2023 Summer Internship Highlights
11/28/2023
During summer 2023, 59 KGSP students completed internships in various industries, building skills and professional experience as their summer enrichment activity. The KGSP facilitates valuable experiences for students to develop and apply their skills outside the classroom by building relationships with academic, corporate, and research institutions. Students had the opportunity to intern at Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Dow, and Meta, at Global 500 companies like Aramco Services Company, and at start-up enterprises on and off-campus at their home universities.
Image 1: Mohammed Aljanoubi, University of California, Los Angeles, Chemical Engineering
Mohammed Aljanoubi, a junior at the University of California, Los Angeles majoring in Chemical Engineering joined the Catalysts Technology Group at the Aramco Americas Boston Downstream Research Center as a chemical engineering intern. “I wanted to explore the fields that could help me use my education to make a difference, and Aramco Americas is one of the best places to do so as they innovatively lead a lot of projects in many fields, including sustainability, nanotechnology, and oil and gas,” Mohammed said. During his internship, Mohammed led experiments under the supervision of a mentor for a project aimed at exploring a family of catalysts to be used in carbon dioxide capture and conversion. Mohammed added that this internship showed him how a real-life application of his education would apply in a professional environment. “I was also exposed to a lot of researchers who work in different fields and got to learn from their research and perspectives, and [this experience] made me love my major more as it helped me learn how widely applicable it is.”
Image 2: Sulaiman Al Suhaibani, University of Texas at Austin, Chemical Engineering
Sulaiman Al Suhaibani, a senior at the University of Texas at Austin majoring in Chemical Engineering, also interned at Aramco’s Boston Research Center. There, he engaged in hands-on laboratory work during which he learned and applied various analytical techniques. “The laboratory work I did required me to use the knowledge I gained about thermodynamics, transport phenomena, unit operations, and statistical analysis during my chemical engineering classes at UT Austin,” Sulaiman said. “I characterized, analyzed, and fabricated samples using a wide range of laboratory instruments and methods. These experiences not only expanded my practical knowledge but also enhanced my skills as a chemical engineer.”
Image 3: Yazeed Alroogi, Northwestern University, Biomedical Engineering
Yazeed Alroogi, a senior at Northwestern University majoring in Biomedical Engineering, worked as an intern scientist at Syenex, a cell and gene therapy startup based on Northwestern Professor Joshua Leonard’s research. Syenex was Yazeed’s first industry experience, and he expressed excitement at finding an opportunity that allowed him to combine his love for biological and chemical lab work with computational work. “I worked on therapeutic characterization of biologically relevant particles for the development of new cell and gene therapy solutions.” Yazeed said. “Additionally, I worked on developing a computational program to enable high throughput data analysis to further assist the characterization process of our therapeutics.” Yazeed also added that this experience provided reassurance that the space he would want to occupy in his career is at the intersection of Biomedical Engineering/Synthetic Biology and Computer Science, the two disciplines he has dedicated his time to in his undergraduate studies.
Industry experiences like these offer students insight into the multitude of opportunities to apply their academic studies. In addition to the hands-on experience, students gain invaluable knowledge in interdisciplinary learning and research, communication, and collaboration. The KGSP is committed to supporting its students through the internship search process and program completion that will enrich their undergraduate careers and further their goals in becoming changemakers in Saudi Arabia and the world.