A total of 25 undergraduate students of American University of Sharjah (AUS) were honored for their research projects at a ceremony held in the university's Main Building this week. 

Sponsored by Sharjah Islamic Bank (SIB) and British Petroleum (BP), the annual awards recognize the top undergraduate student research projects at AUS. Winners of the 2011-2012 academic year awards were chosen by a faculty committee, which evaluated each project according to communication and presentation, completeness of application, depth of research and investigation, and innovation as well as creativity. The ceremony was organized by the AUS Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

SIB awarded four prizes and two honorable mentions. 

First Place went to the project Automatic Inspection of Outdoor Insulators using Image Processing and Intelligent Techniques, conducted by College of Engineering students Hamid Al Sagban, Loai Khalayli and Hossam Shoman. 

Second Place was awarded for the project Phoenician Reading Table of Noor Jarrah from the College of Architecture, Art and Design.

Third Place went to the project Design of Underwater Wireless Sensor Network, conducted by Moutaz Faisal, Ghaith Hattab and Tarek Joudeh from the College of Engineering. 

Fourth Place was won by the project Effective Mobile Platform for Detecting Sleep Apnea conducted by Shamma Al Qassim, Madhumeta Ganesh, Shaheen Khoja and Meher Zaidi of the College of Engineering. 

Honorable Mentions went to:

o The project The Effect of Wasta on Wages in Times of Conflict for Soha Shami from the School of Business and Management.

o The project Re-constructed Stalactites for Sema Orouk from College of Architecture, Art and Design.

The four projects selected for BP awards are those that best exemplify BP's brand values. These are:

The Respect Award: won by the project Recovery of Gold, Silver, Palladium and Copper from Printed Circuit Boards, by Hicham Alayan, Youssef Chehade, Saeed Nusri, Naveena Sadasivam and Ameer Siddique from the College of Engineering. 

The Courage Award: won by the project To the Desert, In Presence or in Absence by Talin Hazber from the College of Architecture, Art and Design. 

The Excellence Award: won by the project Strategic Management for a Family Business in the UAE: The Case of Sultan Group Investments by Alia Fakhereddine, Hayya Kayasseh and Lina Melham from the School of Business and Management. 

The One Team Award: won by a project entitled Harvesting Mechanical Energy on Walkways to Generate Electric Power, by Danial Ahmed, Muhammad Arsalan and Muhammad Atiq from the College of Engineering. 

"It feels great to have won the BP award. I hope this will encourage me to be more innovative and ambitious, as well as to help me to be more innovative and ambitious to deliver unique solutions to recycle e-waste," said student Hicham Alayan. 

"The 25 students honored here this evening have shown themselves to be capable of advancing the university's research program in myriad ways. They have applied themselves to single-minded inquiry in their chosen fields, and their dedication has won them our recognition and applause tonight," said Dr. Thomas Hochstettler, Provost. "I would also like to express my particular thanks to the fourteen faculty members who guided the winners throughout their projects and to the eight members of the evaluation committee for their time and expertise," he added.

Dr. Gautam Sen, Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies congratulated the winning students, "who will be the future leaders in research." He also expressed pride in such initiative, sharing various sectors of the community in encouraging research. "This is one of the happiest occasions that we celebrate. Here, the best and brightest are honored for their contributions to research in their respective fields. I also want to thank the committees that put so much time and effort into selecting the projects," said Dr. Sen. He also thanked SIB and BP for their continued commitment.

Speaking on the occasion, Jassem Al Baloushi, Head of Retail Banking Group, SIB, congratulated the students on their projects. "We are extremely proud to share this milestone with you," he said, addressing the winners. 

Abdulkarim Al Mazmi, General Manager and Chief Representatives for BP UAE, said, "BP has a strong reputation for promoting education as the key to a successful and innovative society. We are delighted to sponsor the BP Excellence Award with American University of Sharjah for nine years in support of the UAE's social development goals."