Student Focus: Ahmed Alabdulghani
KAUST master's degree student Ahmad Alabdulghani is completing his degree in the University's Ali I. Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center. Photo by Lilit Hovhannisyan.
By Abdullah Alhamdan, KAUST News
Ahmad Jasim Alabdulghani is a master's degree student at KAUST in the Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering Program at the University's Ali I. Al-Naimi Petroleum Engineering Research Center (ANPERC).
Alabdulghani received a scholarship to complete his higher education from Saudi Aramco, where he worked as an oil production engineer in the oil fields in the northern region of Saudi Arabia.
Academic life
After completing his high school, Alabdulghani enrolled in the non-employee scholarship program at Saudi Aramco for one year. The academic program prepares students before their undergraduate studies. He was then granted a scholarship to study for his bachelor's degree in petroleum engineering at the University of Manchester, which he graduated from in 2010.
Prior to joining KAUST, current master's degree student Ahmad Alabdulghani worked in Saudi Aramco's EXPEC Advanced Research Center. The company's core business area in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, is pictured here. Image courtesy of Saudi Aramco.
Life at KAUST
"During my time at Saudi Aramco, I was on a one-year program ([from] 2015 [to] 2016) at [the company's] EXPEC Advanced Research Center, and we had a number of KAUST graduates working with us," Alabdulghani said. "They were amazing and highly talented. This got me interested in joining KAUST for my higher education. Finally, my wish was granted by joining the Energy Resources and Petroleum Engineering program shortly after its inauguration at the University."
Scientific research
Alabdulghani is currently working on understanding the factors influencing fluid flow mechanisms in heterogeneous media under the supervision of KAUST Associate Professor Hussein Hoteit. Alabdulghani is also a member of Hoteit's Advanced Reservoir Modeling and Simulation (ARMS) research group at ANPERC.
The primary research focus of ARMS is on reservoir modeling and simulation in order to understand complex geological and physical factors affecting reservoirs and oil production.
"My current research is actually an extension of some of my research in Saudi Aramco," Alabdulghani noted. "I'm happy for this opportunity to work among distinguished scientists and highly qualified specialists in [the] field."
KAUST student Ahmad Alabdulghani stated petroleum engineering is an exciting field, but 'it needs a lot of learning, experience and patience' for one to be successful in it. Image courtesy of Shutterstock.
Future goals
"My passion for learning will not stop. I'm trying to complete my doctorate in the same major here at KAUST," Alabdulghani stated. "Medicine and petroleum engineering are similar in that they both diagnose symptoms to identify the problem...To deal with something you do not see is exciting and scary at the same time. It needs a lot of learning, experience and patience."
Alabdulghani advised current students at KAUST to study long and hard and use any pressures or challenges in their academic lives to become better and more successful.
"The road to success is not paved, but [it] is full of obstacles," he said. "Do your best and 'show your metal.' Speaking of metals, do not be a gold or silver [metal], be a diamond. And remember that diamonds are just a mass of coal whose beauty shines after extreme pressure."
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