Congratulations to the four KAUST Saudi Research Science Institute (SRSI) alumni who continued their research and entered and won awards in the prestigious Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), which took place in Phoenix, Arizona (US) from May 12 – 17.
This event is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition, providing an annual forum for more than 1,500 high school students to showcase their independent research. This year’s attendees came from over 70 countries, regions, and territories.
During the week-long celebration of science, technology, engineering, and math, the young researchers tackled challenging scientific questions, shared ideas, and presented original research as they vied for more than $4 million in prizes and scholarships.
The SRSI would like to congratulate KAUST’s four outstanding achievers and their respective faculty mentors:
- Abdullah Hassan Bukhamsin (mentor: Prof. Nina Fedoroff, BESE): Second Award in the Plant Science Category
- Reem Ahmed AlRabiah (mentor: Prof. Christian Voolstra, BESE): Fourth Award in the Environment Sciences Category
- Alma Amad Alhussaini (mentor: Prof. Gilles Lubineau, PSE): Second Award in the Special Award Organization – the Society for Experimental Mechanics.
- Ahmed Nabil Halawani (mentor: Prof. Iman Roqan, PSE): Third Award in the Special Award Organization – the American Association of Physics Teachers and the American Physical Society
For many of these students, competitive fairs such as the Intel ISEF are a life-changing event, and offer further opportunities to interact with college and university professors and other professionals in their fields of interest.
KAUST’s dedicated faculty mentors are invaluable for the success of the SRSI program, as they share scientific experience and knowledge and encourage the students with their enthusiasm for research.
The SRSI is a mentorship program run by Saudi Initiatives, designed to inspire the future young scientists and engineers of the Kingdom. SRSI offers academically motivated and scholastically accomplished grade eleven high school students the opportunity to conduct university-level research under the mentorship of KAUST professors, through a rigorous six-week scientific research program. The program, which has been held at KAUST over the past two years, now has 65 alumni. Forty more students will take part in SRSI from June 11-July 26, 2013.