“I am proud to be an honorary patron to the Iraqi Women’s Fellowship Foundation (IWFF) that brings women in engineering, architecture, environment and applied sciences from Iraq on fellowships for up to one year study and research internships, placing them at top-level US universities and colleges, such as Stanford, Berkeley, MIT, UCSD, Caltech and Smith College. The Iraqi women fellows return to Iraqi with deepened knowledge and leadership skills, enabling them to play a vital role as leaders, professionals, innovators and role models for the new generation. They demonstrate commitment to quality and excellence in their fields, strength and perseverance that I have found to be at the essence of innovation and bold achievement. I applaud the IWFF fellows and strongly urge support for sustaining and building this program.”

— Zaha Hadid of Zaha Hadid Architects