Founded in 2012, SAEA has spent a decade working to organize Syrian-American engineers, architects and technical professionals and help to rebuild, maintain, develop and advance Syria by employing and implementing global engineering and quality standards for education, certification and construction management in coordination with local and global organizations and governments. For 10 years, Syrian-American engineers have gathered, shared their knowledge, presented on their areas of expertise,...

The board of the Syrian American Engineers Association has recently engaged in deeper conversations with selected members with experience in renewable and clean energy options as the country of Sweden is announced to remain Europe’s largest net power exporter. In a recent article in Power Engineering International, they commented on the fact that Sweden’s more diversified fuel mix ensured it retained its position as Europe’s largest exporter. With total net exports accounting for 17TWh, most...

SAEA concluded its virtual summer conference via Zoom on July 23rd, 2022 SAEA members and friends came together for an enjoyable afternoon of sessions with technical topics focused on the advancement and development of the Syrian-American engineers and their community. The 20+ engineers in attendance on Zoom discussed: The power of renewable energy with renowned Eng. Tarabishy, Construction Contracts & Code Compliance, Autonomous Driving and Adv Driving Assisted Systems, and Inflation...

In recent months, there has been significant discussion around the possibility of a recession given high inflation. SAEA members engaged in a lively discussion about the importance of this topic, and to give it the appropriate time frame for discussion, they opted to make it the overall theme of the next online conference. Inflation impacts and recession fears impact SAEA members’ career options, salaries and professional development opportunities. Economic conditions have been turbulent with...

Autonomous driving and electric vehicle technologies are at the heart of the careers of many SAEA members specifically in the motor city (Detroit) where members meet regularly. Several SAEA members serve as engineers, consultants, and managers in automotive companies like Ford, GM, Magna, and Mitsubishi Motors to name a few, and have much interest in this field. Despite all that, there is overwhelming interest in discussions surrounding Tesla in the recent conference session. Elon Musk’s Tesla...

SAEA members are eager to engage in conversation around Autonomous Driving (AD) and Autonomous Driving Assisted Systems (ADAS), given the engineering expertise necessary to implement this technology. The need for skilled experts in this area will increase: researchers forecast that by 2025 we’ll see approximately 8 million autonomous or semi-autonomous vehicles on the road. Engineer Al-Keylani presented a primer on driving automation. He emphasized however that automation is not black and...

In recent SAEA Summer Conference, members discussed the fast-evolving world of autonomous driving and its technology, including the challenges of implementing technology. Autonomous driving cars use advanced perception sensors–an assembly of complex visual sensors and machine learning to figure out what’s happening around the car in order to make a decision about what to do next. SAEA members engaged in lively discussion around the potential of autonomous cars, as well as career advancement...

SAEA member, Engineer Omar Abdelrazzak, President at Damas Group: Architects, Engineers, Contractors frequently contributes his expertise over 30 years of experience in construction in the US and abroad to SAEA conversations. In a recent presentation, he highlighted the importance of code compliance and enforcement in construction. He suggested that effective code compliance will take into consideration the views of all interested parties, including state and local code officials and to...

SAEA member, Engineer Omar Abdelrazzak, President at Damas Group: Architects, Engineers, Contractors frequently contributes his expertise over 30 years of experience in construction in the US and abroad to SAEA conversations. In a recent conversation, he shared the importance of construction contracts and code compliance in shifting and managing risk. He suggests that the characteristics of a well-written construction contract include the following elements: -Time -Design Issues -Acts of God/...

In recent summer conference, SAEA members discussed the topic of construction contracts and code compliance by examining risk shifting in the engineering construction industry: the economic impact of a contract is to shift or allocate risk. The group reviewed eight types of construction contracts as presented by the founding member and civil engineer Omar Abdelrazzak: Cost-plus construction contract Design and build contract Guaranteed maximum price contract Incentive construction contract...