The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Balamand (UOB) proudly celebrates the outstanding achievements of its Civil and Environmental Engineering students in the 2024 ACI-ACTS Student Competition, which was held on April 24, 2025. Representing UOB, Civil Engineering students Nizar El Awar and Joseph Yammine secured first place, while Mostafa Helow and Nabil Mohammad claimed third place in this highly regarded event, which champions innovation and excellence in Civil Engineering across Lebanon.
Organized by Advanced Construction Technology Services (ACTS), this year’s competition entitled “Concrete Durability and structural Integrity” featured the "Impact Resistant Egg Protection Device" challenge, was held at the Order of Engineers and Architects in Beirut.
13 teams representing 8 leading universities in Lebanon, including the University of Balamand, American University of Beirut (AUB), Beirut Arab University, Holy Spirit University of Kaslik, Lebanese University, Rafic Hariri University, CNAM, and Al Maaref University, participated in this event. The competition provided an engaging platform for students to showcase their creativity, technical skills, and collaborative spirit through innovative civil engineering design solutions. The final classification was:
1st Place: UOB
2nd Place: AUB
3rd Place: UOB
The participating students from UOB were supervised by Dr. Abdulkader El-Mir and Dr. Firas Barraj, both Assistant Professors in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. They extended their sincere congratulations to the winning teams, highlighting the students' dedication, creativity, and perseverance as the driving forces behind this remarkable achievement.
The Faculty also extends its heartfelt encouragement to student Martin Elias and Maritta El Ghoussein, supervised by Dr. Ali Jahami (Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering) who showed dedication and perseverance throughout the competition. Their commitment is a strong indication of the promising milestones they will achieve in their academic and professional journeys.
Vice President for Internationalization and Engagement and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Professor Rami Abboud, expressed his heartfelt congratulations to the winning teams and their supervisors, commending their exceptional performance and the spirit of innovation they brought to the competition and in winning 1st and 3rd place competing against excellent teams from across Lebanon. He emphasized that such accomplishments reflect the Faculty’s unwavering commitment to academic excellence and innovation, practical learning and design and in preparing students to become the agents of positive change as future leaders in the engineering profession.
