NYUAD celebrates International Women’s Day Warda Malik

The Office of Community Outreach organized the celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, and encouraged the student body to wear purple, white and green colors to show solidarity. Various student organizers led the event during breakfast, lunch and dinner in the East Plaza. They showcased the local female champions from the UAE community and informed students about groups working for women’s causes at NYUAD, like Women’s Leadership Network, Girls’ Education Network and weSTEM, among others. NYUAD community members shared anecdotes about what women have taught them, which were then displayed in the Dining Hall.

One of the student organizers wrote to The Gazelle about his experience arranging the event.

“Celebrating International Women's Day on campus has opened my eyes quite a bit,” said freshman Sharif Ibrahim. “There was the staff member that told me, with eyes glistening with unshed tears, how ardently he stresses respect of all women, for after all, ‘without women there is no world.’”

“Let's take a moment to remember the established women in society we can easily revere, but also the ones behind the scenes whom without their bravery, love, and dedication, nearly nothing is possible,” he added.

Photo by Warda Malik/The Gazelle

NYUAD Team Wins Innovator 2016 Warda Malik

Innovator 2016 was organized by the Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee on March 3 and March 4 at the Abu Dhabi Corniche. The project submissions were related to science and technology, and the event featured prototypes from over 200 innovators. The NYU Abu Dhabi team exclusively comprised freshmen: Saad Sultan, Pranav Mehta, Titas Geryba and Hamdan Alhosani. Their project, VersaTILES, won a cash prize of 10,000 AED, placing first in the Art and Design category.

According to Sultan, the competition was a great opportunity with relatively low stakes: “We didn't go to the competition to win or lose,” he said. “We thought that it would allow us to better immerse ourselves in the world of design and engineering.”

The VersaTILES project is an interactive mosaic matrix, which users can utilize on a pixel-by-pixel level. The group believes that VersaTILES could be integrated with the walls of Corniche underpasses, livening up the space for pedestrians.

“If something like VersaTILES is introduced on the walls of the underpass, people will stop by, exchange ideas, interact and collaborate in an artistic way to make something interesting,” added Sultan.

On March 8, the Career Development Center and the IDEA Lab hosted NYUAD’s first Startup Career Night, with 26 startup companies from around the UAE attending the event. The Startup Career Night was open to all university students within the UAE who are interested in working or interning in the startup sector. Similar to the Opportunities Fair held earlier this semester by the CDC, the invited companies represented various industries like healthcare, web applications, mobile development and e-commerce; prominent names included Zomato, VentureSouq and AstroLabs among others. Both full-time opportunities and summer internships were on offer.

Students found the event helpful in developing contacts with startup companies in the UAE.

“As a junior it is very valuable for me to network with a large number of companies and doing that face-to-face definitely is much more rewarding than sending cold emails,” said junior Batu Ayetimiz.

“For this particular event there weren't many companies that I saw myself working with, yet I am in active contact with the only one I had a conversation with … in the end one is all you need,” he added.

Postgraduate Practical Training Program Khadeeja Farooqui

On March 11,  NYUAD announced a new research program titled Postgraduate Practical Trainng Program. It begins on May 22 and will allow NYUAD faculty members to hire graduating NYUAD seniors to work on faculty research projects in the summer, following the graduation of Class of 2016.

According to the announcement on the NYUAD Student Portal, research assistants will be paid a stipend of 1836 AED per week. Research assistants are expected to work a minimum of 35 hours per week for a minimum of four weeks. The program is supposed to commence on May 22 and last until July 30. Duties may include fieldwork as well as work in classrooms and laboratories. To be eligible to apply for the program, students must be graduating in May 2016 and must possess a valid student visa through August 2016, as NYUAD will not sponsor new visas specifically for this purpose.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for students who are going into research or grad school following graduation to gain more experience, finish ongoing projects or strengthen connections with faculty,” said senior Aliz Toth.

Student Production: Women Riding in the Sand Warda Malik

The NYUAD Arts Centre presented the student production Women Riding in the Sand on March 10, 11 and 12 in the Black Box. The acclaimed Carlos Díaz León directed the production, which served as an investigation into the works of the famous Spanish playwright, poet and director Federico García Lorca, whose plays explored questions of love, gender, identity and desire. It proved to be popular among NYUAD students, some of whom lined up an hour before the production’s opening.

One of the cast members, freshman Atoka Jo, said that the chance to perform was worth the time-intensive rehearsals. “It was a great experience,” said Jo. “I loved it.”

The show interwove concepts from three of Lorca’s plays: Blood Wedding, Yerma and La Casa de Bernarda Alba.

Translation during Commencement Khadeeja Farooqui

A post on the NYUAD Student Portal has announced that the university is conducting a survey to assess if there are common languages spoken by a significant number of the Class of 2016’s commencement guests so that the university can provide translation services in addition to the traditional live Arabic translation of the ceremony.

The survey asks seniors if their guests’ proficiency in English and Arabic is such that it prevents them from understanding a considerable amount of the ceremonial exercises. Apart from requesting information on native languages, the university is also asking students to report any other additional languages that their guests comprehend, which could assist them in understanding the ceremony.

A new salad bar has been established in the Dining Hall. It is located by the cash registers and includes 24 single food options, four dressings and rotating ready-made salads. There are additional portion-controlled items such as chicken, tuna and quinoa available in the fridges.

The Emirates Airline Literature Festival Grega Ulen

This year, the Emirates Airline Literature Festival took place at the InterContinental Hotel, Dubai Festival City, between March 1 and March 12. In partnership with 62 sponsors, including the title sponsor Emirates Airline, the Middle East’s largest literature festival offered a variety of events, encouraging interaction with literature through reading, writing and debating.

According to the website, panel discussions, performances, film screenings and workshops brought together 140 writers from 25 countries and attracted more than 37,000 visitors.

This year’s theme was Time; the festival also stressed the topic of youth education, addressing a younger public through inter-school quizzes, writing competitions and meetings with authors. Distinguished artists and professionals offered masterclasses and the three days of sessions focused attention on UAE-based writers. The agenda culminated in a conversation with the 2015 winners of the International prize for Arabic Fiction, Shukri Mabkhout and Hammour Ziada. The festival featured events in both English and Arabic, and provided simultaneous translations into either language.

Although the main program has ended, some of the activities of the Emirates Airline Literature Festival extend throughout the year, including various reading groups, the Arabic Language Week and Dubai International Writers’ Center.