By Ahlam Ben Saga
By Ahlam Ben Saga
Rabat- Moroccan Engineer Meyssane Alj Hakim was named leader by US Manufacturing Institute during its 2018 STEP Ahead Awards ceremony, which took place April 9 – 11 in Washington D.C.
The ceremony, which hosted a number of prominent personalities, including members of Congress, celebrated women’s accomplishments in the manufacturing industry with formal gala on Wednesday, April 11, at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C.
The Science, Technology, Engineering and Production (STEP) Ahead initiative emphasizes women’s accomplishments and the significant roles they play in the success of the manufacturing industry.
Since its inception, the STEP Ahead Awards “have impacted more than 300,000 individuals, from peers in the industry to school-age children…we have honoured 672 women who are making a difference in their companies and communities,” STEP Ahead organizers stated on the Manufacturing Institute’s website.
Alj Hakim who is currently an Engineer at Intel Corporation, is among the 130 women participants this year, thirty of whom are emerging leaders in the manufacturing industry. She was chosen for her exceptional leadership skills to become a leader of the Manufacturing Institute’s STEP Ahead, the first woman in the Arab world to hold the title.
The leading engineer has played a key role in the promotion of the American advanced technology economic sector in Silicon Valley.
Alj Hakim graduated with a master’s degree in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley in 2015, and her expertise include leadership, finance, optimization analytics, data analysis, and the economics of production.
Since 2016, Alj Hakim has worked as a supply chain analyst at US-based multinational technology company Intel Corporation. Her position dictates the development of mathematical models for the testing of operational strategies, coordination of supply readiness efforts for end-of-life products, and management of cross-functional special programs.
Alj Hakim previously interned with international Chinese IT company Huawei Technologies as a business development intern and the vehicle manufacturing company, Foton Motors.
She was also a student researcher at New York City Polytechnic School of Engineering in 2013, where she worked on an accident notification system for motorcyclists dedicated to finding solutions to reduce deaths by motorcycle accidents.
Alj Hakim’s STEP Ahead award serves as an inspiration to all young women who wish to pursue their education and careers in manufacturing or any other field.
The Executive Director of the Manufacturing Institute, Carolyn Lee, told MAP in a statement, “The women we honor [in the STEP Ahead Awards] bear the potential to inspire the next generations of manufacturers…I believe that the more women and girls hear about the stories of what modern manufacturing really is and about what’s possible, the more they will dare to dream about what they can achieve in the manufacturing sector.”
Headquartered in Washington D.C., the Manufacturing Institute is a platform for world-class manufacturing talent that aims to close the skills gap and improve the manufacturing workforce by offering education and training to individuals in the field.
The STEP Ahead Awards launched in 2012, at the initiative of the Manufacturing Institute and the US National Association of Manufacturers.
