Qatari students win top prize
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Participants of the Future Engineers programme with retired Nasa astronaut Duane “Digger” Carey.
DOHA: A team of six Qatari high school students who designed a novel innovation to be employed in extracting oil from oil reservoirs took the top prize in the second annual Summer Engineering Academy (SEA).
SEA is an elite 10-day STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) enrichment programme organised and hosted by Texas A & M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) and Maersk Oil Qatar. The winning team comprised Fajer Almarzooqi, Fatma Al Abdulghani, Fay Al Sulaiti, Moza Al Kuwari, Saoud Al Abdulla and Muneera Al Sulaiti.
SEA is part of the Dhia: Engineering Leaders partnership between TAMUQ and Maersk Oil Qatar. Dhia aims to encourage young Qataris to choose educational pathways in STEM, which are critical to the success of Qatar National Vision 2030.
During SEA, 24 academically outstanding grade 11 Qatari students, who were named Qatar National Vision Scholars, worked with TAMUQ faculty on real-life, relevant and hands-on research projects related to Qatar’s research challenges in autonomous vehicles, petroleum production, water desalination and wireless energy.
SEA ran concurrently with the Future Engineers Programme in which over 30 Qatari students rising into grades 10 and 11 worked on projects related to space, including the design of a near-space weather balloon the students launched from the TAMUQ Building on June 27. Students also learnt about atmospheric sciences from the Meteorology Department of Civil Aviation Authority, which coordinated the balloon’s launch. The balloon took measurements, photos and observations as it rose into the outer atmosphere.
The Future Engineers designed tools an astronaut might use in space and the tools were 3-D printed in TAMUQ’s 3-D printing facilities. In designing the tools, the students interviewed retired Nasa astronaut Duane “Digger” Carey about his experiences in space and the tasks an astronaut might perform in zero gravity.
The Peninsula