the liquid crystal display (LCD) based on one of his patents. Al-Sabbah made numerous other significant contributions to science, technology and engineering, especially in the field of solar energy.

2. Emotion Recognition Technology

RANA EL KALIOUBY, CO-FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER OF AFFECTIVA, SPEAKING DURING THE NEW WORK SUMMIT, CALIFORNIA, 2019. / DAVID PAUL MORRIS/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

While Rana El Kaliouby was completing her doctoral research at the University of Cambridge in England in the early 2000s, she never felt as though she could ever truly connect with her loved ones back home. “Away from her family and friends in Egypt, El Kaliouby wished her computer could better convey her emotional state,” Nasralla says. That’s when she decided to find a way to make more emotionally intelligent technology.

After earning her doctorate, El Kaliouby took a position as a research scientist in the Affective Computing group in the MIT Media Lab. There, she was part of a team that developed an “emotional hearing aid,” as well as a pair of eyeglasses that could read emotions, along with social cues. Officially known as “the Emotional-Social Intelligence Prosthesis,” El Kaliouby and a colleague created the wearable technology in 2006 for people living with autism who have difficulty identifying and processing other people’s emotions as they communicate.

In 2009, El Kaliouby and the same MIT colleague co-founded a company called Affectiva, which used deep learning, computer vision, speech science and vast amounts of real-world data to develop emotion recognition technology. “Her pioneering technology accurately reads minute changes in facial expressions that convey emotions,” Nasralla says, adding that El Kaliouby is a member of the Women in Engineering Hall of Fame.

3. The iPod and iPhone

TONY FADELL, WHO OVERSAW THE DESIGN OF THE IPOD AND IPHONE, PHOTOGRAPHED IN SINGAPORE, 2019 / WEI LENG TAY/BLOOMBERG VIA GETTY IMAGES

There was a time in the not-so-distant past when listening to music outside of your home meant bringing the physical album with you on a record, audio cassette or compact disc. And while portable MP3 players existed before 2001, none were popular enough to make the device the standard way of listening to music on the go. That is, until Apple CEO Steve Jobs hired Arab American inventor Anthony “Tony” Fadell and put him in charge of a new special projects group within the company tasked with doing exactly that.

The result was the iPod, which launched in 2001. Fadell, who is now known as “ the father of iPod,” went on to oversee the first 18 iterations of the device before Jobs gave him his next assignment: to create a mobile phone with many of the same features as the iPod. 

This time, the end product was the iPhone, which essentially allowed people to carry a highly compact computer with internet capability around at all times, and, in the process, changing the way people access information. Fadell was involved with developing the first three generations of the iPhone.

4. Developments in Surgery

HEART SPECIALIST DR. MICHAEL DEBAKEY, C. 1994. / F. CARTER SMITH/SYGMA/GETTY IMAGES

Born in Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1908 to Lebanese immigrants, Michael DeBakey (the Anglicized form of Debaghi) grew up spending time in his father’s pharmacy and enjoyed sewing, gardening and learning how motors and other machinery work. He earned his medical degree in 1932 and served in the Surgical Consultants Division of the Army Surgeon General’s Office from 1942 to 1946.

It was during this time that DeBakey and his colleagues developed special units dedicated to providing surgical care to soldiers wounded near the front lines. They were first deployed in 1943, though are best known for their work during the Korean and Vietnam conflicts, when they were known as the Mobile Auxiliary Surgical Hospital (MASH) units.

DeBakey’s surgical contributions continued for the next several decades and included performing the first successful removal of a blockage of the carotid artery (1953), developing the concept behind coronary bypass surgery (1963), pioneering the field of telemedicine with the first demonstration of open-heart surgery transmitted overseas via satellite (1965), and being the first to use a partial artificial heart (1966).

5. Internet Security

While internet security is top-of-mind now, that wasn’t the case when Egyptian-born cryptographer Taher Elgamal began his pioneering work in the field in the 1980s. “Elgamal published a paper in 1984, ‘A Public Key Cryptosystem and a Signature Scheme based on Discrete Logarithms,’ which became the basis of the Elgamal Digital Signature algorithm,” says Richard Gardner, a software developer and CEO of Modulus. This work was then utilized in the development of the Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA).”

Elgamal’s work became even more influential after the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) adopted it as the Digital Signature Standard (DSS). “Like the name implies, it became the standard for electronic signatures,” Gardner explains.

And according to Abdulrahman Henedy, an Arab American entrepreneur and founder of Financeive , Elgamal’s invention of the discrete logarithm was also an important milestone in cryptography. “His work inspired other encryption variations and paved the way to create more advanced algorithms, like Advanced Encryption Standard,” he explains.

In addition, Elgamal was the driving force behind the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), a protocol that keeps online communications like email and instant messaging secure. Because of this major technological development, he is known as the “father of SSL.”

6. The Waffle Cone

Though it may not be the most high-tech invention on the list, the waffle cone stands out not only because it’s delicious, but because not one, but four different Arab Americans claimed to have invented it. And what’s perhaps even more bizarre, is that in an origin story with so many inconsistencies, all four of the men contend that their ice cream innovation was born at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition—better known as the Saint Louis World’s Fair.

According to Nasralla, Ernest Hamwi, Nick Kabbaz, Abe Doumar and Leon B. Holwey each had their own story about how they came up with the waffle cone in 1904. “We give credit to all four of them, but we don’t recognize any of the stories as more plausible than the others,” she explains. “It remains a mystery to this day!”

But that mystery extends beyond which of the Arab American vendors (if any) deserves credit for the waffle cone. That’s because on top of these four narratives, there are several other origin stories , including some that took place prior to 1904. And though we may never know who first devised a handheld edible ice cream container, it’s safe to say that the 1904 World Fair and its Arab American dessert vendors did have a hand in popularizing what we now know as the waffle cone.

source/content: history.com (headline edited) / Elizabeth Yuko

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HEART SURGEON DR. MICHAEL DEBAKEY. CREDIT: BETTMANN ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

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AMERICAN / ARAB-AMERICAN