October 21, 2020, Cairo – Three faculty members at The American University in Cairo (AUC)
recently won State Prizes in Science and Technology for their scientific contributions and
achievements. The prizes were awarded by The Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and
Technology.
Hassan Azzazy, State Merit Award
Hassan Azzazy, professor and chair of the Department of Chemistry, who has been acknowledged
for his multiple contributions in chemistry, says, "It is a great honor to win this prestigious State
Merit Award in Advanced Technological Sciences. There is no doubt that this award recognizes
the caliber, great efforts and productivity of my research teams at AUC. We have worked very hard
and implemented innovative ideas to develop practical solutions and prototypes to address
multiple health and environmental challenges. Winning this award motivates us to work even
harder toward improving health care and environmental protection."
Azzazy has over 30 years of experience in biomedical research and is the founder of AUC's Novel
Diagnostics and Therapeutics research group, which has been working on developing innovative
diagnostics for accurate and affordable detection of biomarkers of cancer and infectious agents,
including hepatitis C. The group also develops biodegradable nanofibers loaded with natural
antibacterials for use as wound dressings, optical chemosensors for detection of heavy metals in
water, and nanocapsules encapsulating chemotherapeutic agents for breast cancer therapy. The
research group consists of multidisciplinary teams of researchers, mainly focusing on applied
research and has published numerous papers in international journals, obtained several patents,
and won international technology business plan competitions.
Azzazy has also co-founded AUC's D-Kimia, the first University spinoff in Egypt, which develops
novel assays to detect a broad range of diseases by targeting the nucleic acid signature of the
disease. The patent-pending platform has initially been tested for the identification of hepatitis C
virus in patients. Azzazy managed and supervised several campaigns to raise awareness of the
hepatitis C virus, which affected millions of Egyptians every year. In addition, Azzazy coached
several AUC student teams that participated in the international biosensor competition (SensUS),
organized by the Technical University of Eindhoven in the NSetherlands. Students have won
several awards for the developed biosensors.
Nageh Allam, State Excellence Award
Nageh Allam, professor of physics, won the State Excellence Award in Advanced Technological
Sciences for his research on the design and fabrication of nanostructured materials for energy
application. The winning research mainly focuses on using such materials to harvest sunlight and
convert it, either directly into electricity (solar cells) or indirectly to split water and generate
hydrogen for use as a clean fuel. Equally important is energy storage, which was the second part
of the winning research.
"The development of renewable, low-cost energy technologies is a key scientific challenge for the
21st century," said Allam. "I am so pleased to win this award; hard work is finally paying off. More
importantly, I am happy for my research team, who managed to design and synthesize very
efficient electrode materials to manufacture supercapacitor devices, using earth-abundant and
cheap materials to ensure long-term sustainability. It shows that good work is still being watched
over and be distinguished," said Allam.
Looking forward, Allam and his team are working hard to design highly efficient devices for the
same applications (solar cells and solar fuels). "We are extending the work toward essential areas
such as energy-efficient water desalination systems, high-energy density batteries and recycling of
carbon dioxide," he added. "Two other projects that are very essential and are starting to show
promising results are the recycling of spent batteries into other useful energy storage media, and
the conversion of agriculture waste into biogas with low carbon dioxide content for use as fuel."
Omar Abdelaziz, State Encouragement Award
Omar Abdelaziz, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, won the State Encouragement
Award in Engineering Sciences for his multiple contributions to refrigeration and cooling/air
conditioning. His research specifically addresses the conversion of industries to utilizing low global
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warming potential refrigerants that are energy-efficient and climate-friendly to reduce global
warming and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
"Over the last five years, I have focused my attention to supporting the global move towards
environmentally friendly lower global warming potential (GWP) refrigerants for use in heating,
ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration," said Abdelaziz. "My work at Oak Ridge National
Laboratory in 2014 and 2015 was critical to ensure the developing countries, especially those with
high ambient temperature environments, that there are potential solutions to currently used ozone-
depleting or high GWP refrigerants. I then worked closely with various international organizations
to help develop heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration solutions with natural or low
GWP refrigerants."
Another critical research topic that Abdelaziz is working on is developing sustainable cooling
systems that involve novel technologies, including magnetic refrigeration and other not-in-kind
technologies. "Through these efforts, I was able to develop new patents in magnetic refrigeration
using a novel all-solid technology and showcase that separate sensible and latent cooling is
considered as the best approach for providing the most efficient cooling strategy," he added.
Abdelaziz is currently a member of the United Nations Ozone Secretariat Techno-economic
Assessment Panel and co-chair of its Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, and Heat Pump Technical
Options Committee. He is an active member of the American Society of Heating Refrigeration and
Air Conditioning Engineering and serves on its Research Administration Committee as research
activity subcommittee chair.
"I was quite surprised to hear about the award. I am humbled to be amongst so many pioneers in
my field who have already received the same state award," said Abdelaziz.
Moving forward, Abdelaziz will continue to develop sustainable energy-efficient heating, ventilation,
air conditioning and refrigeration solutions -- with a special emphasis on developing countries. "I
will look into more efficient ways for renewable energy integration to ensure that the technologies I
work on provide integrated solutions that apply to both developing and developed communities."
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