Lecture 51: The Impact of Western Sanctions on Iran, Oil Markets & the Gobal Economy

Date & Time: Thursday July 12, 2012 – 7:30 PM

Location: Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus) – Humanity Building (HU), Conference Room 009 (Get Directions, Campus Map )

Speaker: Mr. Hossein Ebneyousef

Language: FarsiMr. Hossein Ebneyousef

Synopsis:

Energy is the world’s largest business and as its integral part, oil in the modern petroleum industry, with 150 plus-years of history, has been the most political commodity of the era. In such circumstances, as a pioneer in every segment of this colossal business in the Middle East for more than a century, Iran is no stranger to the intricacies of oil politics and unfortunately is most often on the receiving end! In addition, while prior to 1980 such pressures by the West (even on the aftermath of nationalization of the oil industry) were often inflected on Iran covertly, well-advertised and intensified economic sanctions imposed ever since have been largely ineffective on their intended targets, despite the claims of the imposers, and far more damaging to the average Iranian despite the official denials of the authorities on both sides of the conflict. In the absence of any clarity and transparency on issues related to the sanctions it was of paramount importance to study this complex issue in order to: present a balanced and objective assessment of the practice, particularly the characteristically far more disruptive nature of the latest rounds of sanctions announced by the U.S. and its major European allies since December 2011; identify their net impact on Iran, international oil markets and the global economy; and share the findings of the study with the stakeholders–most importantly the public.

At this critical juncture in our history the inspiration to undertake this work came from the following observation by the world-renowned Iranian poet and our beloved Sa’di who said:

“Although intelligent men consider silence civil,
It is better for thee to speak at the proper time.
Two things betoken levity of intellect: to remain mute
When it is proper to speak and to talk when silence is required.”

About the Speaker:

Since 1988, Mr. Ebneyousef has been the President of International Petroleum Enterprises where he manages the Company’s worldwide consulting services and technical assistance on oil and natural gas development opportunities in the Middle East, North Africa and the Caspian Sea region. Previously he worked for Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) for 14 years — 6 years with ARCO International, on projects in the Middle East; 6 years with ARCO Oil & Gas, on evaluating oil and gas producing properties for time rating of reserves and coordination of legal, geological, engineering, operation and business evaluation efforts towards acquisition or sales of oil and gas properties; and 2 years with ARCO’s Corporate Planning, on identification and analyses of critical global oil-related issues and response strategies. Mr. Ebneyousef holds BS and MS degrees in petroleum engineering from Louisiana State University (LSU) and University of Southern California (USC), respectively.

Fee (including dinner): $5 Students, $15 Public

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Lecture 50: Recent Developments inTunneling Technology

Date & Time: Thursday June 14, 2012 – 7:30 PM

Attention : The lecture building / room has changed.

Location: Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus) – Campus Center Building (CC), Student Cafeteria Lounge (Get Directions, Campus Map )

Speaker: Jamal Rostami, PhD, PE

Synopsis:

This lecture will review various tunneling methods and will discuss the recent developments in the field of tunneling and related machinery. It will discuss applications of tunnels and underground excavation, various methods for tunneling, and will offer a brief review of the tunneling machines and achieved milestones in their size and performance. The lecture will discuss the sequential excavation methods used for many of the road tunnels around the world, mechanized tunneling in rock and soil, and will present brief video clip of some of the complex tunneling machines.

About the Speaker:

Dr. Rostami has over 24 years of experience in design, management, research, and teaching in the field of underground and surface mining, tunneling, and underground construction. He has obtained his BSc, in mining engineering from Univ. of Tehran (UT) and MS and PhD in Mining Engineering from Colorado School of Mines (CSM). He has worked as faculty at both UT and CSM and has been at Penn State University since July 2007. Dr. Rostami is a registered Professional Engineering (PE) in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. He has published over 100 papers, 3 book chapters, and many technical reports.

He has made many presentations in professional conferences and has served on several technical review panels/committees for different projects and research/professional organizations. Dr Rostami is a member Structure and Governance Strategic committee of Society of Mining Engineers (SME) and has served in many unit-committees in various capacities from member to chair. He is the past-chair of Mining Engineering Committee and a chair-elect of PE committee. He has offered several short courses on “Mechanical excavation and mining” and “Shaft design and construction”. He has also worked as a full time consulting engineer on various projects in the field of mining and tunneling. His area of specialty is rock mechanics, ground support, rock excavation/ fragmentation, mechanical excavation, mechanized mining, space mining, and tunneling and underground construction. He is also a member of, ARMA, ISEE, IRSME, IRRMS, ASCE, and TRB AFF-60 committee.

Fee (including dinner): $5 Students, $15 Public

RSVP: Please click here to RSVP for dinner.

 

Lecture 49: Gravity and Dynamics of Motion in Orbit

Date & Time: Thursday May 10, 2012 – 7:30 PM

Location: Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus) – Humanity Building (HU), Conference Room 009 (Get Directions, Campus Map )

Speaker: Mohsen Mosleh

Synopsis:

This lecture will entertain topics in “classical mechanics” which discusses the set of physical laws describing the motion of bodies under the action of applied forces. These physical laws provide extremely accurate results as long as the objects being considered are not macro-scale and the speeds involved do not approach the speed of light.

The selected topics in this lecture are gravity and its role on the dynamics of objects in orbit. The gravitational field is one the key fundamental interactions of nature which gives weight to the objects with mass and causes dispersed matter to coalesce, and coalesced matter to remain intact. It is also the driving force for objects under central-force motion in an orbit. The dynamics of motion in orbit with the Lagrangian perspective will be discussed. Examples of planetary orbits and their characteristics in the solar system will be presented.

About the Speaker:

Mohsen Mosleh is a Professor of mechanical engineering at Howard University in Washington DC and Past President of Iranian Academic and Professionals (IAAP). His professional appointments and services include Visiting Scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Visiting Scientist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Guest Scientist at the National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST), Advisory Board of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Maine, Board of Directors of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) of Washington DC section, Graduate Program Director at Howard University, Manager of MIT/Harvard-industry consortium on durability of total joint replacements at the Massachusetts institute of Technology (MIT).

He has been a reviewer for Maine Space Grant Consortium, Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship Program (SFFP), National Science Foundation’s programs, American Society of Engineering Education and numerous scientific journals. He has also served as member of Technical Committee of professional conferences and meetings such as International Symposiums on Nano-manufacturing and Chair of ASME-STLE Conference sessions.

Dr. Mosleh received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from MIT. He earned his BS and MS degrees in mechanical Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology. He has widely published peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and proceedings. His research interests and activities include surface engineering, nanofluids, and nanocomposites. His teaching focus is on Classical Mechanics and Advanced Dynamics, Engineering Design, and Product Development. He has received numerous awards including Rabinowicz tribology award, ASME outstanding teaching award, distinguished faculty author award and Editor’s Choice paper award from TLT magazine.

Fee (including dinner): $5 Students, $15 Public

RSVP: Please click here to RSVP for dinner.

Majid Fotuhi