American Ambassador in Cairo, Margret Scobey, had a meeting with a group of talented Egyptian students in the field of Science and Engineering supported by the Planetarium Science Center, on Sunday, 7 February 2010. The American Ambassador listened to the ideas and ambitions of the students, as well as watching presentations on their projects.
Moreover, a number of eminent figures also attended the meeting such as Amb. Hagar El-Islambouly, Head of External Relations Sector at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), Eng. Hoda El-Mikaty, Director of the Planetarium Science Center at the BA, in addition to the Director of the American Center in Alexandria and a number of scholars specialized in the field of science and engineering.
Amb. Scobey also praised the young Egyptian scientists' distinct projects, which participated in ALEX Science and Engineering Fair competition 2009. She stated that she was very impressed by their innovation of useful and applicable devices, with limited available resources.
The meeting has resulted in an arrangement of various frequent future meetings for the students and young scientists with significant figures and American scientists, especially Dr. Ahmed Zeweil, the great scientist who will be meeting with the students in mid-February.
Amb. Scobey had listened to the explanation of six scientific projects, such as: "Show me your License", presented by Ahmed Samir Rashed, which aims to prevent accidents and robberies, and "Let All Control", by Belal Magdy Elsayed, 18 years, and Mohanad Alaa Abdel Monaem, 17 years, which aims to allow handicapped people to have control over computers.
The two students Ahmed Tarek Fahmy and Ibrahim Mohamed Hany presented a project entitled "Sign Language Translator"; a device that could translate sign-language into written words, in order to help the deaf to communicate with the society. The device works when a mute person wears special gloves and starts doing the sign language; hence, the device recognizes these signs and translates them into readable text that appears on a small screen hanged on the person's chest. The device is characterized by its small size, light weight and mobility, as it works with batteries and does not need to be attached to a computer. The team experimented the device on the deaf and the mute in "Resala", "Asdaa" and "Efhamny" associations, after they have learnt the Egyptian sign language. They also discovered that the rate of communication between the deaf and the society has increased by 40% after applying the device. This project is unprecedented in solving the problem of miscommunication with the deaf, as the students studied previous attempts of researchers to solve that problem; however, this device is considered the best in overcoming many of the flaws found in the old systems.
The Ambassador also watched presentations on other projects such as "How to Use Genetics to Resist Some Plant Diseases?", "Sink Safely", and "Salt Water as an Alternative Fuel to Marine Engines".
To read more about the Ambasador's visit in the Arabic Language, please visit the websites below:
http://www.elbashayer.com/news-82898.html?sms_ss=facebook
http://www.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=186912
To watch the Ambassador's visit photos, please visit our Photo Gallery at the link below:
http://www.bibalex.org/psc/Gallery/Gallery.aspx?lang=en