Living and Conducting Research in Cairo, Egypt
By: Shawn G. Gibbs, Ph.D.
As an American Fulbright Scholar, I had the great opportunity to spend the past
semester living and conducting research in Cairo, Egypt. Project and travel support were
a joint venture by the United States Department of State and the Egyptian Government
that was coordinated by the Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt. Hosted by the
Egyptian Government’s National Research Center’s Air Pollution Department, and
individually by Dr. Abdel-Hameed, I was in Cairo to set up the project “Potential Public
Health Impact of Rural and Urban Residential Indoor Bioaerosols in Egypt.” However,
this adventure did not begin or end last semester.
My journey to Cairo actually began in Spring 2004 when I was contacted by Dr.
Abdel-Hameed to discuss an article that I had recently published with Dr. Christopher
Green of the University of Cincinnati. The article had detailed our progress in modeling
indoor bioaerosols in the Cincinnati area. Dr. Abdel-Hameed’s interest in the article soon
grew into a year long online discussion of theory and techniques that ended with the
conclusion that Egypt needed to strengthen its bioaerosol research program and that they
would like to develop a joint project. We identified the Council for International
Exchange, which administers the J. William Fulbright Scholarship Board, as a promising
source to fund our collaboration. We developed the previously mentioned eighteenmonth project with the concept that I would travel to Egypt for the first three months of
the project’s set-up stage. My application was submitted in Fall 2005 and the grant was
approved in Spring 2006 for funding during the 2006-2007 fiscal year.
Following a complete medical approval and orientation process, I arrived in Cairo
in September 2006. From the very beginning, I was embraced and taken care of by
anyone and everyone involved in the grant and project. The Binational Fulbright
Commission in Egypt, specifically the project officers Noha El Gindi, Hend Rasmy, and
Lina Gomaa, arranged all accommodations and anticipated my every need. Dr. AbdelHameed and his colleagues showed a great deal of hospitality, including having me over
for the Iftar during the Holy month of Ramadan.
I had been told prior to my departure to expect things to move a little slower in
Egypt. This turned out to be good advice, especially during the fasting of Ramadan. The
project was delayed for a month pending additional security clearances. However, this
time was used to write several papers with Dr. Abdel-Hameed and his colleagues. This
delay also served as a good opportunity for me to have discussions with other scientists
both within and outside of my field. It seemed that the entire Egyptian Scientific
community welcomed the opportunity to have tea and a discussion. Following the receipt
of my security clearance the project was off and running. We began recruiting homes for
bioaerosol sample sites, reviewing techniques with personnel, and even managed to
conduct several samples before I left the country. The project will continue over the next
twelve months and we expect to have the first manuscript prepared and submitted within
18 months.
During the course of the Semester I had the opportunity to deliver four
symposiums on my work. Three symposiums on bioaerols were delivered to the National
Research Center, Cairo University, and Mansoura University, respectively. A fourth
symposium on biofilms was delivered at the National Research Center to a broad
audience of researchers. All seemed to have been very well received. I also had the
opportunity to serve on four grant review and interview panels for the Binational
Fulbright Commission in Egypt on a variety of topics relating to Public Health. We
selected Egyptian scholars and students who would conduct research in the United States.
The trip was not all work; there was a fair bit of play. Aside from the numerous
activities prepared by my hosts in Cairo I did do some traveling. I was joined in my final
month by my girlfriend and we traveled the country for two weeks, and she has over five
hundred pictures to prove it. The highlights include Alexandria, Aswan, Giza, Luxor,
Mansoura, and present day Nubia (old Nubia lies beneath Lake Nasser). We saw dozens
of Pyramids, although I don’t recommend going inside one like we did unless you are
comfortable with tight, dark spaces; also, my legs were sore for a week. We visited the
major and a number of the minor cultural treasures, including the Catacombs of
Alexandria, Coptic and Islamic Cairo, the Egyptian Museum, Karnak, Philae, and Luxor
Temples (to name a few), a host of tombs inside and outside of the Valley of the Kings,
the Colossi of Memnon, and of course the High Dam.
Overall, my experience as a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt was a very pleasant one. I
was able to complete the goals of my trip, plus several others, and I was able to
experience both the modern and historic aspects of Egypt. I welcome both the
opportunity to return to Egypt and other international research opportunities.