Meet the ECE Department’s GW Monumental Alumni

Monumental Achievement: Powerhouse business executive Amina Al-Rustamani is one of the most dynamic business leaders in the Middle East. Currently serving as board member, director and COO of family business AW Rostamani Group, Al-Rustamani is recognized regularly for her leadership: ranked number nine in the CEO Middle East's fifth annual list of the world's most powerful Arab women in 2015; named Advertising Person of the Year by Dubai Lynx for 2015; and listed as number 20 in Forbes "Middle East Power Businesswomen 2021."

Biography: Dr. Amina Al-Rustamani, executive board member, shareholder and director at AW Rostamani Group, is the chief operating officer of the group, overseeing group HR, group IT and group strategy functions. She also oversees the Group Properties division, as the chief executive officer of AWR Properties.

In addition, Al-Rustamani is a non-executive board member at HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, non-executive board member at Al Jalila Foundation, non-executive board member at Sandooq Al Watan, advisory board member at Tharawat Family Business Forum and committee member at The Arts Club Dubai.

Al-Rustamani holds degrees at both the bachelor and master levels, as well as a doctorate in engineering from the George Washington University. She is an acknowledged authority on wireless technologies, and her contributions have been published in several leading publications and journals.

Monumental Achievement: Anousheh Ansari has soared high throughout her career as co-founder and chairwoman of Prodea Systems and co-founder and CEO of Telecom Technologies, Inc. (TTI). She made news in 2006 as the first Iranian-American and first female Muslim in space, spending 10 days on the International Space Station. Ansari has received multiple honors including the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for the Southwest Region and the Horatio Alger Award. She was listed in Fortune magazine's 40 under 40 list in 2001 and honored by Working Woman as the winner of the 2000 National Entrepreneurial Excellence award.

Biography: Ms. Anousheh Ansari is CEO of XPRIZE, the world’s leader in designing and operating incentive competitions to solve humanity’s grand challenges. Ansari sponsored the $10M Ansari XPRIZE, igniting a new era for commercial spaceflight. Prior to this, she served as CEO of Prodea Systems, a leading Internet of Things technology firm. She captured international headlines by embarking upon an 11-day space expedition, becoming the first female private space explorer, first astronaut of Iranian descent, first Muslim woman in space, and fourth private explorer to visit space. Ansari co-founded The Billion Dollar Fund for Women, with a goal of investing $1 billion in women-founded companies by 2020. Her memoir, My Dream of Stars, aims to share her life story as inspiration for young women around the world.

Monumental Achievement: Combining her passion for space and love of medicine, Serena Auñón-Chancellor has blazed a trial as a physician, engineer, and NASA astronaut. Board certified in internal and aerospace medicine, Auñón-Chancellor Chancellor served as a flight surgeon and as a civilian physician caring for members of the astronaut corps and their families. After joining the ranks of the Astronaut Corps in 2009, she went on to log 197 days in space as she contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the International Space Station.  

Biography: Board certified in internal and aerospace medicine, Dr. Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor began working as a flight surgeon at Johnson Space Center in August 2006. She spent more than nine months in Russia supporting medical operations for International Space Station crew members. Auñón-Chancellor was selected in July 2009 as one of 14 members of the 20th NASA astronaut class. She graduated in November 2011 from astronaut candidate training, which included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in space station systems, spacewalks, robotics, physiological training, T-38 flight training and water and wilderness survival training. She spent two months in Antarctica from 2010 to 2011 as part of the Antarctic Search for Meteorites program.

Auñón-Chancellor served as flight engineer on the International Space Station for Expeditions 56 and 57 in 2018, logging 197 days in space. During her time in orbit, she and her colleagues contributed to hundreds of experiments in biology, biotechnology, physical science and Earth science aboard the space station. 

Her work has been recognized with honors including the Antarctica Service Medal, the NASA Space Flight Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, the United States Air Force Flight Surgeons Julian Ward Award, Outstanding UTMB Resident Award in 2007, William K. Douglas Award in 2006, Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society in 2005, and Thomas N. and Gleaves James Award for Excellent Performance by a Third-Year Resident in Internal Medicine in 2004.

