PhD Mechanical Engineering student Fahad Nawar Al-Otaibi received the Outstanding Paper Award at the 1^st World Conference on Multiphase Transportation, Conversion & Utilization of Energy (MTCUE) 2022. The hybrid conference is a platform for industry experts, academics, and students to discuss the challenges, as well as new research, in multiphase flow, including the basic phenomena and theory, the modeling and mathematical methods, the interface reaction and process, etc.

The Outstanding Paper Award is given to participating researchers whose paper has the best overall contribution to the subject discipline. The conference received 314 papers, and Fahad’s paper, “Numerical Study of Dry Reforming of Methane in Fixed & Fluidized Beds,” received the accolade under the Organic Waste Conversion and Utilization category.

Under the supervision of Dr. Abdallah S. Berrouk, Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Dr. Kyriaki Polychronopoulou, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Fahad has developed optimized CFD models that unlock the full capacity of dry reformation of methane from its challenging designs and potentially replace the steam reformation of methane processes known for emitting serious concerning amounts of greenhouse gases.

Fahad’s paper is part of the continuing research efforts of the Center of Catalysis and Separation (CeCaS)��to enhance the efficiency of petrochemical processes and reduce their carbon footprint.

Ara Maj Cruz
Features Writer
6 September 2022

The post Fahad Nawar Al-Otaibi Wins Outstanding Paper Award at the MTCUE 2022 Conference appeared first on Khalifa University.

Khalifa University proudly took home 3rd place at the latest American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) Imperial Barrel Award Program-Middle East Region. The program is an annual competition for geoscience graduate students from universities around the world. Winners are awarded scholarship funds for their schools.����

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The KU Team was composed of Earth Sciences graduate students Abdulquadri O. Dauda, Abdulwaris Ramoni Ajagunjeun, Ahmed Khaled Eleslambouly, Andreas Fernandez Moncada, and Omar Aldhanhani under the guidance of their team advisor Dr. Mohammad Alsuwaidi, Assistant Professor of Earth Sciences.

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Dr. Alsuwaidi explained, “The team went through a rigorous two-month program where they analyzed a large dataset and assessed whether to invest in a particular petroleum play or not. They examined data in geology, geophysics, petrophysics, and petroleum volumetric estimations, which usually requires teamwork from experts such as geologists, petrophysicists, geophysicists, and petroleum engineers.”

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The team was able to identify 13 different leads within the area that covered aspects such as environmental risks, reserves estimation, etc. They then delivered the results of their analysis to a panel of industry experts. Winners were selected based on their presentation’s technical quality, clarity, and originality.

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“In oil companies, projects like these are conducted for at least a year, but the students were able to complete the analysis and assessment in two months. Participants of these competitions usually make excellent hydrocarbon explorationists,” Dr. Alsuwaidi added.

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Team captain Ahmed K. Eleslambouly said, “It has been a great experience for me and the team as we accomplished work that usually takes a year or more within a very narrow time schedule. I am very proud that we were able to tackle most of the problems and come up with creative ideas and multiple leads within the study area.”

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“The competition was challenging, time consuming, and required much critical thinking. Although it was tough, the outcome for me and my time was worth it and amazing in terms of learning new technical and academic skills, gaining valuable industry knowledge, and getting familiar with the workflow of petroleum and geoscience projects for well-known companies in the oil and gas industry,” Omar Aldhanhani added.

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“It was hard to balance time working on the competition, our own research, semester projects and other school requirements but working with a team of enthusiastic colleagues and the constant encouragement of our faculty advisor, Dr. Mohammed Alsuwaidi, made the experience more pleasant and worthwhile. Our appreciation goes to the Earth Science Department, faculty, and Khalifa University for their support all through the preparation until the delivery of our presentation,” commented Abdulquadri Alabere.

Ara Maj Cruz
Creative Writer
18 May 2022

The post Khalifa University Takes 3rd Place Win at the AAPG Imperial Barrel Award Program appeared first on Khalifa University.

Computer Engineering sophomore student Muhamed Nebuhan Shajahan was part of the team who won first place in the recently concluded RTA Transport Hackathon 2022. Muhamed’s team was composed of other students from universities around the UAE.

