Dr. Irene Samy

Dr. Irene Samy

Director of Smart Engineering Systems Research Center (SESC)

Faculty Office Ext.

1728

Faculty Building

UB2

Office Number

G40

Biography

Irene Samy is an associate professor, Industrial and Service Engineering and Management department, at Nile University Cairo, Egypt and the American University in Cairo. Her Ph.D. thesis project was developing novel polymer composite membranes for industrial applications such as food packaging. She earned her Master’s in Material Science, Mechanical Engineering, and American University in Cairo. The Master’s Thesis project was developing natural fiber (rice straw) reinforced composites. Irene has several scientific publications related to the investigation of Natural Fiber Reinforced Polymers, reinforcement of Plastic Waste with Treated Natural Fibers, and charcaterization of natural polyemeric nanocomposites. Irene has experience in using several softwares including: Comsol, Design Expert software for optimization of the experiment parameters, Minitab for statistics, Image J analysis software for image analysis and Abaqus for finite element analysis. Irene participated in Fulbright Junior Faculty program for renewable energy, in 2016 and participated in the Entrepreneurship and Leadership Program, 1000Women, Goldman Sachs, 2016.

She got Newton Mosharfa institutional link award for two years in collaboration with Nottingham University, UK. for manufacturing plastic bags from natural materials where she got acknowledged by Mr. President El-Sisi for her work at the 3 rd national youth conference in Ismailia, April 2017. Irene is interested in studying the sustainability concept and she was a co-author of a book entitled "Sustainability and Innovation", AUC press, 2015. Irene is a volunteer on IEEE Smart Village committee and an active member in the organizing committee for IEEE Conferences such as IEEE Power Africa 2017, where Irene plans to extend the IEEE smart village committee in Egypt to supply solar electricity in poor villages. She is also one of the members in the Events Committee of the IEEE Humanitarian Activities, 2018. She is also the technical chair for the first IEEE SIGHT Egypt ideation camp 2018.

Irene is currently doing research on several topics related to her Industrial and sustainable development practice such as:

  • Fabricating new bioplastic composite materials.
  • Fabricating green corrosion inhibitors.
  • Ergonomics assessment in industrial companies.
  • Green Energy in Construction, LEED and green building certification.
  • Establishing an integrated sustainable waste management model for agricultural waste.
  • Providing industrial solutions in work in process and inventory models in industrial companies.
  • Assessment of pharmaceutical residues and their removal from water masses.
Achievements

1) Irene Samy received the Encourgamnet state award for Financial from ASRT

2) Irene Samy received the Research Excellence award from Nile University

3) Irene Samy received the Excellent Speaker Award from International Conference on Multidisciplinary Sciences and Advanced Technologies (ICMSAT2020), Malaysia.

4) Irene Samy received the 3rd Place Shark Zone Startup Competition from Vested Summit, Egypt.

5) Irene Samy received the Most Active Member in SESC center, Nile University from Smart Engineering Systems Research center, Nile University, Egypt.

6) Irene Samy received the Best Paper Award for Financial from the International Association for Management of Technology (IAMOT2019)

7) Irene Samy received the Zero Plastic-waste Challenge from Next society

8) Irene Samy received the Leadership in Innovation Award (2nd place) for Financial from the Royal Academy of Engineering

9) Irene Samy received the Appreciation Certificate for Efforts in Research from Mr. President Abdelfattah ElSisi, Egypt.

10) Irene Samy received the African Women Intra-trade Capacity Building Program from the School of Business Executive Education, AUC

11) Irene Samy received the Fulbright Junior Faculty Scholarship for Financial from Fulbright

12) Irene Samy received the Entrepreneurship and Leadership Program from Goldman Sachs Women's Program

13) Irene Samy received the “Teaching Women, a Business Education” from the Rotary Club 10th of Ramadan, Egypt.

14) Irene Samy received the Appreciation Award, Employee week, from German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Recent Publications

Optimization of lactic acid production from agro-industrial wastes produced by Kosakonia cowanii

Lactic acid is used for the preparation of poly-lactic acid. The objective of this research was to produce lactic acid from agro-industrial wastes as cheap, renewable substrates, and also reduce the pollution burden on the environment. Sixteen bacterial isolates were isolated from agro-industrial wastes. The chemical hydrolysis of agro-industrial wastes was achieved with hydrochloric acid

Healthcare
Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Competitiveness

Enhancing barrier properties of chitosan extracted from shrimp shells as a sustainable material for active packaging using natural wastes

Due to the environmental concerns, much responsiveness has been paid to natural polymers and recycle wastes. Disposal of wastes like marine wastes and domestic wastes end up in landfills and open areas which cause environmental crisis. The development of biodegradable active packaging materials is one of the alternatives to reduce the using of synthetic petroleum-based plastics. Biodegradable

