Section VI: Education, Distance Learning & International Activities

Related Appointments:

• Director of VT-MENA Program, April 2005 – Present.
• Director of International Programs, January 2005 – July 2007
• Senior Technical Advisor, Partners for a Competitive Egypt, US-AID sponsored Project, Consortium of PaL-Tech, IBM, and Virginia Tech, 2002-2003.
• Director of International Programs, Office of the Associate Provost for Special Initiatives, VT International Institute for Information Technology, Virginia Tech, 2002-2003.
• In charge of Middle East Programs, Office of the Associate Provost for Special Initiatives, VT International Institute for Information Technology, Virginia Tech, 2000-2002.

eLearning Conference Activities:

• Invited Speaker, Higher Education Workshop, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, KSA, January-February 2005.
• Invited Speaker, Third Annual Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, organized by the American University in Cairo, Jan 2005.
• Technical Program Committee Co-Chair, Third Annual Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, organized by the American University in Cairo, Jan 2005.
• Key-Note Speaker, eLearning Workshop, King Abdul Aziz University, Jeddah, KSA, May 2004.
• Conference Co-Chair and Technical Program Coordinator, Second Annual Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, organized by the American University in Cairo, Jan 2004.
• Conference Co-Chair and Technical Program Coordinator, First Annual Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, organized by the American University in Cairo, Jan 2003.
• Conference Steering Committee Chair, Annual Internet Education and eLearning Conference, organized by Egyptian Association for Technology and Human Resource Development, EATAHD, October 2003
• Session Chair:  Applications of e-Learning in Higher Education, First Annual Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, January 2003.
• Panelist: e-Learning Initiatives in Egypt, Conclusions & Recommendations, Mostafa Kamel  and Sedki Riad, First Annual Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, January 2003.

Papers and Presentations:

• “New Knowledge for a Global Community,”Tom Wilkinson and Sedki Riad, DV Higher Education Workshop, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, January 29 – February 2, 2005 [Invited]
• “Restructuring Educational Programs Through eLearning,” Sedki Riad and Tom Wilkinson, DV Higher Education Workshop, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, January 29 – February 2, 2005 [Invited]
• “New Knowledge for a Global Community,”Tom Wilkinson and Sedki Riad, 3rd Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, American University Cairo, Cairo, Egypt, January 15 –16, 2005 [Invited]
• “Restructuring Educational Programs Through eLearning,” Sedki Riad and Tom Wilkinson, 3rd Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, American University Cairo, Cairo, Egypt, January 15 –16, 2005 [Invited]
• “Engineering Education in Egypt: Survey and Assessment,” Sedki Riad and Mostafa Kamel, 2004 American Society for Engineering Educators, ASEE, Annual Conference & Exposition, Salt Lake City, Utah, June 2004.
• “Assessment of e-Learning Readiness in Egypt,” Mostafa Kamel, Mark Beckstrom, Hud Croasdale, and Sedki Riad, 2nd Annual Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, January 2004.

• “Parameters for Establishing A Distance and Distributed Learning Center In Egyptian Universities” Tom Wilkinson, Sedki M. Riad, and Mostafa Kamel, 2nd Annual Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, January 2004.
• “Distance & Distributed eLearning:, Implementation,” Sedki M. Riad and Tom Wilkinson, College of Engineering, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt, May 25, 2003.
• “Distance & Distributed eLearning:, Implementation,” Sedki M. Riad and Tom Wilkinson, College of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt, May 11 2003.
• “e-Learning Activities @ PfCE,” Sedki M. Riad, Mostafa Kamel, and Moustafa El-Gabaly, College of Engineering, Mansoura University, Mansoura, Egypt, April 16, 2003.
• “eLearning in Higher Education: a Functional Model Conference on eLearning Applications in Egypt, The American University in Cairo, January 18, 2003, Tom Wilkinson and Sedki Riad, Cairo University, Egypt, January 17-19, 2003
• “Distance Education & e-Learning: Choices and Challenges,” Sedki M. Riad, Mark Beckstrom, and Tom Wilkinson, EATAHD, International Conference on Internet Education, Cairo, Egypt, October 17-19, 2002
• “Distance Education & e-Learning: Choices and Challenges,” Sedki M. Riad, Mark Beckstrom, and Tom Wilkinson, E-Learning, Bar-coding & Tele-Medicine Conference & Exhibition, Cairo, Egypt, June 2002.
• “Distance Education & e-Learning: Choices and Challenges,” Sedki M. Riad, Mark Beckstrom, and Tom Wilkinson, The First International Conference on Informatics and Systems INFOS 2002, Cairo University, Egypt, June 17-19, 2002

