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Cohort 2020
Dr. Fatima Al-Rashid
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Petroleum Engineering→Carbon CaptureLeap 80
Impact summary
Led the first pilot CO₂ injection project in the Arabian Peninsula. Policy advisor to the Saudi Net Zero 2060 technical committee.
Background
Fatima spent her PhD engineering subsurface fluid dynamics for enhanced oil recovery. Her fellowship year forced a reckoning: the same underground formations she had been pressurizing to extract hydrocarbons could be repurposed to sequester CO₂ at gigatonne scale. She retooled her expertise entirely, and now leads KAUST's geologic carbon storage program.
The leap story
“I knew everything about how to get carbon out of the ground. Learning how to put it back in was easier than anyone expected — the physics is largely the same. The politics were harder.”