SDG 4: Quality Education
4.3.4 Education Outreach Activities Beyond Campus
On the occasion of “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”, AUM organized an awareness campaign on campus as part of its annual efforts to create alertness on the preventive measures one can take.
Because early detection can help fight the disease, the event was organized in coordination with one of the most renowned hospitals in Kuwait. It included interactive activities and lectures explaining the causes of the disease and the preventive measures one can take, with emphasis on early detection and screening methods.
The university also hosted a dietitian to give the AUM community tips on a healthy diet that helps prevent the disease, and a nurse to train students on self-examination among other important prevention methods. The students also conducted immediate checkups for vital indicators such as pulse rate, blood pressure, respiratory rate, etc.
Promoting a culture of health and wellbeing for its students and everyone on campus has always been at the center of all social responsibility initiatives undertaken by the university. Such initiatives also come at a time when the latest statistics show that the breast cancer mortality rate in Kuwait is higher than the global average due to late detection. Press release
Awareness events for early detection of breast cancer.
Because early detection of breast cancer can help fight the disease, the American University of the Middle East (AUM) launched on Monday October, 23rd 2017, and for the 3rd consecutive year, a Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign on its campus in Egaila.
During the campaign lectures were organized to inform students about the disease and promote awareness of breast cancer, how to detect and treat it, especially that it could affect men and women equally at a very young age. The campaign also encouraged young men and women to perform breast self-exam on a regular basis.
The campaign allowed students the opportunity to send their heartfelt messages of support to breast cancer patients through the Kuwait Cancer Control Center (KCCC).
AUM’s mission and philosophy have always been centered on educating and developing responsible individuals who care for their community and its wellbeing. This is why the university makes sure that its involvement in social responsibility is translated to the young generation and given a fair share in campus activities.
The initiative comes at a time when the latest statistics show that the breast cancer mortality rate in Kuwait is higher than the global average due to late detection. The annual breast cancer mortality per 100,000 people in Kuwait has increased by 15.6% since 1990, with an annual percentage of 0.7%.
AUM participated as a gold sponsor in the Qabas Padel Tournament from April 10 to 18 as part of the university’s commitment to empowering youth through athletics, whether on campus or in the community.
The tournament featured the participation of more than 200 teams, including three from AUM: a male student team, a female student team, and an alumni team. The university was also present at the tournament with a booth to interact and engage with the audience through fun activities. It is worth noting that AUM has also organized similar tournaments for its students and alumni in its padel court on campus.
Students from the American University of the Middle East (AUM) marked a new achievement during their participation in the 8th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management held in Indonesia.
AUM Industrial Engineering students participated in three competitions and won the first place in each one.
AUM students win over peers from more than 200 universities
Academics, researchers and practitioners from different industries took part in the conference which included more than 450 research papers and projects submitted by more than 200 universities from 60 countries such as: the University of Michigan and Lawrence Technological University – USA, University of Derby and Cranfield University – UK, University of Waterloo – Canada, University of Technology (UTM) – Malaysia, Lorraine University – France, Tsinghua University – China, The University of Tokyo – Japan, Massey University – New Zealand, Universidad de Monterrey- Mexico, Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) – India, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) – Indonesia, University of Johannesburg – South Africa, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals – KSA, and Qatar University.
This international conference is a platform where participants can exchange ideas and discuss recent developments in sciences. The conference is also meant to foster networking, collaboration and joint efforts among conference participants to advance the theory and practice in the field as well as identify major trends in Industrial Engineering and Operations Management.
AUM students win at IEOM for the second consecutive year
Nourhan Hasan, Yasmeen Shebeeb, Lina Hamdan, Samar Qurtom, and Afnan Hamadah presented their Simulation of Patient Flow and Healthcare Resources in a Hospital project, in the Simulation and PLM competition, and won first place.
Students Alaa Al-Shammari, Zahraa Kamal, Sahar Redha, Shahad Hussain, and Tuleen Nazzal also won first place with their Quality Improvement in Plastic Injection Molding Industry: Applying Lean Six Sigma to SME in Kuwait project in the Undergraduate Research competition.
As the Senior Capstone Design Poster competition, students Danah Abbas, Maryam Khajah, Maryam Al Ajami, Marwah Ashkanani, and Fatemah Bou Jaber won first place with their project titled: Developing a Decision Support System for University/ College Selection Problem for Kuwait.
AUM students won for the second year in a row as their participation in the IEOM conference last year in Morocco was also marked by similar achievements.
Students from the College of Engineering and Technology at the American University of the Middle East (AUM) achieved an unprecedented reginal record in the 15th edition of the “RobotChallenge” competition held at the Beijing University of Science and Technology in China from 10 to 12 August 2018. This competition is organized annually by the Austrian Society for Innovative Computer Sciences (INNOC) in collaboration with the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science.
“RobotChallenge” is an international platform that promotes the exchange of ideas and innovations among participants and experts. It aims to encourage new talents to develop their abilities in science and research, by working in the fields of informatics, electronics, mechanics and artificial intelligence.
The event brought together 2288 participants from 223 institutions, including universities from 30 different countries such as the United States of America, Germany, France, Austria, China, Switzerland, Italy, Mexico, Japan, Russia, Korea, Poland, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. The contestants set up 1478 robots to compete before a judicial panel including 445 referees.
The American University of the Middle East was represented by students: Rand Younis (Computer Engineering), Razan Al Far (Computer Engineering), Mohammad Baalbaki (Electrical Engineering), Alaa AlHarbi (Electrical Engineering), Badreyah Farhan (Electrical Engineering), Ahmed Moustafa (Mechanical Engineering) and Mahdi AlFaraj (mechanical engineering), who competed in 11 challenges, under the supervision of their professors Dr. Samer Alkork, Dr. Sherif Said and Dr. Mohammad Abdolmaleki.
