Sat., July 31, 4:00 PM 
 

With the participation of renowned Egyptian-American scientist Prof. Mostafa El-Sayed, recipient of the U.S. Medal of Science, member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, the American University in Cairo will host on Saturday July 31, 2010 a post Cairo Science Festival event that brings together a distinguished group of scientists and information technology (IT) experts to show how the two disciplines can integrate to foster creative science and technology communication to school students and to the society at large. The event will also feature the official launch of Adobe's Creative Suite 5 in Egypt.

"With the increased dependence of students and the youth on IT gadgets and with their growing time online, IT has a huge potential to educate and excite interest in science & technology" said Dr. Alaa Ibrahim, founder of the initiative and AUC faculty. "When it comes to Arabic content, this potential is largely untapped and this means there is a lot of work to be done," he added.   

The event builds on the Cairo Science Festival, held during April 18 – May 31, 2010 that connected members of the scientific and IT communities who had common interest to produce rich IT applications that promote science and technology. “Promoting interest in science and technology among students is key to building a competent scientific enterprise in Egypt”, said Dr. Mostafa El-Sayed. Studies have shown that nearly 75% of high school students choose arts track over the science track.

The event will unveil an open competition to produce creative IT applications that promote science and technology to students and the society at large.

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