student news
Al Ain University of Science and Technology, UAE
Satellite designer Yahsat
is focus of AAU field trip
THE IEEE AAU Student Branch
organised a field trip to Al Yah Satellite Communications Company
(Yahsat) which deigns satellites for
the government and commercial
sectors in the Middle East, Africa,
Europe and South West Asia.
Abdelrahman Al Ashli and
members of the technical team
welcomed the students with a
profile of their services, such as
BSS, the frequencies (C, Ku, Ka
bands) and the steps followed
when launching a sate llite.
Our trip supervisor, Dr Nazih
Khaddaj Mallat of the College
of Engineering and Information
Technology and counselor of our
Student Branch, highlighted the
college strength in the practical
side of the learning process. The
visit was a good opportunity to discuss future cooperation between
Yahsat and AAU. Dr Mallat invited
the Yahsat technical team to AAU
and give a talk about their work.
In May, the Student Branch
attended the 4th Engineering Students Renewable Energy Competition, held at United Arab Emirates
University. Fifty four teams represented by 183 students from
11 universities from the UAE and
abroad took part in the competition which was opened by Prof
Reyadh A Almehaideb, Dean of the
College of Engineering at UAEU,
with Dr Mallat.
Dr Mallat mentioned that ESREC is becoming the focal point
for students across the UAE. Their
projects focused on the variety of
renewable energy: solar, wind, fuel
cells and hydrogen. The world is
looking for ‘clean’ alternatives.
Research is essential to find them.
The AAU College of Engineering
and Information Technology is a
leading contributer through its significant research programs.
University of Valencia, Spain
Spain SBC participants attend
workshops (and tuck into paella)
THE National Student Branch Congress is an
annual event that gathers representatives
from all IEEE Student Branches in Spain for
three days. It is arranged by a different Student
Branch each year.
Between 21 and 23 March, this year’s
Spanish SBC was held at the University of Valencia’s ETSE-UV Superior Technical School
of Engineering.
More than 40 students, most of them
representing their universities, together with
the IEEE Spain Section, participated in this
event. The Opening Event was conducted by
Spain Section chairman Pilar Molina, Student
Activities chair Juan Jesús Rodríguez, Rector’s
delegate Daniel González and the director of
ETSE-UV Vicente Cerverón.
The aim of N-SBC was to meet different Student Branches, to speak about their
achievements and problems so that we could
learn from them. Round-table discussions and
workshops were organised on topics related
to new technologies and to IEEE organisation.
We also enjoyed visits to the European
Space Agency, Val-Space installations, and to
the High Power Space Materials Lab at ETSEUV (www.val-space.com) and the City of Arts
and Sciences (www.cac.es) in Valencia.
At the conference dinner, we had a great
time eating delicious paella, a typical Valencian rice dish.
The Student Branch of the University of
Oviedo was chosen to organise next year’s National SBC and Loreto Horcajada was elected
as our new student rep.
Adrián Suárez Zapata
Chair, University of Valencia Student Branch
[email protected]
Members of the
Student Branch
are taken on a
tour of Yahsat.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Power Electronics Society student
members promote IEEE at conference
IEEE Bosnia and Herzegovina Section helped organize the 11th BH CIGRE Conference held during 15–19
September.
Power Electronics Society student members promoted IEEE to other conference participants, giving
brochures and information.
This co-operation was intended to introduce current
and future activities of the IEEE Section and also to hear
about the interests of different stakeholders in electricity
sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Since the conference was held in Neum, a pleasant
small town on the Bosnia and Herzegovina seaside, it
was also an opportunity for some relaxation for our
members.
Elvisa Becirovic
Bosnia and Herzegovina IEEE PES Chapter chair
Other attendees could
take advantage of the
IEEE stand manned
by PES volunteers to
learn more about the
organisation
National Engineering School of Sfax (ENIS), Tunisia
Robots and training sessions
for Hardware Freedom Day
IEEE Tunisia Section Student
Branch at the National Engineering
School of Sfax, celebrated Hardware Freedom Day on 11 May.
ENIS Student Branch collaborated with Robotics and Automation Society and Industry
Application Society chapters. The
day aims to promote benefits of
Open Hardware by increasing
awareness of projects and communities worldwide and of local
Open Hardware initiatives.
More than 60 students came
to the event. The programme
featured an exhibit of robots built
by students, and included training
sessions with Arduino cards, programming and an introduction to
PIC microcontroller programming.
Everyone obtained a good
insight into the amazing world of
open hardware, which was also
reflected in their positive feedback.
For details and photos, please
visit www.ieee-enis.org.
Randa Hammami
Chair, ENIS Student Branch
IEEE Region 8 News December 2013
11