UDST honors top performing students

The most outstanding students from University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST) were felicitated at the annual academic awards ceremony, a statement said yesterday. The awards honoured the exceptional academic achievements of a total of 49 undergraduates and graduates. The event was attended by UDST president Dr Salem Al-Naemi and guest speaker Qatar Shell deputy general manager Rachid al-Sulaiti.
There were eight categories: Academic excellence, academic merit, academic distinction, foundation programme, industrial trade deans award, achievement award, applied research award; and innovation award.
The academic excellence awards were presented to final-year students with the highest weighted averages in their respective programmes: Master’s Degree - Ameera Fatima Anaz (Accounting and Finance programme, College of Business); Bachelor’s Degree - Aivan Aves (Electrical Engineering – Automation and Control Systems programme, College of Engineering and Technology); Advanced Diploma - Abdulaziz Khaled Azazi (Chemical and Processing Engineering Technology programme, College of Engineering and Technology); Two-Year Diploma - Reem Omar (Pharmacy Technology programme, College of Health Sciences).
Commenting on the occasion, Dr al-Naemi said: “These awards do not just represent academic excellence, but also the values of continuous learning and innovation. We are committed to making a positive impact on the community in Qatar. The achievements of our students reflect the high standard of education at UDST and the value our faculty members place on nurturing future leaders. The Awards Night is not just a celebration of individual achievements, but a testament to the collective spirit and ambition that characterises our University."
UDST places a high value on research and innovation, giving students the opportunity of hands-on, practical projects, and exposure to real industry experience. Special recognition was given through the Applied Research Award to Nihala Moosa Panangat, a student in the Pharmacy Technology programme. She has participated in two funded research projects, under two calls, UREP 29 and UREP 30 through which she has published and presented a paper and two posters.
At the recent International Conference on in-silico Trends and Approaches in Drug Discovery and Development, her work entitled ‘Computational Assessment of Pharmacokinetics for three desert plants with promising antibiotic potential’ was an important research area.
With the growing global resistance to antibiotics, research is now looking to find new antimicrobial medicines from natural sources. Nihala presented her work to international experts who were impressed with the quality and defense of her research.
The Innovation award, was presented to Sumaiya Rizwan, a student in the Data and Cyber Security programme who represented the University in Huawei’s Seeds for the Future competition in Dubai. The product is Tactobraille, an innovative smart glove designed to enhance the accessibility of information for those who are blind or visually impaired.
The Tactobraille glove functions by seamlessly converting text into real-time Braille patterns, which are then tactually displayed on the user's fingertips. This ground-breaking technology has the potential to revolutionize the way users access written content by eliminating the need for traditional Braille production. These awards demonstrate UDST’s dedication to driving innovation, growing entrepreneurship, and supporting the exploration of new technologies.
All recipients of the Academic Excellence Awards and Academic Merit Awards were offered monetary awards, and all winners received a University certificate, with the Distinction noted on their official transcript, the statement added.