The Palestine Polytechnic University – Hebron was a double winner at today’s national finals for Microsoft’s 2011 Imagine World Cup. The theme of Microsoft’s Imagine Cup for this year is: “Imagine a world where technology helps solve the toughest problems.”

 

The Biotechnology Research Center co-led a design team that met this challenge, with their “Smart Kit” design of specialized software linked to a digital camera for tracking insect motion, and were awarded third place for their creativity, imagination and ingenuity.

 

The success is another vindication of the Biotechnology Research Center’s philosophy of multidisciplinary collaboration in bringing practical biotechnology solutions to real-world problems. Dr Rami Arafeh from the BRC teamed up with Ms. Suzan Sultan, College of Administrative Sciences and Informatics, and her students to bring the power of information technology to bear on the problem of insect pest control in Palestine’s troubled food and agriculture sector.

 

Dr Rami Arafeh is picture here at the prestigious Arab American University-Jenin, which hosted this year’s national final, with winning students Mu'ayad Rwashdh, Mohammed Al-Gazzawi and Thabet Jubeh.  Photographed with them are the students of the other winning team from the Palestine Polytechnic University – Hebron, who took first place and will go on to represent Palestine at the worldwide final to be held in New York.