The Hackathon, one of the biggest competitive events in the UAE, aims to promote the culture of digital transformation in the country. The event focuses on enhancing RTA’s services through technology and research, with the wellbeing of the community at the center. It also helps identify the future of mobility and infrastructure by addressing the needs of the next generation of users.��

Muhamed’s team developed the winning app, Scooty, to provide a safe riding experience for e-scooter users. As the number of e-scooter users steadily grows, it is important to ensure that not only the riders but everyone in the community is safe.��

The Scooty app includes regulatory features wherein the RTA can incorporate functionalities such as adding scooter licenses that users can apply for within the app. With safety as the main goal, the app monitors adherence to�� riding rules. Scooty uses computer vision and machine learning techniques to detect if the rider is wearing a helmet, and a rider’s speed and navigation in following e-scooter lanes are tracked through GPS technology. The app also rewards riders with points when they follow correct riding practices.��

Joining the Hackathon was a great learning experience for Muhamed. “Khalifa University is committed to nurturing students’ potential and skills, particularly teamwork and collaboration. The opportunity to be able to participate in competitions such as the RTA Hackathon has helped me collaborate with individuals from different schools to brainstorm and conceptualize innovative solutions to some of the pressing challenges in our communities,” he said.��

Ara Maj Cruz
Creative Writer
8 April 2022

The post KU Student Part of RTA’s Transport Hackathon 2022 1st Place Winning Team appeared first on Khalifa University.

Khalifa University celebrated the accomplishments of its highest achieving sophomore, junior, and senior students in this year’s Honors Day 2021, which was held on Wednesday, 22 December.��

Organized by the Student Success Department, Honors Day recognizes the academic achievements of our students, highlighting their hard work and commitment. During the event 457 KU students who have shown excellence were honored, and 244 of these students were inducted as new Golden Key Honor Society members. The Golden Key Honors Society is an international honors organization that celebrates and supports collegiate scholars around the world. KU’s Golden Honors Society Chapter is the first in the Middle East, reaffirming the University’s commitment to help students realize their full potential while setting the standards of academic excellence in the region.��

During the event a special recognition was given to Golden Key member Natnael Berhane Debru, a junior Physics student. Natnael was awarded the Golden Key Undergraduate Achievement Award that recognizes Golden Key members for their excellence in their undergraduate studies. Aside from being a Golden Key member, Natnael was also on the President’s List for both Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 terms.��

In his message to the students, Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University said: “Everything we value about Khalifa University is embodied in you. Your determination, your commitment to pursuing knowledge, your self-discipline, and your creativity. You are what makes Khalifa University unlike any other university in the UAE.

“The immense effort you have put forth will certainly bear fruit in the next semester and the years to come. Those of you who are seniors this year will have the distinction of graduating ‘with honors’, which is an honor that is reserved for those hard-working students at the culmination of their academic studies at the university. To graduate with this distinction, from the UAE’s #1 University, reveals that you are highly ambitious, extremely skilled, and incredibly determined, which are characteristics highly sought after by employers and top-tier graduate programs.”

Dr. David Sheehan, Professor & Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; and Dr. Mahmoud Al Qutayri, Professor & Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, College of Engineering; as well as Ms. Melissa Leitzell, CEO of Golden Key all offered congratulatory messages to the students.��

You can view the Honors Day 2021 ceremony .��

Ara Maj Cruz
Creative Writer
18 January 2022

The post 457 Students Recognized in Khalifa University’s Honors Day 2021 appeared first on Khalifa University.

Khalifa University competed in the Planet X Youth Challenge, a nationwide event aimed to promote students’ interest in STEM. The competition was launched by the Emirates Mars Mission, in partnership with Dubai Airshow 2021, and was designed specifically to inspire the youth to pursue careers in space and aviation.��

A prequalification round was held in September where more than 200 teams from various universities in the country applied to be part of the challenge. This was followed by a two-day training in October. And finally, the main challenge that took place during the Dubai Airshow 2021.����

AeroX, KU’s representative team to the competition, was among the top 6 groups that qualified to compete in the final stage of the challenge after scoring a high score in the Python Hackathon. The team was composed of undergraduate students:

• Soghah Mohamed Ali Jedeid Alshehhi (Electrical Engineering);
• Ahmed Husain Hamad Abdulla Alawani (Aerospace Engineering);
• Somayyah Mohamed Rashed Abdulla Althabahi (Aerospace Engineering); and
• Fatema Saleh Hasan Ali Almarzooqi (Aerospace Engineering).��

