May 20, 2025

Students Tackle Waste, Disability, and Energy Challenges

In labs, inside dorm rooms, and between heavy class schedules, groups of senior students at KFUPM have been working on their big ideas with real-world impact. Their projects may have begun as academic exercises but have turned into tangible prototypes ready to address urgent societal issues.

For Saif Alshihri, sustainability has been the focus. Together with his team, he found a method of turning a kitchen byproduct, namely used cooking oils, into a commercially viable, biolubricant. This clever idea was born after observing trends in biodiesel and biomass. With it being still a largely untapped concept in global markets, Saif was convinced about its potential. The team spent two semesters developing the formula, often staying long nights in campus buildings, pushing through deadlines and exams. “It took daily work for months,” Saif said, clarifying the team still showed up despite frequent quizzes and class presentations.

Ali Alsalman’s mission was different but no less meaningful. Motivated by his internship experience at Dhahran Techno Valley, Ali led a team that created a low-cost prosthetic limb for under 2,000 SAR. That amounts to only a fraction of the typical 115,000 SAR price tag. Their prototype, a fully functional arm, combines expertise from bioengineering, mechanical design, software programming, and material science. “It’s about giving more people access to mobility,” Ali said, noting that several professors have already offered to support further development.

Abdullah Bujbarah, whose team reimagined how data centers could be housed underwater, wanted to defy the status quo. Inspired by a Microsoft case study brought to his attention by his roommate, Abdullah investigated the idea further with guidance from faculty mentor Dr. Ammar Alzaydi and KFUPM alumnus Dr. Rusty Mosley in Texas. The final model incorporated zero-point energy, using no pumps and placing pipes outside the vessel. This point of distinction caught the attention of a Microsoft engineer who had developed a related software for enhanced energy efficiency.

These projects were unveiled at KFUPM’s 12th annual Student Projects Expo, where global industry players, including NASA and the London Business School, took notice. But what made the biggest impression wasn’t just the technical rigor; it was the clarity of purpose behind each idea and the drive to make them real.

With support from KFUPM’s Entrepreneurship Institute, these teams are now pursuing patents and applying to accelerators like Saudi Aramco’s Lab 7. For many of them, Expo 2025 was only a starting point.