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Community
June 2013
The Beacon
also teachers Ms. Kristy Wilkinson and Dr. Jacque Phillips whose commitment and dedication made a significant positive impact in his progress. In her senior address to the Class of 2013, Mariyam Mahmud echoed appreciation for TKS teachers. “On behalf of the graduates I would like to thank you, teachers, for all the motivation, inspiration, and care that you have given us in order to strive for the greater good for ourselves and for the world. We are going to miss you very much.” “We have made it this far, all of us, after much anticipation and longing. I sincerely hope we are able to adopt the lessons learned in school and from our parents to actualize our greatest invention ever, which is our very own lives! As John C. Parkin says, ‘Every moment has infinite potential. Every new moment contains for you possibilities that you can't possibly imagine. Every day is a blank page that you could fill with the most beautiful drawings.’” The 2013 graduates were also offered words of wisdom from chemistry teacher and senior advisor
TKS GRADUATES PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE
Daniel Whitehair, who was nominated by the senior class to deliver the faculty address. “What you must do is work hard to endow yourself with skills and resilience and give things a try. I’m not going to tell you that if you do this, your dreams will come true. They might, and they might not…But I will
WHEN MOHAMMAD Fairaq, 18, first started at The KAUST School (TKS) two years ago, he only
tell you that if you prepare, if you work hard and you try, you can do more than you think. You can get
knew a handful of English words. Intimidated and daunted by having to complete grades 11 and
a college degree, you can work harder, you can exercise regularly, you can eat healthy, you can learn
12 all in English and at an International Baccalaureate school, Mohammad never thought he would
Spanish, and you can make a difference - you can do it. You are capable of more than you imagine.”
end up giving the senior address in front of his classmates, their friends and families, and the TKS Secondary School faculty, at his high school graduation ceremony.
Congratulations to the 20 students in the TKS Class of 2013: Basel Imad Abukhalaf
Rima Hallak
Siddharth Samtaney
“This is my first speech in English so please bear with me…I think most of us felt that we didn’t
Sumaya Ahmed AlMubarak
Maram Jamal Jahln
Mahmoud Shalaby
know very much before we moved to KAUST…now I know that being part of an international school
Mohamed Asem Al-Ramahi
Matias Kaspar Lehvaslaiho
Osayil Skinner
like this has taught us to know the difference an international education can make. Now we know:
Liam Gracielle Chato
Mariyam Mahmud
Mohamad Razeen Stoffberg
nothing is impossible.”
Mohammad Fairaq
Rahaf Osama Mandurah
Jake Veikoso Twigg
Malek Ziyad Fraihat
Hollie Martin
Nolan Yimrawd-Thivin
Mohammed Yaseen Goolam
Renad Nabeel Masoudi
In his speech, Mohammad recounted all of the hard work and determination it required to learn English and apply it in his studies. He thanked his classmates for their support and encouragement and
PhD student Afnan Mashat’s innovative research work in the Controlled Release & Delivery (CRD) Lab recently won her the 12th Annual Almarai Prize for Scientific Innovation in the branch of “Scientific Research Prize for Women.” The Almarai Prize was established to “support, encourage, and motivate Afnan Mashat
scientists, researchers, and inventers in the Kingdom to be creative in the fields of science.” Almarai, a major Saudi corporation founded in 1977,
manufactures dairy and other food products, and is partnered with the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh to award and administer the prize.
2013 SAIKAC MIDDLE SCHOOL MUSIC FESTIVAL A ‘HUGE SUCCESS’
Under the supervision of Dr. Niveen Khashab, Assistant Professor of Chemical Science and Principle
Photo Credit: Chuck Brooker
KAUST PHD STUDENT WINS ALMARAI PRIZE FOR SCIENTIFIC INNOVATION
Investigator in the CRD Lab, Mashat and Dr. Lin Deng, research scientist, investigate the design of
STUDENTS from The KAUST School (TKS) and middle school students from nine international
nanomaterials, and specifically carbon nanotubes, for controlled release and delivery applications.
schools in Saudi Arabia “had a blast” at the 2013 Saudi Arabia Inter Kingdom Activities Conference
Mashat’s prize-winning work entitled “Zippered release from polymer-gated carbon nano-
(SAIKAC) Middle School Music Festival, said Chuck Brooker, TKS Music Teacher.
tubes” was published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry in 2012. The research examines
The festival, which was held on the KAUST campus from April 30 – May 2, gave students in
the use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to form a thermo-sensitive drug delivery system in which
the Honors Band and Honors Choir a unique opportunity to come together and participate in
CNTs are loaded with the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) and coated with polyethylen-
two days of intensive rehearsals on wind and percussion instruments for the band and vocal
imine (PEI) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) via the “zipper effect.”
preparations for the choir. The event culminated in a Gala Concert presented to the KAUST com-
The zipper effect allows for control and support of drug release, and changes in tempera-
munity on May 2.
ture enable the complexation at low temperature and decomplexation at high temperature
“This year’s festival was a huge success,” Jennifer Hermanson, TKS Choral Director, said. “The
of PEI and PVA via hydrogen bonding. DOX is released at high temperature (≥40˚C), and is
students and music directors who participated really enjoyed working and collaborating together
slowly released at normal human body temperature (37˚C). The system looks to be a promising
for the final concert.”
method for the use of stimuli triggered polymer-gated CNTs in controlled release applications.
Edward Elkins, visiting Band Director from the Saudi Aramco Schools in Dhahran, noted
Said Mashat of her win: “I was so excited. Winning for me means working even harder in
how TKS staff and students and the KAUST community embraced the event. “We were over-
the future and presenting more research. I am proud of the work that was accomplished.”
whelmed by the welcome we received from our K AUST hosts,” he said. “Congratulations, KAUST, on a job well done.”
HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS’ ART DISPLAYED FOR KAUST COMMUNITY
High school seniors from The K AUST
our individual and collective place in it,” explained Morris. “The students began the program
Schools (TKS) taking part in the IB Diploma
as a global scattering of nations, cultures, and understandings. We had a great dialogue and
program in Visual Arts began a creative
came to a deeper understanding of each other through the process. I am very proud of how the
journey with their Visual Arts teacher
students have grown, and I hope they take art with them to use what they have learned in the
Rebecca Morris two years ago, with Morris guiding the students through the use of various art media to create pieces reflecting an individually chosen theme. The students’ journey through the art world culminated in a display of their pieces in the lobby of the Administration Building, with a special reception held there for the young artists on May 27. “Art is a way of listening to the world, communicating our perceptions of it, and understanding
next part of their journey in life.” Contributing high school seniors: Rima Hallak
Basel Abukhalaf
Rahaf Mandurah
Mahmoud Shalaby
Sumaya AlMubarak
Renad Masoudi
Osayil Skinner
Matias Lehvaslaiho
Jake Twigg
REAL-TIME REACTION | Continued from p1 The observation of these designed complex functions at such an exquisite nanostructure were made possible by the cutting-edge electron microscopic facilities of KAUST’s core labs. The input of the core lab staff through their expertise in electron microscopy has been a crucial component to the project. By introducing surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy into the realm of catalysis, allowing for fast and highly sensitive study of catalytic reactions, the researchers’ findings offer a unique possibility to investigate the intrinsic reaction kinetics on the catalyst surface by excluding the influence of adsorption/desorption of reactants and products. (L-R) Jianfeng Huang, Qingxiao Wang, Kexin Yao, and Yang Yang