Higher Education Exhibit 2013 Beacon Jan-Mar

InSIDe: Winter enrichment program 4-5 Awards 6-7 Community 8news 1-2 phD Graduates 3

At a commencement ceremony overlooking the Breakwater Beacon,

inaugural KAuSt Phd graduates were honored for helping the

young institution reach another milestone in the journey of global

excellence to bring knowledge in service of society.

Addressing the 220 men and women of the Class of 2012, KAuSt

Founding President, Prof. Choon Fong Shih, reminded the new grad-

uates that they are trailblazers and the flag-bearers of their alma

mater. “Your future success will be our university's success, so will

KAuSt's success be yours. the simple truth is we have a shared des-

tiny,” he remarked.

Guest speaker Lord Alec Broers – a pioneer of nanofabrication,

former Vice Chancellor of Cambridge university, and past President

of the Royal Academy of engineering – hailed KAuSt's effort “to

advance modern science and accelerate the pace of engineering…

which are two sides of the same coin.”

KAuSt's inaugural Phd recipients were followed by the

university's third class of master's graduates from its three academic

divisions – Biological and environmental Sciences and engineering;

Chemical, electrical, and Mathematical Sciences and engineering;

and Physical Sciences and engineering.

Many master's graduates will advance to Phd study at KAuSt.

Others, in support of KAuSt's economic development mission, join

the ranks of the university's blue-chip industrial partners includ-

ing Saudi Aramco, SABIC, and the dow Chemical Company. KAuSt

graduates – the majority from Saudi Arabia – included men and

women from all corners of the world, including the united States,

China, France, norway, South Africa, India, Australia, and Brazil.

As Prof. Choon Fong Shih observed during his commented remarks,

“the early chapters of KAuSt's history are so inspiring. they tell of

a breathtaking campus which just a few years ago was mostly desert

dean elnozahy | Continued on p2 CommenCement | Continued on p2

PROfEssOR MOOTaz ElNOzaHY aPPOiNTEd dEaN Of COMPuTER, ElECTRiCal, aNd MaTHEMaTiCal sCiENCEs aNd ENGiNEERiNG divisiON

الملك تاريخ جامعة في الدكتوراه الخريجين درجة أول مجموعة من حصدت فيها رحب التي كلمته وفي 2012 للعام التخرج احتفال في وذلك عبداهلل بأنهم البروفسور تشون فونغ شيه، الجامعة، رئيس الجدد، ذكرهم بالخريجين يعدون من الرواد وحملة أعالم جامعتهم األم قائال "إن نجاحكم في المستقبل هو نجاح لجامعتنا كما أن نجاح الجامعة ما هو إال نجاح لكم. والحقيقة المجردة

هي أن مصيرنا مشترك".وكانت الجامعة قد افتتحت على يد مؤسسها الملك عبداهلل بن عبدالعزيز آل سعود في العام 2009 كجامعة أبحاث على مستوى الدراسات العليا في العلوم والتقنية ذات جذور ضاربة في المملكة العربية السعودية وسعي جاد للتواصل والتقنية العلوم تطوير إلى الرامية األبحاث وتركز العالم. نطاق على والتأثير في حرمها الجامعي على ساحل البحر األحمر إلى الشمال من مدينة جدة على في والمتمثلة األوسع والعالم المملكة تواجه التي الملحة األربعة التحديات

الماء والغذاء والطاقة والبيئة.وتحدث الخطيب الضيف اللورد أليك برويرز، وهو أحد العلماء الرواد في تقنية المتحدة، المملكة في للهندسة الملكية لألكاديمية السابق والرئيس النانو مشيدا بجهود الجامعة الرامية إلى "ترقية العلوم الحديثة وتسريع وتيرة التطوير

الهندسي كوجهين لعملة واحدة".تخريج عبداهلل الملك جامعة من الدكتوراه حملة من دفعة أول تخريج وتال األكاديمية الجامعة أقسام من الماجستير درجة حملة من الثالثة الدفعة الثالثة وهي قسم العلوم والهندسة البيولوجية والبيئية وقسم العلوم والهندسة

