Students from Qatar University’s (QU) Young Scientists Center (YSC) achieve great success in the 2nd Innovation Competition ‘Big Ideas Wanted’, which is part of the 7th GPCA Research and Innovation Conference held in Dubai, UAE.
The competition aims to promote innovation among university students in the Arab-Gulf region, bridge the gap between industry and academia, and stimulate applied research and innovation in chemistry.
Amna Abdullah Al-Jumaili, a student at the College of Engineering at QU and a student from the YSC was awarded third place for her research project entitled ‘The Leidenfrost Effect as a Direct Catalyst for Methanol Fuel Cells’ during which she gave an outstanding and impressive presentation for the jury on her research, which uses methane as an alternative to petrol to generate energy. She proved that these quantities of methanol can be turned into substantial amounts of energy with the presence of a novel catalyst.
Her project was done in QU laboratories with modern technologies, under the supervision of the YSC and Dr. Peter Kazak. It aims to create an environmentally friendly material and use it as a catalyst in the industry.
Amna expressed her happiness with winning and being given the opportunity to present her research project and discuss the scientific procedures and results she reached with chemistry and materials science experts. She thanked the professors and researchers who played a crucial role in her winning, qualifying her to participate in this competition.
Prof. Noora Al-Thani, Director of the YSC expressed her pride in this achievement and said, “Knowledge has become an essential component in the development of productivity, and scientific research is the most beneficial means of obtaining knowledge, and the great interest in students to conduct scientific research is the first seed to create a creative and innovative generation, aware of the importance of scientific research, and thus developing their abilities to address the problems of their society in all different scientific fields, given that universities constitute societal levers in all areas of life.”
The YSC is interested in spreading the culture of scientific research among students through their participation in scientific conferences and symposiums concerned with supporting scientific research, as these participations enhance students’ skills and creativity in scientific research, self-proof and developing the spirit of competition to find innovative solutions to problems and challenges in various fields.
Source: Qatar University
