Forty-three Grade 10 and 11 students from Qatar’s independent high schools participated in the Future Aggie Engineers Stem (science, technology, engineering and math) Development Programme, organised by Texas A&M at Qatar and sponsored by Maersk Oil Qatar at the university’s Engineering Building in Education City recently.
The university designed the programme to familiarise young students with the different engineering disciplines offered at Texas A&M at Qatar.
The programme entailed science activities, hands-on engineering projects and a computer-assisted design (CAD) contest to challenge students’ design and creative skills.
Dr Nimir Elbashir, associate professor of chemical engineering at Texas A&M at Qatar, said: “Texas A&M University at Qatar continues its efforts to reach out to Qatar’s middle and high school students to educate and recruit them in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, which are of great importance to Qatar’s economy and its National Vision 2030.
The five-day programme involved activities to familiarise students with the university’s student life and opportunities. Students were divided into teams to work on hands-on engineering projects and the CAD contest to challenge their math, science and design skills.
They learned about engineering concepts, design, teamwork and creativity through different activities conducted in labs.
The students also visited the Maersk Oil Research and Technology Centre at Qatar Science & Technology Park.
During the tour, the students learned about the three-key research areas undertaken at the facility, including horizontal well technology, enhanced oil recovery methods and environmental research.
They also experienced the new digital core lab and visualisation room, where they learned about the marine biodiversity and whale shark projects and received an overview of the Al Shaheen field and operations through the centre’s interactive LEGO model.
Sheikh Faisal bin Fahad al-Thani, deputy managing director of Maersk Oil Qatar, said: “Maersk Oil Qatar is proud to partner with Texas A&M University at Qatar for this important and rewarding programme. We congratulate all the students for completing the Future Aggie Engineers Stem development programme for high schools.”
In the CAD competition, the students worked in groups to design their own models. The goal of the activity was to measure the students’ creative abilities through design and enrich their scientific and technical knowledge. On the last day of the event, different teams displayed their designs in front of faculty judges who identified the winning teams.
