6th and 10th Ranks in ‘Overall’ Category and 3rd Place in ‘Verbal Design Report’ Category in 2020 Society of Automotive Engineers Supermileage Competition Keep Khalifa University Ahead of Any Institution from Arab World
Abu Dhabi-UAE
Sallam Sallam
Khalifa University of Science and Technology today announced that two of its student teams have achieved the distinction of being among the Top 10 globally in the prestigious 2020 Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) Supermileage Competition, pitting against teams from top international universities and becoming the only teams from the Arab world to showcase such a stellar performance.
The first Khalifa University team achieved 6th rank in the Overall category and was among the Top 3 in the Verbal Design Report; category, while the other team won the 10th place in the Overall category. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Collegiate Design Series had shifted the 2020 SAE Supermileage event onto a virtual platform.
The engineering design goal for SAE Supermileage is to conceive, design, and fabricate a single-person, three-wheel, extremely high fuel-economy vehicle with a single cylinder engine that complies with the Supermileage specifications. On a specified route, the vehicle obtaining the highest combined kilometers-per-gallon rating, in addition to ‘design segment’ points, wins the competition.
Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi, Executive Vice-President, Khalifa University of Science and Technology, said: “It is truly an honor for Khalifa University to take part in the SAE Supermileage international competition, a tough international challenge in which most of the highly-ranked international universities participate with their teams every year. It is also a privilege for our university that the two teams have remained ahead of any other academic institution from the Arab world in engineering excellence. Such top performance in an international competition was possible only because of our faculty experts who steered the students, continuously honing their innovation skills, and encouraging them. Congratulations to members of both the teams and all who supported them for this proud moment.”
The first team included Abdulla A. Alameri, Abdulla F. Alrahma, Fares H. Alawwa, Karim Ahmad Younes, Khadeeja K. Aljaberi, Maryam A. Naqi, Mohammed A. Albastaki, Nawar F. Allabban, Shama Almazrouei, Suhail A. Alamri, and Sultan Al Hassanieh.
The second team members include Abdulla Alhammadi, Adonay Iker, Dhabia Alhammadi, Fatema Alzaabi, Kenan Al-Aqeel, Maryam Anuaimi, Natnael Haile, Saif El-Khasawneh, and Sumaya Alhebsi.
Both teams were assisted by Dr. Bashar El-Khasawneh, Associate Professor, and Dr. Andreas Schiffer, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Reyad El-Khazali, Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Dr. Ramzy Obaid, Adjunct Professor from King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia.
Halcon System, a defense technology company owned by Abu Dhabi-based Yas Holding Group, has been the sole sponsor of Khalifa University SAE Supermileage team for the last three years.
Team members admitted that the most challenging part of the virtual event was the fact that they had to convince the judges with their work and the functionality of the vehicle, without exhibiting an actual prototype. Yet, the team did a good job in presenting the validity of their models through demonstrating their deep understanding of all the aspects of the project and showing different kinds of analyses and simulations, starting from the fundamental ones right up to the more advanced.
Abdulla A. Alameri said: “The team was ecstatic when we realized that Khalifa University is the only Arab university among the Top 10. We worked very long and very hard for this, and in the end, our hard work paid off. Knowing that our efforts placed Khalifa University’s and the UAE’s name amongst some of the best, highest ranked universities in the world is a huge honor to every single team member, and we couldn’t be prouder of our achievement.”
Saif said: “As a team making it into the top 10, communication was key, and most importantly, we valued each opinion and idea from all team members equally. This allowed us to progress as a team with fluidity.”
Last year, the Khalifa University student team had won 8th place in the SAE Supermileage Competition. The SAE Competition rules stipulate that the vehicle must be fabricated by the team members without direct involvement from professional engineers, faculty and technical staff in the college/school or professionals in the automotive/motorsports community.
