Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences & Engineering doctoral student, Mahmoud Ouda, won the second place at the seventh Annual International Microelectronics Olympiad that took place in Armenia. This year's event was held in cooperation with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Test Technology Technical Council (TTTC). The Olympiad topics for 2012 included Digital IC Design and Test, Analog and Mixed-Signal IC Design and Test, Semiconductor Devices and Technology, and Mathematics and Algorithmic Issues of Electronic Design Automation (EDA). This year's competition reflected the diversity of the 418 competitors representing 14 countries: Armenia, Belarus, China, Egypt, Germany, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, UAE, Ukraine, and the USA. The event was featured on CNBC, fox news, stock watch, and PR Newswire.
Mahmoud got his bachelor's and master's degree from Ain Shams University, Egypt and is currently doing his Ph.D. at the electrical engineering department at KAUST under the supervision of Prof. Khaled Salama. His research is on developing On-Chip RF Energy Harvesting modules to deliver power to wireless sensors from incoming RF signals. This module provides a platform for battery-less, miniaturized wireless sensors that can be implanted inside the human body to monitor physical properties such as pressure or temperature and send the reading wirelessly to an external reader. This work can find further application in biomedical implants, asset management, goods tracking in the supply chain, contactless smart cards, and wireless sensors in smart buildings and home automation.
