4.3.1 Access to educational resources for those not studying at the university
4.3.2 Hosting events at university that are open to the general public
4.3.3 Hosting events at university that are open to the general public
4.3.4 Educational outreach activities beyond campus
4.3.5 Policy that ensures that access to all activities is accessible to all
Cyber security challenges and solutions (CSCS’23)
Organizer: The Electronic Engineering Technology at the College of Technological Studies at the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training with coordination of the Centre for Applied Mathematics and Bioinformatics at Gulf University for Science and Technology.
Patronaged: Highness the Minister of Education Dr. Hamad Al Adwani.
Strategically sponsored by CITRA and technically sponsored by IEEE.
Venue: The conference main sessions will be held at Main Building of the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training campus, Shuwaikh, Kuwait [Location].
Date: The conference will be held on 15th -16th / February/ 2023 at 9:30 AM.
Missouri University for Science and Technology Celebrates Kuwait National Day
Missouri University for Science and Technology celebrated Kuwait's National Day during an event held on their campus. The event was hosted by the Missouri S&T, Missouri S&T Kuwait Students Association, and was coordinated by Fares Al-Qahtani, a senior in S&T's Petroleum Engineering Program. The event was attended by Dr. Colin Potts, Missouri S&T Provost, along with the other members. Dr. Potts and Dr. Smith (GUST Academic Program Lead) spoke about GUST and MS&T's partnership and history, and gave a presentation on the GUST engineering implementation project.
GUST Takes Silver at KCPC
Date:
16 February 2021
Kuwait City, 16 February 2021: GUST Computer Science teams ranked in 2nd, and 5th place in the eighth Kuwait Collegiate Programming Contest (KCPC) held virtually on the 8th and 9th of February, 2021. Both teams managed to solve seven programming problems (the same number of problems solved by the 1st place winner) within 5 hours. The team members of the 2nd place team, Abdulwahab Al-Saleh, Osama Kassem and Mohammad Alaskandarani, and 5th place team, Mohammad Bouland, Mostafa Bab, and Ali Jassim, have officially qualified to regional Africa and Arab Collegiate Programming Contest (ACPC), which will be held in Luxor, Egypt at a later scheduled time.
GUST was represented by six teams from the Computer Science Department mentored by Mr. Ali Kelkawi (Teaching Assistant) and supervised by Dr. Fadi Deeb (Assistant Professor), among 23 participating teams from different local educational institutions.
The students representing GUST were: Abdulwahab Al-Saleh, Osama Kassem, Mohammad Alaskandarani, Mohammad Bouland, Mostafa Bab, Ali Jassim, Sulaiman Al-Mamari, Maryam Zahiri, Massomah Alkhamees, Yehya Elmokaddem, Omar Abdulazim, Islam Alarid, Sana Kojan, Maha Al Rammal, Ghada Raee, Ahmad Al Dabak, Abdulrahman Elzaiem and Sahar Baltajy.
KCPC is part of the International Collegiate Programming Contest (ACM-ICPC), the world’s oldest and most prestigious programming contest for universities. It is a team-based programming competition where students can exercise their problem solving and computational thinking skills to solve a set of problems. The top teams advance to regional and international levels of the contest.
GUST Students Wins First Place at the Rowad Innovation Program
For the second time, GUST students were awarded first place at Warba Bank’s Pioneers of Innovation Rowad Program, which was organized for the 4th time. The four students competed against three other local university teams for the prize after attending a 3-week program of customized workshops and lectures led by Warba Bank, which kicked off on October 23rd 2022 and continued until December 15th 2022. The program aims to support the innovation of banking services and develop creative solutions in the Islamic banking sector.
The participating GUST students were: Abdulrazzaq Al Eisa, Khalifa Al Enezi, Essa Al Noufal, and Sarah Al Enezi, who were selected by a Warba Bank Committee to participate in the program. Over the three weeks, they completed workshops and lectures to learn all the essential information in the banking field, such as the different services and products currently available, to complete the assignment successfully. The other participating universities were Kuwait University, Australian University, and the American University of Kuwait.
During the closing ceremony, the students presented their ideas to a panel of industry experts. They were evaluated based on their final presentation, innovative & fresh thinking, the practicality of implementing their ideas, and team effort in meeting all the requirements. As a result, the GUST team was awarded the first-place prize for their innovative ideas and stellar presentation.
