WAM/ Saif Karam, a student at the Government Model Secondary School and a member of the Rubu’ Qarn Foundation for Creating Leaders and Innovators, won first place globally in the Chemistry Awards category. He participated with the national delegation, sponsored by the Rubu’ Qarn Foundation for Creating Leaders and Innovators, in partnership with the Ministry of Education, at the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF 2025), hosted in Ohio, USA.
Saif Karam received the award from the American Chemical Society (ACS), one of the world’s largest scientific societies supporting chemistry research, for his project, “Developing a Classification of New Materials Used to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Valuable Multi-Carbon Compounds, Opening Broad Horizons for Application and Use in the Fields of Industry and Sustainable Energy.”
This achievement reflects the vision of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, and his wife, Her Highness Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Rubu’ Qarn Foundation for Creating Leaders and Innovators, regarding the importance of building generations who innovate in all fields to preserve the richness and diversity of human production. It also embodies the prominent pioneering role of the Rubu’ Qarn Foundation in empowering future generations to lead the future.
It also represents the culmination of the concerted efforts, constructive cooperation, and effective partnerships between the Rubu’ Qarn Foundation for Creating Leaders and Innovators and the Ministry of Education, which is committed to cooperating with all its partners to showcase their talents and scientific capabilities in international forums. Saif completed his project with academic support from the University of Sharjah, while being introduced to theoretical calculations on high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
Khalifa University played a pivotal role in enabling Saif Karam to complete his project and experiments. He worked under the direct supervision of Dr. Sharmarke Mohammed, Associate Professor of Chemistry and Head of the Chemical Crystallography Laboratory (CCL) at Khalifa University, along with his team in the university’s Chemistry Department, who provided comprehensive academic supervision during the preparation of the scientific paper.
This included conducting computational and experimental research in the university’s laboratories, including theoretical calculations using density function theory (DFT) on high-performance computing (HPC) systems.
Jassim Al Balushi, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Rubu’ Qarn Foundation for Creating Leaders and Innovators, and Mohammed Abdul Qader, Acting Assistant Undersecretary for the Strategy Sector at the Ministry of Education, received Saif Karam and the national delegation participating in ISEF 2025 in appreciation of their efforts.