Auñón-Chancellor is a member of a number of organizations including: American College of Physicians; American College of Preventive Medicine; Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society; Aerospace Medical Association and Tau Beta Pi; and The National Engineering Honor Society.

She received a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from the George Washington University in 1997 and a doctorate of medicine from The University of Texas - Health Science Center at Houston in 2001. After completing a three-year residency in internal medicine at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in 2004, she served an additional year as chief resident in the internal medicine department in 2005. She also completed an aerospace medicine residency at UTMB as well as a master of public health in 2007. She is board certified in internal and aerospace medicine.

Auñón-Chancellor, who is married to Jeff Chancellor, has a stepdaughter, Serafina Chancellor. Her personal and recreational interests include mountain hiking and providing medical care to the underserved.

Monumental Achievement: After co-founding software company Cysive in 1993 in the basement of his home, entrepreneur Nelson Carbonell, Jr. grew the tech company to 500 employees and exceeded revenues of $50 million before taking the company public in 1999. He regularly shares his business strategy expertise on a variety of topics—including mezzanine financing, systems risk management, implementation of information technology—at universities, seminars and conferences, as well as with the press, industry, and financial analysts. Currently the president and CEO of consulting firm, Nelson Carbonell & Associates, Carbonell serves on a variety of boards and is the former chairman of the board of trustees at GW.

Biography: Mr. Nelson A. Carbonell, Jr., chairman emeritus of the George Washington University board of trustees, is an entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience. He has founded companies including: Cysive, a software engineering services company he took public in 1999; Snowbird Capital, which provided equity and mezzanine debt to middle market companies; and Nelson Carbonell and Associates, which assists companies with strategy, financing, operations and technology. Carbonell has chaired several key committees of the George Washington University board of trustees, most notably, the committee that led the full board to approve the construction of Science and Engineering Hall. He serves on the board of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, and is a former chairman of the Washington-Baltimore Young President's Organization, as well as a former member of YPO's International Board. Carbonell also serves on several corporate boards. He earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from GW, graduating with distinction in 1985.

Carbonell was born and raised in the Washington, D.C. area. He is of Cuban decent and speaks fluent Spanish. He resides with his wife, Michele, in Great Falls, Virginia. They have four adult children, Carmen, Roxy, Dylan and Sophia. Carbonell spends his free time skiing, golfing, hiking and relaxing at his vacation home in Deer Valley, Utah. He enjoys fine wine, good food and reading history and physics.

Monumental Achievement: World-renowned engineer and business executive Ya-Qin Zhang has made significant contributions to the tech industry through his 550 publications, 62 U.S. patents, and a number of innovative engineering achievements. In October 2019, he retired as the president of Baidu, a technology giant providing services ranging from mobile internet to cloud computing to more than two billion people throughout the world. Zhang has received numerous awards including: election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; induction to the Australia National Academy of Engineering; and being named an Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellow at the age of 31, making him the youngest scientist to win this honor in the 100-year history of the organization. He was named one of the top 10 CEOs in Asia, CEO of the year, 50 global shapers, and top 10 innovators by IT Times, CNBC, Business Week, and Global Business Magazine.

Biography: Dr. Ya-Qin Zhang is chair, professor and dean of the Institute for AI Industry Research (AIR) at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He previously served as the president of Baidu Corporation, a leading internet company based in Beijing, China, with over 40,000 employees. Zhang joined Baidu from Microsoft, where he most recently served as corporate vice president and chairman of its Asia R&D Group, leading Microsoft’s overall research and development efforts in the Asia-Pacific region. During his 15-year tenure at Microsoft, he held various other key positions, including managing director of Microsoft Research Asia, chairman of Microsoft China, and corporate vice president of mobile and embedded products division. In 1997, Zhang—then in his early 30s—became the youngest ever fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He has published more than 500 papers in leading international conferences and journals, and has been granted more than 60 U.S. patents in digital video, internet, multimedia, wireless, and satellite communications. Zhang received bachelor of science and master of science degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Science and Technology of China in 1983 and 1985, respectively, and a doctor of science degree in electrical engineering from GW in 1989.