GUST Students Win First Place at 6th Annual Dell Technologies Graduation Project Competition
Kuwait City, 12 September 2021: GUST Computer Science senior students, Ayah Beidas, Fatme Ghaddar, and Kousar Mohi participated with their capstone project at the 6th Annual Dell Technologies Graduation Project Competition, which was elected among the top 25 projects and ranked first among numerous projects from Russia, Turkey, and the MENA region. Projects were submitted online, then reviewed and evaluated through a multi-stage evaluation process by international professors and senior Dell Technologies Experts from around the world.
Led by the Head of the Computer Science Department, Associate Professor, Dr. Mahmoud Elish, GUST students developed and presented “Autemo”, a cross-platform mobile application for iOS and Android intended to improve the quality of life of children suffering from autism by alleviating and enhancing their social skills. It targets autistic children’s inability to express emotions by training their facial, verbal and cognitive skills of the user child. “Autemo” won first out of 235 projects that were submitted. At the event, more than 100 universities participated, representing 19 countries from region with a total of 1060 participants.
The competition was open to senior undergraduate students from universities in the Middle East, Russia, Africa and Turkey. Students were invited to submit their project abstracts in areas related to the advancement of technology and applications related to the following focus areas: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Multi-Cloud.
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Professor Bashar Ibrahim said “This outstanding achievement is a further testament to computer science students' hard work as well as the dedication of their faculty members. Congratulations on the well-deserved success!”
Acting President and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor Bassam Alameddine said “We are very proud to have GUST represented at “Autemo” by GUST outstanding students. The project proved GUST great academic aptitude and the students’ excellent analytical skills. We congratulate our students for their immense efforts and for elevating GUST’s name in such a prestigious international event.”
This year students from GUST’s Computer Science Department have participated and excelled at several regional and local competitions, such as the 8th KCPC Tournament held in February. This is a testament to the highly competitive practical environment at GUST’s Computer Science Department, which is based on the University’s standards in academic excellence.
GUST Presents Plaque of Appreciation to Northwest Bilingual School
Kuwait City, 6 July 2021: Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) presented a plaque of appreciation to Northwest Bilingual School for allowing GUST students to teach at classes for the spring semester. The program was part of the education program at GUST organized by Student Teaching Coordinator, Assistant Professor Fatimah Al Hashem.
GUST’s Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor Bassam Alameddine, and Assistant Professor Fatimah Al Hashem, both presented a plaque of appreciation to CEO of Northwest Bilingual School, Ms. Lujain Al Wazzan, thanking her for allowing GUST to use their school as part of the university’s internship program. Thirty-three GUST students took part in the program, with each student teaching one to two high school classes per week for a total of eight weeks. The program counted as an internship and sought to train future students on the necessary and required teaching skills needed for their future careers in education.
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor Bassam Alameddine said “This program is crucial in developing and training our students in the field teaching and education. Helping students understand concepts learned in the classroom by implementing them practically in an actual high school classroom. We are grateful for Northwest Bilingual School’s hospitality and for allowing our students to use their classes as part of our internship program.”
The education program focuses on helping students specializing in education teach English, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Programming to high school students. This internship adds to the list of other internship opportunities offered at GUST such as the Translation Internship Program. These programs are a testament to GUST’s continuous strive to develop professional opportunities for its student body, that would provide them with the necessary tools to thrive in the job market.
GUST Students Participate in Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium at UMSL
Kuwait City, 17 June 2021: Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) was represented by six undergraduate students at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium (URS) hosted by the University of Missouri – Saint Louis (UMSL). The students participating were: Amna AlBaghli, Omar Mohamed Abdulazim, Ahmad Abdala AlDabak, Fatme Adel Ghaddar, Nourah Roudan, and Shakha AlMoushirge. The event is usually held for all UMSL undergraduates, and this was the first time GUST undergraduate students participated. Presentations were presented online via Microsoft Teams.
The URS provides a professional conference-style platform for students to present their original research and creative works to fellow peers, faculty, staff, administrators, and visitors in a supportive and collegial environment. The six students that presented were divided according to their project category and were allowed to prepare an audio or video introduction describing their work while also giving an invitation for questions that could be followed up after the symposium.
Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Bassam Alameddine said, “We are very proud to have GUST represented at URS for the very first time and by six outstanding students. Their projects proved GUST great academic aptitude and the students’ excellent analytical skills. We congratulate our students for their immense efforts and for elevating GUST’s name in such a prestigious international event.”
