UTAS-Salalah: The Research and Consultancy Team of Department of IT hosted a webinar on ‘Digital Transformation’. Dr. Zahir Ahmed Ali Al-Rashdi, Digital Transformation Manager in Sultan Qaboos University and Sultan Qaboos University Hospital Muscat, Oman, was the resource person. Dr. Zahir discussed various aspects of Digital Transformation with relevant examples. The session offered an opportunity to connect theoretical concepts with real-world practical scenarios, effectively bridging the gap. Overall, it proved to be a good learning experience for all participants, providing valuable insights into the realm of Digital Transformation. The webinar concluded with Q & A with the attendees. The IT Department awarded an e-certificate of appreciation to the presenter for his informative presentation. Nearly 70 participants attended this session.
The Research and Consultancy Team, Department of IT, UTAS-Salalah led by Dr. Fatima Ali Amer Jid Al-Mahri, Assistant Professor, hosted the webinar on November 14, 2023, along with the Team Dr. M. Chithik Raja, Dr. Suresh Palarimath, Ms. Melissa Juanillo, Dr. Ujjwal Agarwal, Dr.Mohammed Maqsood and Dr. Praveen Kumar. The webinar was facilitated by the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CCIS). Dr.Fatima Al Mahri thanked the resource person, attendees and the members of IT Research and Consultancy Team.
UTAS-Salalah: The Research and Consultancy Team of Department of IT hosted a workshop on ‘Deep Learning’ on November 21, 2023. Dr. Mohammed Abdullah Salim Al Husaini, researcher and academician was the resource person for this workshop. Dr. Mohammed discussed various aspects of Deep Learning with relevant examples. The workshop offered an opportunity to connect theoretical concepts with real-world practical scenarios, effectively bridging the gap. Overall, it proved to be a good learning experience for all participants, providing valuable insights into the Deep Learning concepts. Nearly 60 participants attended the workshop. The workshop concluded with Q & A with the attendees. The speaker was presented with a certificate of appreciation for his informative presentation.
Facilitated by the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CCIS), the Research and Consultancy Team, led by Dr. Fatima Ali Amer Jid Al-Mahri, Assistant Professor, Department of IT, UTAS-Salalah hosted this workshop. She thanked the resource person, workshop participants and the members of IT Research and Consultancy Team Dr. M. Chithik Raja, Dr. Mohammed Maqsood , Dr. Ujjwal Agarwal ,Dr. Suresh Palarimath, Ms. Melissa Juanillo, and Dr. Praveen Kumar.
Facilitated by the College of Computing and Information Sciences (CCIS), the Research and Consultancy committee, led by Dr. Fatima Ali Amer Jid Al-Mahri, Assistant Professor, Department of IT, hosted a webinar on Ethical Hacking at the Salalah campus of the University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS) On October 31, 2023. Dr. Mohammed Alrawi, General Manager of the Muwhibh R&D Academy in Muscat, Oman, was the resource person for this webinar.
Nearly hundred participants attended the webinar. Dr. Mohammed Alrawi discussed various aspects of Ethical Hacking with relevant examples. The webinar offered an opportunity to connect theoretical concepts with real-world practical scenarios, effectively bridging the gap. Overall, it proved to be a good learning experience for all participants, providing valuable insights into the realm of Ethical Hacking.
The webinar concluded with Q & A with the attendees. The IT Department awarded Dr. Mohammed Alrawi with an e-certificate of appreciation for his informative presentation.
During the period from October 31 to November 4, 2023, two prominent programming competitions took place at Sultan Qaboos University in Muscat, each offering unique advantages to the participating students.
The Oman Collegiate Programming Competition 2023, which ran from October 31 to November 1, witnessed enthusiastic participation from 23 higher education institutions, comprising 62 teams and an impressive assembly of 186 students. On the other hand, the Gulf Programming Competition 2023, in its eleventh edition, held from November 2 to 4, 2023, transcended regional boundaries by bringing together 27 higher education institutions from various Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait. This diverse competition also featured three guest honor teams from Morocco. Collectively, these 27 higher education institutions contributed 59 teams and 177 students to this challenging event.
