On May 13, 2026, the Department of Computer Science and Mathematics (CSM) at the School of Arts and Sciences (SoAS) welcomed visitors to the 2026 Capstone Innovation Fair on the Beirut campus, an annual event organized by the department to showcase its students’ final year innovative capstone projects. This year’s edition featured a total of 54 projects spanning domains that are particularly topical to the job-market, such as artificial intelligence, mobile applications, virtual reality, and neurofeedback technologies.

Associate Professor of Computer Science Mohamed Watfa praised the students’ creativity and drive in his opening speech, while SoAS Dean Haidar Harmanani underscored the importance of this future-oriented initiative in highlighting the ingenuity and ambition that will shape the next generation of tech leaders.

The students’ projects were assessed by a judges’ panel of distinguished industry experts and entrepreneurs, including Mr. Rami Hamadeh, technical project manager at Aspire Software; Mr. Tony Chen from the Huawei Lebanon Office; Ms. Luna Tello, product manager at Quack Apps; Mr. Nagib Abdelnour, founding partner/COO of Koein; and Mr. Mohamad Wahid, team lead at CMA CGM.

They evaluated each project based on its level of innovation, technical depth, feasibility, societal impact, and the quality of presentation. Five students out of 150 received special recognition and valuable prizes as a reward for their exceptional diligence and vision.

First place went to Ghina Al Rashwani, Hanan Mawed and Louna Zeineddine for HAGA Smarter Prep, an AI-powered coach designed to simulate the conditions of an interview and provide feedback so as to help fresh graduates confidently prepare for the real thing. The experience, they said, “felt like proof that creativity, teamwork, and persistence can truly turn an idea into something impactful. It showed us how powerful collaboration can be when different perspectives come together with a shared vision.”

Jad Arab came in second with Datafox, a data observability platform that explores relationships across live data sources, detects anomalies, and helps understand why they happen through statistical analysis and causal inference techniques. He was grateful, he said, for the opportunity to “take an idea from a concept to a real system, learn how to navigate uncertainty, and build something with ambition behind it.”

Finally, Kareen Terkawi took third place with PharmaGo, a real-time medicine search and pharmacy consultation platform that aims to make primary care more accessible than ever. She was grateful, she said, for Professor of Data Science Seifeddine Kadry’s invaluable guidance.

Throughout the afternoon, the campus was abuzz with curiosity and tech-enthusiasm as visitors explored the diverse innovations on display. The atmosphere reflected both the technical sophistication of the students’ work and the collaborative spirit behind the fair.

As the fair drew to a close, CSM Chairperson Leila Issa took to the stage, extending her heartfelt thanks to Dr. Watfa, Dr. Kadry, Principal Academic Assistant Dania Shebaro and Dean Harmanani, “whose coordination and support,” she said, “were central to the success of the event.” She also expressed her gratitude to the “industry judges, whose diverse expertise and rich perspectives added great value to the student experience. Their engagement helped challenge, guide, and inspire the students, while supporting CSM’s mission of connecting student learning and innovation with the professional world beyond the university’s walls.”

Finally, Dr. Issa thanked the students and their faculty advisors “for the effort, creativity, and persistence that shaped this year’s projects.” In her concluding remarks, she commended her department’s “resilience in the face of a challenging semester,” noting that the students had earned a proper send-off to their academic journey.