Chapter Spotlight: ACI Student Chapter at King Khalid University

When the American Concrete Institute (ACI) Student Chapter at King Khalid University (KKU) launched in 2025, it made an immediate impact. In a single semester, the Chapter delivered 15 events, engaged 1,800 total participants, mobilized 45 active team members, and published 100 social media posts, all while completing five applied engineering projects. For a Chapter in its inaugural term, that’s an impressive beginning.

The ACI-KKU Student Chapter is supervised by Dr. Mishal bin Qablan Al-Qahtani, Head of the Civil Engineering Department, and led by Chapter President Engineer Nawaf bin Muidh Al-Salem. From the start, the Chapter set its sights beyond typical student club activity. Its stated mission is to integrate academic knowledge with practical application through high-quality programs and partnerships that contribute to developing civil engineering students’ skills, enhancing their professional readiness, and enabling them to contribute to serving society and the engineering sector.

A Semester Built Around Student Development

The Chapter organized its first-semester programming into 14 formal programs spanning workshops, field visits, online sessions, and community events. Highlights included a technical workshop on floating concrete using waste polystyrene, which drew roughly 100 participants and introduced students to lightweight, sustainability-oriented concrete solutions. Two field visits, one to Southern Province Cement Company and another to the Asir Municipality Engineering Laboratory, gave students direct exposure to concrete production processes and quality control procedures applied in real public infrastructure projects.

The Chapter also hosted a series of X Space sessions that collectively drew hundreds of attendees. One session, featuring an experienced civil contractor, attracted over 500 listeners and explored construction management from a practitioner’s perspective. Another, titled Civil Engineering Horizons in a Changing World, featured an academic expert on the evolving demands of the profession. A third connected engineering practice with planning and project management concepts. The strong online attendance suggests the Chapter has tapped into a broader regional appetite for accessible professional content.

“Our vision was not limited to technical engineering activities. We aimed to create a complete student experience through engineering initiatives, specialized courses, intensive field visits, cultural activities, social programs, and community and charity initiatives. However, our engineering field visits and specialized technical programs have been the most distinctive part of our journey,” said Nawaf Muidh Al Salem. “The establishment story of the chapter is personally very special to me. About six months ago, before the chapter officially existed, I was striving to create something meaningful for civil engineering students at our university. After communicating with ACI and working through the process step by step, we successfully established the chapter and made significant progress in a short period of time.”

Beyond programming, ACI-KKU students developed five applied engineering projects that reflect the Chapter’s emphasis on translating classroom knowledge into practice.

The flagship project, Techniques of Strengthening Structural Members in Reinforced Concrete Structures, addressed deterioration in RC members due to cracking, corrosion, and environmental exposure. The student team explored advanced repair and strengthening methods, including CFRP wrapping, steel and concrete jacketing, and non-destructive testing.

The remaining four projects, developed under the Sustainable Hackathon framework, focused on smart agriculture and AI. These included Faseela, an AI-driven plant care platform; AgriCast, an IoT-integrated agricultural weather forecasting tool; AgroGuide AI, a plant disease detection system achieving 82% diagnostic accuracy; and SPOT-UV PureGrow, a robotics-based UV-C sterilization system for targeted crop treatment. While outside the traditional concrete engineering space, these projects demonstrated the Chapter’s commitment to cross-disciplinary innovation aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.

One of the semester’s most significant milestones was the formal launch of a Female Students Section, an intentional step toward broader participation and equal access to professional development within the Chapter. The section’s inauguration reflects a commitment to inclusive engineering education, strengthening the Chapter’s long-term institutional foundation.

The Chapter also invested early in its visual identity. Its logo, embedding the letters A, C, and I with references to the Sarawat Mountains, the ACI parent organization, and a concrete column, was designed to root the Chapter’s identity in local geography and engineering purpose.

With activity categories spanning workshops and development (35.7%), event organization and club involvement (35.7%), student services and leadership (17.9%), and community service (10.7%), the ACI KKU Student Chapter has already demonstrated a well-rounded operational model. The Chapter enters its second semester with infrastructure, momentum, and an active student community.

The ACI-KKU Student Chapter can be found on X at @aci_ksa.