الحاسوبية والكهربائية والحسابية وقسم العلوم والهندسة الفيزيائية.وقد تركزت أبحاث الرواد األوائل من حملة درجة الدكتوراه في الجامعة على مجاالت تنوعت من النمذجة الحاسوبية لنظم المواد إلى أبحاث البحر األحمر الجيولوجية األسطح لتصوير الرياضية واألساليب النبات إجهاد وجينومات التحتية. وسيتابع بعضهم أبحاثهم لدرجة ما بعد الدكتوراه بينما يشرع اآلخرون في حياتهم العملية في الشركات الصناعية، بينما سيواصل العديد من الخريجين الدكتوراه من جامعة الملك عبداهلل. الماجستير دراستهم لنيل درجة بدرجة والبعض اآلخر وفي سبيل دعم رسالة التطوير االقتصادي لجامعة الملك عبداهلل سينضمون إلى صفوف شركاء الجامعة الصناعيين الكبار، بما في ذلك شركات

أرامكو السعودية وسابك وداو كيميكال.

حفل التخرج

tHe unIVeRSItY has recently welcomed

Professor Mootaz elnozahy as dean of the

Computer, electrical, and Mathematical Sciences

and engineering (CeMSe) division. Prior to

joining KAuSt, dean elnozahy spent 15 years

at IBM Research in Austin, texas, leading both

research and product development efforts. Prior

to joining IBM, he was a faculty member at

the School of Computer Science at Carnegie

Mellon university from 1993 to 1997. Prof.

elnozahy has also been an adjunct professor

in the department of Computer Sciences at the

university of texas at Austin. He has more than

30 patents and has been extremely successful in

raising peer reviewed research funding.

CommenCemenT

تتمه صفحة 2

تعيني الربوفسور معتز النزهي عميدا لقسم العلوم واهلندسة

احلاسوبية والكهربائية واحلسابية عميدا النزهي معتز البروفسور تعيين مؤخرا تم والكهربائية الحاسوبية والهندسة العلوم لقسم للعلوم عبداهلل الملك جامعة في والحسابية قبل أمضى قد معتز البروفسور وكان والتقنية. إلتحاقه بالجامعة حوالي 15 عاما في أبحاث شركة اي بي إم في أوستن تكساس حيث تولى قيادة كل

من أقسام األبحاث وجهود تطوير المنتجات. يعمل كان إم بي آي شركة إلى انضمامه وقبل عضوا في هيئة التدريس في كلية علوم الحاسوب في جامعة كارنجي ميلون خالل الفترة من 1993 إلى 1997. كما شغل كذلك وظيفة أستاذ في إدارة أوستن. في تكساس جامعة في الحاسوب علوم ولديه أكثر من 30 براءة اختراع وكان مثاال ناجحا تتم التي األبحاث األموال ألغراض استقطاب في

مراجعتها من قبل النظراء.تتمه صفحة 2

Dean mootaz elnozahy

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology at Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

www.kaust.edu.sa

BeAConthe ة املنـار

January 2013 / Rabi l 1434 Volume 3, Issue no. 5

in brief ToASTmASTeRS

On deCeMBeR 17, the KAuSt chapter of toastmasters,

Al Manarah, visited the national Commercial Bank (nCB)

toastmasters Club at their training Center in Jeddah. the

meeting was called together by Kamal Ahmad Al-Borno,

the president of nCB toastmasters and the current man-

ager of corporate social responsibility at emaar, King

Abdullah economic City. the meeting led to fruitful dis-

cussions as well as agreements on continued exchange

and stronger collaboration.

GRADeS 3, 4, AnD 5 WInTeR ConCeRTStudentS in grade 3, 4, and 5 from the KAuSt School

(tKS) presented their take on the classic folk tale Stone

Soup at their annual Winter Concert in december. the

story emphasizes the need to collaborate and share in

a community and tKS students shared their own inter-

pretation, integrating their views and understanding of

culture, collaboration, and community.

members of the Al manarah and nCB Toastmasters groups.

dean elnozahy | Continued from p1

CommenCement | Continued from p1

Prof. elnozahy holds a Phd in Computer Science from Rice

university in texas, and a BS in electrical engineering with

Highest Honors from Cairo university in egypt. He is fluent in

Arabic, english, French, and several programming languages.

