More than 150 first-year students from the College of Engineering (CEN) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) participated in an exciting competition held yesterday April 19, to build a dome that can carry the maximum amount of paper, yet have the lightest weight.

Thirty two teams fought for top honors in the seventeenth edition of the popular NGN Introduction to Engineering and Computing Competition, which is held with the purpose of helping freshman engineering students enhance their teamwork, engineering design, time management, problem solving and communication skills.

Dr. Richard Schoephoerster, Dean of Engineering at AUS said, "This is one of the most popular events held on campus every semester. It provides our freshman engineering students with the chance to put theory into practice in a competitive environment that encourages team work and collaborative skills."

"It's always great to see the inventive and innovative abilities of young engineering students come to the fore through our NGN competition," said Dr. Fadi Ahmed Aloul, Professor and Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and organizer of the event, "The excitement of the students and their sense of accomplishment when they see their designs perform beyond their expectations is something we cherish," he added.

The competition saw two teams tied for first place. Mariam Jamal Arshi, Tasneem Ayman Khader, Noura Hassan Almaazmi, Omar Hesham Abdualkareem, and Mohammed Ahsan Khan comprised the first team while Mariam Husain AlEissaee, Fatma Ahmad Jaffar Hassan Ahli, Mohammed Burhan Zaben, Mohammed Faiz, and Ehab Hatem Elboghdady made up the second winning team. Third place went to Fatma Abdulla Alhaddad, Sara Mohammed Almaazmi, Baha El Din Mahdi El Tahir Abo Mahdi, and Muhammad Sultan Bhatti.

In previous competitions, students had been required to design and construct a catapult, light motor cars, small-scale bridges, tower cranes, helicopters, boats and paper planes among other structures.

Students from all seven undergraduate degree programs offered by CEN take part in the competition. The college offers Bachelor of Science degree programs in chemical engineering, civil engineering, computer engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, industrial engineering and mechanical engineering.

Senior university officials, faculty members as well as a large number of students attended the event.