His Excellency Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and Chancellor of the United Arab Emirates University, recently honored the winners of the Chancellor’s Award for Innovation 2015. This is part of the university’s mission to support innovation, creativity, leadership and excellence in scientific research. The ceremony was held on the university campus in Al Ain City and was conducted in the presence of Dr. Ghaleb Al Hadrami, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies.

The ICT, renewable energy, health, transport and communications fields came first as they are all strategic sectors that support sustainable development efforts in the UAE. The award in the health category went to a team of professors and students who designed a smart warning system to protect children from being left alone in closed cars. This system notifies the driver if a child is left alone inside the car. If the driver does not respond within a certain period the system automatically sounds the alarm and calls the police. The team included Dr. Fikri Kharbash, Amnah Rashid Hmud, Jameeleh Salem Al Kaabi, Khawla Yusuf Al Marzouqi and Mariam Mohammed Al Khateri.

In the renewable energy category, the award went to a team of students who invented a system to generate electricity from the movement of car tires. It adds electrical pressure and thermo-electric properties to the vehicle frame in order to convert the mechanical energy generated by the movement of the car into electrical energy. Team was made up of students: Zainab Ahmed, Razan Yousefh, Meatha Jjoma’a and Hamda Ahmad.

In the information technology category, the award went to a project that designed software to analyze the data in mobile phone networks to help police in tracking down suspects. The team was made up of Dr. Nizar Zaki, Wasfieh Shehhi, Asmaa Al Marzouki, Fatima Al Yamahi and Shaima Al Amri.

The winners of the transport and communications category presented a system for calculating optimal routes for university buses using GPS. The system reads the university ID card for each student entering the bus and automatically selects the destination for every student and calculates the best way to reach it. It uses an interactive screen that is displayed to the driver of the bus. The team was made up of students: Aisha Al Balushi, Fatima Al Shamsi, Reem Al Kaabi and Osha Al Shamsi.

The winners of the public sector award introduced a smart safety helmet with improved head protection. It uses built-in smart devices and applications to protect the head. It is manufactured from high-performance materials and contains smart applications that increase levels of security. It also has a button to press in case of danger. The team consisted of Ahmad Tlabani and Dr. Basil Al Sayed.