Syed Abdallah Rizvi Saudi Gazette AL-KHOBAR — The Saudi Arabian International Chemical Sciences (SAICSC), a chapter of American Chemical Society (ACS), held its annual conference at the Gulf Meridien Hotel Thursday here. Held under the auspices of Prince Saud Ibn Khalid Al-Faisal Al Saud, deputy governor of Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) and president of National Competitiveness Center Experience, the event was attended by Samir Al-Humaidan, VP Technical Affairs, Tasnee Petrochemical Complex, and Khalid Al-Abdulkarim, CEO, Abdulkarim Holdings. Dr. Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, president of the ACS, also addressed the audience through a recorded video message. Dr. Mohammad Nahid Siddiqui of KFUPM and membership director of the society presented the result of feedback collected from the members. The main role of the scientific societies/associations is to promote awareness about the cutting-edge technologies,new advances and developments in related fields. The SAICSC, a chapter of ACS, is an ideal platform that is shouldering this responsibility since more than 25 years. SAICSC was first chapter of ACS outside the US, which was formally recognized in 1993, said Chairman Amin N. Al-Nasser. In his message to the packed audience, he said: “Allow me to extend my deep appreciation to our honorary members and sponsors who were true partners in fulfilling our ultimate desires and objectives of catalyzing the developments of our scientific community within the Kingdom.” The SAICSC organizes technical dinner meeting program every month, where scientists, researchers, educationists and chief executives from the various academic institutions, R&D centers and local industries have participated. In 2012, the salient activities included the school visits to Saudi Aramco R&D center, Student Cool Night Scientific Experimental contest, Fourth Technology festival event at Scitech, training of the Saudi National Team that participated in the Chemistry Olympiad, USA, among others. “In our experience, such participation by eminent persons from various institutions helped a lot in exchanging information and ideas in the field of advance technology and technical know-how,” said Dr. Siddiqui. SAICSC-ACS will also organize the 9th International Chemistry in Industry Conference and Exhibition (CHEMINDIX 2013) during Nov. 2-6, 2013 in Manama, Bahrain. The event is chaired by Abbas Al-Ghamdi. The conference will be held under the aegis of Prince Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa, the Prime Minister of Bahrain and is being officially sponsored and supported by Saudi Aramco and BAPCO. Yousef Al-Marzooq, Chairman of SAICSC-ACS, presided over the event and Majid Al-Ghamdi conducted the program.
