Skip to main content

AUS Engineering freshmen builds dome

AUS_Engineering students

Sharjah, (UAE): An Engineering freshmen team at American University of Sharjah (AUS) has succeeded in building a dome able to carry almost 150 times its weight. This was achieved by the winning team of an Engineering freshmen Competition held at AUS recently.

Over 340 freshman students of engineering at AUS competed to build domes out of basic materials like paper, glue, scotch tape, rubber bands, at the 11th NGN 110 Introduction to Engineering and Computing Competition held earlier this week. 


AUS Engineering students


Contestants were divided into 70 multidisciplinary teams of five students each and had to practice their engineering skills to design dome structures that could carry 13 kilograms of paper, yet have the lightest weight possible.

Members of the first-place winning team were Malek Safar Malke, Rashid Bassam Nimer, Rowen Mohammed Aleid, Anoushah Seddiq and Kaltham Kamali. Their dome had a weight of only 82.6 grams.

Participants in this competition represented all majors offered by the College of Engineering and had the chance to develop their teamwork, engineering design, problem solving, time management and communication skills.

Aiming to familiarize freshman engineering students with the thinking tools and skills required of engineers, this competition is part of the first-year course Introduction to Engineering and Computing, NGN 110, taken by all AUS engineering students.

Dr. Leland Blank Dean of the College of Engineering has expressed satisfaction over the performance of freshmen engineering students, who, like other AUS students, come from the top 20 high school graduates. “Engineering students at AUS are immediately introduced to a design environment and a team building requirement as they enter the very first year of their university studies,” Dean Blank said. “We are proud of all of these excellent freshmen,” he added.


"The goal of the competition is to challenge students to think out of the box, explore new ideas and convert solutions from a simple idea to a real product,” said Dr. Fadi Aloul, Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and organizer of the event. The course stresses on developing the soft skills and applying them to design and build a successful model as a team. The winning dome was able to carry almost 150 times its weight which was amazing,” Dr. Aloul explained.

In previous years, the competition required students to design and construct bridges, cars, helicopters, boats and paper planes, among other structures.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Why You Should Not Opt For IIT Bombay

This article is written by IITians in the blog Actors Imran and Anushka during a cultural program at IIT Bombay If asked to compare IIT Bombay to IIT Delhi, most students say that the difference is negligible. Both are in metropolitan cities with good options for hostels, PG accommodations, food and entertainment. Cultural activities are equally good as is the faculty and study methodology. Even placements at the two IITS are amongst the best in the country. Yet figures indicate that the top JEE rank holders prefer Computer Science Engineering at IIT Mumbai rather than IIT Delhi. But, we are here to tell you when and why you can avoid IIT Mumbai. Mumbai IIT was earlier placed in the suburbs, away from the crowds, giving IITians the space and peace to pursue their career goals. Today the area in Powai is surrounded by high rise building, malls and traffic snarls, bringing with it all the clatter and patter of a metropolitan hub. Just like the population and popular...

Second Pakistani University opens in UAE

Abasyn University RAS AL KHAIMAH, (UAE): One more Pakistani University has started its operations in Ras Al Khaimah with a mission to provide good quality affordable education for Pakistani families living in UAE. Name as “Abasyn University ”, the new educational platform will offer degree courses to the 800 to 1,000 pupils who comes out of Pakistani high schools in the UAE every year. Previously Szabist University in Dubai was the only Pakistani university in the emirates. Abasyn’s Ras Al Khaimah centre is its overseas branch campus. As a famed brand in Pakistan, the Abasyn University has campuses in Peshawar and Islamabad. Abasyn University is considered to be more affordable as it charges only Dh1,200 a month. This makes it more affordable than Szabist which charges Dh1,900, and Abasyn is significantly cheaper than other institutions. On average, university fees in the UAE start at about Dh25,000 a year. However, for anything science or engineering based, costs can rise ...

AUS helps rebuild Iraq’s higher education

War-torn Iraq Sharjah: The World Bank and American University of Sharjah (AUS), will host tomorrow, Thursday, May 24, at Lecture Hall A, in the ground floor of the AUs main building, a training course for about 40 senior Iraqi education leaders, on strategic planning and quality assurance in higher education institutions. The nine-day training course is designed to equip Iraqi university representatives involved in strategic planning and quality assurance with the required skills to improve the quality of education offered by higher learning institutions in Iraq as the country works on rebuilding itself as a unified nation. The training is in line with AUS’s strategic goal of becoming the leader in higher education in the Middle East by being able to share its expertise with other countries in the region, especially helping its Arab neighbors such as Iraq achieve its potential. The course will touch on important subjects that include: A Framework for Strategic Pl...