The University of Dammam in partnership with the Center for Excellence in Education (CEE), the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) and under the leadership of Saudi Aramco has inaugurated the first Research Science Institute (RSI) for high school students. RSI is a summer science and engineering program that originally was started at MIT. This program combines course work in scientific theory along with research in the areas of science and technology. Participants experience the entire research cycle from start to finish. Thirty-nine students from across the Kingdom have come to UoD’s College of Science to participate in this unique program.
An inaugural ceremony was held at the Princess Jawaher bint Naif Hall at the College of Science in Al Rayyan and attendees included the RSI students, UoD faculty and administration, Dr. Nuhad Alomair, Dean of the College of Science and as well as the director of the RSI program, Dr. Emey Salman, the President of the Center for Excellence in Education and Dr. Hanadi Baker Baghdadi, UoD’s Vice Dean for Community Service and Sustainable Development as well as the vice director for UoD’s RSI program.
Dr. Nuhad Alomair stated that, “This year’s summer enrichment program is unique from other summer programs since it includes courses from the various fields of science, mathematics and the humanities.”
Dr. Emey Salman noted that, “This summer happens to be the 32nd anniversary of the Research Science Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and that it is also the 11th year eleventh anniversary of the partnership between the CEE and the Mawhiba Foundation, which has provided this opportunity for the brightest students in Saudi Arabia to participate in the RSI program. The first group of Saudi students to attend an RSI program took place in 2005.”
Dr. Hanadi Baker Baghdadi concluded the session with a detailed presentation for the mothers of the participating students that covered all aspects of the program from the daily lecture schedule to available services and the student housing situation.