Project Activities:
As the Senior Technical Advisor, Partners for a Competitive Egypt, US-AID sponsored Project, Consortium of PaL-Tech, IBM, and Virginia Tech, 2002-2003, I supervised and participated in the following activities:

• Worked in the areas of the development of the Egyptian Technological University, the IT-in-Schools, and the ICT cluster where the developing internationally competitive IT clusters in the Egyptian ICT private sector was the main objective.  Duties involved performing technical studies and providing needed consultation as well as serving as liaison with the Egyptian counterparts of the project. 
• Prepared several “Concept Papers” for the Egyptian Technology University vision.  These “concept papers are critical to provide the insight and tools needed to establish the proposed premier institution:
• Design a Four Track Undergraduate and Graduate Academic Program for the Egyptian Technology University.
• Design a Center of Excellence for Research and Development for the Egyptian Technology University.
• Draft Plan for the Egyptian Technology University Administrative Structure.
• Concept Paper on eLearning Road Map for Egypt.
• Draft Plan for an eLearning Master of Information Technology Management for the Egyptian Technology University.
• Participated in the following studies:
• Egypt’s eLearning Readiness Assessment: with Mark Beckstrom, Hud Croasdale, and Mostafa Kamel
• Establish a Center for Distance & Distributed Learning with ETU: with Tom Wilkinson, and Mostafa Kamel
• ICT Skills Gap Analysis and Human Resource Development Implications:  with Mike Cunningham, Mostafa Kamel , and Moustafa El-Gabaly
• Served as the moderator for the higher education eLearning workgroup, Egyptian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, MCIT.  (Charged to design the specifications of a pilot eLearning program for Egypt to be applied at the Open University)
• Preparing for the program content of IT association’s workshop on the necessity of forming clusters for vertical IT sectors with Special emphasis on e-learning cluster.

As the Director of International Programs, Office of the Associate Provost for Special Initiatives, VT International Institute for Information Technology, Virginia Tech, I was responsible for developing collaborative distance education programs with educational institutions in Middle East for the Virginia Tech’s online degree (Master of Information Technology) and Masters and PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering.  My responsibilities also included investigation of collaboration opportunities with international ICT institutions. Developing and supervising joint research, education, training, and outreach programs.

Director of the VT-MENA Graduate Program, Virginia Tech
Two collaboration programs were established between Virginia Tech and both the Arab Academy for Science and Technology (AAST) and the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) in Egypt.
The AAST VT-MENA Partnership:
In 2005, the partnership between Virginia Tech and the Arab academy for Science and Technology, AAST, was developed to bring Virginia Tech Graduate Study Programs to Egypt and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Region.  As a result, students were offered the opportunity to study towards the Virginia Tech Masters and Doctoral degrees at AAST facilities in Egypt.  In this partnership, Virginia Tech oversaw the program academics while AAST will handled its local administration.  The Virginia Tech curriculum and academic standards was enforced to insure the same program quality and reputation that made the offered programs rank in the top 20 in the United States.  Program areas of study were Electrical Engineering (Communications), Computer Engineering, and Computer Science.

Study Abroad:
Started a faculty-led study abroad program “Robotics in Egypt” which later developed into a two discipline “Summer in Egypt” program by adding an “Arabic in Egypt” component.  Program students travel to Egypt for about 7 weeks (mid June 14 – end of July) for study abroad programs in Robotics, Arabic language, and Egyptian Studies.  The program is organized in collaboration with AAST; the host of the VT-MENA program. 