The URS application announcement was sent to GUST students from the Graduate Studies and Research Office (GSR). Interested students contacted the office of international programs at GUST with the details of their research work and then were individually contacted by the UMSL URS committee to help them begin setting up their “channel” on Microsoft Teams to present their research. GUST is affiliated with UMSL and shares a summer scholarship program that covers summer courses at UMSL, allowing students to enrich their academic experience abroad.
GUST Professor Lectures at Oxford University
Kuwait City, 14 June 2021: Assistant Professor of Humanities and Social Science at GUST, Dr. Sara Rzayeva, gave a talk online for Oxford University titled “Rural Azerbaijan: Land Reforms, Migration, and Moral Economy in the Post-Soviet Period”. The talk was part a conference titled “Beyond the Boom: Toward Human and Social” which took place from May 6 to June 10 and held via Zoom. Dr. Rzayeva’s talk was held on May 20 and participated as part of an invitation from the Russian and East European Studies Programme (REES) of Oxford’s School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA) and the Oxford Nizami Ganjavi Centre (ONGC).
Dr. Rzayeva’s presentation examined the curious case of “Dutch Disease”, a paradox that describes good news harming a nation’s broader economy, in Azerbaijan. She gave an example by emphasizing how the oil sector accounts for 60% of Azerbaijan's revenues, but employs only 1% of the labor force. Agriculture accounts for 6% of the GDP, but employs 40% of the labor force. The presentation looked at the historical development and current structures of this phenomenon, demonstrating the role of land redistribution, migration, and rural moral economies. Moral economy, a concept popularized by the British historian E.P. Thompson, refers to the notion that human populations are not just material beings but act according to collective ideas of what is ‘right and just’. Dr. Rzayeva traced the contested change in the collective notions of ‘right and just' in rural Azerbaijan in the post-Soviet period in connection to migration and land reforms.
Assistant Professor of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr. Sara Rzayeva said “I was very glad that these discussions took place. Understanding people and their ideas about economic orders is central to understanding economic development”.
Dr. Rzayeva’s participation is a testament to GUST faculty members constant strive for academic excellence. Recently, Dr. Sali Hammad gave a talk at Kingston University-London sharing her work at GUST as well.
GUST Debate Club Wins Second Place in the Asian Arabic Debating Championship
GUST Debate Club won 2nd place at the Asian Arabic Debating Championship held in Malaysia this week. The team competed against over 30 teams from different Arabic speaking countries.
The competition took place over a period of 5 days. From January 30thto February 3rd,where they battled their way to the top positions. The final debate round was against Princess Sumaya University for Technology (Jordan) on the topic of “The policy of no interference in the internal affairs of other countries”.
The club members representing the university were Salem Al-Mutairi, Sami Ismael, and Athoub Al-Dhafiri. Supporting the team members was their supervisor, Dr. Hussain Al Sharoufi, Associate Professor at GUST’s English Department. Club President, Salem Al-Mutairi was also able to secure 3rdplace as Best Speaker at the conference. Both prizes were awarded by the Crown Prince of Malaysia, Tengku Muhammad Faiz Petra.
The Asian Arabic Debating Championship was launched this year as an initiative by QatarDebate in collaboration with International Islamic University of Malaysia, with the involvement of the Malaysian Ministries of Education, and the Youth & Sports as strategic partners to foster the culture of discussion and develop the intellectual leaders of tomorrow.
Club President, Salem Al Mutairi, said, “It’s an honor and a privilege to compete against so many experienced and skilled teams, and I am proud to have lifted the name of the university to such heights. I am also grateful to my teammates, and to Dr. Al Sharoufi for his guidance and support throughout this journey.”
GUST’s Debate Club has showcased their talent and skills winning four prominent awards just this past year, including,1stplace in the Kuwait Open Debate Tournament,2ndplace at the Kuwait English Debate Competition, 3rdplace at the Universities Arabic Debating Championship of Kuwait and 18thplace in the International Universities Arabic Debating Championship (IUADC).
GUST Participates in CODED Hackathon and Earns 2nd Place
Thirteen GUST representatives from the Computer Science Department participated in the CODED Hackathon which took place last month. CODED Hackathon is a 24-hour coding marathon, where over 20 teams were presented with nine different challenges to be implemented in the form of mobile or web applications. GUST participants were spread over five different teams. One team including student Abdulwahab Al-Saleh and Teaching Assistant Ali Kelkawi secured 2ndplace.
