Amine Ghanem, assistant professor of construction management, isn’t likely to forget 2010 anytime soon. First, one of the students he coached for the Associated Schools of Construction’s annual student competition was on a winning team. Then Ghanem found himself in the winner’s circle, when he received a national teaching award from the same organization.
“Teaching has always been something I liked to do,” he says. “I went into industry and enjoyed it, but when I went back for my Ph.D. and did research, I had to decide whether I wanted to do more research or share what I did with others. Teaching is a passion for me.”
This year, that passion first played out in February, when a team of CSUN Construction Management Technology students entered, for the first time, the ASC’s regional competition. Held annually in Sparks, Nevada, the competition attracts more than 1200 students from more over 40 universities across U.S.
The team, which included Francisco Arceo, Sammy Jouglet, Michael Elliott, Tommy Criner, Matthew Reeves, Mike Sosa and Ryan Husbands, had been preparing for several months and participated in two categories: Heavy Civil and Project Management Challenges. The Heavy Civil team, led by Jouglet, had to prepare estimate documents for two small airport runways. The group received the construction drawings at 6:30 a.m. and had to present its bid at 10 p.m., without any Internet access or contact with anyone outside the team. Although the team didn’t place, it did receive excellent feedback.
In the Project Management Challenges competition, CSUN was represented by Arceo, who was part of a team with five other students from different universities. None of the team members knew each other, but they had to work together to solve a problem in real-life construction—a project that was facing a shortage of money. Again, the team was given the problem at 6:30 a.m. but had only until 3:30 p.m. to produce an answer. Competing against 13 other groups, Arceo and his team members won first prize.
“Between preparing for the competition, meeting other students and talking with recruiters, all the students found the experience very valuable,” Ghanem says.
Ghanem’s own moment in the spotlight came two months later, when he flew to Boston to accept the ASC national teaching award on April 9. One of only three awardees from Region 7, he had been nominated by CSUN professor and Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics associate chair Nazaret Dermendjian, with support from Roger Di Julio, professor of civil engineering and structural mechanics, and Dean S. K. Ramesh.
“This is more like recognition for the college and the university, not just for me,” Ghanem says. “It’s for all the people who have been helping and supporting me in my journey at CSUN.”