JEDDAH — Effat University has won two prestigious prizes at the International MATE ROV Competition held in Long Beach California last month.

Competing among 65 teams from 20 different countries, Effat University’s ECE (Electrical and Computer Engineering) Zoom Engineer team won the two prizes for Product Presentation MVPs: Best Presentation, Innovation and Leadership, which was awarded to Malak Albagami, and the Aloha Team Spirit award for Best Team Enthusiasm, Encouragement, Best Team T-Shirts and Good Team Synergy.

Expressing her delight at the MATE awards victory, President of Effat University Haifa Jamal Al-Lail congratulated the winning team saying, “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 (God rest her soul), personally supported by Princess Lolowa Al-Faisal.”

The winning team consisted of seven ECE students from Effat University: Sara Toonsi, Malak Allbogami, Zainab Khan, Amnah Abdullah, Sahddin AlZaid, Kowther Kahin and Asiya Ibrahim.

Effat University’s ECE Zoom Engineer team is one of the five teams that participated from the Arab region. In addition to Saudi Arabia, there were three teams from Egypt one team from Jordan.

The MATE awards victory follows the Effat team's winning the first prize in the Arabs Regional Competition held in Alexandria last April.

The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Effat University offers a Bachelor of Science Degree for subjects central to the computer engineering field, such as computer hardware design, computer networks and software engineering, as well as electrical engineering, communications and signal processing, microelectronics and integrated circuits, wireless communications, microwave electronics, computer-aided design, and, most relevant to the award wins, control systems and robotics.

Control systems permeate life in all advanced societies today. They are used in automatic toasters, heating and cooling systems, washers and dryers, space vehicles, robots, and industrial processes. They regulate and optimize force, stress, temperature, altitude, and speed over time.

The Marine Advanced Technology Education (MATE) Center was established with funding from the National Science Foundation in 1997. MATE’s mission is to use marine technology to inspire and challenge students to learn and creatively apply science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) to solving real-world problems in a way that strengthens critical thinking, collaboration, entrepreneurship and innovation.

Effat University is Saudi Arabia’s first private non-profit university for females and is dedicated to women’s empowerment and creating the leaders of tomorrow by providing them with world class education, enriching their knowledge and nourishing their spirit to serve their communities and experience a long life of learning. — SG