Students from the College of Engineering (CEN) at American University of Sharjah (AUS) were recently honoured for their innovative projects by the Expo Live 2020 University Innovation Program. Owais Alam, Nasimul Hassan and Marya Khan, from Mechanical engineering, won a research grant of up to AED 25,000 for their project entitled 'Porous Titanium' for Biomedical Body Implant Applications. The project focused on investigating porous implant structures for bone fractures. Currently the officials from Expo Live 2020 are in the process of finalising the grant agreement, after which they will be visiting the university. Commenting on the recognition, members of the winning team said:

“Expo Live 2020 provided a fantastic platform to showcase our novel idea that could alleviate pain in people suffering from injuries caused by accidents and birth deformities and can help improve their mobility and quality of life.”

The second project honored focused on the development of an advanced light weight material using ceramic hollow spheres for use on military armored vehicles for enhanced vehicle protection, lower fuel consumption due to reduced weight, reduction of greenhouse gases and reduction in logistics costs. Entitled the Hollow Sphere Safety Equipment, the project was developed by mechanical engineering majors Yash Mathur, Mohamed AlSalami, Shad Abdulla Ali, Nawfal Sayed and Fathi Abbas. This team also won a research grant of up to AED 25,000 as well as help from experts in the field to build a laboratory scale prototype. Talking about their experience, students from the winning team said:

"We thoroughly enjoyed the invaluable experience gained at Expo Live 2020. As a result of our participation, we learned key presentation and communication skills on how to successfully pitch novel ideas in front of potential investors, entrepreneurs and industry experts."

Speaking on the success of projects, Dr. Sathish Kannan, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and advisor to the winning teams, said: “The Expo Live 2020 University Innovation Program helped bring out the best of our students’ creative thinking and problem solving skills in areas which have the potential of transforming the lives of patients and improving our communities.”