IgniteDoha, much like a TED talk, tasked students to introduce a particular topic to a general audience in an engaging manner. The format constraints challenged students to give “fast and fun” five-minute presentations, while also testing their ability to be clear and concise.
IgniteDoha is a Steam (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) initiative of Tamuq that develops communication, organisation, visual literacy and presentation skills.
Six students competed in the IgniteDoha finale, with Munazza Sayed finishing second and Midhat J Zaidi third. The other finalists were Arshaad Ali, Zeinab Makki and Yossra Osman.
They performed in front of a lecture hall packed with fellow students, staff, faculty and guest industry judges.
The judges were Dr Fawzi al-Ajji, education relations manager at Maersk Oil Qatar; Yousef al-Meer, head of academic affairs at Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco); Ibrahim Bu-Hazzaa, senior maintenance specialist at Qapco; former student Karim Youssef, associate water researcher at Qatar Shell Research and Technology Centre; and former student Rinchu Matthew, PhD candidate at Stanford University.
“IgniteDoha aims to develop future Aggie Engineers’ communication skills, which is becoming increasingly important for both their academic and industry careers. IgniteDoha was a successful Steam initiative of Texas A&M at Qatar in that the event challenged students to get their message across eloquently within all of the parameters and constraints of the completion. Students had to be familiar with the topic at hand beyond a peripheral grasp and have a command of the language to convey it,” a statement noted.
The event required engineering students to “flex their otherwise relaxed language-skills muscles”, the statement added. IgniteDoha prepared students for the rigours of business presentations in the engineering industry.
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