The IEEE Student Branch at UTAS-Al Musanna successfully organized the 2^nd IEEE Oman SYP Congress 2021 on 23^rd March 2021. This event was fully conducted online in keeping with the instructions given by the Supreme Committee of the Sultanate. During the event, Dr. Halah Ahmed Al Kathiri, Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs, UTAS- Al Mussanah, delivered the inaugural address. She briefed the participants about the milestones achieved by IEEE Student Branch of the University in the various competitions held across GCC.

The event was composed of three (3) main competitions (Graduate Project Competition (GPC), Poster Presentation and Technical Quiz) along with a technical talk delivered by Dr. Ben Sujin, Head of Section and IEEE Student Branch Counselor of UTAS-Nizwa. In his talk, he shared his expertise on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics.

Another highlight of the SYP Congress 2021 was the presentation delivered by Mr. Yahya Al Balushi, Membership Development Officer, IEEE Oman Section. Mr. Al Balushi shared the ongoing IEEE activities in Oman.

Originally, SYP Congress 2021 was planned to be a grand occasion, but due to the complete lockdown in the Sultanate, the program was postponed for a year. However, since the IEEE activities have to push through, the IEEE Student Branch at UTAS-Al Musanna resorted to organizing a virtual gathering of all the student branches in the Sultanate. The event details were circulated to all the respective student branches and registration for participation was closed by 12^th March 2021.Fortunately, there were a good number of entries received despite the current pandemic. About 70 student members participated in the three (3) competitions and seven (7) expert jury members from different Universities/Colleges ensured the smooth, fair, and transparent evaluation of all the entries.

The Graduate Project Competition (GPC) and Poster Presentation were scheduled at the same time to confine to the time allotment. On the other hand, the Technical Quiz was conducted in two days; the prelims (Round 1) was conducted prior to the event while the finals (Round 2 and round 3) were conducted on the event day. Round 1 was attempted by all the participants individually. Eventually, the top 16 participants who were shortlisted and got qualified for the mega event were grouped into 8 teams. Each participant had THE opportunity to team up with another participant from different student branch. Each team was allotted with one quiz master.  Based on the correct number of answers and the speed of submission, the top 4 teams were short listed for round 3.

The winners were announced and awarded with prize money and certificates sponsored by IEEE Oman Section.

Meanwhile, the IEEE Student Branch at UTAS-Al Musanna thanked IEEE Oman Section in providing them with such an opportunity to organize the YSP Congress 2021 amidst this challenging time.

The following are the winners for the events:

 1. Graduate Project Competition

 2. Poster Presentation

3. Technical Quiz