On Tuesday December 6, 2016, Alfaisal University was visited by a delegation from Boeing Saudi Arabia. The delegation included Eng. Tony Brooks, Mr. Majed Alharbi, Mr. Anees Abdullah, and Mr. Sami Alotaibi.
During the visit, Mr. Majed Alharbi presented President Mohammed Alhayaza the cheque for the Boeing-funded project entitled “Design and Development of a Solar Powered Multi-rotor Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”. The project is to be supervised by Dr. Abd-Elhamid M. Taha, and carried out by the University’s electrical engineering students. The ceremony was attended by Princess Dr. Maha AlSaud (VP for Development and External Relations), Dr. Muhammad Anan (Vice Dean, CoE), Dr. Munib Qutaishat (Director, QAA), Dr. Yousef Al Yousef (VP for Research and Graduate Studies, ORG) and Dr. Mattheus Goosen (AVP, ORG) and Dr. Ahmed Oteafy (EE).
After the ceremony, Dr. Taha gave a presentation to the delegation, during which he offered an overview of the project, as well as an update on the project status. Students carrying out the project also presented their initial prototypes of the multi-rotor drones. The students included Shahad Bawardi, Asal Jambi and Mohga Osman, Ahmed ElSakka, Faisal Albasha and Abdulrahman Almoammer, Hamza Khilfawi and Ahmad Alsamsam.
Following the presentation, Mr. Brooks (General Manager of Boeing Saudi Arabia) offered a lecture on fundamentals of aerodynamics. The lecture was attended by Alfaisal University at large and was highly lauded for being both instructional and motivating. Mr. Brooks also engaged with Alfaisal’s engineering students, discussing various aspects of aerodynamics and encouraging them to continue their hard work.
It is worth noting that this is the second year in a row that Boeing funds an EE major project. Last year, Boeing supported the Solar Car Project supervised by Dr. Ahmed Oteafy. “This is an indicator of our maintained excellence, and our continuous strive to do more,” commented Dean Nasser, Acting Dean of the College of Engineering. Adding that he is “proud of CoE’s faculty and students, as well as their commitment to quality and innovation.”