No. 7/2008-09 April 2009

From the Secretary-General

The Board held its fifth meeting January 10-11, 2009 in Riyadh, which was graciously hosted by SABIC. The Board in its formal meetings reviewed the status and progress in such areas as faculty recruitment and development, key performance indicators, KFUPM-MIT research collaboration program, centers of research excellence, important research areas, and the University’s performance, plans, and recommendations for future directions and priorities.

We had the pleasure of several of our colleagues attending the meeting and interacting with the Board members. They were impressed by the quality of deliberations, and found them to be thorough and insightful.

The Board members had the pleasure and honor to meet with H.E. Dr. Khaled Al-Ankari,

Minister of Higher Education, concurrently with the Board’s sessions to discuss issues concerning higher education, plans, and recommendations of IAB.

A brief report on the deliberations of the meeting and developments in the past few months is presented in this newsletter.

We note also that congratulations are in order to Mr. Mohamed Al-Mady for being the recipient of the 2009 Petrochemical Heritage Award presented to him in person at the annual Symposium on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, held as part of the 34th National Petrochemical Refiners Associa-tion International Petrochemical Conference held in San Antonio, Texas. Khattab Al-Hinai

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Participants in the fifth IAB meeting. Seated from left: Hugo Sonnenschein, Khaled Al-Sultan, Martin Jischke, H.E. Dr. Khaled Al-Ankari, Abdullah Jum’ah, Henry Rosovsky, and Choon Fong Shih

Standing from left:Tony Meggs, Andrew Gould, Mohamed Al-Mady, John Rice, John Etchemendy, and Khattab Al-Hinai.

Dr. Khattab G. Al-Hinai, Secretary-General, International Advisory Board King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, P.O. Box 5040, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

Tel: +966 3 860 2329 Fax: +966 3 860 4255 Email: khattab@kfupm.edu.sa

The Fifth Meeting of the Board

Following the initial session where new developments and highlights of the University were presented, the first day was devoted to discussions on faculty recruitment and development, key performance indicators, KFUPM-MIT research collaboration program, centers of research excellence, and a meeting with H.E. the Minister of Higher Education. The following day, six representative research topics were presented by faculty members to give an idea of the depth and breadth of current research activities at the University. In the afternoon, the Board members and other participants were taken to a tour of SABIC R&T Center, and an informal get-together in the desert.

In the meeting with H.E. Dr. Khaled Al-Ankari, Minister of Higher Education, the Board presented its background, endorsed the vision that KFUPM has developed, achievements of KFUPM, its current status as the Board sees it, and the issues that need attention.

H.E. the Minister shared his views on how in the last few decades the Kingdom has had to adapt to the forces of globalization, the emergence of the knowledge-based economy, increasing competitiveness in the World’s higher education market, and explosion of population growth. Saudi Arabia opened 12 new universities and several colleges in different parts of the country over the past four years as part of efforts to achieve balanced development in all its regions. This has raised the number of government-run universities in the Kingdom to 20. The government recently approved two new private universities in Jeddah and Riyadh. He further noted that in recent years the government has sent nearly 70,000 students, under the “King Abdullah Scholarship Program,” for higher studies in reputed foreign universi-ties, especially in the US, Europe and Asia.

Discussions with the Minister also considered the strategic importance of differentiation within the higher education system in the Kingdom, and the Board made some suggestions that it believes will further improve the University’s outlook. In particular, the importance of focusing research on areas of particular importance to the Kingdom was stressed.

Some Prominent Visitors to the University

In the past few weeks, the University received a number of visitors to discuss collaboration on topics of mutual interests. Some of them are: From Dow Chemicals, Drs. William Banholzer, Executive Vice President & CTO, Charles Kresge, Vice President R&D, and Norman Byrne, Director R&D; from Dresser-Rand, Houston Texas, Mr. Vincent Volpe Jr., President & CEO; and from GE Energy Infrastructure, Mr. John Krenicki Jr., President & CEO, Mr. Steve Bloze, President & CEO of Power Energy, and Mr. Daniel Heintzelman, Senior Vice President for GE Services.

KFUPM-MIT Collaboration Program

The KFUPM-MIT collaboration group, comprising representatives from both KFUPM and MIT, met with

Dr. Khaled Al-Sultan in January 2009. The discussions covered all aspects of the collaboration, including a periodical review of progress to determine future actions. The Rector highlighted the importance of involving young Saudi faculty members in various projects.

The Second Saudi Engineering Forum

The University organized the Second Saudi Engineer-ing Forum, under the patronage of HRH Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation, and Inspector General, from March 28-30, 2009.

The keynote speakers, among others, included Khaled Al-Sultan, Rector of KFUPM, Khalid Al-Falih, President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, Martin Jischke, President Emeritus of Purdue University, Choon Fong Shih, President of KAUST, and Skip Fletcher, President, ABET.

The speakers and delegates addressed and dis-cussed the current state of the engineering profession, role of professional societies, Saudi entrepreneurship and technological innovations, challenges facing engineers in mega projects, globalization, and attaining excellence in the engineering profession.

Martin Jischke in his talk covered the role of the engineering profession, the role of engineering educa-tion in preparing professionals that will be needed to meet the national challenges, and important leadership opportunities that will come to the engineering profes-sion of Saudi Arabia. Choon Fong Shih’s lecture covered KAUST’s mission to harness science and technology to take on the grand challenges of our times. These challenges are global in nature, and to do its part in addressing them, KAUST is creating innovative collaborations and programs in education and research.

The Forum was a huge success. Over 400 invitees and delegates participated in it.

Mohamed Al-Mady Receives 2009 Petrochemical Heritage Award

Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF), the Founders Club, and the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association (NPRA) presented the thirteenth annual Petrochemical Heritage Award to Mr. Mohamed Al-Mady March 29, 2009 at the NPRA International Petrochemical Conference in San Antonio, Texas. Mr. Al-Mady was recognized for his outstanding contributions to the petro-chemical community and, as a recipient of this year’s award, he joins a select group of honorees.

KAUST Board of Trustees

Andrew Gould and Khaled Al-Sultan joined the Board of Trustees of King Abdullah University of Science & Technology, as members. The Board is responsible for approving rules regulating the academic, financial and administrative affairs of the University, and for providing all support needed to enable the University’s officers to manage the University.

Next Meeting The next meeting of the IAB is scheduled for August 3-4, 2009 in Madrid, Spain.