MAKERERE – Gatale Elijah former student from Makerere University has emerged as the only African winner at the recently concluded World Congress on Undergraduate Research 2019.
Gatale graduated during the second session of the 69th Graduation Ceremony with a Bachelor of Science of Computer Science degree at Makerere University
The Second Edition of the World CUR was held from 23rd to 25th May 2019 at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Germany.
The aim of the Congress is to bring together the world’s best undergraduate research and to work on some of the most significant challenges the global community is facing today.
The World CUR 2019 featured six theme-based awards in the categories of; Environment, Global Health, Economy, Communication, Politics and the World We Create.
Mr. Gatale’s research project “Shuttle Alert” which addressed challenges that Makerere University students who reside in hostels face in their daily commute to the Main Campus won top honors in the Communication category.
In this research project, Gatale describes the development of Shuttle Alert, a real time mobile application designed to provide students with an up to date minute visualization of the hostel shuttle’s location.
It describes the problem being addressed, objectives intended for the project, and a review on the functionality of existing related systems.
The report also provides a full description of the design and implementation of Shuttle Alert.
Mr. Gatale says many students cannot fathom the idea of joining the halls of residence at Makerere and other universities in Uganda.
“The whole idea reminds them of school dormitories filled with curfews and routine checks. Hence the students hanker for the splashy, expensive, and sometimes distant, hostels, in the name of independence and convenience,” he explained.
Gatale adds, “Students in hostels often rely on the hostel shuttles to make their way to and fro campus. Hostels must therefore ensure that their shuttle system is spot-on lest they risk losing their students.”
He received a manually crafted trophy and an official certificate.
According to the Congress website, the prizes “have a fair value that encourages the individual development for subsequent research projects.”
Makerere University proudly posted that, “We congratulate Mr. Gatale upon his excellent performance at the World CUR 2019 and for bringing great pride to his alma mater.”
Winners in other categories are from Qatar, Argentina, Germany, and USA.