During the finals, the teams worked on two main challenges:

• UAV Challenge – The teams were tasked to design, print, and present an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that will be able to conduct exploration missions and collect samples on a fictional planet, Planet X. In creating the model UAV, the teams had to consider the physics behind the design, as well as the environment of the planet.��
• UGV Challenge – This challenge required teams to program an unmanned ground vehicle robot to accomplish several tasks while successfully overcoming obstacles within the 5-minute time limit.��

The AeroX team designed an UAV specific to the environment of Planet X, taking into consideration its gravity, surface temperature, atmospheric pressure, etc. The team observed the differences between Earth’s environment and Planet X, and from their observations they were able to develop their UAV “HEXAPLORE”. Hexaplore is a unique UAV that has five main parts: hexagonal body (base), hexa rotor, higher antenna, drills, and a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (MMRTG). It is designed to automatically perform the missions required to explore Planet X, including discovering new areas, taking pictures, and collecting samples.

“From this experience, we are able to sharpen our way of thinking and we have gained a lot of knowledge about space missions, especially the Emirates missions. Furthermore, the challenges introduced us to a new programming language and designing software that helped us complete the challenges,” Fatema and Soghah said.��

“We are very honored that we got the chance to meet people from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) who are currently working on different space missions and Eng. Omran Sharaf, the project manager of the UAE’s first mission to Mars. Winning the prize wasn’t our only consideration in participating but meeting these passionate people who push us, the youth, to take part in these amazing opportunities and motivate us to work hard to have a bright future working on STEM jobs,” they added.

Ara Maj Cruz
Creative Writer
26 December 2021

The post Khalifa University Participates in Emirates Mars Mission’s Planet X Youth Challenge appeared first on Khalifa University.

A team of four Electrical Engineering and Computer Science senior students have won 2nd place at the 15th IEEE UAE Student Day 2021 competition in the category “Senior Design Project – Power and Renewable Energy,” for their innovative electric vehicle wireless charging system. The Competition took place virtually on 6 November 2021.

The 7kW multi-coil wireless charging system the team designed was based on a thorough research/literature review of wireless charging systems. The team studied the various compensation strategies, selected the best compensation strategy, modeled and designed the wireless charging system, verified it through computer simulation, and finally built an experimental prototype.����

The team included senior students Faris Alazzani, Esmaeil Alhajeri, Ali Alzaabi, and Saeed Al Qubaisi. They were supervised by Dr. Balanthi Beig, Associate Professor, Dr. Khaled Al Jaafari, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Khalid AlHammadi, Assistant Professor, all from KU’s EECS Department. Dr. Nazar Ali, Associate Professor of EECS is the course instructor.��

“Participating in such competitions motivates students to work hard, and winning 2nd place encourages us to develop our project further,” Faris, the Team Leader, shared.��

“Since the sky’s the limit at Khalifa University, we will do our best to participate in more competitions and conferences with our project and aim for first place. Many thanks to Khalifa University and the EECS department for giving us this opportunity to participate in this competition and for providing all the equipment we needed to develop and test our system. Moreover, many thanks to our supervisor Dr. Balanthi Beig. He supported us from the beginning and he encouraged us to participate in this competition. Lastly, we are thankful to our supervisors Dr. Khaled Al Jaafri and Dr. Khalid Al Hammadi, and to researchers Dr. Ahmed Shehada, Dr. Motiur Mohammed and Mr. Nguyen The Hoach for their help in the lab. We would also like to thank Dr. Shihab Jimaa, Associate Professor of EECS and KU coordinator of the IEEE Student competition for his encouragement.”

The KU multi-coil wireless EV charging system consists of a rectifier with capacitor filter – a device which converts an alternating current (from the Abu Dhabi Distribution Company’s�� distribution supply socket at 230 volts and 50 Hertz),�� into a direct�� current.��

Then this DC power is converted to 85 kilohertz high frequency AC using a silicon carbide-metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (SiC-MOSFET) based DC to AC converter.

This high frequency AC power is then transmitted wirelessly through a magnetic field using transmitter and receiver coils.��

The electric vehicles are fitted with receiver coils and the high frequency AC signal is converted to DC using another high frequency rectifier. This DC is then used to charge the car battery.

