Next Generation of Scientists

KAUST students safely return to campus to train for Olympiad competitions

KUO-WEI (ANDY) HUANG Professor of Chemical Science

After a year of almost exclusively virtual events, in March 2021 KAUST opened its doors to 45 exceptional high school students from across the Kingdom for the first in-person Olympiad training program, in preparation for global science competitions.

Offered in partnership with the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba), the training program runs for a period of three months and focuses on mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and informatics. The students will take part in a holistic developmental program that will prepare them for their academic futures over the long term as well as for International Science Olympiads – a series of global competitions in the natural and social sciences, in which a handful of top students from participating countries compete in theoretical and experimental tasks.

Saudi students have long been participants at the various Olympiads that have been held since the competition was launched in 1959.

Most recently, a team of four Saudi chemistry students represented by Mawhiba won the bronze medal at the annual International Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad in April 2021 after several years of intensive training and preparation under the supervision of a similar KAUST program. The 55th International Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad was conducted virtually, with competing teams representing more than 30 countries, including Austria, China, Romania, Russia, Syria and Turkey. The Saudi team members were Mohammed Al Hadlaq, Mohammed Al Hudaithi, Abdulaziz Al Juaid and Saeed Baghdadi, who studied for many years under KAUST’s Kuo-Wei (Andy) Huang, Professor of Chemical Science. In the 55 years the International Mendeleev Chemistry Olympiad has been held, Saudi Arabia has won 18 medals: three silver and 15 bronze.

KAUST and Mawhiba have partnered since 2009 to help develop young Olympiad-track Saudi scholars. Both see the partnership as a way to contribute to the goals of Vision 2030 across the plan’s three thematic areas: a vibrant society, a thriving economy and an ambitious nation.

Mawhiba, which was established in 1999 as a non-profit foundation to nurture gifted and creative young Saudis, has sponsored more than 54,000 young Saudi men and women as participants in global science competitions such as the International Science Olympiad. These students have won 397 medals and prizes over that period, resulting in 15 patents and more than 1000 acceptances at top-50 universities.

I AM DEEPLY IMPRESSED BY THE DEDICATION AND COMMITMENT OF THE STUDENTS. KAUST AND MAWHIBA HAVE TOGETHER CREATED AN EXCELLENT PLATFORM TO FOSTER THE NEXT GENERATION OF LEADERS.

MAWHIBA

“After the relaxation of the restrictions, we are grateful to see our students back to on-the-ground training at KAUST in the first in-person training camp since the start of the pandemic. The importance of the Olympiad training program comes from the fact that it prepares the young men and women competing in international competitions in physics, chemistry, biology, informatics and math to not just win medals, but to be part of a qualified generation of Saudi scientists.”