The nine challenges ranged in difficulty, size, functionality and number of points awarded for each challenge. The members who participated are:
- Abdulwahab Al-Saleh
- Mostafa Shirin Bab
- Omar Abdulazim
- Ali Jassim
- Ahmad Al Dabak
- Dunya Al-Qertas
- Taibah Al-Thunayyan
- Maryam Zahiri
- Sulaiman Al-Mamari
- Hashem Al-Sayegh
- Nezar Al-Ayoubi
- Shirin Abdelqader (Alumna)
- Ali Kelkawi (Teaching Assistant)
GUST Computer Science students have been very active over the past year securing top ranking positions in a variety of different competitions including representing in the 1st and 2nd place teams at KOC Oil & Gas Techathon, first place in the local NASA International Space Apps Challenge, and gaining recognized at the Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Informatics Awards. Well done to all the participants!
GUST Sponsored Fencer Abdulaziz Al-Shatti Wins Two Gold Medals in Arab Championship
Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) sponsored fencing champion and GUST alum, Abdulaziz Al-Shatti, won two gold medals at the Arab Championship last week in the team category and individual. Al-Shatti was competing against 19 players from 9 different countries in the region. This comes as part of his efforts to qualify for the Olympics in 2020.
Al-Shatti is the first Kuwaiti fencer since 2002 to qualify to the Olympics in Rio, in 2016, by winning the Qualification Zone Championships. His individual fencing career has seen him win a total of 101 medals in different categories and competitions, including: 50 medals in Kuwait League Championships, 14 medals in Kuwait Local Open Championships, 7 medals in International Open Championships, 13 medals in Gulf Championships, 15 medals in Arab Championships, and 2 medals in Asian Championships, not to mention all the championships and titles won with his local club, or the Kuwait National Team. Al-Shatti has been training hard with Kuwait Fencing Federation coach in preparation for this journey to the Olympics in 2020.
GUST Teams Wins First Place at Warba Bank’s Rowad Innovation Program
GUST students were awarded First Place at the closing ceremony of the Warba Bank Rowad Innovation Program. The four students competed against three other local university teams for the prize after a 10-week program of customized workshops and lectures led by Warba Bank coordinated through our Office of Student Life, which kicked off in September 2019. The goal of the program is to support the innovation of banking services and come up with creative solutions in the Islamic banking sector.
The participating GUST students were: Nouf Alghannam, Reem Mohamed, Sarah Alalban, Sundos Al Ashqar. The students were selected in September 2019 from the university by a Warba Bank Committee to enter the program. Over the 10 weeks, they completed workshops and lectures to learn all the information they need to know in the banking field, such as the different services and products currently available in order to successfully complete the assignment. The other participating universities wereKuwait University, Australian College of Kuwait, and the American University of Kuwait.
During the closing ceremony, the students had to pitch their idea to a panel of industry experts, and were evaluated based on their final presentation, innovative & fresh thinking, the practicality of implementing their ideas, and team effort in meeting all delivery requirements. The GUST team was awarded the first place prize for their innovative ideas and stellar presentation. The grand prize was KD5,000 and KD2,500 for the runners-up.
GUST President, Professor Walid Bouhamra, Vice President for Professional Development and Community Services, Dr. Ahmad Al-Darbas, Senior Manager of the Community Engagement and Communications Division, Anwar Al-Sabah, and Head of the Office of Student Life, Aseel Abounemah, subsequently met with the students following their win to congratulate them on this outstanding achievement.
GUST President, Professor Walid Bouhamra, said, “The creativity and determination of our students, armed with the knowledge they receive at GUST, is a powerful equation as demonstrated by their outstanding performance. I am confident that their success in the future is assured, and I wish them the very best of success.”
GUST continuously encourages and supports its students in all extracurricular activities that can develop and shape their character and their development for after they graduate. It prizes a both academic performance and community driven activities for a well-rounded educational experience.
As part of GUST’s new goals and values, it is keen to focus more on impact within the community and so, it was an easy decision to embark on this journey with one of its model students and athletes. The university prides itself in supporting the skills and talents of all its students, inside and outside the classroom, for a truly well-rounded educational experience.
Follow us and Abdulaziz on this journey to the Olympics on our social media channels @gust_official.
GUST Represented in Teams Winning 1st and 2nd Place at KOC Oil & Gas Techathon
Gulf University for Science & Technology students and a teaching assistant were part of three teams that participated in Kuwait Oil Company’s Oil & Gas Techathon last month. This competition saw two of the three teams which included GUST team members secure 1st and 2nd place in the competition. Out of the 12 teams that participated, 3 included members from GUST, as well as students from various universities around Kuwait or employees from the different local energy companies. The event was organized by KOC in partnership with the RISE Center at AUK.
