2014

Khalifa University Celebrates a Year of Achievements

December 7, 2019

2013 saw a record number of student wins research acknowledgements and agreements.

Abu Dhabi 14 January 2014: Khalifa University (KU) is celebrating a year of achievements as it wraps up a very productive 2013. During the past year Khalifa University students won several prestigious local and regional competitions one of which was students winning the top four places in a competition held by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Students also made a name for themselves on the international stage. Many Khalifa University faculty were also acknowledged for their research achievements and there were several high profile agreements between KU and major industry leaders and academic institutions. 

Khalifa University students won the top four places at the Higher Education and Scientific Research Smart Applications Award’s. Khalifa University’s teams placed first second third and fourth respectively. The winning applications covered several services such as certificates attestation scholarships abroad search for academic institutions and programs and “Asaal Fahim” service. 

Khalifa University students ranked first in several major competitions. For example KU Students came in at top places at the Emirates Skills National Competition coming in first and second in the Web Security and Programming Competitions respectively. Two students were awarded first place at the Graduate Student Symposium held as part of the Seventh Information and Communication Technology Research Forum (ICTRF2013) taking first place in the Paper Poster Presentation and the Oral Poster Presentation.  Also four senior Electrical and Electronic Engineering students won first place in the “Senior Design Competition” held during the recent 8th annual Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) UAE Student Day that was held at Sharjah University for their project entitled “Microphone Array for Audio Surveillance and Conferencing.”  In addition Students took the top prize in four different competitions at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Conference. They ranked first in the Impromptu Competition the Rapid Design Challenge the Bridge Competition and the Student Design Competition. 

Internationally Khalifa University students were given the opportunity to travel abroad and receive impressive awards in international competitions. For example at the CANSAT competition based in Birlett. Texas the KU team ranked 22nd worldwide. Students also built an electric powered remote control airplane to compete in the Design Build Fly Competition held in Tucson Arizona USA and a buggy called the BAJA SAE which competed in Washington USA in 2013. 

In local competitions two Khalifa University students placed second at the Secure Abu Dhabi Conference. Four senior Mechanical Engineering students placed second at the 4th Engineering Students Renewable Energy Competition (ESREC’2013) for their work on a Solar Thermal Desalination Project. And a Khalifa University student also came in second in the Mobile Application Contest (MAC) for his iVisit: Intelligent Augmented Reality-Supported Mobile Visitor Guide Application.

 In addition to academic prizes KU students are also active in organizing activities and student events. For example KU recently won the “Best National Day 42 Celebration” category in the “Exceptional University” competition organized by the Ministry of Culture Youth and Community Services. One Khalifa University student  also won first place in the “Best National Dress for girls over the age of 16” category while another student won second place in the “Best National Short Movie about the Union” category for his movie titled “Between the Past and the Future.” This reflects the vibrant and active campus life at Khalifa University. 

Khalifa University’s faculty also celebrated a record year with Dr. Habiba Al Safar being granted a scholarship to attend the Harvard Medical School Global Clinical Scholars Research Training program (GCSRT) and Dr. Mohamed Rezeq being awarded two patents for the development of incredibly sharp nano-probes and the world’s smallest semiconductor transistor.  Drs. Arafat Al-Dweik and Chan Yeob Yeun were also awarded a patent for their development of chaotic cryptography for OFDM based communications systems. 

2013 was a big year for the establishment of research centers at Khalifa University. In conjunction with The Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC) and the Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) in collaboration with Khalifa University established the ATIC-SRC Center of Excellence for Energy Efficient Electronic Systems (ACE4S). 

Khalifa University also established a research center at the University’s campus in Abu Dhabi with Mubadala Development Company. The AED 55 million project will be named the Aerospace Research and Innovation Center (ARIC) which will advance regionally relevant research in aerospace research. 

In addition to the establishment of these two new centers Khalifa University continued its ongoing investments in national infrastructure specifically in areas related to data communications networking communications and smart learning through the Etisalat BT Innovation Center (EBTIC) who filed 11 patents last year and ANKABUT the UAE advanced network for research and education. 

It is also noteworthy that Khalifa University signed five MOU’s with major industry leaders ADNOC Dassault Aviation Lockheed Martin Exeed Industries and Circuits Multi Projects (CMP).  These MOU’s will enable a wide range of collaborative work including research projects training professional development technical support student sponsorships and internships and event hosting and co-hosting.

The University has also been active in organizing a number of high profile research conferences over the last year including the annual conference on Information and Communication Technology Research (ICTRF) an international conference on Smart Learning called IC’13 the IEEE International Conference on Electronics Circuits and Systems (ICECS) and a research symposium with the Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST).  

Finally Khalifa University added five new fields of specializations under its PhD in engineering program and the first of their kind in the UAE. The new PhD specializations include: Mechanical Aerospace Nuclear Biomedical Engineering and Robotics. These new specializations add to the existing specializations in Communication Computer and Electronic Engineering. These programs are in response to the demands of Abu Dhabi’s 2030 vision to expand the knowledge economy in strategic growth areas. 

“I couldn’t be more pleased with our accomplishments in 2013 ” said Khalifa University President Dr. Tod Laursen. “We’ve had a very busy year and we’re looking forward to an even busier one in 2014. Our students have had the opportunity to meet with some of the leaders of the UAE as well as international leaders and industry leaders this has made for a very inspiring year for them. It is also very rewarding to see our student achievements in local and international competitions. Their accomplishments are a testament to the quality of education that they receive at Khalifa University and let us know that we are helping to achieve the goals of Abu Dhabi’s 2030 Vision.”