Prof. elnozahy’s personal research area is in systems, includ-

ing high performance computing, power-aware computing, fault

tolerance, operating systems, system architecture, and distributed

systems. His work on rollback-recovery is now a standard com-

ponent of graduate courses in fault-tolerant computing.

Provost Stefan Catsicas said, “Research excellence is one of

IBM’s well recognized strengths. So is the company’s capacity to

bring major programs from the labs to the market. KAuSt is very

fortunate to have attracted a scholar and manager like Mootaz

to lead a division that regroups disciplines ideally positioned to

fulfill both our academic and economic development aspirations.”

Prof. elnozahy was attracted to KAuSt by the compelling

opportunity to establish a center of knowledge and research in

the Middle east with unprecedented capabilities. He shares, “the

King’s vision behind KAuSt resonates well with me, as it does

with any scientist who grew up in this region. I see the university’s

role as a pioneering agent of economic transformation in addi-

tion to its ambitious goal of becoming an international center of

excellence in scientific research.”

sand. they tell of Phd graduates whose talent has been honed in

some of the finest laboratories alongside top scientific minds from

around the world. You all carry with you untold potential. I am

filled with optimism that, through you, many more meaningful

pages of our shared history will be written.”

داخل من معظمهم الجنسين من عبداهلل الملك جامعة خريجو و المملكة أتوا من كل بقاع العالم، بما في ذلك الواليات المتحدة والصين

وفرنسا والنرويج وجنوب أفريقيا والهند واستراليا والبرازيل. كما ذكر البروفسور تشون فونغ شيه في كلمته الترحيبية بأن األبحاث التي تنتج في الجامعة والتي تنشر في المجالت األكاديمية الرائدة لها العلمية األوساط في وسمعتها الجامعة موقع تعزيز في عظيم تأثير العالمية وقال مخاطبا خريجي العام 2012 "لقد اخترتم مالحقة شغفكم بالعلوم بجوار ساحل البحر األحمر في واحدة من أقصر جامعات العالم

."عمرا، وبذلك تثبتون أنكم في دواخلكم رواد ومغامرون

تابع حفل التخرج

تابع معتز النزهيالحاسوب علوم في الدكتوراه درجة على النزهي البروفسور حاز وقد الهندسة في علوم بكالوريوس ودرجة تكساس، في رايس جامعة من الكهربائية بأعلى مرتبة شرف من جامعة القاهرة في مصر، ويجيد اللغات

العربية واالنجليزية والفرنسية والعديد من لغات البرمجة.وتركزت اهتماماته البحثية الشخصية على النظم، بما في ذلك الحوسبة عالية األداء وعمليات الحوسبة ذات الطاقة المنخفضة وتحمل األخطاء والعيوب ونظم التشغيل والهيكلة المعمارية للنظم ونظم التوزيع. وقد القياسي المكون اآلن الموزعة الحاسوبية العمليات في عمله أصبح االستجابة على النظام بقدرة المتعلقة الحوسبة في التخريج لدورات

بأمان إلى حدوث خطأ غير متوقع في األجهزة أو البرامج. تميز "يشكل كاتسيكاس ستيفان البروفسور الجامعة وكيل ويقول األبحاث أحد جوانب القوة التي تتميز بها شركة آي بي إم، إضافة إلى طاقة الشركة وقدرتها على إخراج البرامج الرئيسية من المختبر و إدخالها إلى السوق. وقد ُوِفقت جامعة الملك عبداهلل في تعيين عالم ومدير متميز لقيادة قسم وإعادة تجميع التخصصات بحيث تكون في وضع مثالي لتلبية

تطلعاتنا في التطوير األكاديمي واالقتصادي على حد سواء". واألمر الذي اجتذب البروفسور معتز النزهي إلى جامعة الملك عبداهلل هو الفرصة المقنعة لتأسيس مركز للمعرفة واألبحاث يتمتع بمقدرات غير مسبوقة في الشرق األوسط. حيث يقول "إن رؤية خادم الحرمين الشريفين الملك عبداهلل بن عبدالعزيز عن تأسيس الجامعة تلقى قبوال في نفسه كما تفعل مع أي عالم نشأ في هذه المنطقة. وأنا أرى وأقدر دور الجامعة كعامل رائد في التحول االقتصادي إضافة إلى هدفها الطموح بأن تصبح

."مركزا عالميا للتميز في األبحاث العلمية

news2

IN THIS first issue of 2013 we present the University’s third

Commencement, a milestone achievement not only for gradu-

ates and their families, but a shared celebration with the faculty,

staff, and community of KAUST. This Beacon also welcomes Prof.