AUM students won the gold and bronze medals in the “Remote Air Race”, which involved 22 teams from China, Korea, Poland, Thailand, Latvia, Mexico and Kuwait. The students also won the silver medal in the “Autonomous Drone” competition in which 8 teams from Germany, China, and Kuwait competed, and the silver medal in the “Line Follower Adult” competition in which 12 teams from China, Egypt and Kuwait competed.
By winning a gold medal, two silver medals and a bronze medal in this competition, AUM students set a new regional record that was never achieved before by any institution from the GCC and Mena region since the launch of “RobotChallenge” competition in 2004.
To learn about the available career opportunities at AUM, please visit the booth from 10 am to 8 pm on Friday and Saturday
During the partial and full lockdown in Kuwait that came as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, AUM launched a website dedicated to youth in Kuwait titled “AUM Youth”, which aimed to encourage young people to stay fit, healthy, and sharp. The website included educational and athletic courses and competitions. The educational courses offered to high school students in Kuwait through the website include coding, robotics, web design, English tutoring, and Math tutoring.
The American University of the Middle East (AUM) participated as a main sponsor in the first Kuwait Electric Road Show that took place at Murooj on December 2, 3, and 4.
Titled “Green Kuwait”, the main purpose behind the event is to support cleaner energy and reduce carbon emissions by spreading awareness about the new electric and hybrid vehicles available in Kuwait.
AUM Spokesperson and Executive Manager, Massar Bineid, announced to the media during the event: “We are present at the Electric Vehicles Show in Al-Morouj to support innovative projects related to alternative energy and renewable energy, as the implementation of such projects is beneficial for sustainable development, the economy, and the environment. At AUM, we embrace this approach as we integrate sustainability into all activities, especially teaching, academic research, and students’ projects and activities.”
“We also took this opportunity to highlight graduation projects done by our students that are related to the theme of the show and innovation at large. It is also worth noting that we have a second booth located at the entrance that is solar-powered.” She added.
AUM students were present at the event in their dedicated booth where they interacted with visitors and showcased graduation projects related to sustainable development and alternative and renewable energy. An example of the projects that were displayed during the event are highlighted hereunder:
WifiBot lane detection algorithm
This project demonstrates a Self-Driving Lane Detection technique. It uses Image Processing to detect the appropriate features of a road and estimates the curve present on this road. This curve value can be used to steer the vehicle in the correct direction.
Long-range Communication with Drone
The project is about using an industrial scale aerial-drone for long-range communication capability for data transfer in search and rescue operations in an environment without GPS communication. The drone will also be installed with a soft-gripping mechanism, which is used to collect samples.
Small Solar Cars
Small scale solar rovers that run using solar power in a designed track.
Balloon based small satellites network for secure communication
This project proposes a cost-efficient solution to link areas with limited coverage to existing communication networks. The idea is to use a network of balloon-based small cube satellites that enable the transfer of communication signals from one point to another point in a secure way.
Bionic Arm for Amputee Cases
A customizable wearable robust 3D printed bionic arm has been designed and implemented for a right arm amputee case. The hand is controlled using Electromyography signals (Muscles Sensors). An artificial Intelligent algorithm is used to precisely control hand actions.
Super Anthony Fighter Robot
Two manual controlled super Anthony robots that allow users to experience controlling a humanoid robot in a sumo match.
AUM student and Music Club member, Anwar AlKandari, has achieved first place in the Sixth Gulf International Chopin Competition in the Adult Open Repertoire Piano Category.
Anwar also earned the Chopin Award and Nocturne Award. The Nocturne Award is a special accolade received for her performance of Chopin’s Nocturne.
The sixth Gulf International Chopin Competition, organized by the Kuwait Music Academy and under the patronage of the Polish Embassy in Kuwait, is considered one of the most prestigious music competitions in the region.
The international competition, which was organized virtually this year due to the pandemic, attracted more than 140 applications from all over the GCC and the applicants comprised over thirty nationalities.
Anwar AlKandari is an active member of the AUM Music Club. The Club aims to promote taste and talent amongst AUM students by organizing concerts, workshops, and performances. The Club offers practice spaces and a wide array of instruments; an opportunity for students to come together and discuss music; and a chance to perform and showcase their talents at events throughout the year.
AUM organizes musical and cultural events for its students on a continuous basis. As classrooms have transitioned online because of the pandemic, so did the artistic and cultural events at AUM. Most recently, the University organized a virtual concert for its students and graduates in celebration of being ranked as the Top University in Kuwait and 33rd across the universities in the Arab countries in the QS World University Rankings 2022.
Students from the American University of the Middle East won the first place in the “12th KNPC Annual HSE Performance Award” for the category of HSE related study.
Winners were honored during the annual event organized by the Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC) and held on Thursday 21 March 2019, at the invitation of the KNPC’s CEO, Mr. Waleed Khaled Al-Bader.
The award aims to encourage students and society participation in raising awareness on the importance of health, safety and the environment, and the need to preserve it through initiatives, research, innovations and educational programs that can be applied effectively in Kuwaiti society. The award also includes the participation of various departments of KNPC, governmental and private organizations, several universities, schools and hospitals.
AUM Industrial Engineering students Anwar Ebrahim, Fatma AlKandari, Fatemah Mohammad, Hala AlHouti and Hesah AlRabeeah presented their project :“A Two Stage Risk Assessment and Hazard Prevention Approach: A Case Study for Noise Hazard in Oil Industry”, and won first place.
It is worth noting that, AUM students’ study also ranked first in the Undergraduate STEM Research competition at the 3rd North American IEOM Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, held in Washington.
