UAE varsity students address sustainability challenges

Dubai - At UMass Amherst campus, 43 students of four UAE universities attended a four-week summer enrichment programme.

The Ministry of Education sent the first batch of Emirati university students to distinguished campuses abroad, where they created innovative projects to tackle UAE social and environmental challenges.

Out of the 125 university students who took part in the newly introduced Ambassador+ programme, 74 undergraduate and graduate students were divided among two US campuses of University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) in Boston and New York's University of Syracuse. The students were selected from 1,224 applicants after a rigorous set of interviews.

At UMass Amherst campus, 43 students of four UAE universities attended a four-week summer enrichment programme that involved interactive team-based classes to discuss the power of ideas and come up with innovative solutions to the UAE's different challenges in environment sustainability, agriculture, climate change and emergency of green technology.

The students also visited two farms to get a hands-on expertise in urban farming, sustainability and community gardening.

Bushra Rashid, representative of the ministry's special education department who supervised the 43 students, told Khaleej Times on campus that the programme saw eight projects supported by international professors and experts.

The projects that the students developed in teams of five identified solutions to problems in the three themes of climate change, green technology and imported labour.

Students addressed converting desert land to productive soil; innovating smart device with frequencies that push away red palm weevil; developing noise control sensor to address noise pollution inside offices; introducing smart nets to avoid pool drowning among children; and introducing new car design to reduce accidents in the UAE.

During their visit to the makerspace lab, students were introduced to 3D printing formations to help them implement their ideas creatively.

Fatima Saif Al Ali, second year international relations student at Zayed University who came up with introducing magnets in the front and back of cars to stop collisions and avoid accident injuries, said the 3D learning had been "extremely useful".

"The programme introduced us to new methods of learning and gave us practical ways to convert an idea into practice," said Al Ali.

While she plans to submit her idea to universities or different UAE establishments, including Think Science and Mohammed Bin Rashid Establishment for Small and Medium Enterprises, other students plan to continue their collaboration with international professors at UMass Amherst to implement the projects and bring them to life.

Alia Al Dhaheri, information security master's student at Abu Dhabi's Khalifa University, created a prototype of the noise control sensor with her group to limit noise inside offices and increase productivity. She said UMass Amherst professors are willing to fund it and sell it as a product in the market.

"Creating a network with international experts, who can help us bring these projects to life, has been a highlight of the programme," said Al Dhaheri.

Students were asked to come up with their solutions after engaging in the "power of ideas" course that helped them examine innovative thinkers, groundbreaking ideas and the strategies that transformed these ideas into effective actions that shape today's world.

The two-week course, students said, helped them engage in open discussions and showed them the process of developing an idea into practice.

Meanwhile, their supervisor Rashid said the programme aimed at encouraging the youth to work with the government in achieving the UAE Centennial Vision 2071 to make the UAE the best country in the world in the next five decades. "Students gained new experience and developed their communication skills and discipline. I saw their confidence grow by day as they worked in groups to come up with solutions that would solve ongoing challenges in the country."

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