CAIRO: Under the theme “Researching Cairo: Undergraduate Perspectives Across the Disciplines,” The American University in Cairo's (AUC) recent Fifth Annual Excellence in Undergraduate Research, Entrepreneurship and Creative Achievement conference (EURECA), saw 52 undergraduate students display 38 presentations on various vital topics. The conference hosted students from other universities in Egypt, including The British University in Egypt (BUE), The German University in Cairo (GUC), Future University in Egypt (FUE), and Cairo University. The aim of EURECA conference is to promote and showcase undergraduate research. It invites students to explore through the disciplines themes such as modernization, extremism, nationalism, urban division, social networking, cosmopolitanism, gender, environment, citizenship, art and social mobility among other possible topics. “By sharing their work with a public audience, students at our conference are empowered to actively engage in research and inquiry, to enhance their learning, and to define themselves as productive scholars in the community,” said Deanna Blevins, writing instructor at AUC's Department of Rhetoric and Composition, and organizer of the EURECA conference. In their presentations, students were able to integrate the “curricular” and the “co-curricular” learning experience into a holistic framework. One of the most significant topics was on the renewable energy and solar panels.Two presentations addressed this topic: “Bringing Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Techniques Closer to the AUC Campus” by Sherif Shabana; and “Installing Solar Panels at the AUC New Cairo Campus” by Menna Dessouki, Noha El Garem, and Ali Fahmi. “Since the establishment of our new campus in the desert, there have been few programs that target the harvest of solar energy as an alternative energy source for parts of the campus. Moreover, the amount of power wasted has hardly been controlled,” said Shabanain in his presentation. “I propose working with the university building and operations units to install occupancy sensors for air conditioning and lighting, in addition to inexpensive solar water heaters for bathrooms on AUC New Cairo campus.” Other presentations addressed different topics such as multi-religious communities, decentralization of services in Egypt, street children, sexual harassment, and youth in Egypt. “The best part of the conference was the question and answer periods following each session, said Blevins. “It's inspiring to see the student presenters interact with the audience and to feel the passion they have for their topics. Being able to present their research to a ‘real' audience gives these students a level of personal investment in their work that they don't normally have when just handing in a research paper to a professor,” she added. In 2005, Blevins, along with Amani El Shimi, senior instructor of Rhetoric and Composition at the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement, inaugurated EURECA as an experiential learning project. Since then it has outgrown the classroom and has instead become a widely recognized and anticipated annual event. BM
