Society of Engineering Students

The Society of Engineering Students, incorporated in Ethiopia only in late summer of 2010, held its first convention for engineering students across the country. In the Fall of 2010, representatives from 12 universities met to build a learned society to increase the number of culturally responsible engineering students, who excel academically, succeed professionally, and positively impact the community. Six of the 12 universities were successful in sending teams for the Millennium Engineering Award (MENA) competition. The 50,000birr competition was to help the chapters engage with each other across universities and lower the barrier to work in interdisciplinary teams.

The 2011 SES convention was successful bringing engineering students from six universities, featuring the MENA competition, the Society Express Talks, and various motivational speakers. Students sent their abstracts following the Society’s spring leadership conference in February, 2011. The ideas were peer reviewed, and students submitted their full reports after the SES summer workshops in late August. The Society held a two day workshop on leadership and entrepreneurship in the summer of 2011 to strengthen the chapter leaders and members. Eleven teams presented from the three dozen that initially submitted their abstracts. During the first day of the convention, the finalists presented their ideas before a panel of judges, who were selected from both academia and industry.

A machine designed to continuously produce Injera, by Nahom Mulugeta and Fitsum Dagne from AAIT, claimed the 50,000Birr prize and the MENA 2011 title. A team from Bahir Dar University, including Muluken Alem, Yasssabie Abatneh, and Abyot Melkamu, claimed second place for its design of manufacturing fiber from bamboo.

The second day, the eve of 2012, featured various invited guest and the MENA winners were announced. The event was held at Ras Hotel with hosts Ms. Mulu Solomon, an Entrepreneur & Writer, and Dr. Ing Daniel Kitaw, Associate Professor at AAIT Mechanical Engineering Department (Pictured below). Professor Masresha Fetene, VP for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies at Addis Ababa University, and Mr. Getachew Biratu, entrepreneur and owner of Super Garment, were among the speakers. The Society also released its first issue of Journal of SES, which is available for purchase on the Society’s website.

The journal features three full reports in three categories, including exploratory research, invention/innovation design, and field notes. The Current Stand of Free and Open Source Software in Ethiopia by Rahel Tesfaye of AAIT was selected for the category of Exploratory Research. The 2011 CDO finalists from Adama University were chosen in the invention/innovation category, for their Slow Sand Filtration System design. The field notes or Social Entrepreneurship category featured the Woliya Yejju Genet Primary School Development by Getachew Seid from Ethiopian Institute of Technology in Mekelle. In addition a total of 17 abstracts were chosen for publication in these three categories. The journal also includes letter to the Society members and faculty from Dr. Billilign Solomon and SES advisors.

Finally, there are far too many people to thank for the successful completion of the convention, and the Society is grateful on behalf of our members for all your support. We want to thank our members however for their willingness to travel long distances and attend the convention only two weeks away from final exams. We applaud your commitments as individual and chapter. We also would like to thank our advisors, who supported us financially and believed in us all along. Thank you.

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