The halls of Qatar Academy were filled with the sounds of excitement and learning as science and engineering concepts were brought to life during a new show presented by Texas A&M University at Qatar (Tamuq) and Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco).
The Science and Engineering Road Show was developed by STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) experts at Texas A&M at Qatar and supported by Qapco. The road show comes with its own recognisable van that one may soon see driving around Doha – aiming to bring STEM enrichment to students across Qatar.
The show is part of Tamuq’s ongoing efforts to attract Qatar’s best and brightest young minds to choose career paths in STEM and support the goals set out in Qatar National Vision 2030, according to a press statement. 
The road show is tailored to all student age groups, said Texas A&M at Qatar’s Benjamin Cieslinski, who performs the demonstrations and experiments in English with Arabic-language support from Joelle Fadlallah. 
During the show, Cieslinski and Fadlallah demonstrate science and engineering concepts and talk to students about how those principles can be seen in real life.
“Introducing kids to STEM concepts shows them that they’re surrounded by science and engineering,” Cieslinski said. “We want students to know that science and engineering can be fun and exciting and creative, and we want them to ask questions and to be inquisitive and hopefully want to find their own answers to challenges by pursuing careers in STEM.”
Show modules are based on themes such as temperature, pressure, fluid flow, electromagnetism and chemical structure. 
Qatar Academy’s Joanna Mathison, assistant principal at the Primary School, said: “Having our students engaged in a science and engineering show like this will help develop their curiosity and excitement for science. It will encourage our students to wonder about the world around them and marvel at the ‘magic’ of science.”
Before debuting the show at Qatar Academy, Tamuq took the show to the Qapco headquarters and performed for executives and the company’s safety team.  
Dr Mohamed Yousef al-Mulla, Qapco’s MD and CEO, said: “This programme will be of great benefit to schoolchildren as it will promote the STEM disciplines within schools, and is closely linked to Qapco’s commitment to increase awareness of STEM disciplines in the education sector in Qatar.
“This is also a great example of how the education sector and industry can work together on a programme that, will I am sure, achieve so much over the next two years.”
Texas A&M at Qatar dean César O Malavé added, “The Science and Engineering Road Show is another milestone in Qatar’s STEM development. With this initiative, we will connect with dozens of schools around the country and inspire thousands of schoolchildren every year.”