Women Dominates 2020 UAE Student Awards

All Four Student Winners – Two Ph.D. & Two Masters – Attended UAE Universities and were Honored at a Ceremony Hosted by New York University Abu Dhabi

All Four Student Winners – Two Ph.D. & Two Masters – Attended UAE Universities and were Honored at a Ceremony Hosted by New York University Abu Dhabi

January 8, 2020, Abu Dhabi (Gulf Intelligence) – Women dominated the 2020 UAE Student Awards for the Advancement of Post-Graduate Education, which were presented today by H.E. Suhail Al Mazrouei, Minister of Energy & Industry, and H.E. Mohammed Sanusi Barkindo, Secretary-General of OPEC, at a ceremony hosted by New York University Abu Dhabi. 

All four of this year’s student award winners were educated at UAE universities, and three of these accomplished post-graduates were young women who had achieved academic excellence in engineering and design, having produced dissertations that could impact the progression of the industry. An international Academic Review Board was assembled to score the nominees, and they utilized a set of criteria to select two Masters and two Ph.D. students who will act as goodwill ambassadors to promote Post-Graduate Education in the UAE, considered critical for the development of a knowledge economy.

The UAE is ranked as a leading country in gender equality in the Middle East region, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2018 Global Gender Gap report. This achievement comes from the fundamental belief that women and men are equal partners in society. Through a series of public and private sector initiatives, women are playing an increasingly stronger role in business, military, and government.

“The UAE will benefit from a sustainable and diversified economy, flexible in adopting new economic models, and capitalizing on global economic partnerships to guarantee long-term prosperity for current and future generations of Emiratis,” said H.E. Suhail Al Mazrouei, who has been the Patron of the Student Awards since their founding in 2018. Developing a competitive knowledge economy is one of the pillars of the UAE National Agenda in line with Vision 2021, and the Government is focused on the UAE becoming the economic, touristic and commercial capital for a region with some two billion people.

The UAE Student Awards for the Advancement of Post-Graduate Education recognizes outstanding young individuals destined to be future industry and academic leaders in the UAE. These awards recognize role models and are focused on celebrating the importance of building post-graduate education capacity and the talent required to deliver an innovative R&D ecosystem in the UAE.

The 2020 class of student Award winners include Fatma Alsulaimani, who received her Masters in Sustainable Design in the Built Environment from the British University in Dubai, and Nour AbdelRahman, a Chemical Engineering Masters student at UAE University. The two winners in the Ph.D. category were Eng. Mohammed Mahboob Hassan Saleh, finishing a doctorate in Sustainable Built Environment from the British University in Dubai, and Yusra Abdulrahman, an Interdisciplinary Engineering Ph.D. student from Khalifa University, and who was formerly a Student Award winner in the Master's category in 2018.

Professors from the UK’s Imperial College, which is ranked as the number-one engineering university in the world, and New York University joined their peers from renowned regional institutions, including Khalifa University, American University of Sharjah, and the UAE University on the 2020 Academic Review Board for the UAE Student Awards for Advancement of Post-Graduate Education.

Winners of The UAE Student Awards for the Advancement of Post-Graduate Education 2020;

Yusra Abdulrahman 

Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Engineering, Khalifa University, UAE

Yusra Abdulrahman is currently completing her Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Engineering at Khalifa University. She received her M.Sc in Engineering Systems and Management from Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in 2016 and received her B.Sc from the University of Arizona in the United States in Engineering Management, and a minor in Systems and Industrial Engineering with honors in 2014. During her studies, she worked as a research and teaching assistant in the Systems and Industrial department. Her research interests are in the areas of nondestructive testing and thermal imaging of low conductive materials. Yusra Abdulrahman has been involved in many national and international events such as Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, IDEX, Masdar Institute youth circle, and COP 22. In 2015, she attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) summer visitors program organized under the MIT-Masdar Institute cooperative program. She is also a member of the young future energy leadership program. In addition, Yusra Abdulrahman has co-authored 5 research papers in scientific ranked journals.

Eng. Mohamed Mahboob Hassan Saleh 

Ph.D. in Sustainable Built Environment, British University in Dubai, UAE

Eng. Mohamed Mahboob Hassan Saleh is the Vehicles Licensing Policies & Studies Manager in the Road and Transport Authority (RTA) as well as a Ph.D. student in the Sustainable Built Environment Program at the British University in Dubai (BUiD). He holds a Master's Degree in the Engineering Systems Management from Khalifa University and a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering from the Higher Colleges of Technology. He has 10 years of professional experience in public transport, civil engineering, energy management, and policies. His current research interests focus on public transport, autonomous vehicles and building, and energy. His main interest is in areas of scientific research-industry collaboration to use knowledge in improving work effectiveness and efficiency.

Fatma Alsulaimani 

Masters in Sustainable Design in the Built Environment, British University in Dubai, UAE

Fatma Alsulaimani is a Head of Maintenance Unit of Gardening and facilities in Dubai Municipality. She first started her career in Dubai Municipality as a landscape Architect in 2016 where she was engaged in various landscape and agriculture projects in the city of Dubai. Fatma has a Masters of Sustainable Design in the Built Environment and completed her dissertation in Smart irrigation systems from the British University in Dubai. She also holds a Bachelor of Environmental Design with a concentration in architecture from the University of Colorado, USA.

Nour S. Abdel Rahman 

Masters in Chemical Engineering, UAE University, UAE

Nour S. AbdelRahman, a Jordanian national, is a Chemical Engineering Masters student at UAE University and holds a Bachelor Degree from the same institution. She is also a research assistant at Emirates Center for Energy and Environment, UAE, under the supervision of Prof. Ali H. Al-Marzouqi. Her Master's research focused on producing anti-corrosion materials from UAE Palm waste; which is in line with the UAE government’s 2021-2030 vision of ensuring more sustainable development while preserving the environment. Furthermore, she got the best presentation award at the ACESD Conference that was held in Yokohama, Japan during November 2-4, 2019.

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