American University of Sharjah (AUS) played host to the first Festival Training Institute (FTI) workshop held by the American Chemical Society (ACS) in the MENA region. The international workshop, which commenced yesterday, April 17, will conclude on April 19 and will feature presentations by delegates from around the world. The workshop follows the successful establishment of the ACS International Chemical Sciences Chapter in the UAE.

The aim of the workshop is to develop plans for chemistry festivals in the home countries of the invited delegates. American representatives of ACS met with delegates from across Africa and the Middle East including countries such as South Africa, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iraq.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the workshop, Dr. Mahmoud Anabtawi, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at AUS, said:

“We thank the American Chemical Society for bringing their First Training Institute workshop in the MENA region to AUS and for their continued support and contributions to the Environmental Day. This will provide our chemistry students, faculty and staff with a wonderful opportunity to interact with experts from around the world and to become actively engaged in all future ACS activities and new initiatives.”

Dr. James Gannon, Head of the Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences (BCE) also addressed the visiting delegates, following which FTI experts along with Dr. Yehya Elsayed, Associate Professor of BCE and the AUS host representative for the workshop, delivered talks and presentations on a wide variety of topics including festival logistics, safety, communication skills, and other facets necessary to organize and execute similar events. Country delegates also prepared and presented their proposals for the 2018 Chemistry Festival Grant applications to conduct chemistry festivals in their respective countries.

On the last day of the workshop, delegates will attend a Chemistry Festival held as part of the AUS Environmental Day 2018, organized by faculty and students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the ACS United Arab Emirates International Chemical Sciences Chapter. The theme for this year’s event is “ACS Celebrates the Environment in UAE.”

The workshop will conclude with an award ceremony where ACS will present Certificates of Appreciation to AUS representatives, the ACS-Student Chapter Founding Members and the Environment Day-2018 co-organizing chairs, while ACS representatives will receive a trophy of appreciation from Dean Anabtawi.

Events such as this reflect the importance AUS places on STEM subjects in general and the three science programs in CAS in particular. They also introduce the high-quality undergraduate degrees available at AUS to potential students around the country and the region.