Future Members Of The League Of Extraordinary Women? Meet 3 Teenage Techies From The Middle East

[seabeyond]

Extraordinary women, like those in our July cover story, don't become extraordinary overnight. They work hard, getting themselves an education, building skills, and working their way up their respective career ladders. But sometimes, if they get lucky, they also get a helping hand from those who have gone before, who see their promise and realize that a little nurturing and mentoring can help great potential go even farther. That's the idea behind the State Department's TechGirls program, a little sister to TechWomen, the program that brought industry leaders from the Arab world to the United States last year. Both initiatives are part of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's 21st Century Statecraft agenda which champions the use of technology to promote democracy and economic development abroad.

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Lynna Ben Yahya, 16, Morocco


Ben Yahya grew up watching her English teacher father stay up late, alternatively working on his computer and taking it apart and putting it back together. She claims Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as her heroes and says she wants to work on either hardware or software when she grows up.


Sura Mubarak, 17, Jordan


The daughter of a chemistry professor father and an architect mother, Mubarak grew up coloring in her mother's blueprints. She dreams of double-majoring in engineering and architecture and using her education to construct green buildings. She particularly looked forward to the tech classes the girls would take in the U.S. "Maybe I'll come up with an app that helps architects use the iPhone more," she says.


Mai Alaa El-Din Sabry, 16, Egypt


For the last two years, El-Din Sabry has conducted public health surveys in local hospitals, trying to identify the problems patients have and why people die when they could otherwise be cured. Her efforts have garnered her several prizes at science fairs, and one day, she hopes to become a cardiologist.


http://www.fastcompany.com/1843052/future-members-of-the-league-of-extraordinary-women-teenage-techies-from-the-middle-east?partner=rss

[redqueen]

1. Four! Introducing Egyptian Aisha Mustafa, 19, who recently "reinvented space travel"

http://m.now.msn.com/teen-girl-from-egypt-has-just-reinvented-space-travel

Egyptian Aisha Mustafa, 19, has dazzled the physics world with a new invention that could launch spacecraft off the Earth's surface and soaring through space without any fuel. Space is filled with a billowing sea of quantum particles that jump in and out of existence, and Aisha Mustafa proposes using thin silicon panels, spaced closely together, to trap these particles and then move against them, creating a propelling force. This innovation would make space exploration lighter, safer and cheaper than the traditional "blast off" method. ...

[seabeyond]

2. well, that is just grand. thank you redqueen.

Egyptian Aisha Mustafa, 19

[redqueen]

3. Oh you know the pleasure's all mine. :)

And cool, there's an article about her from the same source you linked.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1837966/mustafas-space-drive-an-egyptian-students-quantum-physics-invention

I should have searched. The one I posted above was just a blurb.