My belief that I can make a difference in someone’s life gives me hope for the future. In the classroom and during office hours, close interaction with my students allows me to discover their true passions. Teaching at Bucknell is a very personal process. It is not just about delivering course material, but it is also about the process of discovering the passion of each student and helping them achieve their dreams.

At the beginning of every semester, I feel like a child in front of a Christmas tree, ready to unwrap new stories. I feel very honored and humbled when students talk to me about their passions, their struggles, what makes them tear up and what inspires them to jump for joy. Whether driven by an urge to do better because their parents worked hard to send them to Bucknell, or an eagerness to find meaning in a new life after escaping a war zone, the stories my students share inspire me.

Helping students navigate their struggles — whether social, academic or emotional — is what keeps me going. During the fall semester, I helped Emily Bayuk ’21 illustrate optoelectronics concepts for young girls interested in engineering. She has a wonderful talent for writing as well as drawing and illustrating abstract concepts. Emily published her first book, The Fundamentals of Circuits Made Easy, and plans to publish a couple more books on the electrical engineering concepts that she is learning in her classes.

I am also developing solar backpacks to help students study at night in refugee camps. This summer, funded by Davis Projects for Peace, I accompanied Shehryar Asif ’21 to refugee camps in Lebanon to pilot a solar backpack project. We offered a two-day workshop to an all-girl class. The first day we showed students how to make cars run on solar panels, and the next day we introduced the solar backpack. The experience was one of a kind, but the most inspiring thing about it was to experience firsthand how resilient young people are. The refugee students’ living conditions were harsh, but they were the happiest kids I have ever seen. They were eager to learn, playful and fun.

This spirit of resilience that I see in many students — whether in Lebanon or Lewisburg — gives me hope. No matter how gloomy our current situation is — climate change, political division, etc. — I truly believe that the youth have the power and capacity to rise to these challenges. In them lies the secret to the continuity of life. To be a part of that process inspires me daily.

— Professor Amal Kabalan, electrical & computer engineering