Texas A&M University Qatar's Dean and CEO, Dr Mark Weichold (left), and Dan Cox, Vice-President ExxonMobil Qatar.

DOHA • The Petroleum Engineering Programme at Texas A&M University, Qatar hosted the Annual TAMUQ Student Paper Contest on Saturday, which was sponsored by ExxonMobil. This contest allowed university students to write and present technical papers. Contest participation is made up of TAMUQ third and fourth year students, and this year's contest included 40 students.

Presentations were held in six parallel sessions; four sessions by third year students in the Junior Level and two sessions by fourth year students in the Senior Level. Papers and presentations were judged by industry professionals during the event and the top two students from each session received a prize of QR1,000 and QR500, respectively.

The winners were: Senior Level - Session 1: Megha Mohan (1st place), Amna Al Tayeeb (2nd place); Session 2: Sara Al Saadi (1st place), Lama Al Oreibi (2nd place); Junior Level - Session 1: Bashir Sinno (1st place), Fatima Al Mulla (2nd place); Session 2: Hussein Jichi (1st place), Sara Khashabi (2nd place); Session 3: Mehrenoosh Saneifar (1st place), Noor Al Sooj, (2nd place); Session 4: Mohammed Jumaa (1st place), Tausif Ahmed (2nd place)

Texas A&M University at Qatar's Dean and CEO, Dr Mark Weichold, and Dan Cox, Vice President ExxonMobil Qatar Inc (EMQI), signed a memorandum of understanding stating that EMQI not only would sponsor this first round of the competition held at Texas A&M, but a second run-off competition between the winners, as well as expenses for the top two winners to travel to the sub-regional competition of the Society of Petroleum Engineering Student Paper Contest that will be held in one of the GCC countries. The winners for the sub regional contest will take part in the Middle East - North Africa regional competition to select the student who will participate in the international contest that will be held in Denver, Colorado, in Fall 2008.

“EMQI’s sponsorship of this programme gives our students the opportunity to practice translating their engineering designs from graph paper or the computer screen to the written and spoken word. Opportunities like these help shape our students into well-rounded engineers,” said Dr Mahmood Amani, contest organizer and professor in the Texes A&M University at Qatar Petroleum Engineering Programme.

“We are pleased to sponsor the SPE contest in association with Texas A&M Qatar for the second time. It is ExxonMobil’s longstanding belief that education is the key to progress, development and economic growth, and we are committed to being a responsible partner in the communities where we do business. We provide internships, entry level, and experienced opportunities for graduates in Engineering, Computer Science, Accounting/Finance, Business, Human Resources, Government & Public Affairs and Law”, said Cox.