How do you know when moving across the world is the right choice?
Mohanad Ismail was debating this in 2023. The No. 1-ranked student at Ain Shams University in Cairo, he was trying to decide if he wanted to stay in Egypt, where he’d spent his entire life, or accept an offer to move abroad for graduate studies.
“Moving to a new country is very nerve-wracking,” Ismail said.
That’s when he connected with McMaster Engineering assistant professor Ryan Ahmed
During a video interview, Ahmed shared that he had actually been in Ismail’s shoes several years before: In 2009, he was a student from Ain Shams University. Like Ismail, Ahmed had strong opportunities in Egypt. Both were offered the same scholarship to come to McMaster, Ahmed under the supervision of Saeid Habibi.
Ahmed ultimately got his master’s and PhD at Mac, then worked in industry for several years before returning to the university.
He’s now an assistant professor in the Faculty of Engineering and the deputy director of the Centre for Mechatronics and Hybrid Technologies at the McMaster Automotive Resource Center (MARC).
Ismail was struck not only by Ahmed’s academic and industry experience but also by his global teaching reach.
Ahmed is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Engineering and the deputy director of the Centre for Mechatronics and Hybrid Technologies at the McMaster Automotive Resource Center. (Photo by Ron Scheffler)
Ahmed told Ismail about MARC, a world-class innovation hub where students and researchers design, build, and test advanced vehicle technologies. It’s one of the largest university-based electric vehicles and smart mobility research centers in North America. It immediately attracted Ismail, who was particularly interested in EVs and AI systems.
McMaster, one of the top 100 schools in the world, would “unlock a world of possibilities for you,” Ahmed told him.
It did. Ismail spent two years at McMaster, completing his master’s in mechanical engineering. During that time, he published five journal and conference papers, won the Best Presentation Award, and did an internship at Ericsson. He’s now working full-time as a software engineer at Amazon.
Success is shared
What really drew Ismail to the university, even more than the world-class facilities and top rankings, was the community at McMaster. When he was researching other schools, even in Canada, he would find people complaining about cutthroat, competitive environments. He wanted to be somewhere where people helped each other, and McMaster stood out.
“McMaster and all the support that I got all fit in to complete the picture of where I am,” Ismail said. “My journey at McMaster really put it all together for me to get to this point.”
That support started even before he landed in Canada.
From the moment he got accepted into McMaster, he said, there was support: From International Student Services, the Student Wellness Centre, the Graduate Student Association, and more.
“There’s a lot of help that’s just dedicated to international students that really eased me into the whole international student experience,” he said. “There were resources for literally everything I was looking for.”
There was also a culture of support everywhere he went at Mac, and especially from his supervisor. “It’s the thing I like most [about] McMaster – its community and people.”
Ismail had never published a paper before. Ahmed taught him how to write a paper, how to make it appealing to reviewers, and encouraged him: “If you want to publish something, just go for it.” His publications here include papers on lithium-ion battery management and electric vehicle battery state-of-health estimation.
When Ismail went to a graduate seminar, run by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the entire lab helped him with the research and rehearsing his presentation. He won the Best Presentation Award for showcasing research on the use of self-supervised learning and federated learning in electric vehicles state-of-health estimation.
Ismail (second from left) and Ahmed (third from left) with the team at the Centre for Mechatronics and Hybrid Technologies. (Photo by Ron Scheffler)
When Ismail wanted to do a co-op over the summer at telecommunications giant Ericsson, Ahmed was all for it. “He was like, ‘go for it. This will open doors for you,’” Ismail recalls.
He knows that’s not necessarily the case with every supervisor, who might prefer students to stick to the research they’re doing. “I was encouraged to do both my research and also to search for career growth opportunities.”
Ahmed knows the importance of students getting hands-on work experience. “One of the key issues that some of the grad students face is they don’t have Canadian experience,” he said.
“All the students that come and join our lab, they have hands-on experiential learning experience. So they learn by doing from day one.”
He also tries to involve them in as many industry projects as possible: In addition to Ismail’s co-op, Ahmed brought him in to lead communications with a company called Wireless PNC.
Ismail completed and presented research to them, which led to Ahmed’s team successfully applying for a Mitacs project grant.
They’ve also applied for an NSERC Alliance grant. “Why not [have students] play the key role in that?” Ahmed said. “Being involved and having industry exposure and experience is really important.”
All of that hands-on experience has paid off. Ismail finished his studies in June 2025, and started working at Amazon in August.
Ahmed, meanwhile, is looking for new graduate students to supervise. “I’m interviewing a lot of students… it’s very hard to find that same calibre as Mohanad,” he said. “But I’m doing my best.”