The KU students selected the series compensation strategy after conducting a thorough literature review. In the first stage, they modelled and designed a wireless charging system based on a single coil arrangement. Through simulation studies, they found that the energy transfer is reduced due to misalignment and the distance between transmitter and receiver coil. To increase energy-transfer efficiency, three coils were used at the transmitter end. The design was then verified through computer simulation using MATLAB/SIMULINK software.

The team then fabricated a scaled down experimental prototype and successfully tested it at the power electronics and sustainable energy research lab in KU’s Advanced Power and Energy Center.��

Erica Solomon
Senior Publication Specialist
20 December 2021

The post KU EECS Senior Students Win 2nd Place at 15th IEEE UAE Student Day 2021 Competition appeared first on Khalifa University.

First time Khalifa University joined the WRO competition.��

A team of Khalifa University students won 3rd place at the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) UAE 2021 that was held from October 1 to 3, 2021.��

The WRO is a series of national robotics competitions of WRO member countries with over 85 national events organized worldwide. The WRO UAE 2021 event gathered around 800 participants grouped in 300 teams.

The teams competed in three categories, Regular, Open, and Future Engineers, under the theme “Powerbots – The Future of Energy.” This season’s theme focused on the challenges that come with using more energy from renewable sources. The teams were asked to build robots that specifically address the following:

• Modernizing the energy use of a house;
• Assisting e-vehicle charging in a parking garage;
• Managing the energy mix on the grid; and
• Designing self-driving cars that use sensors to avoid obstacles.��

Students in the Regular category were tasked to design, build, and program robots to solve specific challenges within a set timescale. The instructions were given at random during the day of the competition and the students had to video record themselves as they worked on their robot to complete the challenges given to them. They submitted their video within 24 hours after the instructions were given to them.����

Khameis Mosabbah Alzeyoudi, BSc in Electrical Engineering, Wasan Khameis Aldhanhani, BSc in Aerospace Engineering, Humaid Abdulla Alhammadi, BSc in Computer Science, Khaled Ali Alshaloubi BSc in Mechanical Engineering, Khawla Mohammed Ashkanani, BSc in Electrical Engineering, Shamma Fadhel Alghfeli, BSc in Chemical Engineering, Muna Abdelrahman Almaazmi BSc in Aerospace Engineering, and Mahra Eid Alsuwaidi, BSc in Industrial and Systems Engineering, competed as two teams in the Regular Senior Category where they designed a robot that was built and programmed to perform certain tasks that can facilitate the use of renewable energy.��

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Not only were the students able to build up on their STEM and robotics knowledge, but they were also able to hone other soft-skills such as creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication, all of which are important and needed in the digital transformation of global businesses and industries.��

Team member Shamma shared, “We are so honored to be one of the top three teams in the National World Robotics Olympiad 2021, and grateful to be the recipient of the third position award. A huge thanks to our team for always working hard and still maintaining a friendly environment. In addition, special thanks to the university for supporting us by providing us with the required materials and a space for us to embrace our creativity and to potentially win this competition. We are always willing to compete again in this competition and hopefully win the top position one day.”

Ara Maj Cruz
Creative Writer
13 December 2021

The post KU Student Team Places 3rd in World Robot Olympiad appeared first on Khalifa University.

Editor’s Note: This article was updated on 24 November 2021

Two student teams from Khalifa University competed against more than 495 universities in the�� , investing non-fiat US$1 million in trade currency to buy and sell stocks and other commodities over the course of the 7-week competition.��

We are so proud of our KU students for participating in this challenge, which is based on a real-world investment environment using the popular Bloomberg Terminal platform.��Through their dedication and strong team cooperative spirit, and by leveraging the skills they’ve acquired from either business or math courses at KU, our teams performed extremely well and gained a strong understanding of real-world trading.

The team with Faculty Advisor Dr. Ricardo H. Archbold, Assistant Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, includes the following members:

• Team Captain: Zehara Ali, BSc in��Biomedical Engineering
• Cidrik Mulugheta, BSc in Chemical Engineering
• Hamad Alblooshi, BSc in Mechanical Engineering
• Khalid Adam, BSc in Chemical Engineering
• Tiemar Semere, BSc in Computer Engineering

The second team with Faculty Advisor Dr. Giorgio Consigli, Associate Professor of Mathematics, and supporting advisor Dr. Jorge Zubelli, Professor of Mathematics, includes the following members:

• Team Captain: Bruno Nunes Costa, PhD student
• Omar Forrest, PhD student
• Iman Chaabi, BSc in Mathematics
• Haya Mayoof, BSc in Mathematics
• Mohammed El Amin Azz, BSc in Mathematics

At the end of the competition, Team Captain Zehara placed 50th, while Team Captain Bruno placed 77th, out of 496 total competing universities. While in the Middle East/Africa Regional competition, Team Captain Zehara placed 6th and Team Captain Bruno placed 8th. This is particularly impressive considering that most of the team members do not have a strong knowledge of finance or trading.

