RIYADH: Five Saudi students were among major prize-winners at a leading US science and engineering fair that brought together finalists from around the world to compete for awards in innovative research. A team of 20 Saudi students took part in the Intel ISEF fair — the world’s largest pre-college science competition — in Phoenix, Arizona, from May 12-17. Winners of major prizes were Abdullah Al-Sannan and Dima Al-Melhem, who won fourth place for their environmental engineering project; Wud Al-Saadoon, who won fourth place for a project involving chemical energy; Haya Al-Tuwaijry, who won fourth place for a botany project; and Shawq Al-Madani, who won third place for an environmental engineering project. The students represented the King Abdul Aziz and His Companions Foundation for Giftedness and Creativity (Mawhiba) at the science fair, which drew about 1,800 finalists from more than 80 countries. Three special prizes were also awarded to the Saudi scientific team. Al-Madani won a scholarship from the University of Arizona; Al-Saadoon won a special prize offered by United Technologies and Noorah Al-Dosari received a special award from NASA. Saud bin Saeed Al-Mathami, Mawhiba secretary-general, congratulated the students and praised Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) for its sponsorship of the Saudi team. He highlighted the importance of the strategic partnership between Mawhiba and SABIC in supporting and training gifted and creative students under the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and the National Transformation Program 2020.