Mootaz Elnozahy, the newly appointed Dean of the Computer,

Electrical, and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division.

Each January, WEP brings an added energy and excitement to

our campus with its many events, lectures, and courses open

to the entire community. From a photography exhibit featuring

archaeological sites of Saudi Arabia, and a fishing lecture led by a

local fisherman, to an explosive science show, there is something

for everyone to inspire creativity and curiosity.

The Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 5, January 2013. Published by The Communications Department, King abdullah university of science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.Contact Salah Sindi [email protected], or Michelle D'Antoni [email protected]

© King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Printed on partially recycled paper.

January 2013

—THE BEACON Editorial

The Beacon

dR. WeI daI, ChInaeaRth SCIenCe and enGIneeRInGadVISoR: PRoF. GeRaRd SChUSteR

dr. Wei dai gained his bachelor’s degree from the university

of Science and technology of China, and his master’s

degree in Geology from the university of Illinois at urbana-

Champaign, uS. He started his Phd studies in exploration

Seismology at the university of utah, uS, before following

his supervisor to KAuSt in 2009.

during his Phd studies, dr. dai worked on seismic imaging

methods to improve the image quality and resolution by least-

squares migration (LSM).

After gaining his Phd, dr. dai joined leading oilfield services

company and industrial partner of KAuSt, Schlumberger, in

Houston, texas, uS.

dR. eIVInd dyPVIK, noRWaymaRIne SCIenCeadVISoR: PRoF. SteIn KaaRtVedt

dr. eivind dypvik received his master’s degree from the

university of Oslo, norway, and joined KAuSt shortly after

graduating in 2010.

dr. dypvik’s Phd research was on myctophids, small

mesopelagic fish species important to marine ecosystems

throughout the world. His research focused on the behavior

of the Red Sea and the north Atlantic Ocean myctophids in

relation to prey and predator distribution, and to abiotic fac-

tors such as temperature and oxygen levels.

dr. dypvik plans to follow his passion in marine ecology

and pursue a job within this field.

dR. Salman BIn Inayat, PaKIStaneleCtRICal enGIneeRInGadVISoR: PRoF. mUhammad mUStaFa hUSSaIn

dr. Salman Inayat gained his bachelor’s degree from the

university of engineering and technology in Islamabad/

Rawalpindi, Pakistan, and his master’s degree from the

university of texas at Arlington, texas, uS.

dr. Inayat’s doctoral research work was on transform-

ing window glasses into thermoelectricity generators. He

explored using the temperature gradient between the hot

outdoors and the relatively cold indoors of a building for

mass scale energy generation.

dr. Inayat’s plans are to explore avenues related to

research, development, and commercialization of nano-

technology applications leading toward renewable

energy harvesting.

ten PIoneeRInG Phd graduates – who engaged in research in areas from computational

modeling of materials systems, Red Sea research, and plant stress genomics, to mathematical

techniques for geophysical subsurface imaging – were among KaUSt's third cohort of graduates.

ضمت الدفعة الثالثة من خرجيي جامعة امللك عبداهلل أول عشرة خرجيني رواد ممن نالوا درجة الدكتوراه بأحباث يف جماالت تناولت النمذجة احلاسوبية لنظم املواد وأحباث البحر األمحر وجينومات إجهاد النبات

واألساليب احلسابية لتصوير الطبقات اجليوفيزيائية التحتية.

fiRsT PHd GRaduaTEs aMONG THiRd GRaduaTiNG Class Of KausT

أول عشرة خرجيني بدرجة الدكتوراه من الدفعة الثالثة من خرجيي جامعة

امللك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية

dR. FRedRICK KamanU, KenyaBIoSCIenCeadVISoR: PRoF. VladImIR BaJIC

dr. Fredrick Kamanu gained a bachelor’s degree in

Biomedical Science and technology from egerton

university, Kenya, and a master’s degree in Bioinformatics

from the university of the Western Cape in Cape town,

South Africa. He joined KAuSt in 2009.

dr. Kamanu’s Phd research was on developing com-

putational tools for comparative analysis of microbial

genomes.

