Hammam Endowment Fund

Clarkson University » Electrical & Computer Engineering

M. S. A. A. “Shawky” Hammam Memorial Endowment Fund Announced

On January 29 of this year, Prof. M. S. A. A. “Shawky” Hammam passed away after several months of declining health. He was 88 years old. Throughout his 30 years at Clarkson (1964-1994), Prof. Hammam was held in high regard by his students and colleagues as a tireless advocate for power engineering education.

Through his long tenure at Clarkson, Prof. Hammam established and nurtured the Electrical Power Engineering program at Clarkson, which became recognized around the globe. This program produced a large portfolio of scholarly research and attracted distinguished Power Engineering faculty and Visiting Scholars. However, the Clarkson Power Program under Prof. Hammam was best known for the quality and quantity of its undergraduate and graduate students. Highly sought after, these students became key resources throughout the electrical power industry. To many of his students, Dr. Hammam was like a second father – responsible for helping them make important career decisions and motivating them to succeed. His passion for his students and dedication to them was legendary.

In recognition of his tireless efforts and many accomplishments, Clarkson University, Dr. Hammam’s former students, and his family are collaborating to establish a living memorial fund in his name to be used to foster and support the continuing Power Engineering program. The Hammam Fund will be a permanent endowment, with annual proceeds from this endowment (5% of the endowment total) going to support Clarkson’s power program. These annual proceeds will be administered by the electric power engineering faculty within the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department. Uses for this fund will include undergraduate scholarships, support for field trips and conference attendance for undergraduate students, support for seminar speakers and short term visitors to campus for the purpose of maintaining student interest in electric power engineering and promoting an active power program, support for undergraduate projects and research, and master’s degree student fellowships. For example, and endowment level of $20,000 could support a $1000 scholarship for an upper level undergraduate interested in a career in power engineering, $25,000 could support an annual field trip for our junior electrical engineering students as they take the required energy conversion course, and an endowment of $40,000 would fund an annual seminar or seminar series on power engineering. An endowment of $50,000 could be used to support undergraduate projects in the power area, such as the recent electric vehicle that two of our students worked on this past spring. An endowment of $500,000 would provide us with the ability to provide a full fellowship to support a graduate student—for example, to support one of our own undergraduates in their first year of graduate studies, as Prof. Hammam did for many years with fellowships from Niagara Mohawk, Consolidated Edison, and others. Our goal is to establish this endowment at a level that will allow us to do several of these things to maintain the quality of the program and recruit students into power engineering—Prof. Hammam’s two main goals during his 30 years on the faculty.

A committee has been formed to establish the fund, and ensure its continuing success once established. The committee is pleased to announce that an initial round of fund raising has resulted in gifts and pledges of over $45,000. This is a very good start toward establishing the Hammam Endowment Fund, and ensuring that it will have an enduring impact on power engineering education at Clarkson University.

We are therefore asking for your support in making this endowment a reality. Contributions to this fund can be made to the Clarkson Office of Philanthropy, and designated for the Prof. M. S. A. A. Hammam Memorial Endowment Fund. Contributions should be made to the university and designated for the Hammam Endowment Fund. These should be sent to Cynthia Crimmins in the Office of Philanthropy, Clarkson University, Potsdam, NY 13699-5515. Donations can be made by credit card on-line at http://www.clarkson.edu/giving/index.html Again, designate your gift for the Hammam Endowment Fund when you do this. All gifts will be acknowledged by the university, and are tax deductible. Please contact Cynthia at (315) 268-7709 if you have any questions regarding multi-year pledges or company matching gift programs.

We welcome any suggestions you may have which will help us make this a success. For further information, contact either Gerald Allen (ggallen@TRCSOLUTIONS.com) or Thomas Ortmeyer (ortmeyer@clarkson.edu), co-chairs of the Endowment Organizing Committee. We would also appreciate any help you can provide in locating others who may want to support this fund. Thank you in advance for supporting the legacy of this extraordinary man who meant so much to so many and to his profession.