Saudi Gazette report

WASHINGTON — Talented Saudi boy and girl students bagged a record number of 27 prizes at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF 2023) that concluded in the United States of America on Friday.

The 35-member Saudi team has won 23 grand prizes, instituted by the competition organizers, and four special prizes, offered by local and international organizations after competing with 1,800 outstanding students representing more than 70 countries from all over the world. The Regeneron ISEF 2023, the world’s largest pre-college STEM competition, held at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas, Texas during the period from May 14 to 19.

In the grand prize category, the Saudi team secured two prizes in the first place, and seven prizes each in second, third and fourth places.

Faisal Al-Muhaish and Muhammad Al-Arfaj brought laurels to Saudi Arabia with winning first prizes. Al-Muhaish secured first place in the field of chemistry for his qualitative project titled “An electro-catalyst based on a metal-organic framework for the production of hydrogen from seawater with high efficiency and low cost,” while Al-Arfaj bagged the first prize in the field of environmental engineering, under the title “Using a contact liquid for second capture freezing carbon dioxide from fuel sources and open air with high efficiency and low price.”

The second places were bagged by Tayf Al-Hidmi in the field of energy; Latifa Al-Ghannam in the field of energy; Leen Al-Mulhim in the field of energy; Zahraa Al-Shubar in the field of biomedicine and health sciences; Fatima Al-Arfaj in the field of chemistry; Wissam Al-Qurashi in the field of biomedical engineering and Dima Marouhi in the field of earth and environmental sciences.

The third place was secured by Retaj Al-Salami in the field of energy; Fajr Al-Khulaifi in the field of energy; Faris Al-Yami in the field of transformational medical sciences; Layan Noorwali in the field of environmental engineering; Abeer Al-Yousef in the field of materials science; and Layan Al-Maliki and Noor Al-Hammad in the field of plant sciences.

Those who won fourth place included Maria Qumsanati in the field of engineering technologies; Bandar Al-Brahim in the field of robotics and smart devices; Hanadi Arif in the field of social and behavioral sciences; Maria Al-Ghamdi in the field of environmental engineering; Tahani Ahmed in the field of materials science; Dhai Shujaa in the field of earth and environmental sciences, and Yazin Al-Falih in the field of plant sciences.

With these global achievements, Saudi Arabia added to its credit 133 ISEF prizes, including 92 grand prizes and 41 special prizes since the start of its participation in the fair in 2007.

ISEF is the largest scientific fair for competition showcasing innovation in the field of scientific research for the pre-college level. It is noteworthy that 35 members of the Saudi science and engineering team were picked, through a process featuring meticulous scrutiny based on merit, from among 146,000 boy and girl students who had registered for the National Olympiad for Scientific Creativity (Ibdaa) 2023, with scientific projects that covered 21 scientific fields. The Regeneron ISEF finalists competed for nearly $9 million in awards, prizes and scholarships.

Saudi Arabia was represented by the King Abdulaziz and his Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) and the Ministry of Education in the world’s largest science fair. Ibdaa is one among 20 different programs offered annually by Mawhiba for gifted students who are picked annually in the Kingdom.