To reach the Kingdom's Vision 2030 objective of preparing a globally competitive generation, male and female students, supported by the Ministry of Education, achieved global recognition by winning five major awards and three special prizes during their participation in the Regeneron ISEF 2021 International Science and Engineering Fair. The Fair was held in the United States during the period from May 3 to May 21, 2021, in cooperation with King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity, Mawhiba, whichgraciously contributed to that achievement.
The prizes were awarded to the following students: Mansour Al-Marzouqi from the Riyadh Education Department who won second place in the field of Energy: Materials and Sustainable Design for his project “Designing a Super-Capacitor that Charges itself with Light”; Rasha Al-Qahtani from the Riyadh Education Department who came in third place in the field of Social and Behavioral Sciences for her project "An innovative video game feature for the psychological diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder in adolescence"; Lana Abu Jamal from the Madinah Education Department achieved fourth place in the field of computational and informational biology for her project "Computer prediction of the susceptibility of a special compound to be used as an inhibitor for SARS CoV-2 with minimal collateral damage”; Abdullah Al-Shanqeeti from the Riyadh Education Department who won the award of fourth place in the field of energy: sustainable materials and design for his project “An electrode from nickel cobaltite to produce hydrogen fuel at a low price and a renewable method”, and Arwa Niazi from the Eastern Education Department who won the award of fifth place in Materials Science for their project on how to “manufacture a supercapacitor that responds to the sun using quantum carbon dots”.
Students from the Kingdom were also awarded three special prizes in the International 2021 ISEF Competition, which are as follows: Ruby Rajab from the Riyadh Education Department in the Field of Medical Engineering presented by the University of Arizona for her qualitative project "Improving a tool for communicating with groups of people with hearing and sense of music impairment through an advanced tactile glove." Scholarship were won from the American University by Mansour Al-Marzouki from Riyadh Education, and Lama Al-Qahtani from Saudi Arabia, with two special Mawhiba awards.
The Kingdom increased the balance of its prizes with its achievement at the 2021 ISEF of 83 awards, including 53 major prizes and 30 special prizes. As its participation in the Fair began in 2007, all members of the Saudi Science and Engineering Team received a special prize each.
The judging rounds for the projects participating in the ISF 2021 were conducted remotely via video technology during the period from 3 to 6 May 2021, and the Fair activities were held during the period from 16 to 21 May 2021.
The Kingdom competed in the grand prizes for the 2021 ISEF with a team of 30 male and female students who presented 30 scientific projects in several fields, with an increase of ten projects from the previous year.
The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair "ISEF 2021" was held virtually in the United States of America, with the participation of more than 1,800 students from more than 70 countries. The Kingdom competed for its prizes with 30 scientific projects by 30 students from various educational departments, representing the Saudi national team.