DAMMAM: Two hundred arbitrators at the National Olympiad for Scientific Creativity Exhibition, Ebda'a, will be reviewing 502 scientific research projects of 705 pre-college students from all over the country Thursday in Dammam's Arraka area. The winners will be honored by representing Saudi Arabia at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, to be held in Los Angeles, United States in May. Participating public school female students account for 47.6 percent of participants with 252 projects. Male students number 369 with 249 research projects. The projects will be publicly displayed next Saturday and Sunday at the International Scientific Creativity Exhibition, organized by the Dhahran International Exhibitions Company. Dr. Maha Daghistani, Chairwoman of the Female Students Arbitration Board and professor at King Saud University, said the event was “one of the major projects at national level. Its significance stems from the state's strategy toward building a knowledge-based society”. She said the country is seeking “the real wealth” that is science. “Every advanced nation had worked on planting the concepts of scientific research,” she said. She cited Malaysia that “started with the young in the eighties and set a strategic plan to compete with other economically advanced countries”. This is also the aim of Saudi Arabia which is currently focusing extensively on scientific research, she added.
