DRESDEN // When Mohammed al Merri found out he had been accepted to study at Globalfoundries, he was proud to become part of "The Elite".
The recent electrical engineering graduate from Abu Dhabi's Higher College of Technology had long dreamt of pursuing a career in technology. Now, with Abu Dhabi investing heavily in the semiconductor industry, the young Emirati has earned the opportunity of a lifetime - to become part of "Al Nokhba", which is Arabic for "The Elite".
The programme, run at the Globalfoundries campus in Dresden, gives the students a crash course in the elemental physics behind semiconductors and the theory of designing microchips plus the chance to follow assigned mentors to perform tasks in the foundry's clean room.
"For me, I'm studying something that is very futuristic," said Mr al Merri. "It's a very amazing experience."
He is one of 60 students - half of whom are women - invited by Abu Dhabi's Advanced Technology Investment Company (ATIC)and Globalfoundries to take part in an intensive seven-week internship designed to introduce them to the world of semiconductors and hopefully foster the people who will take the reins in running Abu Dhabi's foundry.
"When I told my professors that I was going to work at a foundry, they said that this is an opportunity that engineering students don't often get," said Ammar al Marzouqi, a third-year computer engineering student from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"We're getting to look at what's actually being produced now and what the research and development teams are trying to work on for the future."
It also opens the door for young Arab females to become trained as semiconductor engineers, a field that generally does not attract a lot of women.
"It's great that females from the UAE have entered this industry and that the country is looking carefully for its plan for the future," said Ebtesam al Mazrooei, a masters communications engineering student at United Arab Emirates University.
"There's a lot of information coming at you for the first two weeks but once you enter and see the manufacturing of wafers in the clean room, it is really an amazing experience."
Hamda al Shehhi, a third-year chemical engineering student at the same university, said the experience had given her a new "plan for the rest of her life".
"It was difficult for me at the beginning because I'm not trained in electrical engineering, but when I came to Dresden, I feel that this is something I can be good at," Ms al Shehhi said.
dgeorgecosh@thenational.ae
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The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
The five pillars of Islam
Sheer grandeur
The Owo building is 14 storeys high, seven of which are below ground, with the 30,000 square feet of amenities located subterranean, including a 16-seat private cinema, seven lounges, a gym, games room, treatment suites and bicycle storage.
A clear distinction between the residences and the Raffles hotel with the amenities operated separately.
MATCH INFO
Red Star Belgrade v Tottenham Hotspur, midnight (Thursday), UAE
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
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Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950