THUWAL — King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) youth development programs are continuing to produce award-winning young talent, with eight KAUST-affiliated students achieving multiple awards at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair 2022 (Regeneron ISEF) competition held in Atlanta, USA. The event is the world’s largest global science competition for high school students.

“We are so pleased to recognize the outstanding group of 16 SRSI alumni and share their joy in welcoming the 11 prizes back to the Kingdom. We take great confidence that such an outstanding success for our SRSI and Strategic National Advancement (SNA) alumni community is a further proof-point of the value that SRSI and our other pioneering SNA programs at KAUST can bring to the talented youth of the Kingdom.

“We also take great delight and confidence that this achievement will further attract and inspire the next cohort of outstanding young Saudi nationals to SRSI and KAUST, generally,” commented Senior Associate to the President and Vice President of Strategic National Advancement Dr. Najah Y. Ashry.

After completing their time with SRSI, the students received continued support from Young Talent Development and KAUST faculty by returning to the University for the Winter Internship Program and the Spring Internship Program.

The Saudi Research Science Institute (SRSI) is the flagship program for Pre-University Programs, a department of Young Talent Development in the division of Strategic National Advancement at KAUST, under the mentorship of esteemed KAUST faculty.

A total of 16 SRSI alumni were part of 35 Saudi Arabian participants at the Regeneron ISEF 2022, the largest Saudi delegation ever sent to ISEF. The 12 awards won by eight SRSI alumni marks the highest collective achievement from an SRSI cohort at ISEF.

The Strategic National Advancement (SNA) is a division at KAUST committed to developing the Kingdom’s most talented youth through STEM scholarship, sponsorship, programs, and initiatives.

Within SNA, alumni from programs of the department of Young Talent Development (YTD) such as The Saudi Research Science Institute (SRSI), The KAUST and Mawhiba Olympiad Training Camp, the KAUST Virtual Academy (KVA) and the KAUST Gifted Student Program (KGSP) have had continuous impact on the Kingdom and the world.

To date, NASA has named four asteroids after SRSI winners at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). In 2021 two recipients of the prestigious Rhodes scholars were participants or alumni of SNA programs.

In 2022 61% of the SRSI class were finalists at the Kingdom’s National Olympiad (Ibdaa) and 46% of the Saudi Olympiad Team are comprised of SRSI graduates who are set to compete at ISEF in Atlanta, GA, in May. In addition, many YTD alumni have joined leading institutions. — SG