Arab Student Organization
MIT

Event overview

Reshaping the Arab World Through Technology

 
ScitechLogo_noBackgroung.png
 

History

Since 2003, the Annual Science and Technology Award, SCITECH, has been a flagship event of MIT’s Arab Students’ Organization (ASO). At SCITECH, the ASO has been celebrating the contributions of a Lifetime Achievement Award winner, an Arab or Arab-American who had a lasting imprint on science and technology. 
Past awardees include Farouk El-Baz, formerly at NASA and currently Director of the Center for Remote Sensing at Boston University; the late Ahmed Zewail, Nobel laureate in Chemistry and faculty member at Caltech; and Mostafa El-Sayed, National Medal of Science laureate and Regents Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Georgia Tech.
It has also been our privilege to host key figures in industry, government and STEM education. HE Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Energy in Saudi Arabia and former President and  CEO of Saudi Aramco, Dr. Susan Hockfield, former President of MIT, and HRH Turki Al-Faisal, Former Saudi Ambassador to the United States, were among the attendees of our annual SCITECH banquet.

SciTech 2018

This year, the Arab Students’ Organization has decided to take SCITECH in a whole new direction. With the purpose of making the annual event more engaging to the MIT undergraduate and graduate population, and the student and, SCITECH has been re-imagined in the format of a conference for the tech community, celebrating scientific excellence and offering members of the Arab community a platform to share their lifelong achievements. 
The event is meant to not only celebrate and honor some of the leading industry/research figures in the Arab world but to also provide attendees with the unique opportunity to learn from their success stories and engage with them in enriching discussions about the challenges of our time. In this spirit, we plan to include the following elements:

  • Keynote speeches by industry and academic leaders about their work in their respective fields and the impact it has on our world

  • Panel discussions with the opportunity for Q&A’s to answer our attendee’s burning questions about modern issues facing the young Arab scientist / entrepreneur and the Arab world as a whole

  • Short TED-style talks that showcase some of the most interesting projects and ideas happening right now 

  • Conference Exhibition displaying some of the most exciting research projects / emerging startups in the Arab world and giving sponsoring companies a chance to network with attendees

Speakers

We've invited some of the most influential and prolific leaders in tech industry to come share with us their valuable experiences and insight. Take a look at SciTech 2018 Speaker Line-up here. 

Program

SciTech 2018 is a one-day conference that will be held on April 15th at the MIT Samberg Conference Center. The detailed program can be accessed here.