General Motors Names ThinkScience Special Award Winner

As part of its ongoing commitment to inspiring passion for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM), General Motors partnered with the Emirate’s Foundation ThinkScience festival to recognize, display and reward enthusiastic STEM students from high schools and universities across the UAE’s seven emirates

In this role, General Motors provided a Special Award in the competition that offered one entrant an internship at the General Motors Middle East office. The winning student would work closely with the GM team on a project related to their STEM concept. 

Gary D. West, Managing Director of Future Mobility, said: “At General Motors we work hard to foster a culture of constant innovation and believe that innovation is driven by those who ask questions and bring new solutions to the table, which is why platforms like the ThinkScience festival are essential in moving STEM related industries forward.”

“We are in the midst of a transportation revolution, completely transforming how our customers move from point A to point B – by supporting and expanding STEM education among the youth we are helping better equip the technical experts of tomorrow that will lead the future of mobility.”

Selected by Daniel Oden, Regional Quality Manager, Ibrahim Taqi, a mechanical engineer student at Dubai’s Men’s College, took home the award. The team’s project, ‘Keeping Children Safe’, consisted of a smart system self-activated once children were left in cars with closed windows – a clear danger. Tackling the main risk associated to this situation - decreased oxygen - the smart system would automatically roll the windows down to allow a certain amount of oxygen into the car, ultimately keeping the children safely breathing until the driver’s return.

Speaking on the opportunity, Taqi said: “When I learned I got the internship, I felt really lucky. Now that I’m with the Quality team, I can already tell I’ll be able to learn so much and that this internship will have an impact on my career and future.”

General Motors team was so impressed by the work done by students that it has offered a second internship to Taqi’s teammate, Hussain Ghadhoob Salem Moosa. Moosa will join the Future Mobility team at GM Middle East on July 1st.

Daniel Oden commented: “Evaluating projects in the Transportation and Road Safety Systems category at the ThinkScience competition was exciting. The competition was very close, and it was inspiring being around such ambitious STEM students with so many promising projects and ideas from across the UAE.”

He added, “Ibrahim Taqi and his team truly stood out as we looked at the design, methodology, execution, creativity and overall presentation of their project. Safety is our overriding priority at General Motors, and Ibrahim’s project used innovation to help save more lives. We are thrilled to welcome Ibrahim into the General Motors Quality Team during his internship.”