Qatarization & Development (Q&D) concluded another successful edition of its summer internship program on July 25, 2019 with an awards ceremony at the Qatalum Training Center. Eleven students—two from Texas A&M Qatar and nine from Qatar University—were selected from the two universities' mechanical, chemical and electrical engineering programs for the six-week summer internship which began on 16 June, 2019.
A merit-based enrolment process was conducted preceding the program wherein the interns were selected. These students also had to undergo the required medical checks and inductions. They were allocated to the different operational areas where they worked on projects that help Qatalum in identifying bottlenecks and providing practical solutions and suggestions to optimize the smelter's processes.
The top three projects were recognized and presented with awards on the final day of the internship. They were: Sustainable Solutions of Used Refractory Bricks—Carbon—which was awarded the first place; Asset Integrity Assessment due to Plant Aging—Carbon—in second place; and the project that claimed the third place was Batch Homogenization Pneumatic System Study and Improvement-Casthouse. Mohammed Al-Mannai A/Qatarization & Development Manager congratulated the winners and the participating students on the successful conclusion of their projects and wished them the very best for their future. Qatalum CEO Tom Petter Johansen expressed his appreciation for the students' efforts with their projects whose key outcomes included process improvement and cost saving for Qatalum.
Dr. Nasser Ahmed Al-Emadi, Head of Qatar University's Electrical Engineering Department, along with his colleagues Dr. Mohammed Saleh from the Chemical Engineering Department and Dr. Asan Abdulghani from the Mechanical Engineering Department had visited students at Qatalum during the internship and expressed their gratitude and satisfaction with the summer internship program. Dr. Al-Emadi said: "I thank Qatalum for accommodating our students and providing them with this opportunity. Summer training is one of the most important programs in their curriculum and this incredible chance to get real-life work experience enhances and complements their learning."
Q&D would like to thank all the departments that supported and helped Q&D host another successful summer internship program. Q&D is pleased to engage with students and provide such work platforms for them, and wishes them success in their future endeavors.