Having completed his Phd studies, dr. Kamanu plans to

stay in academia and will pursue a postdoctoral fellowship.

dR. tImothy KamanU, KenyaBIoSCIenCeadVISoR: PRoF. VladImIR BaJIC

dr. timothy Kamanu has a bachelor’s degree in mathe-

matics from the university of nairobi, Kenya; Chartered

Accountancy II from Strathmore university, Kenya; Post

Graduate diploma in Mathematical Sciences from the African

Institute of Mathematical Sciences/university of Cape town,

South Africa; and a master’s degree in Statistics (cum laude)

from the university of the Western Cape, South Africa.

dr. Kamanu’s Phd research focused on accurate predic-

tion of small non-coding RnA sequences (microRnAs);

He developed a theoretical and computational frame-

work to unveil microRnA genes in genomic sequences,

and a software tool to estimate microRnA gene bounda-

ries with high accuracy.

dr. Kamanu hopes to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship

in statistical and mathematical modeling, and/or a career

in consulting.

dR. CameRon maCPheRSon, SoUth aFRICaBIoSCIenCeadVISoR: PRoF. VladImIR BaJIC

dr. Cameron MacPherson studied genetics, microbiol-

ogy, and medical cell biology at undergraduate level and

received his master’s degree in Bioinformatics from the

university of the Western Cape, South Africa. He started

his Phd studies in South Africa, and transferred to KAuSt

when his supervisor joined the university in 2009.

dr. MacPherson’s Phd research was on small ribonu-

cleic acid (smRnA) biology in plant stress. His main line of

investigation was in the molecular response of Arabidopsis

thaliana to various stress conditions.

After completing his Phd studies, dr. MacPherson started

a postdoctoral fellowship at Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.

dR. hIna taBaSSUm, PaKIStaneleCtRICal enGIneeRInGadVISoR: PRoF. mohamed-SlIm aloUInI

dr. Hina tabassum gained her bachelor and master’s degrees

from ned university of engineering and technology in

Karachi, Pakistan.

dr. tabassum’s primary research work has been on mod-

eling and management of interference in future generation

wireless networks. She has developed several statistical mod-

els that can accurately capture the dynamics of interference,

with distinct applications in the performance analysis of sin-

gle carrier and multicarrier future wireless networks.

dr. tabassum aspires to secure a faculty position at a top

university in Saudi Arabia or the Middle east.

dR. maRIe-Jean thoRaVal, FRanCemeChanICal enGIneeRInGadVISoR: PRoF. SIGURdUR thoRoddSen

dr. Marie-Jean thoraval received his master’s level

diploma from ecole Polytechnique (Palaiseau, France)

and Supaéro (toulouse, France), and completed a research

master’s degree in Fluid dynamics at Institut Supérieur

de l'Aéronautique et de l'espace (tolouse, France). He

joined Prof. Sigurdur thoroddsen’s group at the national

university of Singapore in 2007, and moved to KAuSt

with his supervisor in 2009.

dr. thoraval’s Phd was on different aspects of drop

impacts, captured with a high-speed (one million frames

per second) camera.

dr. thoraval will continue his research as a postdoctoral

fellow at KAuSt.

dR. SaFdaR nazIR, PaKIStanmateRIalS SCIenCe and enGIneeRInGadVISoR: PRoF. Udo SChWInGenSChloGI

dr. Safdar nazir gained his bachelor’s degree from

Bahauddin Zakariya university in Multan, Pakistan, and

his master’s degree from university of the Punjab in

Lahore, Pakistan.

dr. nazir's Phd research focus was on the first-principles

investigation of the electronic states at perovskite and pyrite

hetero-interfaces.