The students used the same type of terminals and data information that is available to real investment banks and financial exchanges.�� They gained the knowledge of how to access financial information and determine the economic trends that affect stocks and other commodities and exchanges across the world.��Profits and losses were determined by the real-world performance of these financial instruments.�� The teams had to indicate the strategy they used to determine the trades.

Participating students became certified on the Bloomberg Terminal, which gives them a competitive advantage in the job market post-graduation.

Erica Solomon
Publication Senior Specialist
9 November 2021

The post KU Students Compete in Bloomberg Trading Challenge appeared first on Khalifa University.

After taking first place in the EmiratesSkills competition in the CNC Turning category, BSc in Computer Science student Hanan Ahmed Alshamsi went on to represent the UAE in the same category at EuroSkills 2021 in Graz, Austria.��

After taking first place in the EmiratesSkills competition in the CNC Turning category, BSc in Computer Science student Hanan Ahmed Alshamsi went on to represent the UAE in the same category at EuroSkills 2021 in Graz, Austria. She was the first UAE representative to compete in the CNC category, which stands for Computer Numerical Control Turning, used to produce the precise and interactive parts of complex products from smartphones to airplanes.

EuroSkills is a vocational skills competition staged as a European championship every two years. The competition focuses on the outstanding achievements of young, talented, and skilled professionals, with around 400 participants competing in vocational categories from the industrial, craft, and service sectors.

“Having the opportunity to participate in EuroSkills was one of the best and most challenging experiences in my life,” Hanan said. “I trained for 7 to 10 hours every day, including weekends, for three months before the competition, while still keeping up with my university workload to stay on my graduation plan.

The UAE was one of only three guest countries, which meant that while we were part of the competition, we didn’t get medals, but the opportunity to go and gain experience and make connections was our reason for going.

It was definitely challenging. I was up against people who had been training full-time for over three years on a completely different machine than the one I trained on. Despite that, I performed really well and took third place.”

For her first time competing in an international competition and despite her limited time training and other commitments to her studies, Hanan showcased her talent and expertise in CNC turning, taking third place in her category. Her visit to EuroSkills 2021 was a stop on the journey to the 2022 WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai, where she will test her abilities against the best of the best in the world.

Jade Sterling
Science Writer
2 November 2021

The post KU BSc Student Takes Third Place in EuroSkills Competition appeared first on Khalifa University.

Khalifa University’s Muhammad Taha Ansari, MSc in Mechanical Engineering student, has been awarded the Golden Visa – a long-term residence visa issued by the UAE government to bright students with promising scientific capabilities.

Originally from Pakistan but born and raised in the UAE, Muhammad Taha is thankful to the UAE government and its leadership for giving him this unique opportunity.

“I will always work the extra mile to make my nations proud, and will always work for the betterment of my society,” he shared.

Muhammad Taha applied for the Golden Visa with the support and recommendation of Khalifa University faculty, including Dr. Ahmed Al Shoaibi, Senior Vice President for Academics and Student Services, and Dr. Dimitrios Kyritsis, Professor and Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department.

“I would like to thank Dr. Ahmed Al Shoaibi for recommending my name and having trust in me, followed by the efforts of Dr. Kyritsis who always supported me. And I would also like to thank my advisor Dr. Jarrar, who has always guided me throughout my journey,” Muhammad said.

Muhammad Taha is currently in his final year of his Master’s program in Mechanical Engineering, and is also pursuing a concentration in Space Systems and Technology. He works on Khalifa University satellite projects at the University’s YahSat Space Lab and the Khalifa University Space and Technology Innovation Center (KUSTIC). He has helped develop the DhabiSat and Light-1 as satellites.