Mechanical Design

Review organic solar cells parameters extraction and characterization techniques

Organic photovoltaic research is continuing in order to improve the efficiency and stability of the products. Organic devices have recently demonstrated excellent efficiency, bringing them closer to the market. Understanding the relationship between the microscopic parameters of the device and the conditions under which it is prepared and operated is essential for improving performance at the

Software and Communications

Experimental investigation of innovative active packaging biofilms using electrical impedance spectroscopy

This work explores a novel simple technique to investigate the shelf life of fruit using Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS). EIS is a non-destructive analysis that focuses on studying the electrical impedance variations during ripening of fruit. The purpose of this study is the use of a biodegradable natural plastic packaging for extending fruit and vegetable shelf life. Polyethylene
Circuit Theory and Applications
Agriculture and Crops

Bio-composite Thermal Insulation Materials Based on Banana Leaves Fibers and Polystyrene: Physical and Thermal Performance

Thermal insulators have a crucial role in reducing the operational building energy. They are commonly fabricated from petrochemical materials that mostly cause negative environmental impacts. This study aims to develop banana leaves-polystyrene composites (BL-PS) as a sustainable and low-cost thermal insulator. The BL powder was mixed with PS in different weight ratios (90:10, 80:20, 70:30, and 60

Energy and Water
Agriculture and Crops
Mechanical Design

Effect of thickness and temperature on flexible organic P3HT:PCBM solar cell performance

A blend of poly 3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) and [6, 6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) is used as a photoactive layer for simulating a bulk heterojunction organic solar using general-purpose photovoltaic device model (GPVDM) software. The optical and electrical performance of the cell had been analyzed by changing the thickness of each layer and substrate material over a range of operating

Software and Communications
Mechanical Design

Fabrication of bio-plastic composite pellets from agricultural waste and food waste

This study aims to produce starch bioplastic pellets from food waste such as potato peels. Measuring the ease of flow of the melt is crucial for producing these pellets. The melt flow index (MFI) is measured in this study to evaluate the consistency of the produced pellets and determine the extent of degradation of the plastic because of molding. This study investigates the effect of adding
Agriculture and Crops
Mechanical Design

Production of fuel from plastic waste: A feasible business

This paper aims to conduct a feasibility study of producing fuel from plastic waste. It is a suggested approach to deal with the huge production of synthetic plastic around the world, so as to avoid its accumulation in landfills and the depletion of resources. Several types of research have addressed the conversion of plastic waste into energy, and in this study the authors focused on using

Mechanical Design

A Heterogeneous Vehicle Routing Problem with Soft Time Windows for 3PL Company's Deliveries: A Case Study

Route optimization is tactically important for companies that must fulfill the demands of different customers with fleet of vehicles, considering multiple factors like: The cost of the resources (vehicles) involved and the operating costs of the entire process. As a case study, a third-party logistics service provider, ABC Company, is introduced to implement optimization on. Furthermore, ABC

Mechanical Design
Research Tracks
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Chemistry and Physics
  • Industrial Engineering
  • Environmental Science and Engineering
  • Mechatronics Track
  • Renewable Energy
  • Energy Efficiency
Projects
Research Project

Telecom Towers Structure Profiler (TTSP)

Objective/Contributions: The primary objective of this project is to allow the best and most advanced sensing technologies to become an integral part of the tower structure and implement SHM into tower structural design with respect to maintenance cost reduction, increased structural stability and significant weight savings. In addition, the objective includes applying the usage of construction
Research Project

Integrated Artificial Intelligence and Design Expert to Forecast Spread of Corona Virus in Egypt

The main aim of this project is to use artificial intelligence and control modeling to study the COVID-19 spread in Egypt and some African countries. This study will also reveal how long COVID-19 remains infectious and the trajectory of its transmission according to the input data offered to the mathematical models. Objective/Contributions: The outbreak of the COVID-19 virus is associated with
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Research Project

An Optimization Model for Green Supply Chain Management Using Powersim Simulation Software

Objective/Contributions: The term sustainable or green supply chain refers to the idea of integrating sustainable environmental processes into the traditional supply chain. This can include processes such as supplier selection and purchasing material, product design, product manufacturing, and assembling, distribution, and end-of-life management. Instead of mitigating the harmful impact of
1
Research Project

Parabolic Trough Collector for Home Applications

One of the challenges results from climate change is the shortage in electricity networks. The crises result from the climate change along with the repercussions of Covid-19 make it important to rely more on clean energy sources such as Parabolic Trough Collectors (PTCs- are parabolic shape reflectors that reflects the sun energy into a central tube in the focal point), Solar (Photovoltaic) cells
111
Research Project

High Efficiency Solar Cells Using Wide Bandgap Organic Materials

Objective/Contributions: Egypt faces a major problem in providing adequate amounts of energy from oil and natural gas. These two non-renewable sources of energy contribute to 95% of the total energy resources needed for generating electricity. Although Egypt has a reserve in these primary sources, there is a shortage in demand due to fast utilization and the increased cost of extraction. According
Research Project

