KSU Chemical Engineer Saeed Al-Zahrani Wins Shoman Award
Jordanian scientist, academic and former Prime Minister Dr. Adnan Badran, head of the scientific committee of the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Young Arab Researchers, recognized six of the the organization’s 2011 award winners, which included KSU professor of chemical engineering Dr. Saeed Al-Zahrani, who won the award for Best Young Arab Researcher in the Engineering Sciences.
Among other accomplishments, Dr. Al-Zahrani was part of a team of KSU researchers that received a patent on May 17, 2011 for their invention of a more effective and inexpensive method of separating glucose and fructose, which may provide great economic benefits to the pharmaceutical industry and particularly to the Kingdom’s producers of dates, which are rich in sugars.
The five other winners come from other Arab countries. The award for medical sciences was jointly won by Professor Habib A. Dakik from the Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut (AUB), and associate professor Sharifa Ahmad Hamed Imran, from Assiut University’s Faculty of Medicine.
The award for agricultural sciences went to Birzeit University Associate Professor Jamil Younis Muhammad Harb, while Dr. Dima Jamali, associate professor and chairwoman of the Management, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship Track at AUB received the award in the field of Economics, Banking and Financial and Management Sciences.
The physics and geology award went the UAEU‘s associate professor of physics Dr. Ehab Muhammad Naji Obeidat, while the award for social sciences was withheld because most if the entries were based on a PhD theses.
The Award for Children’s Literature was won by Iraqi playwrite Fadil Abbas Al Kaaby for his piece entitled ”Theater of Angels”, while the award for Literary Criticism in the Field of Children’s Literature was won by Laied al Sayeh Jellouli, from Algeria.
The award ceremony was attended by a number of Arab personalities including:
- Secretary General of the Arab Thought Foundation Dr. Soliman Abdel Moneim;
- Secretary General of King Faisal International Prize (KFIP) Dr. Abdullah Al-Saleh Al-Uthaymeen;
- Chairman of the Foundation of Abdulaziz Al-Babtain’s Prize for Poetic Creativity Sheikh Abdulaziz Al-Babtain;
- Board member of the Sultan Bin Ali Al Owais Cultural Foundation Dr. Mohammad Al-Mutawa.
The director general of the Shoman foundation, Mr. Thabet Taher, said the awards are distinguished by their objective, which is to encourage future generations of Arab researchers and it is hoped it will encourage young Arab researchers to step up their scientific research which is a prerequisite for any nation’s progress and prosperity. He said award winners come from all Arab countries and most hold senior academic and scientific positions in their countries.
The Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation has annually recognized young Arab researchers since 1982 with the aim of promoting scientific research in the Arab world. Every year, prospective award winners submit their original research projects of scientific or social value. Those considered for awards must be Arab citizens or bearing Arab ancestry, working in an Arab country, and not older than 45.
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Tags: Awards & Honors, Saeed Al-Zahrani
Sun, 9 Oct, 2011
Awards, Main