Skip To Content
Filter search
Cal Poly Pomona
  • LIBRARY
  • ONLINE SERVICES
  • DIRECTORY
  • MAPS
  • CALENDAR
  • About Cal Poly Pomona
  • Cal Poly Pomona Overview
  • Visitor Information
  • Campus Maps & Tours
  • News
  • Events
  • Administration
  • Annual Security Report
  • Campus Safety Plan
  • Admissions
  • Undergraduate Admissions
  • Graduate Admissions
  • International Admissions
  • Continuing Education Admissions
  • Military & Veterans Admissions
  • Financial Aid & Scholarships
  • Student Accounts & Fees
  • Outreach, Recruitment, & Educational Partnerships
  • Academics
  • Colleges & Departments
  • Majors & Degrees
  • University Catalog & Academic Schedules
  • University Library
  • Research
  • Academic Resources
  • Registrar
  • Campus Life
  • Student Services
  • Student Activities
  • Recreation & Fitness
  • Health & Wellness
  • Housing & Dining
  • Diversity
  • Calendars & Events
  • Campus Safety & Emergency Info
  • Athletics
  • Visit Athletics Website
  • Alumni
  • Visit Alumni Website
  • Giving
  • Why Give
  • Ways to Give
  • Where to Give

PolyCentric University News Center

Main Menu
  • About Our University
  • Admissions
  • Academics
  • Campus Life
  • Athletics
  • Giving
  • Expand/Collapse Menu
Browse: Home / 2015 / January / In Memoriam: Elhami Ibrahim

PolyCentric

University News Center

Menu

Skip to content
  • About
    • Submissions
    • Contact
    • Department of Strategic Communications
    • PolyCentric
  • News
    • Browse by Topic
    • View All Stories
    • In Memoriam
    • Archives
  • Achievements
  • Announcements
  • Multimedia
    • Videos
    • Photos
  • Social Media Directory
  • Events
  • For the Media

In Memoriam: Elhami Ibrahim

Posted on January 16, 2015

Elhami Ibrahim, a retired associate vice president of Academic Programs and a longtime engineering professor at Cal Poly Pomona, died in December 2014.
Elhami Ibrahim, a retired associate vice president of Academic Programs and a longtime engineering professor at Cal Poly Pomona, died in December 2014.

Elhami Ibrahim, a retired Cal Poly Pomona associate vice president of Academic Programs and a former longtime engineering professor, has died. He was 72.

Dr. Ibrahim, a native of Egypt, was among the first group of students that then-Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser sent to the former Soviet Union to study in the late 1950s. He earned his doctorate at the Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas in 1970.

He taught electrical engineering in Russia, Egypt and Libya before moving to the United States in 1985 to accept a job at Cal Poly Pomona. The Upland resident was a member of the electrical and computer engineering department.

An expert in instrumentation and control issues, Ibrahim received the 2005 Jake Groenewegen Award from the Los Angeles Section of the ISA Instrumentation, Systems and Automation Society and the Don W. Thompson Award in 2007. He also was named professor emeritus in 2007.

Aside from his Academic Programs and teaching roles, Ibrahim also served as the director of graduate studies and research for the College of Engineering.

In an email sent to colleagues, Professor Rajan Chandra cited Ibrahim’s key role in the creation of graduate school programs within the College of Engineering, including master’s degrees in engineering management and structural engineering, as well as the off-campus aerospace program.

“He had a tremendous influence on my contribution to our MSEE (master of science in electrical engineering) program,” Chandra writes. “…. Also, Elhami played a key role in the launch of our BS program in computer engineering.”

Professor Gerald Herder said that although Ibrahim was retired, he remained on campus teaching until a couple of years ago and continued making contributions to Norman Nise’s best-selling textbook on controls. Herder, a professor in the engineering technology department, worked with Ibrahim on many electrical engineering projects. They met in 1989.

They worked together on the university’s first solar car, which was driven from Orlando, Fla., to Detroit in the 1990 GM Sunrayce. The car they built, dubbed Solar Flair, was later retrofitted and raced in an event in Australia, Herder says.

“He was a colleague in the truest sense of the word,” Herder says. “He was very genuine. When you worked on a project you worked together. He was a gentle mentor also.”

Herder and Ibrahim, along with fellow engineering Professor Frank Smith, department Chair Richard Cockrum and others, worked to get National Science Foundation grant funding to establish an instrumentation lab in the department.

Smith says that he, Ibrahim, Herder, along with colleague Chuck Savant, wrote a textbook. For almost 30 years, Smith and Ibrahim had offices next to each another. The duo worked on several consulting projects designed to help solve problems for the engineering industry.

“Elhami was very good at solving problems for the industry,” Smith says. “He designed systems such as an electronic shifter for 18-wheeler trucks, for example, and control of air-flow temperature to pneumonia patients.”

He and Ibrahim lived close to each other, and Smith would tend to the pets when Ibrahim went on vacation, Smith says.

“He was a true friend who would do anything for you,” Smith said. “He loved working with students. He would bend over backwards to help.”

Ibrahim, a chess master, was involved with several student organizations and served on the Western Association of Schools and Colleges committee.

Daughter Inga Kiderra lauded his generosity and kindness.

“He had a very big heart, not just as a dad, but as a human being,” she said.

Ibrahim is survived by his wife Nadia; his daughter Inga Kiderra, and his granddaughter.

A memorial service for Ibrahim was held on Dec. 30 in Upland. A memorial online guest book has been created.

Posted in In Memoriam, News | Tags Administration, College of Engineering, Engineering, Faculty and Staff, obituary

POPULAR

  • CLASS Dean Iris Levine

    CLASS Act: Dean Levine Sets High Bar for Herself and Others

    326 views / Posted January 11, 2021
  • Graphic with illustration of Martin Luther King Jr.

    MLK Day Celebrations Include Student-Centric Volunteer Opportunities

    121 views / Posted January 14, 2021
  • Expanded Early Exit Program Info Session

    33 views / Posted January 5, 2021
  • Travel Health Orders

    24 views / Posted January 5, 2021
  • Mansion Lane Closure Update

    24 views / Posted January 5, 2021

Picture of the Day »

Toy Drive

Toy Drive

Cal Poly Pomona in the News »

College students reflect on their first semester experiences

Mailani Matsuno, who is taking classes from her home in Guam, interviewed about her reasons for studying from home and adjusting to the time differences between home and her classes.…

Honoring California architecture students through scholarship at the 2020 2×8 Virtual Exhibition


NMSU student research outlines problems in private immigration detention facilities


Out of work during the pandemic, Riverside woman starts charcuterie business, Mel’s Boozy Bites


10 rock stars with impressive college degrees


Tags
Administration, College of Engineering, Engineering, Faculty and Staff, obituary
About Cal Poly Pomona Feedback Privacy Accessibility Document Readers

3801 West Temple Avenue,Pomona, CA 91768

©2018 California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

All Rights Reserved