Both competitions, organized as part of the Oman code Race program by the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology and hosted at Sultan Qaboos University, achieved a significant milestone by providing a platform for some of the brightest minds in the region's programming community to converge. Notably, it was here that six students from the University of Technology and Applied Sciences - Salalah branch, representing two teams, exhibited their strong determination to participate in these prestigious programming competitions.
These students underwent training over a two-week period, under the guidance of Dr. Lamya Al-Shanfari, the Head of the IT Department, who not only served as their coach but also nurtured their programming skills. Alongside Dr. Suresh Palarimath and Mr. Muni Balaji Thumu. Participating in this type of competitions equipped the students with much more than just technical expertise. It instilled valuable qualities such as teamwork, problem-solving, and the ability to excel in high-pressure situations, all of which are invaluable attributes in the world of competitive programming and beyond.
Information Technology Department, College of computing and information Sciences hosted the Cyber Security Program with the support Cyber Security Course Leaders and Student Development Team in the participation of the Cyber Security Awareness Month conducted globally. This event was conducted for students on 31st of October 2023 in the university with the presence of Dr. Mohammed Al-Mahri, Head of IT Section and Dr. Hafedh Hardan, IT staff from the department.
In the first part of the event, Dr. R. Venkateswaran gave an awareness session on the topic “Easy ways to stay safe online” followed by Mrs. Arwa Al-Shanfari, discussed about the safe usage of email system and guidelines with practical demonstration during the session.
In second part of the event, Dr. Rhouma Hamid Rhouma conducted an ethical hacking session to demonstrate vulnerabilities in web applications and common attack techniques. During the session, a CSRF (Cross-Site Request Forgery) attack was demonstrated, showcasing the ability to manipulate checkout payments on a vulnerable website by forging client requests. Additionally, a fuzzing activity was demonstrated to discover possible subdomains and directories associated with a given URL. The purpose of this activity is to identify potential entry points for further exploitation. Furthermore, a brute force attack was conducted against a login page in order to discover administrative credentials. The principal tools utilized during the demonstration included decoder, repeater, intruder, and turbo intruder from the Burp Suite. These tools are commonly employed in ethical hacking scenarios to analyze and manipulate network traffic, as well as automate certain attack vectors.
Mr. Mohammed Saleem Bhatt started another session focused on the dangers of spyware. A tool called CamPhish was employed to deliberately trick users into clicking on a link. This particular link activates a spying mechanism that captures real-time webcam images from the user's phone or laptop. The purpose of this demonstration was to highlight the potential risks associated with malicious software and the importance of being vigilant when interacting with unfamiliar links or websites.
This ethical hacking session aimed to raise awareness about security vulnerabilities in web applications, familiarize participants with common attack techniques, and emphasize the need for robust security measures to protect against malicious activities.
Last part of the session, cyber security quiz game using a Kahoot tool was conducted by Mr. Senthil Kumar and Dr. Suresh Palarimath with the help of IT club students, all the participating students enjoyed by attempting the quiz
Overall, session was conducted with different activities and students were actively participated. The event was coordinated by the Dr. R. Venkateswaran, faculty and member of Cyber and Information Security Course leader’s team in the university. Dr. Suresh Palarimath Chair - Student Development Team, closed the program by giving a vote of thanks.
Dr. Lamiya Al-Shanfari appreciated the team for conducting a such a beneficial session to our student’s community.
Four students of UTAS-Salalah, Department of ITqualified from the Huawei ICT Competition - Preliminary Round, which was held on October 25, 2023, along with 26 IT students from the branch. The competition aims to provide students in higher education and members in Huawei academy a platform to practice and test their ICT knowledge and skills. It also raises the opportunity to be innovative by using the latest technologies and platforms. The competition was well participated by students from different colleges and universities across the sultanate.
S.No
Student’s ID
Name of the student
E-mail ID
1
2018393074
Hatem Mohammed Aamer Al Hajri
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2
2019393074
Dani Muneer Ayachi
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3
2018393065
Muna Ahmed Ali akaak
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4
46S22337
Haneen Yasser Hamood Al Mamari
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The above-mentioned students will participate in the next round (National Finals) which will be conducted during November 2023 in order to secure a spot in the Middle East Regional Finals.
