DD: What is your role in BE and what keeps you excited about your work?

DF: I am the Academic Administrator for BE, I manage all aspects of the Department’s educational programs including Ph.D., SM, and Undergraduate programs. The caliber of our students, faculty, and staff is outstanding; it is what makes BE the wonderful community that it is. I thoroughly enjoy my interactions with the student body and how that relationship builds starting from their application to the program all the way to their graduation day. It really gives me such a great sense of accomplishment and pride when I take their graduation pictures during Commencement. I am here to help make their transition into BE an easy one from day one and offer assistance along the way and that if ever they are unsure, they can always stop by and see me even if it’s just for chocolate therapy :~D

DD: Where are you from?

DF: Born and raised in Cairo, Egypt. Moved to the US in 1986.

DD: What do you like to do when outside of MIT?

DF: I enjoy the culinary scene in Boston, going to the movies, travelling to exotic places I have never been to before.

DD: What are you reading now?

DF: And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini.

DD: Where is the most beautiful place you have been?

DF: Santorini, Greece.

DD: Favorite season?

DF: The fall, I love the changing colors of the leaves, the crispness in the air, the smell of apples on the trees.

DD: Favorite seasoning?

DF: Mediterranean: oregano, rosemary, cumin.