The American University of Kuwait (AUK) College of Engineering and Applied Sciences (CEAS) held its capstone exhibition at AUK. One hundred students presented their graduation projects during the exhibition, incorporating novel prototypes that combined their hardware and software skills. The event was open to students, alumni, parents, and industry representatives.
AUK president, Dr. Rawda Awwad, emphasized the significance of CEAS capstones, “The capstone experience gives students the self-confidence necessary to problem-solve and provides them with opportunities to propagate a team spirit in service of others. Capstones are about contributing knowledge to improve lives. I’m proud of our students who have worked incredibly hard to make a difference and I’m truly grateful to the faculty and the dean of the College for their continued commitment to learning and exploration.”
A total of 26 teams of 3 and 4 members showcased their projects through informative posters, research papers, leaflets, and video displays. Supervised by faculty members of the College, students presented a wide range of prototypes such as Smart Helmets, Solar Powered Bikes, Smart Glasses, Dual Band GPS Antennas, Human Body Temperature Measuring Robots, Gesture Vocalizers and Self-parking Vehicles. Attendees were encouraged to vote for the best project through scanning QR codes allocated in each booth.
The event concluded with a closing ceremony at the AUK theater where the dean of CEAS, Dr. Amir Zeid, congratulated the students, “Today’s event showcased 26 capstone projects in different disciplines: computer and electrical engineering, computer science and information systems. We had around 100 students who have been working with their faculty supervisors for a full academic year to reach this important milestone. Congratulations to all.”
The closing ceremony also featured a keynote speech delivered by Ms. Khadija Oubala, CEO of Sultan Group, a Fulbright scholar, a recipient of the MIT Heather Smith Memorial Fellowship, and a member of Young Presidents Organization. In her speech to the attendees, she drew on her experiences to motivate students, “So, for all of you dear smart engineers, do not rely only on your intelligence alone. Put in the hours, and go above and beyond. Run that extra mile.”
A total of three winners were announced for the engineering category—the first-place winner was for project Fire-fighting Robot, by Noura Al-lahow, Dawood Boland, Shejon Alebrahim, Ali Abouzeid, and supervised by Dr. Mohammed El-Abd. The team highlighted AUK’s role in their capstone project, “Our accomplishments have been made possible through the facilitated support of many integral entities at AUK. Those include our professors, lab instructors, and of course, the dean and associate dean of Engineering. The overwhelming amount of support we received helped shape the people we are today. The campus as well has provided amenities required for completing our tasks and projects successfully. Those include the labs, equipment, and computer systems. Our journey was an endeavor filled with trial and error that was not severely punished as it is an environment that promotes learning from one’s mistakes and becoming a better overall student in both a scholarly and characteristic sense.”
The second-place winner for the engineering project award was Augmented Reality for Educational Purposes, by Almuntaser AbdulSalam, Ahmad Aldulaie, Amer Alazemi, and supervised by Dr. Seyed Esmaeili.
The third-place winner was the 3D Hologram Fans, by Ahmad Y Musallam, Omar W AlQalsh, Abdulhadi A AlQattan, Hashim B Kheitan, and supervised by Dr. Ali Bostani.
Mobile App for 3D Augmented Reality for Sport Wear and Equipment—Fit Kit, was the winning project award for the computer science and information systems category. The project was implemented by Amir AlAghbar, Mustafa Karkour, David Liang, Rassim Melaab, and supervised by Dr. Iyad Abu Doush. “We’re very proud of our accomplishment after all the hard work, dedication, and teamwork to overcome the many challenges we’ve faced. We would like to thank the CSIS faculty, especially our advisor Dr. Iyad A. Doush, for their guidance and instruction that accumulated into our final project. We also extend our gratitude to AUK students who supported us and our work during the last two semesters. Lastly, we want to thank the community for coming and supporting us during the exhibition. It was a great experience,” stated one of the team members.
Typing Eye, was the winning project award for the student choice award. The project was implemented by Abdullah H. Al-Dihani, Hamad Almutawa, Talal Al Shammari, Abdulhadi AlAjmi, and supervised by Dr. Jibran Yousafzai.
The CEAS exhibition offers a platform for students to showcase their talents and apply theory to practice through creating prototypes.
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