The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, represented by the King Abdulaziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity "Mawhiba", has granted 18 special awards to a selection of outstanding projects participating in the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF 2025), held in Columbus, Ohio, USA, from May 10 to 16.

This initiative reflects the Kingdom’s sustained dedication to promoting giftedness and innovation. Since 2010, "Mawhiba" has annually presented special awards at ISEF in various scientific fields aligned with national priorities, with the goal of strengthening Saudi Arabia’s visibility and influence in global scientific forums.

The awards, announced today at the Special Awards Ceremony, were divided into two categories: 12 full scholarships for undergraduate study at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, and 6 scholarships to join Mawhiba’s International Enrichment Program.

Recipients of the King Fahd University scholarships included Thomas Mashingaidzi (Zimbabwe) in Biomedical Engineering, Anna Budmanika (Slovakia) in Environmental Engineering, Joria Ang (Singapore) in Materials Science, Arnur Jumabekov (Kazakhstan) in Robotics and Smart Devices.

Further recipients of awards included Gigi Nyamibere (Zimbabwe) and Yoonha Lee (South Korea) in Software Systems, Aya Al-Ghoussani (Qatar) in Social and Behavioral Sciences, Leonard Waletzky (Czech Republic) in Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, and Ryan Chivji (Turkey) in Chemistry.

In Embedded Systems, the university award was granted to Dhanvin Ramesh Kumar (Singapore). In Energy, the award went to Tymofii Mishchuk (Ukraine) and José Rodríguez Muñoz (Puerto Rico).

As for the Mawhiba Global Enrichment Program Awards, they were awarded to Omran Turkistani (Saudi Arabia) in Energy, Mohamed Tekari (Tunisia) in Robotics and Smart Devices, and Lana Nouri (Saudi Arabia) in Translational Medical Science.

In Biomedical Engineering, the award was won by Maura Moore McKeown (Ireland), along with Kho Nguyen and Annie Pham (Vietnam). The award in Materials Science was granted to Abdulrahman Al-Ghannam (Saudi Arabia).

Eng. Anas A. Al-Hunaihin - Manager of Research Programs and Innovation Development at "Mawhiba", affirmed that the initiative aims to attract gifted minds and innovators from around the globe while fostering scientific collaboration between Saudi Arabia and the international community. This aligns with the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which seeks to build a thriving knowledge-based society.

ISEF is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition, where projects are evaluated by panels of leading scientists and experts. It offers participants an exceptional platform to showcase their research to a global audience of specialists.

Since 2007, Saudi Arabia has participated annually in ISEF through "Mawhiba" and the Ministry of Education. This year, the Kingdom is represented by a national team of 40 male and female students, competing alongside over 1,700 participants from 70 countries.