On Sunday, the 21st of April 2019, the Control and Systems Engineering Department held a three-day training course entitled "Academic Presentations" to improve the presentation skills of the academic staff and the postgraduate students in the department. This training course, which was given for two hours per day in the Discussion Hall number (9), included the following topics:

1- The first day was dedicated to giving a general introduction to academic presentations, as follows: - Common mistakes in preparing the academic presentations that occur due to the presenter performance or due to the design of the presentation slides in the "PowerPoint" software. - Demonstrating good and bad presentation examples and discussing all the mistakes and how to avoid them

2- The second day included providing a typical structure for academic presentations that could be utilized before making the presentation.

3- The third day was devoted to evaluate the participants using an illustrative example utilizing the two points mentioned above.

The objective of this training course was to develop the skills of the academic staff and the postgraduate students in writing and presenting their research presentation. In this course, the lectures were delivered by Lect. Dr. Ali Majeed Mahmood and Lect. Dr. Waleed Fawwaz Shareef.

  The Control and Systems Engineering Department participated in the central celebration of the University of Technology day, which was organized on the17th of April 2019. In this event, the department received the honor of the university for its excellence in the quality of laboratories according to the national standards set by the ministry. The head of the department (Asst. Prof. Dr. Azad Raheem Kareem) delivered a speech in which he expressed the delight of the department staff both for the university day and for the honoring that was obtained as a result of the efforts exerted over the past year. Moreover, the head of the department stressed that the department is going on to fulfill its commitments in serving the university and the country and in responding to the needs of the society, and will contribute effectively in accomplishing the government programs of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. On the sidelines of the celebration, an exhibition was held for the scientific outcomes, which were achieved during the academic year 2018-2019. Congratulations to the university and to the department on this magnificent day.

  On Monday, the 8th of April 2019, the Control and Systems Engineering Department held a one-week training course, which is entitled "Practical Aspects of the Arduino Microcontroller for Electronic Applications", to improve the performance of the staff and students of the department. This course, which was organized in the Electronic Laboratory for two hours a day, included the following topics:

1- A brief introduction to microcontrollers

2- An introduction to Arduino microcontrollers

3- How to download and install the Arduino software

4- Programming the Arduino microcontroller

5- The basic electronic components to achieve the interface with simple examples.

The course objectives were to introduce fundamentals of Arduino in both theoretical and practical aspects, improve the skills of engineers in terms of programming and implementing practical applications for Arduino, and identify the problems that appear during the design and implementation of Arduino and how to solve these problems. In this course, the lectures were delivered by Lect. Dr. Ahmed Alaa Oglah, Lect. Dr. Ali Majeed Mahmood, and Lect. Dr. Ahmed Raoof Nasser.

  On Thursday, the 11th of April 2019, the Control and Systems Engineering Department held its student seminar entitled "Today's Students are the Future Leaders", which was conducted based on a collaboration with the "Iraqi Engineers Association" under the slogan of "young people equip themselves with knowledge to build their country". The seminar proceedings began with a beautiful recitation of Quran followed by reading "Surat Al-Fatiha" dedicated to the souls of the Iraqi martyrs. After that, Mr. Falih Kadhum, the head of the Iraqi Engineers Association, delivered his inaugural speech emphasizing on the necessity for the engineer to take his role in serving the country. Then, a group of students from our department for the third and fourth stages presented lectures on various scientific subjects. The students of the fourth stage, which is the 44th batch, handed over a gratitude and appreciation shield to the head of the Control and Systems Engineering Department (Asst. Prof. Dr. Azad Raheem Kareem) to express their appreciation for him and for the academic and technical staff in the department. In this event, a poetry competition was made by the students on this seminar, which was concluded by praise given by the head of the Iraqi Engineers Association for the great efforts exerted by the department and the students to make this scientific event a success. In the end, the participants invocated Allah (s.w.t) for more giving to serve our beloved country.

  In response to the campaign launched by the Department of Student Activities at the University of Technology, the Voluntary Work Committee in the Control and Systems Engineering Department with a constellation of the department students organized a campaign entitled "My Bag is More Beautiful" on Thursday, the 11th April 2019, under the direct supervision of the head of the department. In this campaign, many school bags, with various types of stationery, were prepared and distributed to orphans and needy children in one of the primary schools within the framework of social solidarity and attention to an important segment of orphan children who are in a severe need for our care and attention.