Director's Message
Welcome to the Petroleum Institute’s College of Arts & Sciences website. The Petroleum Institute opened its doors in 2001 with 140 students. Today, we have more than 1000 undergraduates and have already established a Master’s degree program. I have no doubt that PhD programs are in the very near future and the student as well as faculty numbers will grow substantially in the next few years. This rate of progress is nothing short of outstanding and is in line with the rapid growth of UAE and with the vision of the leaders of this country.
The College of Arts & Sciences plays a vital role in the growth of this Institution and in moving it towards its ultimate goal of a “World Class Institution”. The recent change of the program’s name from “Core” to Arts & Sciences was effective on January 1, 2008. The mission of the PI College of Arts & Sciences is the same as any College of Arts & Sciences in United States universities. In the North American system, which the PI has largely espoused, the Departments of Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Humanities, Languages, and English are all located in the College of Arts & Sciences. They have their own degree programs and at the same time they teach service courses at the freshman and sophomore level to engineering students exactly as we do here in the Arts & Sciences.
Students enter the College of A&S after the Advanced University Placement department. The Program comprises the Departments of Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics, Humanities and Social Sciences, Communication and STEPS (Strategies for Team-based Engineering Problem Solving). A&S courses that all PI students must take include required classes in all these Departments as well as elective courses that they may take to broaden their studies beyond science and technology. These electives are designed to help our students develop current and global perspectives and to build successful professional lives. They include courses in Islamic Studies, History, Leadership, Political Science, and foreign languages among others. In STEPS courses, students integrate what they learn in science, mathematics, and communication, couple it with team work and project management tools, and build working prototypes.
The faculty and staff of A&S are exceptionally well qualified, skilled and caring educators. They are committed to excellence in all areas encompassed by the mission of PI. Our facilities are on a par with very best and our classes are intentionally kept small in size to improve the quality of education and increase one-to-one interaction between faculty and student.
As Director of the College of Arts and Sciences, I believe that we need to increase and emphasize our research activities in collaboration with the degree Programs to reach our full potential and to fully contribute to the research focus of the Institute. The PI has started to focus on research in line with its goal of becoming a “World Class University”. In all worldwide university rankings, research is heavily weighted and gets the most attention. Thus, emphasizing research is the right focus for the PI to make in its progress towards its paramount goal. Moreover, a primary mission of the Institute is to serve the needs of ADNOC, not only in manpower but also through research, by helping to solve the outstanding problems of the OPCO’s that may be operational, applied or fundamental in nature.
The emphasis on research is not meant to be at the expense of the quality of teaching. We are cognizant of the importance of giving a first rate education to our students that is on a par with the very best. Our faculty members are well qualified for both teaching and research activities. I pledge to do my very best to provide the faculty with the time and the tools to reach their full potential in both areas.
I look forward to working with faculty and staff to enhance the quality of the education we are imparting our students and to increase the contribution of A&S faculty to the research mission of PI in close collaboration with the engineering degree programs.
Sincerely
Dr. Dennis Siginer
Director, Arts & Sciences and
Distinguished University Professor
Dr. Dennis Siginer was a former Dean and Professor at Wichita State University and Chair and Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. He also served at Auburn University and the University of Alabama. Dennis is an ABET Program Evaluator and an elected Fellow of ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers), AAM (American Academy of Mechanics) and NYAS (New York Academy of Sciences). He is currently serving as the Associate and Guest Editor of JFE (Journal of Fluids Engineering). He was on the Editorial Board of JAM (Journal of Applied Mechanics) and also served as Guest Editor of JNNFM (Journal of Non-Newtonian Fluid Mechanics) and JAM. Dr. Siginer received several research and teaching awards. His research interests are in non-Newtonian fluid mechanics, heat transfer with non-linear fluids, flow of viscoelastic fluids through porous media and low Reynolds number flows in microgravity. He has published more than 200 technical articles, book chapters and extended abstracts and 2 books, edited 39 books and conference volumes and 6 special journal issues, and has presented close to 100 seminars and invited lectures.
