COMMUNICATION ITEMS OF CHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT 2005-06
1)
In the
beginning of this academic year the department has finalized restructuring
of standing committees, which started last year. In as much as possible, efforts were made to
put minimum number of committees and more emphasis was given to the
coordination.
2)
A meeting
with the Chemistry Staff was called on Sunday, September 5, 2005 at 9:00 am to
discuss important issues such as staff assignment, observation of office hours
and safety in the laboratories.
3)
A meeting
with the Graduate Students and Graduate Advisor was called on Saturday, August
4, 2005 at 2:00 pm to discuss various important issues such as student
problems, reassignment of students' offices, increase in enrollment of students
and degree plans. The chairman also
sought valuable suggestions from the students for making studies more
successful.
4)
Starting
this academic year the department has formed a new setup of departmental
coordinators and committees to bring committee membership to a minimum.
5)
The
department has proposed two new short courses entitled “Instrumental
Techniques: Basics and Applications” by Dr. Abulkibash and “Radiation in
Industry: Present and Future Trends in
6)
The
department is planning to establish a central instrumentation facility. A faculty member is assigned to make the
feasibility study of all instruments available in the department and house them
at one place. Regulations and guidelines
for proper use of this facility will be developed. The idea is to centralize the use of major
equipment, make instruments more visible to serve both internal external
clients’ needs and maintain instruments in full working conditions.
7)
The
departmental technical staffs were assigned to carry out inventory of glassware
available in the storehouse during summer break which were lying in the
storehouse unknown for many years. A list has been prepared which clearly
indicates name of the glassware, capacity, availability etc. The report will definitely help us in
utilizing these glassware for our teaching and research. This will also help us to stop unnecessary
order of the available glasswares and thereby reducing the department overheads.
8)
Mr. Nedal
Yusuf Abu-Thabit, Jordanian National has joined the Chemistry Department as
Lecturer B to pursue Ph.D. program from 31-8-2005.
9)
Prof.
Riazuddin, Director, National Center for Physics, Quaid-I-Azam University,
Islamabad, Pakistan delivered the seminar entitled “Fullerenes” on Tuesday,
September 20, 2005 at 11:00 in building 4/125.
10)
A
delegation lead by the Principal of International Indian School, Dammam visited
the Chemistry Department to freshman laboratories on Monday, September 19, 2005
at 11:00 am.
11)
Dr.
Abdelmounam Mustafa Sherik, Senior Scientist, Corrosion Sciences Unit,
R&DC, Aramco delivered the seminar entitled “Nanomaterials: Applications
and Future Challenges” on Sunday, October 2, 2005 at 11:00 am in building
4/125. He discussed with Dr Abdullah Abulkibash and Dr. Mazen Khaled future
collaborations plans in the field of corrosion nanotechnology.
12)
The
chairman met with the department undergraduate students on Saturday, October 1,
2005 to hear their concerns and ideas regarding the programs and facilities
available in the department.
13)
The
department students met and elected chairman and members of the students
committee for the academic year 2005/2006.
14)
The
department is under the process of full restructuring and system-building of
its undergraduate Industrial Program.
15)
The
procedures, tasks and industrial liaison for the over all services at the
16)
Dr. Mazen
Khaled has received approval from the KACST for his project entitled
“Nano-multilayer-Polyelectrolytes Thin Films for Corrosion Protection of Steel
and Stainless Steel”
17)
A new
methodology for teaching freshman lab courses has been adopted from this
semester to prepare for a change over to new freshman lab manual from the next
semester.
18)
Mr. M. S.
Rao, representative of M/s. Isa Al-Manai Technical Services,
19)
Dr. Ahmed
Bahamdan from R& D Center, Saudi ARAMCO and our alumni visited the
department on Sunday, October 2, 2005 to explore the collaboration between the
ARAMCO and the Chemistry Department in the areas of mutual interest.
20)
A
committee has been formed to review the existing graduate program and suggest
possible changes.
21)
The
Deanship of Scientific Research has approved research proposal entitled “New
Group 10 metal Complexes based on Chelate Ligands Bearing Nitroxide Radicals,
Magnetic Properties and Catalytic Performance in Oxidation Reactions of
Alcohols” submitted by Dr. Mohammad Fettouhi, Dr. Bassam El Ali and Dr. Khalil
Ziq.
22)
Dr.
Bassam El Ali, Professor of Chemistry Department delivered a seminar entitled
“Regioselective Catalytic Hydrocarboxylation of Alkynes by Palladium Complexes,
Effects of the Type of Ligands and Additives, Computational Study of the
Mechanism of the Reaction” on Tuesday, October 11, 2005 at 11:00 in building
4/125.
