MIT’s first female Saudi fellow setting example for compatriots

Women like Dr. Malak T. Al-Nory, who is the first Saudi female Ibn Khaldun Fellow in the Ibn Khaldun program, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), are setting examples for the Saudi women to do their best to come at par with their counterparts around the world.
The Ibn Khaldun Fellowship for Saudi Women was featured in the MIT and provides Saudi women scientists and engineers a one-year post-doctoral fellowship to conduct research with the MIT Faculty.
Dr. Al-Nory is the chair of the Information Systems Department in the College of Engineering at Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. While at MIT, Dr. Al-Nory conducted research with Professor Steve Graves on the supply chain for water in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Dr. Al-Nory presented some of her MIT research at the 2013 International Desalination Association (IDA) at the World Congress on Desalination and Water Re-use in Tianjin city in China and shared the experience she had had in her last academic year attending the Ibn Khaldun Fellowship at the Center for Clean Water and Clean Energy at MIT. She also elucidated her knowledge at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), and Mechanical Engineering Departments (KFUPM) at Effat University to let the students and attendees understand the Ibn Khaldun Fellowship program and its importance.
The IDA is the leading professional society in desalination, and the World Congress, the major biennial conference that IDA conducts for leaders in the field; her presentation was very well received by the attendees.
“The fellowship at MIT has given me great exposure to a world-class educational process and allowed me to build connections with top scientific research communities. This opportunity has undoubtedly been the greatest honor Effat has offered me,” she explained.
The paper was titled “Water Desalination Supply Chain Modeling and Optimization: The Case of Saudi Arabia,” that was presented by Dr. Al-Nory and Prof. Stephen Graves, professor of Mechanical Engineering Department and the Engineering Systems Division at MIT.