KOC Oil & Gas Techathon is a three-day technology marathon where engineers, developers, designers and technologists come together to address challenges faced by the oil & gas sector. During the competition, the participants from Kuwait's energy sector and university students team up to develop innovative solutions to overcome specific challenges in areas of health & safety, drilling, well surveillance, and gas operations in Kuwait.
The participants from GUST were:
· Ali Kelkawi (TA) - leader of 1st place team
· Abdalwahab Al-Saleh - member of 1st place team
· Osama Kassem - member of 1st place team
· Yehya El-Mokaddem - member of 2nd place team
· Ahmed Abdullah - member of 2nd place team
· Mostafa Shirin Bab - member of 2nd place team
· Sulaiman Al-Mamari – participant
· Hashem Al-Sayegh - – participant
Associate Professor and Head of GUST’s Computer Science Department, Dr. Mahmoud Elish, said, “The placement of two teams including GUST at the highest rank of the competition is emblematic of the strong curriculum offered, and the preparedness of students to tackle real-life problems.”
This accomplishment comes as part of a series of GUST achievements in the field of computer science. Just recently, A GUST student and a teaching assistant were part of the team that won first place in the local NASA International Space Apps Challenge. Many CS students also participated and were recognized at the Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Informatics Awards. What’s more, a team from GUST participated at the 5th Annual 24-Hour Carnegie Mellon University Hackathon and won first place for the Best App Design. Also notable is that GUST’s Computer Science team was ranked 3rd at the seventh Kuwait Collegiate Programming Contest (KCPC), where the competitors were able to solve seven programming problems within five hours. The winning team members, officially qualified to advance to the Africa and Arab Collegiate Programming Championship which were held in Sharm Elsheikh.
GUST Represented in First Place Winning Team at the NASA International Space Apps Challenge
GUST members were part of the team that won first place in the local NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The winning team was led by GUST Computer Science Teaching Assistant, Ali Kelkawi, and included GUST CS student, Abdulwahab Al-Saleh, as well as other students and alumni from the American University of Kuwait. The competition, held in the form of a hackathon, was organized by the Center for Research in Informatics, Sciences, and Engineering (RISE) at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) in collaboration with Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO) earlier this month, and saw a total of 12 teams participating.
The winning team’s project was a multi-tier application called Oxylus, which allows communities at risk of a wildfire to support and help each other, as well as to coordinate more smoothly with rescue services. The mobile application is also able to safely direct and navigate users away from danger zones to safe areas. A prediction model was also developed to predict fires based on a location’s given features, to be able to better allocate resources to areas at risk.
Dr. Mahmoud Elish, Head of the Computer Science Department, said, “This achievement makes me proud, and justifies the challenges and tests we set in our syllabi. It is also a testament to the calibre of students we have, and to the high level of dedication, quick thinking, and creativity they harness to solve actual real-world problems. I congratulate them on such a great achievement, and wish them the best of luck in 2020!”
Kelkawi and Al-Saleh were recognized by the GUST management, led by Dr. Fahed Al-Sumait, Vice President of Academic Affairs.
The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is one of the world’s largest global hackathons, held locally in separate locations. On one weekend each year, a 48-hour sprint is held in which participants hack solutions to challenges that NASA proposes, creating games, smartphone and computer apps, videos, teaching tools and much more within the theme of Earth and space. Each local competition nominates two teams to compete in the global finals, where NASA experts choose the global challenge winners. With this win, the team will be submitting their project to the global finals, the results of which will be released in January 2020.
GUST has continued to excel in Computer Science, with its students claiming 3rdplace at the 2019 Kuwait Collegiate Programming Competition last month, a competition in which GUST has always ranked among the top 3 positions over the last few years. Our teams have also won the Gulf Region Champions Award at Arab Collegiate Programming Contest in 2017, ranked first place at the Gulf Programming Contest 2017, and fifth place at the Annual Carnegie Melon University Hackathon in Qatar in 2017. Moreover, two GUST teams won the Best Project Award and the Most Creative Project Idea Award at the 2nd GCC Students & Young Professionals Congress in 2019, which was part of the 10th IEEE-GCC Conference & Exhibition. In light of all these achievements, the university launched a scholarship specifically for the Computer Science program to encourage high school graduates to enter this ever more important field.
