Professor Ali of the University of Basra, Iraq Visits GW

In early April, Professor Kim Roddis, chair of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, had the opportunity to meet with Dr. Anis A. Mohamad Ali, a professor of civil and structural engineering at the University of Basra in Iraq.  Ali is the first person from Iraq in more than 15 years to visit the U.S. as an official visiting professor.

Ali is visiting the U.S. for approximately three months and is being hosted by the Department of Civil and Information Technology at George Mason University and by Tomasz Arciszewski, a professor in the department. One of the main objectives of Ali's visit to the U.S. is to learn about the engineering curricula at American universities in order to update the curricula for engineering majors at the University in Basra. To accomplish this, he is visiting several American universities, including GW, the University of Wisconsin, the United States Military Academy at West Point, and possibly the University of Houston. Dr. Ali has also established a working relationship with the American Society of Civil Engineers.

During his visit to GW, he and Professor Roddis discussed GW's undergraduate civil and environmental engineering curriculum and toured the laboratories. In their discussions, Ali explained the importance of the work that he and the University of Basra are doing in Iraq, and he told of ways they are making something good out of a very difficult situation. Many Iraqi, U.S. and British contractors use the university’s geo-technology, concrete, and materials teaching labs to do their testing, so Ali and his department have put to good use the money that their labs have earned from this testing. For example, they have conducted a necessary water quality study of the drinking water in Barsa, and they have supported many postgraduate research programs. They plan to use the money to refurbish other labs at the university as well.