As a software engineer with a passion for philanthropy, Hassan’s non-profit work and research efforts have made him a pillar of his community.

Raising money for those affected by the 2020 Beirut Explosion

“Through the efforts of my non-profit All-for-One Detroit, of which I am the president and founder, we were able to raise nearly $14,000 (after donation matching) to support the victims of the 2020 Beirut Explosion. The value of this contribution is significantly larger considering that Lebanon is in an economic recession and the US dollar is worth much more there. For me, this was my first opportunity to make an impact on a global scale. At the time of the blast, Lebanon was undergoing a recession, so many people did not have the means to get medical treatment. The money we raised directly went to support medical treatment for those hurt on the ground floor. 

“In addition, part of the money raised also went into cleaning the streets after the explosion. Of course, this is a collective effort that requires millions of dollars, but being able to save that additional life or clean that additional street really makes a difference, at least to me. Since many of the donors were Lebanese people from my community in Dearborn, I feel like we gave them an avenue to help their own people. This effort gave them a sense of comfort in a distressing time knowing that they can do something to help.”

Making higher education more accessible

“My proudest accomplishment was when I contributed to the successful delivery of the Go Blue Guarantee to the Dearborn campus through advocating for the scholarship (at events like press conferences). This scholarship allowed socio-economically disadvantaged students to attend the university tuition-free. A student would be eligible for this scholarship if their family earned less than $65,000 per year. What is important about this accomplishment is that it is certain to create a generational impact for years to come. It breaks a generational cycle by promoting the completion of a degree. This is the kind of impact which allows students to focus more on their education and less on how they are going to pay for their tuition." 

Research that saves lives

“I want to make a difference in this world by saving lives. Saving lives seems feasible to me because by no means do I need to be a physician or a nurse to do so but I can be a motivated researcher in the technology space. This is a reason why I did my undergraduate research in critical spaces such as experimenting with machine learning to develop virtual testing systems for autonomous vehicles, or more notably and recently, using deep learning for skin cancer detection. 

“Someone detecting skin cancer in the early stages can translate to their life being saved. Essentially, the program would take an image of suspicious human skin and make a prediction on whether the skin is cancerous or not. This research looked like it had the potential to save lives and that is why I engaged in it. Under the supervision of Dr. Jie Shen, I was able to engage in wildly successful research which has won awards.”