Mariam Nihal

Saudi Gazette

JEDDAH — “One of the main shortcomings of the educational system we have in Saudi Arabia is that it rarely taught us anything that is significantly interesting,” said Omair Taibah, one of the founders of “T3rf.”



“T3rf” is an initiative taken by three young Saudi men who are keen to educate and inspire Saudi youth to achieve bigger dreams through science.



Faisal Al Aseeri, Sari Sabban and Taibah spoke with Saudi Gazette about their dream projects, personal interests and ambitions. They believe the only way for youth to become world leaders is to focus on the knowledge industry. Al Aseeri believes the greatest resource any country can have is its human capital, and so it’s what Saudi must focus on developing. “My dream is to be part of a project that takes significant steps toward that goal of a knowledge-based industry.”



Taibah said he dreams of a society where science and technology innovation can thrive. “This generation has great potential to do great things. All is needed is to spark the interest in heading innovation’s way.”



“T3rf” was published online in December 2012. The blog talks about issues ranging from stem cells, magnets to queries based on cancer. The whole thing started when I was learning about the Voyager mission and the golden record (about which I have already written an article),” said Al Aseeri.



A graduate with masters in business management, Al Aseeri claims his love for science triumphs all. He has now moved to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) to work on its new supply chain operation.



“I learned that on this golden record, which contained about 90 minutes of audio, there was one verse from the Qur’an. I immediately thought this is the kind of stuff that Saudis would love to know about it, but probably don’t.



“The idea developed into what other stuff Saudis should know about, at which point I called Omair to tell him about the idea and we started working on it together. As soon as Sari found out about what we were doing, he asked us how he could help, and we were thrilled to have him on board,” he said.



According to Al Aseeri, who is a writer and editor of “T3rf,” Taibah handles the technical side of the website, and Sabban helps moving the team move forward with new ideas and looks at different angles to improve.



Once the plan was finalized, Al Aseeri and Taibah were quick to design the website.



Sabban, a molecular biologist and biotechnologist by profession, told Saudi Gazette the core issue the team is focusing on at the moment is communicating science to the general public.



“Globally the language of science is English. In Saudi Arabia, not many people speak English, which means those of us who are interested in science cannot be exposed to it unless we know English, and understand it well. We therefore are trying to communicate science, not just in a simple language, but in Arabic as well.”



He said the other issue they are working on is showcasing the beauty of science. “Science is not for scientists, is not is for geeks, and a person does not to have be smart to understand it. Science is for everyone, it is absolutely beautiful, how the real world functions, how we can use the laws of nature and bend them, and how we can think outside the box and advance our technology, a species that not only abides by the laws of nature, but can change it as well.”



Sabban is currently working on continuing research in vaccine development, as well as establishing a research center that would enable him, and other Saudi scientists to pursue researching new fields of science in a comfortable and collaborative environment.



“As well as accept university intern students to assist them in developing their laboratory skills,” he said.



Taibah said taking decisions collectively allows room for different perspectives. Instead of having to review every single detail that’s on the blog, others take some of the load. He said dynamics of the team are quite fluid and everyone has their own set objectives. Writing alternatively also takes away some of the pressure.



“Instead of having to constantly come up with topics to write about, now I have some time to think about my next article.”



Taibah, who is a physicist and an electrical engineer by practice, has a huge interest in different fields of science. “I sometimes write about topics I barely knew about just to expand that knowledge. In other times, I take up topics that I’m well versed in and try to simplify them in order for others to understand them.”



He added: “Personally, it’s not my first blog. I have been running my personal blog for a few years prior to the creation of “T3rf.” “However, having a team to work with made it much easier to run than running my personal blog.”



For Al Aseeri it was more work than he had imagined. He said it is sometimes difficult to stick to the deadlines we set ourselves while maintaining the quality we’d like, as well as maintaining at least two posts a week. Sometimes just one a week is all we can manage.



Talking about how “T3rf” keeps the guys involved with their personal interests, Al Aseeri said: “I’m pretty much interested in anything that makes me go “Wow!” whether it’s history or science, there are so many amazing things in the world around us.



“I thing ‘T3rf De’ is the perfect vehicle to keep me looking for interesting things to share.” He said the core component of “T3rf” is “all about getting through the idea that the hard and soft sciences can be fun, interesting, and even a possible career path.”



For Taibah, it is all about managing content creation. “We’re trying to tweak our schedules to get more efficiency.”



Al Aseeri told Saudi Gazette the response has been slow, perhaps due to lack of immense interest in science in the country.



“‘T3rf’ has had a slowly increasing readership and the interactions with them are mainly positive. Some tweet our posts on a regular basis and others constantly thank us for the effort. But the best response we had was when gave a live talk in a local event and everyone was grinning and enjoying it; you can see it in their faces,” Taibah said.



One of the comments Sabban remembers is: “One fan tweeted: you deserve a million retweets, enough said.”



When asked about the significance of science and the knowledge of history for the Saudi youth, Sabban said: “We were fortunate enough to have discovered the world of science by ourselves, and once we did, our eyes and minds were opened.



“We have a void in science communication and critical thinking in our country; we would like to show people that there is another world they can peruse, one that guarantees getting goosebumps when they venture into it.”



He said where there is a will there is way. “We believe we can pave the way for changing the idea that science is cut, dry, and boring.” He believes science is a cool and passionate field. “So addictive that when I was doing my PhD we took a course on how to control ourselves and leave our work at the end of the day. We believe we can inspire people and hopefully they will be our society’s future scientists.”



Taibah said that most students go through 12 years of schools just to get grades and have no idea what to do next.



He said many people do not realize how easy it is to get into science and technology. “It does take a great effort to be a great scientist but the same goes for great businessmen.”



The “T3rf team” is always thinking of different ways to grow. “Print is something I’d love to do to expand our readership; as is YouTube, but that requires much more effort than we’re able to put in at the moment.



“What we’ve recently tried was doing a live “T3rf De” session at a local event.



“We received a lot of positive feedback on that one, and hope to be able to visit schools and colleges to offer more of these live sessions,” said Al Aseeri.