Raytheon, King Saud University announce new Systems Engineering Chair position

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions, signed a partnership agreement with King Saud University, Saudi Arabia’s largest educational institution, to provide a Systems Engineering Chair in honor of the company’s 50th Anniversary in Saudi Arabia. The new engineering chair underscores Raytheon’s shared commitment to higher education to help the Kingdom achieve its Vision 2030 goals. 

The Raytheon Systems Engineering Chair position will be hired by KSU and based at its College of Engineering in Riyadh to establish an advanced curriculum of systems engineering courses. The courses will begin as soon as the new year. The company will provide the new chairperson with access to some of its U.S.-based engineering resources.

“We are proud to partner with King Saud University to establish this new systems engineering chair in recognition of our 50 years in and our ongoing commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” said Kurt E. Amend, president, Raytheon International Inc. in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “Raytheon and the Kingdom share the goal of human capital development – particularly in technology and innovation fields – and this system engineering chair reflects our joint focus to support the country’s Vision 2030 education and economic goals.” 

“This new systems engineering chair will contribute to all engineering disciplines taught at the university’s College of Engineering,” said Dr. Badran AlOmar, rector at King Saud University. “We are grateful for Raytheon’s partnership to help broaden our engineering curriculum. Through their support, King Saud University will continue to serve as a gateway and source for highly educated engineers to meet Saudi Arabia’s growing innovation, technology and manufacturing cornerstone requirements under Vision 2030.”

Established as a joint project between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education and UNESCO in 1962, the College of Engineering is one of the oldest in the region and has continued to grow in specialization and academic disciplines. The College is currently segmented into six key engineering departments: civil, electrical, mechanical, chemical, petroleum and gas, and industrial engineering.