GUST Organizes 1st Computer Applications & Technological Solutions Conference

Gulf University for Science and Technology held its first Computer Applications & Technological Solutions - CATS 2022, under the theme “Impact of Covid-19 on Computer Applications and Technological Solutions”.

The conference’s main theme revolved around COVID and how it impacted the technological aspect of human life. The pandemic has created hardships for organizations, corporations, employees, and consumers, while impacting economies through constituted lockdowns and decreased economic activity. This has instigated seismic shifts in work place set ups pushing employers to utilize remote work platforms, in turn creating a boom in the available remote working tools. Digital adoption also was present in the education field, which saw a significant increase between educational institutes worldwide. The pandemic raised many unique challenges to these sectors forcing them to make a rapid move towards using latest technologies trying to find innovative solutions to counteract the challenges brought about by the pandemic.

 

The three day CATS conference shed light on the technological challenges and solutions faced during COVID era by bringing together some of the brightest minds of technology industry, to discuss the latest technological solutions utilized during the pandemic. The conference’s program provided a myriad of discussions that bought up vital topics related to the current situation. Some of notable discussions were:

- “Smart Connected World: Is it Ready for COVID Pandemic” by Prof. Magdy Bayoumi, Head of W. H. Hall Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Louisiana.

- “Biomedical Signal Restoration for COVID-19 Infection Map Generation and Early Detection” by Prof. Serkan Kiranyaz, Professor at College of Engineering, Qatar University.

- “Trends in Cybersecurity Research for a Global Community of Stakeholders” by Dr. Michael Hsieh, Executive Director, Transformative Cyber Innovation Lab.

- “Can I learn during COVID-19: Accessibility of Arabic online supporting children teaching and learning resources” by Iyad Abu Doush, American University of Kuwait.

- “Teaching Academic Writing during COVID: multimodal composition” by Inas Mahfouz, American University of Kuwait.

- “Towards a Unified English Technologically-Based Writing Curriculum in the Arabian Gulf Countries-The Case of Kuwait” by Hussain Al Sharoufi, Gulf University for Science and Technology.

- “The rise of the learning from experience and the fall of theories” by Prof. Wathiq Mansoor, Dean of College of Engineering and IT, University of Dubai.

Other notable conference keynote speakers were:

  • - Dr Dari Alhuwail a Fellow of the International Academy of Health Sciences Informatics
  • - Dr. Christo El Morr is an Associate Professor of Health Informatics, the Health Informatics Certificate Coordinator, and former Undergraduate Program Director at the School of Health Policy and Management at York University.
  • - Dr. Tyrone W A Grandison, Director of Partner Technology Strategist for Public Sector in the Global ISV (Industry Solution Vendor) organization at Microsoft
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GUST management welcomed the keynote and took them on a tour around the university campus. The speakers commended the organization of the conference and praised GUST’s faculty for their hard work and dedication. Student volunteers involved in the conference showed commitment to learning and were keen to meet the keynote speakers to discuss their professional future plans and attain guidance from the world’s greatest technology industry minds.

One of the main highlights of the conference was the touristic tour. Keynote speakers, faculty members and students from GUST joined the visiting Keynote speakers in a tour to Kuwait towers and Mubarakiya Souq. Where they had a chance to enjoy the lovely weather and the old souk.