23)
The
Sciences Awareness Exhibitions held at Dhahran Mall on Sunday, October 23, 2005
was a great success. The department has
organized this program for the first time to bring awareness about importance
of chemistry among children and their parents.
Many children and parents witnessed this event and expressed the
importance of organizing such exhibitions more frequently.
24)
The
department has organized Iftar Party on Wednesday, 19 October 2005 at Gymnasium
Building 11. Many fellow alumni attended
and requested to organize such a get-together on periodic basis each year.
25)
On the
special occasion of Eid, the department has organized a get-together of
faculty, staff and students to greet each other on Saturday, November 12, 2005
between 10:45 am to 11:45 am.
26)
The
department has distributed the strategic plan to departmental faculty, academic
chairmen of college of sciences and some important university
administrators. Many have expressed
their appreciations for the importance of such a plan.
27)
Dr.
Hassan M. Badawi, Professor of Chemistry Department delivered a seminar
entitled “Conformational Equilibria and Structural Stability of Multi Rotors
Molecular Systems” on Tuesday, October 18, 2005 at 11:00 in building 4/125.
28)
An NMR
Specialist and a sales representative from the National Scientific Company
(Bruker
29)
The Vice
Rector for Academic Affairs along with Supervisors for Financial and
Administrative Affairs and Technical Affairs visited the Incinerator Facility
on Wednesday, November 16, 2006.
30)
The
department faculty members have submitted 6 proposals for possible funding
under the SABIC/FAST Grants to the Deanship of Scientific Research.
31)
The
Department of Chemistry and the Student’s Committee organized Sport Activity on
Thursday, November 24, 2005 after Isha Prayer from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm in
32)
A group
of 30 students from
33)
A team
from SABIC Engineering and Project Management at Jubail visited the Department
on Wednesday, 23 November. The purpose
of the visit, which was organized by the office of Vice rector, was to know the
facilities of different departments and find ways of collaboration. The department chairman distributed to the
team a summary, prepared previously, to establish collaboration and identified
liaison persons in different areas of chemistry.
34)
Dr.
Gert-Jan M. Gruter, VP Technology Chemicals, Avantium Technologies B.V.,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands shall deliver a seminar entitled “From High
Throughput Experimentation to High Output R & D” on Sunday, November 27,
2005 in building # 4/125 at 11:00 am.
35)
The
Department of Chemistry is offering a short course entitled “Applications of
Statistics to Chemical Analyses and Quality Control” from 26-20 November
2005. A total of 8 participants from
SABIC (Jubail), Safra Company Limited (Jeddah), Saudi ARAMCO Lubricating Oil
Refining Company (Yanbu) and Saudi Chevron Phillips Company (Jubail) are
participating in this short course.
36)
Dr. Zaki
S. Seddigi, Chairman of the Chemistry Department visited the SABIC 3rd
QA-Labs Forum entitled “The Future is Under Our Analysis” to discuss
possibilities of collaborations with SABIC labs at large. New contacts were established with SABIC-wide
lab managers and a through discussion regarding collaboration was
conducted. There was an agreement that
the Chairman of chemistry department will be invited to the quarterly meeting
conducted by SABIC labs.
37)
A
maintenance Engineer from Al-Gosaibi Company visited the department and
repaired the ICP instrument. The
instrument is finally working satisfactorily after almost 2 years.
38)
The
Department of Chemistry and the Student’s Committee organized Sport Activity on
Wednesday, November 30, 2005 after Isha Prayer from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm in
39)
A group
of 35 students from
40)
Dr.
Joerg-Peter Conzen, Vice President and Head of NIR Department and Dr. Mohamed
Al-Higari, Regional Manager Middle East of the National Scientific Company
delivered following seminars respectively on their instrument FTIR Spectroscopy
and Research Applications on Sunday, December 4, 2005.
a)
Bruker –
the Global Company and the FTIR Spectroscopy
b)
The FTIR
Spectroscopy and Research Applications
The National Scientific Company also hosted lunch in honor
of the participants. The whole activity
was very informative to faculty, staff and students in knowing state of the art
concepts in chemical instrumentation.
41)
Dr. John
W. Prados, Department of Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee
visited the Chemistry Department on Monday, December 12, 2005 to see teaching
labs as part of the ABET evaluation for the Chemical Engineering Department
Programs of KFUPM. He was shown
freshman, analytical, organic, inorganic and physical chemistry laboratories
which are part of the chemical engineering courses.
