A Mechanical Engineer From Egypt
By JJ HERMES
Mohamed Raafat says he found out about his admission to one of the most prestigious
universities in the world by means of a one-line e-mail message that had no subject line:
"Congratulations," the message read, "you've been accepted to MIT."
The underwhelming way in which he received that notice hardly reflects the reasons the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology wanted him. Mr. Raafat is among the first batch of
29 foreign students to receive the International Fulbright Science and Technology Award.
Born in Egypt and a recipient of undergraduate and master's degrees from Cairo
University, Mr. Raafat was the only successful applicant in a highly competitive pool of
32 Egyptians who tried for the Fulbright Ph.D. award.
"For a couple of days, I did not want to open my e-mail again," says Mr. Raafat, who
started his studies and research in mechanical engineering this fall, "because I was afraid
I'd find an e-mail saying, 'Sorry, that was a clerical error.'"
Mr. Raafat studied vibration and rotational dynamics as an undergraduate, and his work
in Cairo with others on a phenomenon affecting lubricated bearings was published in the
journal of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He has also spent a summer
analyzing biofuels and renewable energies on an internship in Austria.
Coming to the United States for his doctorate in mechanical engineering was always Mr.
Raafat's first choice. "I knew that was where the best, most high-tech research was going
on," he says. The Fulbright award, which comes with $160,000 over five years, including
allowances for conferences and books, made packing his bags that much easier.
Mr. Raafat has studied English since he was 9 years old and began speaking French even
earlier, at 6. He added some German to his native Arabic in high school and hopes to add
a fifth language while here in the United States. "One of the things I'm looking forward to
is learning Spanish before I go home," he says.
One of six doctoral students at MIT who are recipients of the new Fulbright, Mr. Raafat
says he is definitely going back to Egypt, but he is not sure if he will become the
"stereotypical professor" or if he will venture away from academe.
His experience in the United States has been mostly pleasant, he says, although the
English system of measurement has tripped him up since his international flight touched
down in Miami.
"My first day at the airport, people were saying, 'Oh my God, it's like 100 degrees.' I
thought, Oh, wow. That's amazing."
http://chronicle.com
Section: International
Volume 54, Issue 9, Page A1