POWERBUZZ-2018 is not just a Mega-event but a chapter, a story of countless people’s hard work, dedication and teamwork, story of a journey for all individuals coming from different parts of the country. At the same time, it is a grand stage and a battleground to prove themselves and surviving among the best of the best, including not only their incredible competitors but also the extraordinary judges who took things to a new level of adventure.

The Event was held on Feb. 9-10, organized by IEEE Power and Energy Society, Student Branch Chapter of IEEE North South University (IEEE NSU PES SBC), which took place at North South University.  The main theme of the event was ‘Making Bangladesh a role model in the world by using sustainable energy production and management.’ Altogether the event consisted of five segments, which included three contests and two talk sessions. About 250 students from different universities participated in this event.

The event was inaugurated by Dr. Shazzad Hosain, Honorable Chairman, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, North South University with an inspirational speech that uplifted the spirits of the participants. Other inaugural guests were Ms. Rummana Rahman, Advisor IEEE NSU PES SBC and Lecturer, ECE Dept. of NSU, Mr. Nazim Uddin Khan, Local Consultant, SMEC/ACE, Matarbari Power Plant Project, Dr. Hasan Uz Zaman, Professor, ECE dept., NSU Chowdhury Akram Hossain, Assistant Professor, AIUB. They shared few words of wisdom to enlighten the participants and inspire them to do something extraordinary and innovative, to be helpful and useful to our society’s technical advancement that may solve a lot of problems and situations concerning everyday life.

Competition-01: Idea Generation

Idea generation competition was humanitarian as well as the first segment of ‘POWERBUZZ’ that took place on Feb. 9. With high ambition and confidence, participants from different universities presented their complex and ingenuous projects aimed to make Dhaka a greener and a smarter city. Through intense screening process, 10 teams were selected for the second round of the competition. There the 10 teams faced even more vehement tasks and then the intense heat of the moment when the judges started asking questions testing their skills to the limit. Final results were:

Champions:       Team DYUTI, BUETa
1St Runner Up:  Team Icarus.
2nd Runner UP: Team Spark.

Competition-02: Power Programming Contest

The power programming contest was the second event of the day, co-organized by IEEE NSU SB, WIE Affinity Group, in which 23 teams of young programmers from different universities from all around Bangladesh participated. In this technical segment, the participants were given the arduous task of finding the solutions for difficult problems regarding electrical concepts and day-to-day problems that can be solved through their innovative minds and team-work. Final results were:

Champions:        Team DU_DUDHBHAAT
1st Runner Up:   Team IUT_GOOGOLPLEX
2nd Runner Up:  Team NSU_PACEMAKERS

Project Showcase & Poster Presentation

Project showcase and poster presentation was also a technical segment – that started event’s second day. Co-organized by IEEE NSU Robotics and Automation Society Student Branch Chapter, the event brought top contestants  to present sophisticated IoT-related projects along with the posters of their proposal to prove the necessity of their ideas, considering budget, durability and consistency. The judges of this event were distinguished faculties of different well-renowned universities. After a very tough judging process the following winners were selected:

Champion:          Team FLIP-IO, NSU
1st Runner Up:    Team Sea Light.
2nd Runner Up:  Team NSU Wheatstone & Team Divergent. 

Industrial Talk and Women in Power Sessions

Two extremely valuable talk sessions named ‘Industrial Talk’ and ‘Women in Power’ were also held on the same day. The speakers of the event were renowned industrialist, engineers and academics of the country like Dr. M. Abdur Razzak, Head, Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, IUB, Asif Naimur Rashid, VP (Head of IT) Robi Axiata, Reduan Hasan Khan, Head of IoT, Grameenphone, Asma Huque, Managing Director Prokaushali Sangsad Ltd, Faraaz Rahim, Head of Business Development Rahimafrooz storage power division. Who had shed light regarding the utilization of power and energy, reducing the gap between industry, smart grid technology, empowering women in both industrial and academic sector and also provided encouragement to both male and female budding engineers.

The closing ceremony for the event was held at NSU auditorium at 5:30pm on the 10th of February where the crests, the certificates and the prize banner were handed over to the winners of respective competition by our respected faculties.

The guests of honor for the event were Niaz Rahim, CEO, Rahimafrooz, Rezwanul Kabeer, Director, Energypac; Dr. Celia Shahnaz, Chair, IEEE Bangladesh Section, Dr. Shaikh Fattah, Past Chair and current N&A Chair, IEEE Bangladesh Section, Dr. S. I. Khan, Chair, IEEE PES Bangladesh Chapter, Asma Huque, Managing Director, Prokaushali Sangstha Limited (PSL). The magazine published for the event “ZENITH” had its cover opened by , Prof. S. I. Khan and presented to all the judges, faculties, guests and participants. Finally everyone got together and enjoyed the dinner and talked and bonded and discussed about further progress and strengthening of the bridge between industries and academia. And with that the last day of the event came to an end successfully with the hope of doing something again like this once more.

In the end, the mega-event ‘POWERBUZZ-2018’ was a successful event and have met the goal to bridge the gap between the industry and the academia. This also created a platform for university students to adjoin them to generate new and innovative ideas that would turn Bangladesh a role model to the world in terms of sustainable energy production and management.

Touhid Ahmed, Chair and Sudipta Biswas, Vice-Chair (Technical)
IEEE PES NSU Student Branch Chapter