He is currently working to publish his research work related to ADCS (Attitude Determination and Control Systems), and will be converting his Master’s research into a space application tool that will facilitate future missions in the field of space. He also plans to continue his studies after he graduates, and looks forward to pursuing a PhD in the field of space technology and to then go on and work for a Space Agency.��

Muhammad Taha was awarded the Golden Visa due to his high CPGA (3.99/4.0) which he received during undergraduate studies at Khalifa University, where he majored in Mechanical Engineering. He has several accolades under his belt already. He served as President of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Student Chapter, and was also leader of the Team Solar Smart Vehicle, which was represented at several conferences and exhibitions. He was also part of several KU competitions and won first place at Hackathon 3.0 and second place at Hackathon 4.0.

Muhammad Taha now has a ten-year visa that can be automatically renewed, allowing him to live, work, and study in the UAE without requiring a national sponsor.

Erica Solomon
Senior Publication Specialist
28 October 2021

The post KU MSc Student Awarded Golden Visa appeared first on Khalifa University.

Two Khalifa University student papers have been accepted at the 43rd Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society.

The and will cover diverse topics of cutting-edge research and innovation in biomedical engineering and healthcare technology.

Fitting the theme of ‘Changing Global Healthcare in the Twenty-First Century’, Dahlia Hassan investigated the efficacy of a model in determining how to help patients suffering from fainting, while Feryal Alskafi, MSc in Biomedical Engineering student, developed a model to identify emotions from bodily responses. Dahlia is currently a Teacher’s Assistant for Dr. Herbert Jelinek, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and will begin her Master’s degree in Spring 2022.

Heart Rate Model to Help Reduce Fainting

Vasovagal syncope is a medical condition that can lead to fainting. This is caused by a temporary drop in the amount of blood that flows to the brain from a sudden drop in blood pressure or a drop in heart rate. It is considered to be the most common cause of fainting that becomes even more common with age.

Patients with vasovagal syncope often undergo a self-training program at home to improve their condition. In the training program, the patients are asked to stand against a wall without moving, twice a day for up to 30 minutes. After a few weeks of doing this daily, the patients are given the ‘head-up tilt test’ to determine whether the standing practice helped decrease their symptoms.

In a head-up tilt test, the patient begins lying flat in bed and the bed is gradually tilted to a maximum angle of 80 degrees. Gravity causes blood to pool in the legs, resulting in a blood pressure drop above the patient’s center of gravity. Baroreceptors sense the decrease in blood pressure and cause an increase in heart rate. In healthy individuals, although the blood pressure initially increases, the heart rate quickly returns to normal. In syncope patients, the heart rate remains high. While useful for diagnosis, the head-up tilt test is time-consuming, not available in all clinics, and carries the risk of inducing cardiac arrest.

As an alternative to the head-up tilt test, Hassan proposed a new way of determining whether the self-training program can help patients with syncope. She developed a model that uses a patient’s electrocardiogram (ECG) data, which are electrical signals from the heart, to predict heart rate changes and determine the efficacy of the home-based training program.

The data from her model can be used by clinicians to assess whether extended periods of standing can help decrease the amount of fainting episodes the patient experiences based on subsequent five-minute heart rate recordings, without the need to perform a head-up tilt test.

While the model can be used to determine heart rate changes at any time of day, relying only on the heart rate as an input is limiting. Hassan plans to further her work by including blood pressure as a parameter for the model.����

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Monitoring Our Emotions

Wearable sensors are already used to monitor health—heart rate sensors are commonly used to keep an eye on heart health and predict any adverse events. Further advances in sensors have also been used to recognize emotions using physiological signals. However, there is no universally accepted model for emotions, which Alskafi set out to change.

Emotions play a vital role in human behavior and psychology, exerting a powerful influence on processes such as perception, attention, decision-making, and learning. Emotions can be categorized by how they are felt, using valence, arousal and dominance. Valence is the positivity or negativity of an emotion; arousal is the level of excitement different emotions elicit; and dominance relates to feeling in or out of control in our response.

In healthcare, an individual profile that recognizes sources of stress, anxiety, depression or chronic diseases can be built by tracking emotions using wearable trackers. Alskafi recognized that while emotions are usually conveyed through body language and facial expressions, physiological manifestations of emotions could provide a more accurate representation. These are much harder to conceal and more difficult to manipulate when compared to body language, but some conditions cause people to present emotions differently. The physiological responses should be the same among all people as expression of emotions is shown through changes in heart rate, temperature and breathing patterns.

