SU's Aboul-Enein Earns Prestigious UPE Scholarship

SALISBURY, MD---Omar Aboul-Enein has an interest in measurement science, which establishes metrics, models and knowledge for manufacturers.

Now people are taking the measure of the Salisbury University senior, sizing him up, so to speak — and they like what they see, so much so, he was one of only 39 international recipients of a prestigious Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) Scholarship Award, which goes to undergraduate and graduate students.

“I am very grateful for the work of the students and faculty in making this opportunity possible,” said Aboul-Enein, a computer science and mathematics major from Gaithersburg, MD. “I am also appreciative for their gracious support and excitement surrounding my selection to receive the award.”

UPE is the international honor society for computing and information disciplines, and Aboul-Enein is the secretary for the SU chapter, which, by any measure, is in its infancy, having been established in the spring of 2017. He was involved with the first initiation ceremony, which “made receiving the UPE Scholarship Award even more exciting,” he said.

This isn’t Aboul-Enein’s first accolade. In the summer of 2015, he worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in his hometown, on a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship. He did research pertaining to the performance measurement of mobile manipulator robots so companies can cost-effectively and accurately assess such robots before implementing them.

“After graduating, I plan to pursue a master’s degree in computer science while also continuing to pursue research opportunities with the National Institute of Standard and Technology,” he said.

His path to graduation began with his sister, Maryam Aboul-Enein, who graduated from SU with a B.S. in nursing. She recommended the school to her brother. During a campus visit, he strayed from the tour group because he heard that the computer science majors were holding their annual programming competition at Henson Hall.  

“Despite my still being in high school, the students holding the competition encouraged me to participate,” Aboul-Enein said. “They also gave additional advice and perspectives regarding studies at SU. Ultimately, it would be this experience that led me to choose SU for my undergraduate studies. Months after, I returned to SU as student, and this sense of community continued to carry on.”

His freshman year, he joined a Living Learning Community — his focusing on science, technology, engineering and mathematics — and he participated in the Office of Multicultural Student Services’ Powerful Connections.

“The program further helped to welcome me to the campus and make friends with both students and faculty that I would know for the rest of my time at Salisbury,” he said.

One of his fondest SU memories, so far, involved Dr. Randall Cone’s numerical methods and numerical linear algebra classes, which presented opportunities to explore ideas beyond the scope of the coursework.

“In one instance, the class was tasked to pair into teams and complete a project whereby we would present a lesson for the class,” Aboul-Enein said. “This involved long discussions of the utility of the mathematics we were learning and the implementation of the ideas in computer code. Working alongside another student to help teach my fellow colleagues was an incredibly meaningful experience.”

Other experiences at SU have helped him process information in his field in a much more efficient manner.

“Essentially, my classes did more than just supply me with information,” Aboul-Enein said, “but taught me how to teach myself and others more effectively. These are skills that I feel are the most important, as one can easily translate between different subfields of computer science and mathematics and pick up new ones rapidly.”

Then the award winner took the measure of his fellow Sea Gulls.

“All of this is in addition to being a part of the welcoming community that is the SU student body,” he said.

For more information, call 410-543-6030 or visit the SU website at www.salisbury.edu.