It is now open to entries from students and faculty from electrical and computer engineering departments across the UAE

Engineering students, professors and industries now have a chance to win Dh200,000 by participating in an annual research competition introduced by the Knowledge Management Group in recognition of innovative research work.

The main aim of the award is to provide a central point for the review of engineering research contributions in the UAE and to raise awareness of the knowledge gained, a report from the organisation said.

“There is a need for more research in the country and a single place to gather it all. Such an award encourages students, faculties and industries to contribute to this end,” Karen Harrison-Taylor, manager of Knowledge Management Consultancy and Training Division, told Notes.

Hassan Al Nashash, Professor and Department Chairman of Electrical Engineering at the American University of Sharjah, who worked in collaboration with the organisation to initiate the award, said that the idea was to encourage research in the GCC countries.

The award is aimed at undergraduate electrical and computer engineering students, college and university faculty, and at industries which have contributed towards research in engineering.

“As a starting point we limited the scope of participants. Yet we hope to include other engineering disciplines in the future,” said Al Nashash.

Participant teams or individuals must submit work through their department heads as a technical report of their senior year design projects, along with their application forms by February 28.

The judging panel will include Al Nashash, Professor Maamar Bettayeb, adviser to the Chancellor for Graduate Studies and Scientific Research at Sharjah University and Professor Gareeb Saeed Ali from UAE University.

Applicants will receive feedback from the panel, highlighting strengths of the report and providing recommendations for further research. The KM Engineering Award will be presented in April.

Conditions for students, professors and faculty participation

  • Participant teams or individuals must submit through their department heads a technical report of their senior year design projects for evaluation by the judging panel.
  • A maximum of two projects will be accepted from any department.
  • Technical reports must be written in English and endorsed by the respective department heads of electrical or computer engineering.

Technical reports will be evaluated according to the following criteria

  • Demonstrate adequate literature review (10 per cent)
  • Conceive, plan and design a system, a component or a process based on a given set of specifications and requirements (18 per cent)
  • Consider different alternatives in design. Reason out alternatives and select
    optimum one that meets design specifications and requirements (15 per cent)
  • Use of fundamental and current theories, techniques, devices and materials
    to conduct an engineering project (10 per cent)
  • Demonstrate originality and uniqueness of the proposed solution (10 per cent)
  • Show evidence that the environmental and economical factors have been
    considered in the proposed solution (10 per cent)
  • Demonstrate sufficient testing and evaluation of the proposed solution
    (12 per cent)
  • Describe engineering accomplishments and failures of the project (10 per cent)
  • Demonstrate consistent high standard of report writing with an emphasis upon comprehension and clarity (5 per cent)

Participants should also include an appendix to show evidence of:

  • How the team members managed the team’s activities
  • Project timeline
  • Professional ethics

Applications to be submitted together with three copies of the technical report to: The KM Engineering Award, Knowledge Management, P.O. Box: 42035, Dubai- UAE

Deadline: February 28, 2005