Safin Bayes wins Ignite Doha 2017

Texas A&M University at Qatar (Tamuq) electrical and computerengineering student Safin Bayes won Ignite Doha 2017 with an insightfuland informative presentation on the Big Bang theory recently at theTexas A&M Engineering Building in Education City.Ignite Doha, like a TED talk, asks students to introduce a topic oftheir choice to a general audience in an engaging manner. The formatchallenged students to give fast and fun five-minute presentations,while also testing their ability to be clear and concise. Ignite Doha is a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math)initiative of Texas A&M at Qatar that develops communication,organisation, visual literacy and presentation skills.‘Writing Across the Curriculum’ co-ordinator and instructional assistantprofessor in the Liberal Arts Programme, Dr Amy Hodges, said: “As weknow from the companies that employ our graduates, 21st centuryengineers have to be adaptable and creative communicators in order tosucceed in the workplace. An engineer can have an innovative idea, butif he or she can’t communicate it to others, nothing happens.” Seven students competed in the finals. Abdullah Yousef placed second andSofian Ghazali came third. The other finalists included Qishu Zhang,Alaa Abdulla, and Shaheen al-Kuwari and Jassim al-Matwi, who presentedjointly. The presenters “all performed exceptionally in front of a crowd packedwith fellow students, staff, faculty and judges”, Tamuq said in a pressstatement. Presentations ranged from reflections on black holes,inspiration to do what you love and to do it with others, the power ofmusic, and why Americans call football soccer. After his presentation on how the cold temperature in classrooms affectsstudent performance, Yousef said: “Ignite showed me that preparationtranslates into confidence. I was able to deliver a good presentationbecause of the hard work I had done before the presentation. It helpedme understand my nervousness and how I can overcome it.” Ghazali added, “Ignite your speaking and thinking skills to explain acomplex topic to people of all ages in five minutes. Not as easy as itsounds, but worth it!”The judges were last year’s winner and electrical and computerengineering senior Abdulaziz Saad al-Qahtani, career servicesco-ordinator Sarah Aboulhosn, mechanical engineering professor Dr EyadMasad, head of outreach at Qatar Foundation Research and DevelopmentAbtesam Yousuf, distinguished career professor of business communicationat Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Patrick McGinnis, petroleumengineering former student Maryam al-Bishri and Oxy Qatar director ofEOR and Development John Bolling.