Mechanical, Physical Testing and Optimization of Bioplastic Membranes from Agricultural and Food Waste

Objective/Contributions: The effects of plastic pollution on land and marine plastic are magnified by the lack of adequate waste management systems and non-biodegradable plastics pose significant risks to human health and the environment. The proposed project will be based on a comparative study between oxo-degradable, and biodegradable composites. The study will include mechanical testing
Research Project

Application of Bioplastic Composites in Wastewater Treatment

Objective/Contributions: Due to rapid urbanization, a huge amount of industrial waste has been discharged into the Aqua systems without any conventional treatment causing serious contamination problems affecting not only the environment but also human health. Industrial discharges include pharmaceutical waste, heavy metals, dyes, and toxic pollutants waste that are not efficiently removed by
Research Project

Experimental Study on Sustainable Production of Concrete with Treated Alum Sludge

Objectives: A huge amount of unwanted sludge is produced daily from water and wastewater treatment plants and disposed into landfills which causes numerous environmental challenges. This study aims to investigate the effect of replacing cement by alum sludge on the performance of normal concrete. Incorporating alum sludge in concrete production could be useful in protecting the environment by
Research Project

Multi-stage Low-cost Treatment of Dyes and Paints Wastewater by Coagulation, Adsorption, and Filtration for Reuse in Several Application

Objective/Contributions: Designing and constructing a low-cost, efficient, rapid environmentally friendly treatment system for textile and paint industries' recycling and treatment. Conducting a comprehensive literature database of all the reuse and treatment methods, in paints wastewater treatment and all the pilot plants, and treatment plants used success stories that successfully reduce the
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Research Project

Next Generation Manufacturing for Sustainable Biomaterial Design

Objective: The objective of the proposed project is to accelerate the path to the industrialization of the sustainable bioplastics developed in the previous research through capacity building for the youth community. This is an efficient way to reduce the production and consumption of non-sustainable plastics and decrease the negative effects of climate change.
Research Project

Turning Shrimp Shells into Eco-friendly Plastic

Egypt produces 20 million tons of solid waste annually, some of which is recycled or buried in landfills, much of which is piled up on roads, in water drains, or may even lie at the bottom of the sea. This is in short the garbage and plastic waste disaster that requires years to decompose under the sun. The results are usually smaller pieces of microplastic particles eaten by fish and marine
Research Project

Unblocking the Equality Pipeline in Mechanical Engineering

This partnership between a globally connected university in Scotland (North Britain), and a new, rapidly-growing and well-respected university in Egypt (North Africa) will focus entirely on empowering women in the area of mechanical engineering. Objective/Contributions: We wish to establish a paradigm for tackling the barriers to gender equality in the “difficult” area of mechanical engineering
Research Project

UK/Egypt Trans-national Education Partnerships Grants

Objective/Contributions: All three partners are strongly interested in the development of TNE in the field of Environmental Management and Sustainability. This is an area of significant global concern and one where mutual collaboration can lead to opportunities for new curricula in the future. However, formal TNE in the short term faces many institutional challenges; therefore our approach is to
Research Project

Replacing the Virgin Materials in Concrete with Waste Materials (Rubble, Plastics, Sludge, etc.)

Construction wastes have become the largest source of different solid wastes in Egypt as construction and demolition processes generate millions of tons of construction and demolishing wastes every year. The increasing generation of construction and demolishing wastes have caused huge impacts on the environment and agitated growing public concern in the local community. Therefore, the minimization
Research Project

Post Occupancy Evaluation – From Architecture to Energy Efficiency and Carbon Emissions: The Case Study of Nile University

Sustainability has been one of the major overarching topics across industries over the past few years. Sustainability in the built environment is no exception and given the recent focus on climate change, it cannot be seen as a luxury anymore. However, sustainability should never come at the expense of the convenience of the building users or the architectural aesthetics. Accordingly, this
Research Project

Characterization, Development, and Life Cycle Analysis of EPS Geofoam for Use under Roadways Embankments

Expanded polystyrene (EPS) or geofoam blocks have long been used as a lightweight, durable, geosynthetic alternative for soil backfills in several infrastructure facilities and geotechnical applications. Recently, EPS was utilized for roadway embankments after assuring safety against acting loads in addition to hydrostatic and buoyancy stability. While satisfying these considerations, the design
Research Project

Cost-Effective Desalination by Falling-Film Freeze-Concentration with Minimal Environmental Impact

Water resource management is critical for sustainable social development in Egypt amid growing consumption and limited resource options. Recent national water plans have emphasized the strategic rule of nonconventional water supply through desalination. On the other hand, conventional desalination methods have a severe environmental impact due to increases in the temperature and salinity of the