AUK College of Arts and Sciences Graduation Projects Expo

The College of Arts and Sciences of the American University of Kurdistan (AUK) put on the “Graduation Projects Expo” on the final day of November. The students slated to graduate in 2023 were presenting their “capstone project” posters. Diversity and quality were both manifest.

Of the 22 projects, almost half, 9, came from Design students. Students tended to be interested in health-related environments. One project presented a “herbal and wellness center,” distinct from another’s “rehabilitation and medication treatment center.” There was a project envisioning a specialized “Duhok Autism School.” Two focused on improving welfare among children specifically: one on enhancing quality of life for orphans, the other on “biophilic interior design to make a superior atmosphere for kids.” One of the Design projects added a social dimension: “minimizing health inequalities.” The remaining three were connected to health indirectly, in that a pleasant physical space is good for the mind and body: a “ladies’ club” where females can gather and counsel one another, an interior that is to be perceived as “uniquely Kurdish” as a result of the music being played, and a VIP guest house in Duhok for visiting diplomats.

There were 8 projects from Computer Science and Information Technology (CSIT). The projects highlighted applications addressing various daily needs. Two of them were themselves undeniably health-related: a doctor appointment system and a mental health app called “Mind Pill.” Two others offered slightly different approaches to the same core problem: needing a car mechanic. Two CSIT projects were about help of an academic nature, one of them connecting tutors to tutees, the other facilitating self-study. Of the two remaining applications, one connected consumers with barber shops for making an appointment, and the other simplified booking athletic venues, via the “K-Sport” app.

The International Studies (IS) capstone projects were notable for their variety. One assessed Iraq’s water supply. Another project, on social media security threats, lay right on the borderline between CSIT (“social media”) and IS (“security threats”). There was a project on the current war in Ukraine and its present and potential impact on the Middle East. Finally, a project addressed quotas by gender and ethnicity within Kurdistan’s parliament.

The lone Environmental Science project treated the management of medical waste. Its presenters passionately spoke on the urgency of their project to Duhok itself.

The enthusiasm of the students for their projects was infectious, and the satisfaction of the visitors with what they had seen and heard could be read in their faces. If the Graduation Projects Expo was any indication, the AUK College of Arts and Sciences will be graduating many young men and women ready, willing, and able to present their ideas on how to make Kurdistan and Iraq as a whole better places to live.