Alskafi fed these parameters into her model to classify physiological responses into different emotions. Anger and joy tend to be high arousal emotions, while sadness and reflection have low arousal levels. Fear and anger tend to be negative valence emotions, while joy has positive valence.

Her results found that the model performed best when it had fewer emotions to choose between, showing that the study can be used as a basis for further research in machine learning classification and algorithm development.

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Jade Sterling
Science Writer
20 September 2021

The post Student Biomedical Engineering Papers Accepted at EMBC appeared first on Khalifa University.

��Student Team Successful at 12th Edition of National Company Program Competition

Khalifa University of Science and Technology has announced that a five-member team of Chemical Engineering graduates has won the ‘Company of The Year Award 2021 – University track’ for its subscription box company Ulbati, under INJAZ UAE’s flagship Company Program.��

The award was part of the 12th edition of the ‘National Company Program Competition’, which encourages students to use their entrepreneurial spirit to create their own start-up company. Nearly 200 students from five schools and four universities across the UAE participated virtually to compete for awards in various categories.��

The Khalifa University team – Reem Almaskari, Fatema Alzaabi, Beshara Saad, Maha Al Seiari and Mariam Ahmed – won the award for Ulbati, the concept for a subscription box company. Created for kids, it is filled with activities themed around Emirati culture and achievements, as well as Islamic values. For every Ulbati box a child receives, 10% of the revenue is donated to Emirates Red Crescent to support students around the world.

Dr. Ahmed Al Shoaibi, Senior Vice-President, Academic and Student Services, Khalifa University, said: “The winning award for Khalifa University under INJAZ UAE’s flagship Company Program strongly illustrates that our students not only excel in research and scientific exploration, but also in entrepreneurial initiatives that aim to help the community through charity organizations. The Ulbati concept indicates the extent of our students’ commitment to sharing and giving back to the community, which is in line with the university’s mandate to build a diverse community of service-oriented, ambitious and talented individuals, through an environment that encourages and nurtures creative inquiry, critical thinking, and human values. We are delighted with the creative and commercial spirit of our students and we believe this award will encourage more students to explore entrepreneurship as an avenue to translate their knowledge into business ventures, offering valuable products and services.”

Reem Almaskari, CEO, Ulbati, said: “Ulbati promises to curate a fun, monthly-subscription box with enriching and entertaining lessons, across a variety of themes that would foster the love of learning among children. Moreover, we care deeply about moving forward sustainably and that is why we plan to implement it with different aspects such as culture, economics, and the environment.”��

Almaskari added: “The idea of Ulbati came to us with the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout the lockdown, we noticed our younger siblings being exposed to excessive screen-time, rather than on other value-added activities that can improve their knowledge and skills. So, we decided to curate this box filled with unique experiences around various themes and activities that will help children utilize their time in a fun and enjoyable manner, while equipping them with knowledge and let them experience an exciting and memorable childhood.”��

The team is looking forward to competing alongside other winners from the MENA region in the next stage.��

Razan Bashiti, Chief Executive Officer of INJAZ UAE, of INJAZ UAE, said: “Every year, we are in awe with our participants’ potential and capabilities. We are happy to offer them a platform to fully express their creative abilities and bring their ideas to life. The role of Khalifa University of Science and Technology in harnessing the talents of these students and securing opportunities for them is in line with our core values at INJAZ.�� We are delighted to see community values as a fundamental pillar in the students’ project. Alongside their entrepreneurship aspirations and creativity, we are proud of their commitment to giving back to their community. We look forward to seeing the youth becoming the future leaders and entrepreneurs of tomorrow and are pleased to pave the way for them through the National Company Program Competition.”

Designed to enrich the learning experience of participating students, INJAZ UAE’s National Company Program provides a venue for students to bring their creative ideas to life by learning practical steps to start up their own entrepreneurial companies.��

The 2021 competition was hosted by INJAZ UAE, a member of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide and INJAZ Al-Arab, the world’s largest non-profit business education organization, with key collaborative partners such as Citi, Dubai Chamber, Accenture and ExxonMobil.

Clarence Michael
English Editor Specialist
18 August 2021

The post Five-Member Khalifa University Team Wins INJAZ UAE’s Company of The Year Award 2021 for Its Subscription Box Company ‘Ulbati’ appeared first on Khalifa University.