The MoHE VT-MENA Partnership:

• In 2008, the MoHE partnership was launched.  The VT-MOHE Partnership aims to establish Centers of Academic Excellence (CAEs) for Research & Graduate Studies and resident Collaborative Degree Programs (CDPs) in Egypt. MoHE is sponsoring the program with funds of about $3.6M for five years.

This partnership also aims to develop the scientific research system in Egypt according to successful models followed in developed countries through the integration of graduate studies and scientific research. 
The program degrees for participating students will be awarded collaboratively by both Virginia Tech and Alexandria University, with the students carrying out most of their course work as well as a significant part of their research in Egypt.  Students seeking their M.S. degree can complete all their degree requirements locally, while the Ph.D. degree requires a minimum of 1 year of residency at VT in the US.

• VT-MENA Program Statistics:
  

Some quick highlights of the program achievements include:

72 PhD students

• 19 Communication Engineering
• 29 Computer Engineering
• 24 Computer Science
• 41 Male – 31 female

18 VT faculty traveled to Egypt teaching and research visits

10 MENA faculty spent 1 semester each in sabbatical at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg)

17 MENA faculty participated in the program as VT adjuncts (Teaching, Research, Administration)

Offered 112 courses (40 VT and 32 Alex U)

Overview of International Activities:
Initiated/Supported Developing relationships with several international universities worldwide during my term as a director of international programs, College of Engineering.  Some of the main activities are listed below:
Egypt
Arab Academy for Science & Technology (AAST):  Developed a new study abroad program in Robotics for engineering students to start May 2006.  10 students were identified as interested and are working on their application material.
Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA, The Library of Alexandria): An MOU is in progress. We have two major initiatives with BA that our office initiated and continue to support.  VT is supporting BA in establishing a CAVE system in Alexandria, Egypt (Ron Kriz is taking the lead and has a sponsored contract for his work with BA).  Also, VT performed studies and proposed plans to support BA in establishing a BA-based supercomputer system.  Project is in the fundraising phase.
Mansoura University:  Communication with ECE dept to design an undergraduate program for Mansoura that would lead to a possible 3+2 program for Mansoura students as well as faculty and student exchange.  
Korea
Asia Venture Partners: Working with Asia Venture Partners and Korea Land Corporation to establish a VT research and graduate education center in ECE.  Visited Korean counters with Professor Bill Tranter in April 2005. 
Also, hosted several visits by Korean delegations from Korean Government Official. Another initiative involving collaboration with Asia Venture Partners and the Korean government is making good progress.  The initiative aims to creating a VT center of research and education in the area of RFID in Korea sponsored by the Koreans with VT academic oversight and engagement (similar to the VT-MENA model). 
Saudi Arabia
King Abdulaziz University: Organized a faculty development program for King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  The program involved custom designed development workshops for 60 KAU faculty during the summer 2006 at VT. 
Supported and worked closely with IAESTE student chapter: The CoE-IP is currently the largest supporter of the International Association for the Exchange of Students for Technical Experience (IAESTE) at Virginia Tech which is devoted to developing global skills in tomorrow's technical leaders by exposing them to paid international work experience. IAESTE VT is also committed to supporting VT's goal of being a world class institution through it's recruitment of bright international students to work alongside VT faculty in all technical fields. In just its second year of existence, the student run IAESTE VT chapter was already recognized as the 2005 Chapter of the Year, while competing against 25 other top technical institutions in the United States.
Also:

• Represented VT at the eight Annual Colloquium on International Engineering Education in GT Atlanta and the IAESTE Annual Conference in Baltimore, MD.
• Supported several Eng Faculty in seeking funding (mini grants at OIRED and otherwise)
• Supported several "independent" students' study abroad efforts to Kenya, Punta Cana, Singapore and Tokyo (IAESTE Innovate 04 & 05)
• Hosted delegations from several Institutions world-wide (Australia, Brazil, Italy, Egypt, France, Hong Kong, Mexico, Spain, Turkey)