Professor José Roberto Boisson de Marca, President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), visited American University of Sharjah recently to meet with senior officials and students of the university. A native of Brazil, Professor de Marca is the first IEEE president to be selected from outside of North America. He was received at AUS by Dr. Leland Blank, Dean of the College of Engineering, at a reception that included board members of the IEEE AUS Student Branch. The students presented Professor de Marca with a copy of their biannual newsletter.

Professor de Marca was accompanied by his wife, Professor Thelma Virginia Rodriguez. She expressed great interest in the activities of the students and also encouraged them to establish contacts with their counterparts in Brazil.

The visitors also met with Dr. Abdul-Rahman Al-Ali from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering as well as Dr. Ayman El-Hag from the Department of Electrical Engineering, who took them on a tour of the college's various engineering labs where they observed numerous projects currently being worked on by students.

During their visit, they also met with Dr. R. Malcolm Richards, AUS Provost, as well as Salem Al Qaseer, Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs, who presented Professor de Marca with a signed copy of the Sharjah Ruler's book.

The visit succeeded in greatly strengthening the ties between IEEE, AUS and the university's IEEE student branch.