AUST Graduate Wins Tumoohat Shabab

Mohamed Othman Baloulah, former student at the College of Engineering in Ajman University of Science and Technology, and present engineer at AUST Biomedical Engineering Department, has won the first prize at the Tumoohat Shabab TV program, produced by Sharjah Television.

Tumoohat Shabab (Young Ambitions) first aired in November 2010 to encourage young students and graduates to present their innovative and new ideas before the public in the form of a TV show for young talents. During the first round of the competition, 66 entrants from the UAE universities nationwide presented 27 original ideas. But only 9 projects were selected by a professional jury to qualify for the second round. While the first round focused on the scientific aspect of the projects, the second gave more emphasis to the economic dimensions, as every qualifying competitor was required to carry out a feasibility study and present it before the jury. Only three projects were able to make it to the third and final round.

In the finale of Tumoohat Shabab which aired on Sunday 22 February, the 5-member jury announced Eng. Mohamed Othman as winner of the first season of the show for his project ''Remote Monitoring and Control System for Diabetes Patients via Mobile Phones." Othman's winning project is an artificial pancreas which helps stabilize glucose levels in diabetes patients. Thanks to this very promising idea, the young AUST graduate was able to earn the trust of the jury and the votes of the majority of viewers who voted by SMS. Soon after the win, Eng. Othman reported being approached by several companies which expressed their will to sponsor and assist him in perfecting and subsequently marketing his device.

Worth noting, the winning project was awarded AED 25,000 from Ruwad Establishment and AED 15,000 from Sharjah Television.