This has been made possible because of UTAS Salalah solid foundation in computer networking, as well as our efforts to expand our capacity to learn about Huawei technologies. UTAS-Salalah is one of the active Huawei Academy in the region with certified instructors in various networking technologies and open learning courses running to support learners in this field.
The UTAS-Salalah Information Technology Department students demonstrated their enthusiasm by participating in the IEEE Xtreme Programming Competition for the second time on October 28, 2023 in the university campus. It was a worldwide competition, students from all over the world participated in this competition. More than 8000 teams from various institutions competed from the IEEE Student branches of the participating colleges and universities. IT Team details as follows,
Team No.
IT Student’s Name
1.
Ms. Rayyan Mukhtar Shahir Bait Saleem
Alshima Mohammed Alkhazimi
2.
Ms.Raheeq Ebrahim Al-Aroomi
3.
Ms. Fatima Naif Al Aamri
Ms. Malak Sami Hadid Al Aamri
IEEEXtreme Programming Competition is a global coding challenge in which teams of IEEE Student members are advised and proctored by an IEEE member from the affiliated intuitions, and often supported by an IEEE Student Branch. Students compete in a 24-hour time span against each other to solve a set of programming problems.
An IEEE member from one of the affiliated institutions serves as the advisor and proctor for teams of IEEE Student members competing in the worldwide IEEEXtreme Programming Competition, which is frequently sponsored by an IEEE Student Branch. Three IT Teams got the first 3 Ranks among six teams from other universities in the Oman Region and eventually placed 2770, 3433 and 4127 ranks worldwide.
Dr. R. Venkateswaran, IEEE Student Branch Coordinator-IT, proctored and guided the teams, while Dr. Suresh Palarimath and Mr. Muni Balaji from the Student Development Team of IT Department, gave practice in IT programming to the participating team with the presence of Dr. Lamiya Al-Shanfari, HoD of IT Department, College of Computing and Information Sciences.
The team was recognized by Dr. Majdi Mohammed Said Bait Ali Sulaiman, Deputy of Assistant Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs (DAVC-AA) and Chairperson of UTAS-Salalah IEEE Student Branch. Dr. Lamiya Al-Shanfari, Head of Information Technology Department appreciated the entire team for this program.
IT department of the College of Computing and Information Sciences UTAS Salalah has conducted the “Internal Programming Competition 2023” for the IT students on 17th October 2023 from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. Total 24 students of all the levels are participated in the competition.
Students were given 10 competitive programming questions and who ever solved the most were winner. Students were free to choose the programming language of their choice.
IT-Student Development Team Dr. Suresh Palarimath, Mr. Devarajan, Mrs. Arwa Al Shanfari and Mr. Tarek Fatnassi has organized this competition with the support of Dr. Tauqeer Usmani, Mrs. Mumtaz Yasmin, Dr. Wasim Haider, Mr. Layeeq Ahmed, Dr. Syed Khaja Mohideen, Dr. R. Venkateswaran and Mrs. Lincy Grace Kanagaselvi.
Among the 24 participated students, top 6 are awarded with the attractive prizes. The winners are: Al Shima Mohammed Alkhazimi – I, Abdullah Salim Rajab Al ojali – II, Raheq Ebrahim Al Aroomi – III, Aquel Abdullah Moqaibel – IV, Jasim Sharki Al Bulashi and Rayyan Mukhtar Shahir bait saleem – V.
Dean of CCIS Dr.Eman Said Al Abri and HOD IT Dr. Lamya Al Shanfri distributed the prizes to the winners. Dr. Eman motivated the students to participate in the upcoming events and competitions with her motivational words.
HOD-IT closed the event by thanking all the organizers and participants of the competition.
The Information Technology Department of UTAS-Salalah branch spearheaded by Dr. Lamiya Said Salim Al-Shanfari, HOD-IT is immensely grateful for the 2-day visit of Dr. Eiman Al-Abri, College Dean-College of Computing and Information Sciences to the department. The College Dean is accompanied by Dr. Muna Saif Humaid Al Rahbi, Program Leader-Information Systems. The visit is part of the regular visit conducted by the College Dean to the different branches to mainly discuss the concerns regarding specializations and programs offered, the challenges faced by staff and students, and the college development initiatives and strategies for academic improvement at the college.
