Effat University, Saudi-Arabia’s first non-profit university for women, took part at the International MATE ROV Competition held in Long Beach, California, at the end of June.
In a severe competition among 65 teams from 20 different countries, Effat’s electrical and computer engineering team won two prizes for product presentation. The first one, Best presentation, innovation, and leadership, was awarded to Malak Albagami. The other one, the Aloha Team Spirit award for best team enthusiasm, encouragement, best team T-shirts, and good team synergy.
The President of Effat University Haifa Jamal Al-Lail said:
These two prestigious prizes confirm Effat’s position as one of the world’s leading institutions in scientific discovery and innovation, presenting solutions to societal challenges, and serving as an agent of change that advances inspired female leaders and scholars in fulfilling Queen Effat Al-Thunayan Al-Saud‘s vision, personally supported by Princess Lolowa Al-Faisal.
The ambitious team, called ECE Zoom Engineer, consisted of seven ECE students from Effat University. The Saudi students were among the five participating teams from the Arab region. Egypt had three teams, while Jordan and Saudi Arabia had only one each. Before the success in the USA, Effat’s team took the first place at the Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Awards in Alexandria, Egypt in April. MATE was established in 1997 with the financial support of the National Science Foundation. It aims to educate students in marine technology, to inspire them to apply scientific concepts creatively in life and to boost STEM education and innovation among Arab youth.