October 29, 2003-- Not surprisingly, the war in Iraq has had a devastating effect on that country's engineering schools.

Professors connected to Saddam Hussein's Raath Party have lost their jobs, deeply affecting departments at some schools. Some are appealing, arguing that they had to join to protect their families or advance their careers. The lack of electricity in some areas is a huge problem. Communication is poor and there's very limited access to the Internet-that is, when a computer can even be found. Many have been stolen. Laboratories have been looted, and many engineering books and technical documents have been burned. Iraqi engineering schools had a host of problems before the war, but the recent fighting has made things worse. Engineering professors have been unable to travel to international conferences since the mid-1980s when the Iraqi government stopped providing the funding.

ASEE executive director Frank Huband, along with officials from other engineering societies, has been meeting with officials at the State Department to determine how engineers-including deans and professors-can help rebuild Iraq, including its engineering capacity. Hank Hatch, former head of the Army Corps of Engineers, is heading another effort. Some proposals under discussion include bringing a few Iraqi engineering deans to the Engineering Deans Institute to discuss their needs, and arranging a conference, perhaps in Jordan, for Iraqi and American deans. "The needs of our Iraqi counterparts are great, and we hope to make the full extent of our resources available and help them any way we can," says Huband.

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