NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Class of 2018 student Yousteena Bocktor, 21, from Egypt, has been selected as a 2018 Al Ghurair STEM Scholar.
The scholarship programme supports young Arabs pursuing fields in higher education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). She will pursue a Master of Engineering with a concentration in Transportation Engineering from McGill University in Canada.
Bocktor will be graduating from NYUAD this month with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. Her senior Capstone project involved designing a regional airport designed to meet changing traveler demands. The design aims to be cost-efficient and environmentally-friendly by cutting down on handling costs and flight tickets.
According to Bocktor, the project was inspired by her study away trip to New York City where she witnessed the inner-workings of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). As a result, she was inspired to create an improved system that is both user-friendly and much more efficient. This also led to an internship in a Transportation Engineering Consulting firm based in New York which further deepened her interest in the subject.
“It is empowering to be have Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education support in continuing an education not bound by geographical constraints,” said Bocktor. “This opportunity is so much more than a scholarship, it also provides mentorship, community projects, hands-on learning and a diverse scholars network. In this way, the program is a bridge between the core competencies I developed during my undergraduate education at NYUAD and my long-term goals of working in academia and carrying out research in Civil Engineering. With a concentration in the field of environmental transportation, I’d like to answer questions on how to improve the existing system to be more tailored towards the user and more relevant to our modern society.”
The Al Ghurair STEM Scholarship is part of the Abdulla Al Ghurair Foundation for Education, a non-profit organization founded by Abdulla Al Ghurair, that supports high-achieving Emirati and Arab Youth by providing 15,000 educational opportunities and scholarships to students over the next ten years.