The visit includes a meeting with the student representatives for each level of specialization. They were given the opportunity to interact and have a productive discussion with the College Dean to address the challenges raised. This was followed by a meeting with the College Dean with the UTAS-Salalah branch Assistant Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Ahmed Ali Shahri, and Dr. Majdi Mohammed Bait Ali Sulaiman, Deputy of the Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs regarding the distribution and offering of new specializations, staff requirements and the Math lecturers in Post Foundation. Present also in the meeting were the IT-HOD and the Program Leader, Information Systems. Finally, a meeting with staff transpired to address matters regarding industrial collaboration, the plan on how to strengthen staff and students' research projects, and the department’s plan for student activities.
The visit concluded with the distribution of certificate of appreciation to 12 staff of the IT department who made a significant contribution to the college.
2 days induction program organized by the IT department of the College of Computing and Information Sciences, UTAS Salalah to educate the students about the academic regulations, academic advising procedures and the activities of the department. The program was organized on October 3, 2023 at 12:00 noon in the Multi-Purpose hall and October 10, 2023 at 12:00 noon in the BSIT 5C classroom of the university.
Day 1:
Dr. Lamya Al-Shanfari HOD of IT department welcomed all the guests and students of the program and motivated the students with the vibrant words.
Mr. Hafeed Hardan presented the well-organized and very informative presentation for the students. All the students of the IT department were invited for this program, and students were very happy to attend this program. The program was grand success and ended at 12:30 pm.
Day 2:
Dr. Lamya Al-Shanfari HOD of IT department welcomed all presenters of the day and students to the program, and motivated the students to participate in the activities and the competitions of the department.
Dr. Suresh Palarimath started presentations by presenting the IT Club activities and objectives of the club.
Following presentations are:
Huawei ICT Presentation - Mr. Devarajan Veerasamy
Oracle Academy Presentation - Mr. Hansel Delos Santos & Mr. Azeem Qureshi
Cisco Academy Presentation - Mr. Jhonatan Peter Glycer Rull Tambaoan
ISACA Presentation - Dr. Chithik Raja. M
IEEE Presentation - Dr. R. Venkateswaran
Cyber Security Presentation - Dr. Arwa Said Al Shanfari
Students were overwhelmed to hear about all the academies, activities and the competitions of the department.
The College of Computing and Information Sciences (CCIS) commenced the academic year with a staff gathering on the 3rd of October 2023. The aim of this event is to promote unification and camaraderie among its staff after the merging of the College of Applied Sciences (CAS) and College of Technology (CoT) and to welcome aboard Dr. Lamiya Al Shanfari as the new HOD of the IT Department.
Dr. Lamiya has a wealth of experience and expertise in the field of IT and has held various designations in CAS-IT. In her speech, she reiterated that the IT department will continue to anchor its activities with the UTAS vision and mission. She also envisions new initiatives and programs that will benefit the students, staff, and the department. The IT staff congratulates and supports her on this new endeavor embracing the theme “Coming together is a beginning. Staying together is progress, and working together is SUCCESS”.
During the program, Dr. Fatima Abdullah Said Al Shanfari (CoT-IT) and Dr. Balaji Dhanasekaran (CAS-IT), the former HODs of IT Department, were given a plaque of recognition. They were recognized and highly appreciated for their exceptional leadership, dedication, and valuable contributions to their respective IT Departments (CoT-IT and CAS-IT) for the past 5-6 years. Both HODs have spearheaded various initiatives and programs that helped their respective departments achieve greater heights and new levels of success during their term. In response, Dr. Fatima and Dr. Balaji have expressed their appreciation to all the staff and have shown their support to the new HOD-IT, Dr. Lamiya. All the Math staff who have been part of the IT Department and have handled key roles for several years were also recognized. Their support, dedication, and service to the IT Department remain unparalleled. The Math staff is now part of the Preparatory Studies Center.
The event was initiated by Dr. Lamiya Al Shanfari with the organizing team members including Ms. Arwa Said Al Shanfari, Ms. Lincy Kanagaselvi, Dr. Karthikeyan, Ms. Melissa Juanillo, Mr. Hansel Delos Santos, and hosted by Ms. Asra Anjum. A total of 65 staff (IT and Math) attended the event.
