Abbas Kazan, ’19, selected as ASCE “2022 New Faces of Civil Engineering” for helping home communities near and far
Heartfelt approach drives New Face to help his home communities, near and far
Alumnus Abbas Kazan ’19 EIT, A.M.ASCE in the beginning of 2022 was selected by ASCE for the “2022 New Faces of Civil Engineering” award for helping home communities near and far. Kazan is currently working for Barton & Loguidice in Syracuse, NY as a Bridge and Highway Engineer. He loves being in the United States, and in the upstate New York region that he has called home for nearly eight years.
But on Aug. 4, 2020, when an explosion struck the Port of Beirut, it was suddenly very difficult to be 6,000 miles away from the place where he grew up.
“I don’t wish that on anyone, feeling helpless and feeling like you can’t do anything. You’re just kind of trapped,” said Kazan, who now works as an engineer for Barton & Loguidice in Syracuse, New York, but whose family primarily lives in Tyre, Lebanon, south of Beirut.
Kazan’s family was safe, but his heart still ached for the people of Lebanon dealing with loss in the explosion’s aftermath. He turned those feelings into action, setting up a fundraiser with the help of his social media network and his company’s community service program.
“A lot of people lost their homes, lost their loved ones and their jobs. I can’t fully comprehend what they went through and are still going through, and I don’t know if what I did was enough,” Kazan said. “But I’m happy that we could help in some small way even though I wasn’t able to be there physically to extend a helping hand.”
