He was supposed to be an architect. But he studied electrical engineering and is now a recognized expert on optical systems in Canada

Originally, Wahab Almuhtadi from Yemen was to be the architect. The Yemeni ambassador offered him a scholarship and the opportunity to study in Czechoslovakia. With one hook. He had to leave architecture for electrical engineering. Wahab Almuhtadi got into BUT thanks to this, and discovered the world of electricity, which enchanted him so much that he never returned to architecture. For example, he has served as a deputy in the Yemeni Ministry of Energy and now he is a professor, researcher and coordinator of the Optical Systems and Sensors programme at Algonquin College, Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He is also president of the IEEE Consumer Technology Society (CTSoc).

Wahab Almuhtadi was born in Yemen. Since he did well in high school, he was given the opportunity to study abroad after graduation. The young Wahab then decided to study architecture at the American University of Beirut, the oldest university in the Middle East. “But then the civil war started there. I had the option of continuing my studies either in America or at a university in Egypt,” recalls Wahab Almuhtadi.

In the end, however, fate chose a completely different path for him. During his visit in Prague, he was informed by the Yemeni ambassador about the scholarship offer. “I liked Prague, it had an atmosphere. I also liked the Czechs, the rich history and the special language,” says Almuhtadi. He therefore accepted the opportunity. This was despite the fact that he did not have the opportunity to continue his career as a future architect, but had to switch to a completely different field. “They told me I could study electricity and if I would be interested. So I thought why not,” Almuhtadi says.

This decision led him to Brno University of Technology in 1980. But before that he spent some time in Jihlava, where he learned Czech. “I like people, so I made a lot of Czech friends in Jihlava. We used to go to cultural and sports places together,” Wahab Almuhtadi recalls in Czech. Occasionally, an English word gets mixed into his Czech, but it's not surprising. He left the Czech Republic in 1990 after completing his doctorate. Still, he continues to come here regularly. Not only to his alma mater as part of the cooperation, but also to visit his Czech wife's family.

Wahab Almuhtadi was not the only Yemeni who lived and studied in Czechoslovakia. “Yemen was the first Arab country to open an embassy here. At that time I was invited to the embassy and met many other students from North and South Yemen who were here at universities in Prague, Brno and Olomouc. Many of them got very good jobs when they returned home. For example, some Yemeni ministers studied in Czechoslovakia,” he points out.

He admits that the beginning was difficult. He studied a completely new field in Czech. “It was hard. There were two hundred of us at the lecture, and the professor was standing in front and talking very fast. So at the beginning I had to borrow my classmates' notes. Gradually, however, I learned to write it down myself, and eventually my classmates borrowed notes from me,” he says with a laugh.

He graduated at BUT with a red diploma and an offer to stay on for a doctorate. He accepted it and focused on the subject of energy. Specifically, the energy network in Yemen. “I also taught and worked at BUT, my office was at Antonínská Street. I also worked with the Energy Research Institute in Brno,” he adds. However, he turned down a permanent position at the university after completing his doctorate and returned to Yemen with his own family. There he served, for example, as Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Energy. “We were in Yemen for three years, but I started to be drawn elsewhere again. I had the opportunity to work abroad and accepted an offer to come to Canada,” he says of his journey to Ottawa, where he has worked for nearly thirty years. “I originally wanted to work in the energy industry, but Ottawa is an IT hub. At that time, there were almost two thousand companies that were involved in high-technology. The leader was Nortel, for whom I started working and focusing on telecommunications and fibre optics,” says Wahab Almuhtadi. He did not abandon this theme in his transition to Algonquin College, where he founded the programme and the modern optophotonic laboratory. It is thanks to his work on campus that he was able to re-establish his connection with his alma mater and he cooperates, for example, with the Institute of Telecommunications at the FEEC (Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication) BUT.

According to Wahab Almuhtadi, the Czech Republic has changed noticeably over the past thirty-plus years. “For the better. Some things take time, because forty years of influence of the former regime cannot be erased overnight. But the Czech Republic is already clearly European in terms of both relations and culture. During my last visit to the Institute of Telecommunications at FEEC BUT, I observed today's young generation. And there was no longer a difference between the young people in Brno and those I see in the universities and colleges in Ottawa,” Almuhtadi notes.

Although he has lived with his family in Canada for more than a quarter of a century, he admits that he would like to return to the Czech Republic in his old age. “I think I have Czech blood in my veins. I feel like a Moravian,” he concludes.

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