42)
Mr. Muhammad
Zaki Nuriman, an Indonesian National, has been admitted as a Ph.D. student
(Lecturer B) to pursue Doctoral Program in the Chemistry Department effective
Spring Semester 2005-2006.
43)
The Dean
of Faculty & Personnel Affairs has informed us that the contract/visa/PTA
for 3 Research Assistants and 2 Lecturer B have been processed to pursue
graduate program in chemistry. They are
expected to join the department from spring semester (Term-052).
44)
The
Scientific Council has approved the research project entitled “Regioselective
Catalytic Hydrocarboxylation of Alkynes by Palladium Complexes, Effects of the
Type of Ligands and Additives, Computation Study of the Mechanisms of Reaction”
submitted by Dr. Bassam El Ali, Dr.Basel Abu Sharkh, Dr. Mohamed Morsy and Dr.
Mohamed Fettouhi as a University-funded project.
45)
Dr.
Khalid R. Alhooshani, Assistant Professor, Arrass Teachers College, Arass
delivered a seminar “entitled “Sol-Gel Materials for Chromatographic
Separations and Solvent-free Capillary Microextractions (in-tube SPME)” on
Tuesday, December 13, 2005 at the Department of Chemistry.
46)
As part
of the graduate seminar, Mr. Muhammad Zaki Nuriman, Research Assistant in the
Chemistry Department delivered a seminar entitled “Synthesis and Properties of
Some Allenic Natural Products” on Sunday, December 18, 2005.
47)
The
Scientific Council has approved the research project entitled “Potential
Surfaces and Vibrational Analysis of Some Halo-Propanols”” submitted by Drs.
Hassan M. Badawi and Wolfgang Forner as a University-funded project.
48)
A group
of 35 students from
49)
A group
of 35 students from
50)
Mr. T.
Kannai, Service Engineer from JEOL
51)
Dr. Zaki
S. Seddigi, Chairman of the Chemistry Department delivered a talk entitled
“Practical Lessons to Accelerate in University” on Monday, 12 2005. The activity was organized by Counseling and
52)
Mr.
Legemah Magnus, Research Assistant in the Chemistry Department delivered a
seminar entitled “Supercritical Fluid Chromatography” on Sunday, December 25,
2005 as part of the graduate seminar course.
53)
Dr. Amin
Ramadan Ghaleb, Human Skills Trainer from the Earth Sciences Department
delivered a seminar entitled “4MAT Learning Model” on Tuesday, December 27,
2005.
54)
As part
of the department strategy to attract students towards the Chemistry and
Industrial undergraduate programs the department has prepared a poster called
“Mega Project” and posted all over the university departments. The department has received overwhelming
response to this from the students who are visiting the department to know more
about the Mega Project. These students
are provided with one page information of the Mega Project, department
undergraduate program and a gift for their visit. The students are also explained about the
importance of chemistry and the need of industrial chemists for the mega
projects and other industries in near future.
We hope this will help students in selecting chemistry and industrial
chemistry as their majors and subsequent increase in number of students in our
undergraduate programs.
55)
Mr. Saleh
H. Al-Sharidi, Part-Time MS Student in the Chemistry Department delivered a
seminar entitled “Evaluation of Phytoremediation Technology for Oil
Contaminated Sites” on Sunday, January 1, 2006 as part of the graduate seminar
course.
56)
Mr.
Muhammad Zaki Nur Iman successfully defended his MS thesis entitled “Internally
Hydrogen-Bonded Chiral Methylenenitrones in Cycloaddition Reactions” on
Tuesday, January 3, 2006.
57)
The
Department of Chemistry made a major step towards modernization of the
Chemistry teaching laboratories. Measurenet, a US-based company, has developed
an award winning system that utilizes computation and instrumentation heavily
in the freshmen chemistry laboratories. Traditionally, each student required
one pc to carry his experiments, which were not possible except in a very
limited number of cases. Measurenet developed its patented approach to
electronic data measurement and acquisition, which allow every student to carry
his experiments with the luxury to acquire his own data electronically using
different types of probes. It is possible now for students to carry their experiments
and get statistical data with high precision which will allow them to acquire
the skills required by future employers in Saudi industry.
The system is highly
flexible and versatile and accommodates all types of probes such as ph,
ion-selective electrodes, thermocouple, conductivity, etc in addition to the
ability to acquire rapidly absorption, emission and fluorescence measurements.
Every student will be able to follow kinetics using his own colorimeter
independently and hence will have effective time for real learning. The system
received an energy-saving award in the
58)
A farewell party in honor of Dr. Ali El-Rayyees,
Research Associate who is leaving the department for good will be held on
Tuesday, January 31, 2006 at 11:00 am in building 4, snack bar area.