The E-Learning Committee from the College of Computing and Information Sciences(CCIS) of UTAS Salalah conducted a workshop on September 26, 2023. This workshop is about “The E-Learning system” was organized for the Lecturers in the department. The workshop was facilitated by Dr. Syed Khaja Mohideen, the chairman of the E-Learning Committee-IT and he discussed all features in our university's e-learning portal and its application. Dr.Lamiya Said A lShanfari, the HoD-IT, College of Computing and Information Sciences appreciated the entire team for this program.
It was the noble idea and humble gesture of the IT-HOD, Dr.Fatima Al-Shanfari to celebrate and recognize the achievements and contributions of staff towards the Department.
The special guest of honor for the IT-STAFF GATHERING 2023 was Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. Majdi Mohammed Said Bait Ali Sulaiman, he was very generous and friendly. He delivered a motivational message and encouraged all the staff members to work in team and as one family, moreover he appreciated all the staff members for getting adapted to the transitions that are taking place in the university from time to time. He also emphasized on how IT courses and Math courses are crucial for the students in the digital and scientific era.
Another important part of the gathering was the “Green office initiative launch” by IT-HOD, Dr. Fatima Al-Shanfari in lined with the agenda of college Dean Dr. Mohammed Rashid Al- Mammari, on incorporating new and effective techniques to achieve Environment Friendly (Eco- Friendly) and Green Office at the workplace. In this regard each staff member was handed over with a pot of “SNAKE PLANT” with an aim to promote green office environment with the slogan written on the pot “I will do my share to make this world a healthier, greener, and cleaner place to live for me and the future generations”.
The next highlight of the event was IT GREEN SPACE (A Foam wall) where all the IT-staff members and technicians posted their beautiful and heartfelt messages as the memories to cherish in future.
The certificate of recognition was handed over to the staff who has mentored the student projects and won prizes for the same in the academic year 2022-2023.
To make the event friendlier and happier few indoor games were conducted and prizes were awarded to the winners. The closing remarks were proposed by IT-HOD, Dr. Fatima Al-Shanfari were she appreciated each and every one for their wonderful contribution in delivering their duties throughout the academic year and bringing laurels to the department. She also expressed her heartfelt gratitude to the organizing team for making this staff gathering a grand success.
The event ended with the vote of thanks delivered by Mrs. Asra Anjum (Lecturer in Math), the host of the program where she thanked each and every one right from the college Dean, ADAA, HOD-IT, HOS’s, Program coordinators, staff, organizing team for the event and the Backbone of the entire program, Ms. Melisssa P. Juanillo who has tirelessly and endlessly worked hard day in and day out to make this event a remarkable one.
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The Majan University College organized “1st Student Symposium on Research and Innovation in Computing and Information Technology”. The program was recently concluded the final results of this this National Level Symposium 2023.
The competition was conducted in different domain areas. And one of the domain is Internet of Things(IoT) and Smart Technology. The symposium committee announced this competition during April 2023, and they had conducted this competition in multiple rounds, starting from full paper submission, followed by top 10 papers selected form the reviewers’ results during the competition.
According to the organizer, at the final stage of the competition, the participant (student) must connect remotely Microsoft Team meeting and present their research paper presentation and answer the questions of the jury members. The Organizing committee received around 25+ projects from different colleges and university from Oman held on 24th of May 2023.
In the final result, only the team from IT Department, UTAS- Salalah ranked 1rd place in the Symposium. IT Student team are currently studying in the IT Department, University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Salalah.
The IT Students along with Supervisor are,
Name of the Students
Title of The paper
Specialization
Supervisor
SHOUQ AMUR SUHAIL AL-MASHANI
IoT and RFID Enabled Smart Student Monitoring and Safety System
Cyber and Information Security
Dr. R. Venkateswaran,
Faculty, IT Department.
DURR SALIM MOHAMED AL GHARIBI
The Dean of UTAS-Salalah, Dr. Mohammed Rashid Al-Mamari, The Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs, Dr. Majdi Mohammed Said Bait Ali Sulaiman congratulated the winning team for their great success. And Dr. Fatima Al-Shanfari, Head of the information technology department, expresses her gratitude to all participants, including the supervisor for his hard work and achievement.