The 2nd Inter-School R&D Technology and Design Projects Competition was held at BAÜN

Balıkesir University (BAÜN) Technology Transfer Office and Balıkesir Provincial Directorate of National Education jointly organised the 2nd Balıkesir Inter-High School R&D Technology and Design Projects Competition on 20-21 May. Interest in the competition, organised under the coordination of BAÜN Technology Transfer Office (TTO), was quite high this year as well.

A total of 33 projects in five different fields, including health, sustainable agriculture and animal husbandry, software, smart transportation, energy and clean technologies, were submitted to the competition from Balıkesir city centre and districts. After the preliminary rounds, high school students involved in the 31 projects that made it to the finals presented their posters to the judges and participants.

Following the evaluation of the projects by the judges and the poster presentations, an award ceremony was held with the participation of BAÜN Vice Rectors Prof. Dr. Fatih Satıl, Prof. Dr. Cevdet Avcıkurt, Prof. Dr. Murat Doğdubay, Director of the Institute of Science Prof. Dr. Dilek Türker, TTO Assistant Coordinator Assoc. Prof. Dr. Esra Tokay, Teknokent General Manager Lecturer Burcu Aydemir, advisor teachers and students.

Demirspor presented gift vouchers worth 6,000 TL for first place, 3,000 TL for second place, and 1,500 TL for third place to the winning students, while MRS Aviation Aerospace Industry Simulation Machine Ltd. presented various gifts.

The first prize in the competition was awarded to Mustafa Enes Döner and Halil İbrahim Kartal, students at Şehit Turgut Solak Science High School, for their project ‘Development of a Two-Dimensional Drawing Robot for Students with Special Educational Needs,’ prepared under the guidance of their advisor Eray Yılmaz.

The second prize was awarded to Can Durmaz and Hatice Kübra Talaz, students from the Şehit Prof. Dr. İlhan Varank Science and Arts Centre, for their project entitled ‘Detection of Illegal Structures on Agricultural Land Using Deep Learning and Image Processing,’ prepared under the guidance of their advisor Özgür Ataç.

The third prize was awarded to Aytuğ Akalın and Mehmet Efe Eryılmaz, students from Balıkesir Borsa İstanbul Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School, for their project titled ‘KONUŞKAN: Teaching Speech Skills to Children with Autism: Replica Teaching,’ prepared under the guidance of their advisors Ebru Polat, Erdem Doğan, and Tacettin Çıracı.

Commenting on the subject, Balıkesir University Vice-Rector and TTO President Prof. Dr. Fatih Satıl congratulated the students and their advisors who participated in the competition, saying, "As Balıkesir University, we are making visible progress in terms of project culture. In the academic field, Balıkesir University ranked 35th among 209 universities with 117 projects accepted in the 2209-A University Student Research Projects. Following our university students, we also want to organise the ‘Inter-High School R&D Technology and Design Projects Competition’ every year for high school students who will join us in the future, in order to spread the project culture among young people and increase their interest in our university. We look forward to seeing the students who participated in the competition choosing Balıkesir University in their university preferences."