By Raheena Abdurehim

 

On 28 January 2018, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology opened its doors to the brightest engineering and chemistry students worldwide for the first-ever Clean Combustion Winter School (CCWS). Fifteen of the best international engineering students were selected from over 200 applications. 

As the first CCWS, the focus was to present a global overview of the research and challenges in combustion science. The first week was dedicated to Engines, the second week to Flames, and the third week to Fuels. The students followed theoretical classes related to these topics in the morning and worked on applying these theories to practical projects for the rest of the day. They had the opportunity to run experiments and simulations in the state-of-the-art experimental and computation facilities at CCRC. 

Each week, the students were divided into groups of three and assessed on their understanding of the subject through a paper presentation competition. The best presenting team at the end of three weeks was the team of Giuseppe Indelicato (Italy), Paula Daniela Pico Viviescas (Colombia), and Yulanderson Salguero Rodriguez (Colombia). They received an iPad each for their project titled "Rayleigh scattering for temperature measurements in turbulent flames".

"The competition was really tight. The students took the lab projects very seriously and worked hard to obtain the best results. I’m happy that Giuseppe, Paula, and Yulanderson won this prize. All of them were beginners in laser diagnostics with backgrounds in aerospace engineering and chemical engineering. But they did their best, worked hard, and showed impressive results for a three-day project! They demonstrated that an interdisciplinary approach is a good strategy to tackle complex problems." said  Prof. Deanna Lacoste who was the lead faculty for the Winter School. 

There were also social activities such as desert camps, cultural visits, and snorkeling, organized during the weekends for the students to explore Saudi Arabia. The winter school program was organized by the Visiting Students Research Program (VSRP) team in KAUST with the aim to fulfill the KAUST diversity mission.