NDU Alumni, Naja Bou Khalil (BE’21) and Deema Khaleel (BE’21), were contracted by Engineering World Health (EWH), a non-profit based in the U.S, with the support of Dr. Naji Khoury, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering at NDU, to be facilitators for a virtual exchange program sponsored by The Stevens Initiative.
The exchange program brings together students from the U.S, Lebanon, and Jordan to learn more about health technology, innovation, and cultures. Naja and Deema participated in this exchange program back in summer 2020, and were recently contacted to take part in this project once again following its overall success.
In light of this positive experience, Naja stated, “You have the chance to meet different people, get to know their backgrounds, and learn innovative problem solving techniques in the healthcare industry within low resource environments. I was also able to develop my interpersonal skills throughout my participation as a student and as a facilitator by dealing with the different stakeholders in an international environment.”
Deema described her overall experience by stating, “Throughout my EWH Virtual Exchange Program, I had the chance to work with people from different backgrounds, which made the sessions culturally diverse and enabled me to strengthen my intercultural communication skills. As an engineer, I witnessed first-hand that challenges are the driving force of solutions, and I look forward to challenging myself even further.”
The Stevens Initiative, which sponsors the Engineering World Health (EWH) exchange program, wrote a success story about the alumni’s involvement and shared it with the US Department of State and EWH: https://stevensinitiative.org/impact/former-participants-become-facilitators-and-continue-their-virtual-exchange-journeys/
Students can benefit from a variety of opportunities resulting from exchange programs and are encouraged to read more about the EWH program
here.