dr. nazir plans to stay in academia and has applied for a

postdoctoral position in the uS and europe, and has been

shortlisted for a professorship in Pakistan.

dR. Ge zhan, ChInaeaRth SCIenCe and enGIneeRInGadVISoR: PRoF. GeRaRd SChUSteR

dr. Ge Zhan received his master’s degree in Geophysics

from China university of Mining and technology, China. He

started his Phd studies at the department of Geology and

Geophysics at the university of utah, uS, before following

his supervisor to KAuSt in 2009.

dr. Ge's Phd research focused on a new seismic migration

algorithm, where seismic events recorded at the surface are

more precisely relocated (in space) to the subsurface location

in which the event occurred.

dr. Ge will begin a career in the oil and gas industry, hav-

ing joined British Petroleum (BP) in Houston, texas, uS.

phD Graduates 3January 2013www.kaust.edu.sa

tHe FOuRtH Winter enrichment Program (WeP) is taking place January 12 – 30, 2013.

Visit http://wep.acadox.com for the full program listing, and to register for courses, events, and

lectures. Please note that the schedule is subject to change.

For inquiries or comments, email: [email protected].

سيبدأ برنامج اإلثراء الشتوي الرابع اعتبارا من 12 يناير إلى 30 يناير 2013 البرامج حول المعلومات من المزيد على للحصول وذلك http://wep.acadox.com الموقع زيارة يرجى

والتسجيل للدورات الدراسية والمحاضرات، مع مراعاة أي تعديالت قد تضاف على الجدول. [email protected] :وإلبداء آراءكم واستفساراكم يرجى التواصل على البريد اإللكتروني

PHOTOGRaPHY EXHiBiTiON - disCOvER saudi aRaBia January 16 - 23 Engineering Science Hall (building 9), Entrance HallExhibition opening on January 16 from 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.

DiSCoVeR Saudi Arabia is a photographic exhibition of some of Saudi

Arabia’s most impressive heritage sites. the exhibit’s main

themes are the Makkah Province, the Madinah Province,

Historical Jeddah, and Saudi Arabia’s two uneSCO World

Heritage Sites: Hegra (Mada’in Saleh) and Ad-dar’iyah.

the exhibit is a joint collaboration between the KAuSt

Society for Archaeology and Anthropology Student Group,

the Photography Group, archaeologist Laurence Hapiot, WeP

Conference Manager Marie-Laure Boulot, and Sami nawar, the

director of Jeddah Historical Municipal Branch.

WiNTER ENRiCHMENT PROGRaM (WEP) 2013

sPECial EvENTs, EXHiBiTs, aNd HiGHliGHTs

January 2013 The BeaconWinter enrichment program4

sPECial EvENT: iMPROvisaTiON THEaTRE PERfORMaNCEWith Basel Al-Naffouri, Lisa Rowland, Regina Saisi, Tim Orr, and special guest keyboard player, KAUST PhD student Andrew YipThursday, January 24 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

COMe watch and listen as short scenes unfold

in real time with the excitement, hilarity, and

surprise of improvisation. the group of San

Francisco-based actors/improvisers will incor-

porate the audience’s suggestions and ideas

into their improvisation performance. It will

be an engaging evening of fun for the whole

family!

5K faMilY fuN RuNThursday, January 17 from 9:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

eVeRYOne can take part in this event

by running for fun, walking with

friends, or racing to win. the biggest

achievement is taking part, so you can

make the run a laugh by taking part in

our fun events, which include best costume

(come dressed in a crazy outfit) and best

team costume. the competitive race categories

are overall race winner, fastest female runner,

and fastest junior (16 & under). Registration forms are available at the Harbor Sports Club reception

desk or by emailing [email protected].

a lECTuRE aNd PHOTOGRaPHY EXHiBiTiON: fisHiNGExhibition: “Fishing Photography in a Marine Atmosphere”January 19 - 25Administration Building (16), Rotunda

Opening Ceremony on January 19 from 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.Lecture: Fishing Activities in ThuwalSunday, January 20 from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m.

Abu naif is a Saudi fisherman who uses traditional methods to anticipate the type and size

of his catch, by reading the sea, the stars, and the wind. Abu naif has a great interest in

preserving the marine environment and a passion to share his knowledge. His lecture will

be presented in Arabic and translated to english by emad Al Sharif.

