Texas A&M University at Qatar and Maersk Oil Qatar focus on professionals for closing day of WCEE 2013

The event, sponsored by Maersk Oil Qatar, attracted engineering leaders, educators and innovators from top engineering institutions around the world and is set to become the preeminent gathering for engineering professionals and academics. The event's final day focused on professionals and their evolving needs through industry panels and workshops.

Wednesday's congress featured panels and workshops focused on engineering professionals. The day's plenary session was entitled "Meeting the Gulf's Need for Engineering Leaders" and featured local industry experts Dr. Mohamed Yousuf Al-Mulla, vice chairman and CEO at Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO); Mr. Frank Soren, head of Maersk Oil Research and Technology Centre at QSTP; Mr. Raed Al-Emadi, COO at Silatech; and Mr. Khalifa Saleh Al-Haroon, founder of iLoveQatar.net and head of Innovation and Interactive at Vodafone in Qatar. Dr. Todd Kent, assistant dean for Academic Affairs at Texas A&M at Qatar moderated the industry panel.

The day's program highlights included a leaders' track, educators' track, and a partnerships and collaborations track that addressed the role of industry, critical thinking, ethics and entrepreneurship to the future of engineering education. Featured topics incorporated discussions on excellence in engineering, global opportunities and challenges and required skills for engineers, among others.

The leaders track for Wednesday's program included sessions "The Role of Research in Education Excellence" moderated by Dr. Nabeel Al-Salem, Deputy Director of Qatar National Research Fund; "Industry - University Collaboration" moderated by Dr. Othmane Bouhali, Director of Research Computing at Texas A&M at Qatar; and "Women in Engineering" moderated by Dr. Mashhad Fahes, assistant professor of petroleum engineering at Texas A&M at Qatar.

The educators track featured "Critical Thinking for Engineering Students" with Dr. Ali Al-Harthy, professor and dean of engineering at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, Oman, as session chair; and "Preparing Engineers for Grand Challenges" with session chair Dr. Ramzi Abd Taha, associate dean for Academic Affairs, College of Engineering, at Qatar University.

"Entrepreneurship and Leadership" led the partnerships and collaborations track with Kent as session chair. This panel was followed by "Ethics in Engineering Education for a Globalized World" moderated by Dr. Phillip Gray, Texas A&M at Qatar visiting professor of political science.

Dr. Mark H. Weichold, Texas A&M at Qatar dean and CEO and congress general chair, said, "Today's sessions are a culmination of a comprehensive three-day program of panels and discussions meant to help drive engineering education and innovation forward. As we have explored topics on this final day such as "What is Excellence in Engineering Education" and "Succeeding as an Engineering Professional," as well as the many timely session track topics, our hope is that all who have attended today, be they involved in engineering education, research, technology or the engineering discipline itself, will take this innovative thinking regarding creative solutions to meeting future challenges with them into their daily work and strive to nurture the engineers of tomorrow, as well as the young engineering leaders of today. Engineering is present in all elements of our environment and encouraging excellence in this field's dynamic and varied elements is vitally important."

WCEE is the first congress of its kind in Qatar and featured speakers from five continents, five members of the National Academy of Engineering, five heads of professional engineering societies, four heads of engineering education societies and over 80 speakers. It acted as a catalyst to foster engineering and engineering technology education in the region and beyond, and provided a forum for researchers, engineers and academics from all over the world to present and disseminate their research results and development activities concerning modern engineering education.

WCEE presented three days of workshops, panels, invited talks and peer-reviewed papers, as well as 30 different sessions and workshops that addressed a diverse range of topics across the engineering field.