Meet our faculty and student awardees who were honored at the 2024 graduate and undergraduate commencement ceremonies for their outstanding achievements.
Presented to the student(s) with the highest grade point average
Student Government Cup
Awarded to a member of the graduating class who has been an active leader in any branch of the Student Government (Student Union, Student Court or Student Senate) and has made an impact on the AUC community through his or her position
Student Government Cup
Awarded to a member of the graduating class who has been an active leader in any branch of the Student Government (Student Union, Student Court or Student Senate) and has made an impact on the AUC community through his or her position
Parents Association Cup
Presented to a student who has demonstrated exceptional capability in blending academic achievement with a major contribution to student activities
Omar Mohsen Athletic Achievement Cup
Awarded to a student-athlete who wins a gold, silver or bronze medal representing AUC in national and international tournaments, in addition to maintaining a minimum grade point average of 3.0.
Dr. Abdel Rahman El Sawy Award
Awarded to a graduating public school scholar with the highest grade point average in the School of Sciences and Engineering
Mohammed Bin Abdulkarim A. Allehedan Undergraduate Award
Awarded to the highest performing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) student
Ahmed El Mehallawi Family Award
Presented to a graduating senior who has demonstrated strong academic achievement and contributed to extracurricular activities, including community service
Dr. Ahmed Zewail Prize for Excellence in the Sciences and Humanities
Recognizes an AUC honors graduate whose academic accomplishments demonstrate extraordinary commitment to the pursuit of scientific inquiry and the affirmation of humanistic values
The Doria Shafik Award
Presented to a student who worked on women's empowerment in any discipline, field or activity, such as artwork, a community service project, research on the inclusion of women, volunteer work and more
Mohammed Bin Abdulkarim A. Allehedan Undergraduate Award
Awarded to the highest performing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) student
The Valerie Farag Music Award
Presented to the highest performing student in musical arts or music technology
Mohammed Bin Abdulkarim A. Allehedan Graduate Award
Awarded to the highest performing STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) student
Thesis: "Shape Memory Alloy Capsule Micropump for Drug Delivery Applications"
Supervisor: Professor Mohamed Serry
Graduate Program: Mechanical Engineering
25th of January Award for Scholarly Excellence
Recognizing an AUC graduate student for his/her outstanding thesis work on a topic related to democracy, human rights, citizenship or sustainable development in the Middle East and North Africa
Thesis: "Tactical Compromises: Authoritarian Survival Mechanism of Sudan’s Inqaz Regime (1989-2019)"
Supervisor: Assistant Professor Sean Lee
Graduate Program: Political Science, concentration in comparative politics
Watch our commencement speakers as they address the 2024 graduating classes, delivering inspiring and memorable speeches that celebrated and encouraged the achievements of our students.
Dina Katabi, the Thuan and Nicole Pham Professor at MIT's Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was our keynote speaker for the 2024 undergraduate commencement ceremony. Katabi received an honorary Doctor of Science from AUC.
Rihem Sejil, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science, represented the undergraduate Class of 2024 at commencement.
Ambassador Ahmed Aboul Gheit, secretary-general of the League of Arab States and Egypt's former minister of foreign affairs, was our keynote speaker for the 2024 graduate commencement ceremony.
Rachad Bani Samari, who graduated with a Master of Public Policy, represented the graduate Class of 2024 at commencement.
Get to know our speakers for the upcoming 2024 commencement ceremonies.
Ambassador Ahmed Aboul Gheit - Graduate Commencement Speaker
Secretary-General, League of Arab States
Ahmed Aboul Gheit was elected secretary-general of the Arab League in July 2016. Throughout his professional career, he served Egypt in several capacities, including minister of foreign affairs and permanent representative of the country to the United Nations. Between 1992 and 1996, he was the ambassador to Italy, Macedonia and San Marino and Egypt’s representative to the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. He also served as chief of cabinet for Egypt’s minister of foreign affairs as well as his political adviser. In addition, he was deputy permanent representative and a counselor at Egypt's permanent mission to the United Nations. Earlier in his career, he was the attaché-third secretary at the Egyptian Embassy in Cyprus, where he served for four years, and assumed several leadership roles within the Egyptian government and the United Nations. He was a staff adviser to the president on national security affairs, first and second secretary at the permanent mission of Egypt to the United Nations, counselor at the Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and political counselor at the Egyptian Embassy in Moscow. Aboul Gheit holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Ain Shams University.
Dina Katabi - Undergraduate Commencement Speaker and Honorary Degree Recipient
Thuan and Nicole Pham Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dina Katabi is an esteemed electrical engineering scholar whose research focuses on networks and congestion control, machine learning, signal processing and health diagnostics using radio frequency signals and artificial intelligence. She received a BA in electrical engineering from Damascus University and an MSc and PhD in computer science from MIT. Katabi joined MIT in 2003 as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science. Since then, she has been an influential academic, graduating generations of top students in the field. In addition to her teaching role, she is currently co-director of the MIT Center for Wireless Networks and Mobile Computing as well as principal investigator at MIT's Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Throughout her career, Katabi received numerous awards and recognitions. She was elected as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the National Academy of Engineering. She was also awarded the ACM Prize in Computing, recognizing her as “one of the most innovative researchers in the field of networking [who] applies methods from communication theory, signal processing and machine learning to solve problems in wireless networking.” During Project MAC's 50th-anniversary celebration, Katabi’s work on X-ray vision was chosen as one of the “50 ways that MIT has transformed computer science.” In 2015, Katabi presented her startup idea to President Barack Obama at the White House Demo Day. Earlier in her career, she won the ACM Grace Murray Hopper Award, recognizing her as an outstanding young computer science professional. In 2013, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship and became a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery. Her work on Sparse Fourier Transform was chosen by MIT Technology Review as one of the top 10 breakthroughs for 2012.