صيد األسماك: محاضرة ومعرض للصور معرض صيد األسماك في بيئة بحرية

19 يناير إلى 25 يناير بهو مدخل اإلدارة مبنى )16(

افتتاح االحتفال في 19 يناير من الساعة الخامسة والنصف إ لى السادسة والنصف مساء

المحاضرة: نشاط صيد األسماك في ثول:األحد 20 يناير من الساعة الواحدة والنصف إلى الساعة الثانية والنصف ظهرًا

أبو نايف هو صائد أسماك سعودي يستخدم الطرق التقليدية في توّقع وتخمين أنواع األسماك التي في شديدة رغبة له نايف وأبو والرياح. والنجوم البحر أحوال قراءة خالل من وكميتها يصطادها المحافظة على البيئة البحرية وشغوف بمشاركة اآلخرين في ما تراكم لديه من معارف ثرية. وسيقدم

أبونايف المحاضرة باللغة العربية وسيقوم بترجمتها إلى اللغة االنجليزية عماد الشريف.

sEMiNaR aNd filM sEssiON: afRiCa TREK: iN THE fOOTsTEPs Of MaNKiNdBy Alexandre Poussin and Aurelien ManchonThursday, January 24 from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.AFteR a bicycle tour around the world (1993-1994) and a grand traverse of the Himalaya

ranges (1997), Alexandre and Sonia Poussin made the first successful attempt to cross the

African Continent on foot, unaided (2001-2004). they took 39 months to walk from one end

of the Great Rift Valley to the other, retracing the passage of the early Man.

the seminar consists of two parts: a showing of the movie “Africa trek: In the Footsteps

of Mankind”, and a seminar/discussion on the modus operandi of their walk and the way

they experienced multiculturalism.

wep.acadox.com

January 2013www.kaust.edu.sa 5Winter enrichment program

lECTuRE HiGHliGHTs

dR. BuNHEad's CRasH TEsT sCiENCE sHOWBy Tom Pringle (from Brainiac)Sunday, January 27 from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

tV'S most extreme tV scientist will be at KAuSt to take part

in the Science Fair and to deliver 100% pure, live, high-octane

explosive science. dr. Bunhead’s show will feature exploding

hot water bottles, stunt bananas, the Guinness world record

potato bazooka, and more

PREsENTaTiON Of THE WORld CuisiNE COMPETiTiONBy Guido BarendsonMonday, January 28 from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.

ItALIAn gastronomic journalist and critic Guido Barendson works with the Italian national tV net-

work RAI (Radiotelevisione Italiana) and is part of the managing committee of the prestigious Italian

magazine and restaurant guide L’espresso. His presentation will help participants prepare for the

Cooking Competition that will be held on Wednesday, January 30.

ClOsiNG CONCERTAttab Haddad Quartet with violinist Sabina RakcheyevaWednesday, January 30 from 6:30 - 7:30 p.m.

SenSItIVe and dynamic, and influenced by the musical traditions of the West and the east, the

young and vibrant Arts Global musicians create their unique voice through improvisations based

on classical works and traditional themes. In a rare fusion of Western and eastern instruments and

styles, their compositions and improvisations are about exploring the new approaches and reflect-

ing an interest in music that goes beyond a singular tradition. the Quintet has appeared live on

BBC Radio and played at several of London’s venues, including the Forge, where they closed the

London Jazz Festival in 2011.

lECTuRE aNd COuRsE - iNTRO TO MusiC THEORYBy Corry MoriartyCourse: Tuesday, January 15 from 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.Lecture: Sunday, January 20 from 4:30 - 5:30 p.m.Course: Wednesday, January 30 from 9:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Corry Moriarty is a music, drama, and creative movement educator with a focus on inquiry-based

learning and integrated curriculum. Moriarty’s interactive lecture and course are designed for any-

one who would like to learn more about the language of music.

dO WE REallY NEEd TO BE afRaid Of sNaKEs?By Sid SamtaneyMonday, January 21 from 9:30 - 10:30 a.m.

