It is with great sorrow and sadness that the Egyptian scientific and scholarly community learned the news of the sudden departure of Prof. Ayman El-Dessouki, on 20th May 2021. Prof. El-Dessouki graduated from the Dept. of Electronics & Electrical Communiication Engineering (EECE) in July 1973. He then established himselff as a great scholar and a distnguished scientist in the Computer Science, Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence and the Space and Satellite Engineering field in Egypt. The following "Eulogy" attempts to enumerte the many contributions of the Late Professor Ayman El-Dessouki whose legacy deserves to be remembered for many years to come.

A Tribute to the Soul of a Great Scholar and a Distinguished Scientist

Late Dr. Ayman El-Dessouki

(20 December 1951 - 20 May 2021)

Emeritus Professor at Electronics Research Institute

Arab Republic of Egypt

Dr. Ayman El-Dessouki was born on 20th December 1951 in Cairo, Egypt. He was the second child of a family comprising two sons. He went to “AL Qawmaia” Secondary School and obtained his High School Certificate in July 1968 with a score of 89.3%, that qualified him to enroll in the prestigious Engineering School of Cairo University.

Between October 1968 and July 1973, Ayman El-Dessouki studied in the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communications Engineering of Cairo University, where he received his B.Sc. in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering. In 1974, he joined the National Research Center  (the leading research center in Egypt) as an engineer, and later became an assistant research scientist from 1974 till 1982 in the same institute. In 1977, Eng. Ayman El-Dessouki received his M.Sc. in Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering from Cairo University. During the period 1977 till 1981, Eng. Ayman El-Dessouki was enrolled in the Ph.D. program of Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, U.S.A., where he received a research scholarship, that culminated with a Ph.D. Degree in Computer Science in 1981. His Ph.D. thesis was entitled “A Hierarchical Model for Manipulator Control System”. He then spent one year as a Visiting Research Assistant at the same institute.

Following his return to Egypt - in 1982 - Dr. Ayman El-Dessouki developed a research career in a variety of prestigious institutes. From 1982 - 1988, he was a Research Scientist at the Computer and Systems Lab of the National Research Center. He also acted as the Computer Unit Manger of the Development Research and Technological Planning Center (DRTPC) - a leading applied research entity belonging to Cairo University - during the period 1986 till 1988. From 1988 till 1993, Dr. El-Dessouki became an Associate Professor at the Computers and Systems Lab. in the Electronics Research Institute (ERI) of the Ministry of Scientific Research. He later became a Professor and Chairman of the Computers and Systems Department at the same institute, during the period 1993 - 1997. In addition, he was appointed Dean of the Informatics Research Institute at Mubarak City for Scientific Research and Technological Applications (Ministry of Scientific Research) during the period 1993 - 1998. For the next 8 years - 1998 till 2006 - Prof. El-Dessouki was appointed as the President of Electronics Research Institute (ERI).

In all previous assignments, Prof. El-Dessouki established himself as a well-known researcher and a distinguished scientist in the areas of Electronic Computers, Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Knowledge based Systems (KBS), and Robotics. Specifically, he acted as the Principal Investigator of several projects sponsored by the Science and Technology Cooperation Program of the Academy of Scientific Research and Technology that were funded by the USAID. He was also  the Principal Investigator of several projects funded by the US-Egypt Science and Technology Program through the years 2000-2009 (more than 5 projects) that covered areas such as parallel and distributed processing and sensory networks. One of the notable projects led by Prof. El-Dessouki was entitled: “The Development, Testing, and Implementation of Expert Systems in Agriculture: A Collaboration Between Egypt and the United States”, which was a National Agricultural Research Project (NARP) of the Ministry of Agriculture, funded by the USAID. Another highly reputed project was entitled: “Use of LIDAR and Terrestrial Laser Scanning Technologies for Development of Three Dimensional Models of GIZA Plateau , Saquarra Area, and the Valley of the Kings in Luxor”, which was a joint project with the Supreme Council for Antiquities in Egypt

The above activities led to the publication of more than sixty papers in highly reputed journals and conferences. He had also co-chaired several international conferences held in Cairo, Egypt on the topics of: AI, Industrial Electronics & Automation and Signal Processing. Moreover, Prof. El-Dessouki supervised 20 Ph.D. and M.Sc. students who completed their degrees in Egyptian Universities. In addition, he taught several training and educational courses in the areas of Information Systems, Computer Sciences, and Software Development in different organizations and universities in Egypt. He also contributed several tutorials on Expert Systems that were presented in National and International Conferences.

On the national level, Prof. El-Dessouki was appointed as Assistant to the National Coordinator of the UNDP project “Transfer of Know-how Through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN)”, of The Academy of Scientific Research and Technology, Egypt during the period (1993-1995). He was also Member of the US-Egypt Joint Board on Science and Technology during the period 1999-2010. In addition, he was assigned the task of supervising the national professional IT training program which was run by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) of Egypt during the period 2000-2011.

On the international level, Prof. El-Dessouki was a National Consultant for the "Expert Systems for Improved Crop Management", Project AGON/EGY/88/024 sponsored by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. He was also a member of the UNDP Egyptian TCDC mission to Nigeria for the computerized development of the Raw Materials Research Development Council (RMRDC) - Lagos, Nigeria - in April 11-25, 1990. In addition, Prof. El-Dessouki was a member of the Egyptian delegation to the Republic of Italy - in 1991 and in 1993 - for the negotiation of the establishment of the Informatics Research Institute in Mubarak City for Scientific Research and Technological Applications (Ministry of Scientific Research). Moreover, he was a Principal Investigator for several projects in the area of using High Performance Computing (HPC) in remote sensing applications with the University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA, as well as a Principal Investigator for joint projects in the area of Sensor Networks with the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA.

Perhaps, the most notable activity that Late Prof. Ayman El-Dessouki will always be remembered for, is his pioneering work and managerial activities leading to the modernization of the Egyptian National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSS), and later on, his role in the establishment of the Egyptian Space Agency (ESA). During the period 2005 - 2006, Prof. El-Dessouki was appointed as the Acting President of NARSS, and then as the Chairman of NARSS during the period 2006 - 2011. During this time frame, he helped revitalize and modernize all computing facilities at NARSS, paving the way for the launch of the first Egyptian Satellite - Egypt Sat 1- on April 17, 2007. Meanwhile, during his term as Chairman of NARSS, Prof. El-Dessouki supervised the committee for drafting the Egyptian Strategy for Space - in the period 2006-2011. Then in 2017 he became the Head of the Steering Committee for the Egyptian Space Program at NARSS. Since 2018, Prof. El-Dessouki was appointed as a member of the committee for drafting the Space Law of Egypt, and in February 2021 he was appointed as the Chairman of such committee. This was the last national contribution of Prof. Ayman El-Dessouki before he passed away from the world of the living to the after world.

It is with great sorrow and sadness that the Egyptian scientific and scholarly community learned the news of the sudden departure of Prof. Ayman El-Dessouki, on 20th May 2021. His numerous and countless contributions in Computer Science, Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence and the Space and Satellite Engineering field, will continue to guide and illuminate the path to the future for many generations to come. May his soul rest in peace, and may his family be blessed by his generous contributions, and may his students and associates continue the mission he devoted his life for.