Institution news
Every year IMechE NUST reaches out to as many people as possible, to welcome new members and particularly the freshmen, the chief target audience. The Orientation Session organised by the Institution's NUST Student Chapter on 17 September, 2019 in the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering attracted around 140 students, of which 30 were members of IMechE.
Like every year, IMechE NUST Student Chapter organised an orientation session to welcome the freshman batch of mechanical department. However, this year the student chapter, as a gesture of goodwill, also provided its platform to other societies of NUST for introducing the freshmen to the technical and highly competitive, fraternal environment of the highest ranking university of Pakistan - NUST. The societies which joined hands with IMechE NSC included the student chapters of Intitution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). The collaboration was the first of its kind at NUST and a laudable step towards synergising and expediting the achievement of shared goals and vision.
Before the event, as per tradition and need, an organising committee was formed with Mr. Usama Saghir, Mr. Shahzaib Asim and Ms. Sjaa Mukhtar as the event heads/organisers. The committee’s great zeal for making the event, where several other societies shared a single platform, a successful one was evident throughout. Although there were a few bumps along the road, the overall preparation and execution of the event went considerably smooth.
The event began at 1100 hours with the opening speech by the host, Mr. Raffay Waseem, who introduced the audiece to the Institution and its various branches all around the globe. The student chair of IMechE NSC, Mr. Saad Shabeer, shed further light on the different events and activities organised by the student chapter. The student chair articulated that IMechE NSC held the great privilege of organising some chief technical events of national and international stature around NUST, like Design Challenge, Speak Out for Engineering and Jibran Khalid Memorial Leadership and Communication Challenge. He also highlighted that the student chapter had also been initiating and completing industrial and research projects.
The event was continued with orientations by the other societies. The first presentation was by the chapter of ASME, followed by the NUST Society of Mechanical Engineers. The event continued with a recorded video message from IMechE Pakistan's past webmaster, Mr. Syed Mobeen Hussain, for the newly admitted students. Mr. Hussain emphasised the few points which differentiated IMechE from other engineering societies, and also listed the benefits gained from an IMechE membership. The IET student chapter delivered its orientation after the video message.
As the clock ticked towards the final hour, IMechE NSC conducted an activity for warming up the fresh brains and aligning them with the thinking criterion of competitive engineers. Around 64 freshmen took part in this constructive learning session. The activity was to improvise a catapult from a limited set of popsicle sticks, rubber bands, a spoon, scotch tape and some thread. The objective was to target the farthest of a series of linearly organised cups. The participants were given a time limit to build their catapults. The response was extremely positive and the participants’ desire for “true engineering” manifested itself very well. After a heated competition, the results were announced. The winning team members were:
- Mr. Asad Afzal
- Mr. Muhammad Farhan
- Mr. Usama Irfan
- Mr. Muhammad Rafay
- Mr. Ibrahim Khan
- Mr. Umar Zahid
- Mr. Ali Jaan.
The event concluded when the winners of the short competition were awarded with prizes by the respectable faculty advisor of IMechE NUST Student Chapter, Dr. Syed Husain Imran Jaffery (Chartered Engineer IMechE).
The event, held and organized with great fervour, helped the fresh students learn about the various platforms the Institution provides them with for professionally developing themselves. Additionally, it raised awareness among the budding mechanical engineers regarding the numerous benefits which an IMechE membership can provide.