KAuSt high school senior Sid Samtaney is an aspiring herpetologist and a seasoned WeP lecturer.

during his talk, he will discuss the snake species of Saudi Arabia and educate the KAuSt community

about the benefits of having snakes as part of the ecosystem.

dialOGuE WiTH lEadERs - “MY BiGGEsT failuRE aNd WHaT iT TauGHT ME”By Rami Abu GhazalehTuesday, January 22 from 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

engineer Rami Abu Ghazaleh is the CeO and a Co-owner of AlBaik

Food Systems Company. He manages around 40 AlBaik fast food

restaurant operations in Jeddah, Makkah, Madinah, and Yanbu,

and has made substantial commitments to social responsibility in

the Kingdom.

aluMNi lECTuRE sERiEsTuesday, January 22 from 2:00 - 5:00 p.m.

AFteR a call for proposals by WeP and Graduate Affairs, four alumni were shortlisted to give a

30-minute talk on their current research or work. Come hear what these KAuSt alumni have to

share about their journey post-graduation.

EXPERiENCEs TO REMEMBER fROM saudi aRaBiaBy Ahmad SahabMonday, January 28 from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.

MR. AHMAd Sahab – creator, director, and presenter from OSn tV network, will take the audience

on a trip to explore the landscapes of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using scenes from the new,

must-see tV series “discover KSA.”

Sahab will showcase extracts of the groundbreaking series to bring the audience a whole new

perspective of what lies within the hidden corners of this wondrous land – from the depths of the

Red Sea and the vast deserts that cover more than half of the country, to the mountaintops very

few have explored. this is an adventure you won’t want to miss!

sCulPTuRE, aNOTHER WaY TO CONfRONT NaTuREBy Igor UstinovTuesday, January 29 from 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.

SCuLPtOR Igor ustinov believes that sculpture has been used as an illustra-

tion of an event of life or of faith, to communicate values to satisfy social and

political establishment, and to illustrate the truth. today, he feels sculpture

has freed itself from that use. Sculpture is no longer just a social answer but

has transformed itself to become an art of questioning and a vector of

progress. ustinov invites the KAuSt community to explore the evolution

and perception of sculpture, and to share his experiences as an artist.

أعلن صندوق التمويل التأسيسي مؤخرا المشاريع الفائزة حديثا بجوائز جولة خريف العام 2012. وتم اختيار أربعة مشاريع من المجموعة المبدئية البالغ عددها 35 منتجا . وتضم الفرق المبتِكرة لهذه المشاريع أحد أعضاء هيئة التدريس وخريجين اثنين وأربعة باحثين وباحث ما بعد مرحلة الدكتوراه واثنين من الموظفين. وسيتلقون الدعم في مرحلة الحضانة بهدف تطوير منتجاتهم من مرحلة النموذج التجريبي إلى مرحلة تحويل

المنتجات إلى خدمات وسلع تجارية ومن ثم تكوين شركات جديدة. والمشاريع األربعة الفائزة هي:

the Seed Fund recently announced the winners of their 2012 Fall Round. Four teams were

selected from an initial pool of 35 applications. the successful teams count among their ranks

one faculty member, two graduate students, four researchers, one postdoc, and two staff mem-

bers. they will now receive incubation support to develop their products from the prototype

stage to commercialization and, ultimately, into a new business. the four winning projects are:

H2O أوزموبين تجمع جديدة تقنية عن عبارة هي H2O أوزمو وتوفر الصحي، الصرف مياه ومعالجة البحر مياه تحلية وتقوم المياه. لموارد االستدامة خيار العملية هذه المياه التقنية على أساس استخدام األغشية الستخالص ومياه المستخدمة المياه من للشرب الصالحة العذبة البحر باستهالك طاقة أقل بنسبة 50 % واستخدام مواد

كيميائية أقل لتنظيف األغشية.رودريجو و فرانسيس، ليجو و آمي، قاري الفريق: أعضاء

فاالداريس، ومحمد أبو غديب، و زهنيو لي

وحدة التقطير باألغشية متعددة المراحلبين تجمع المراحل متعددة باألغشية التقطير وحدة مع الحرارية الطريقة هما تقليديتين: طريقتين مزايا لجزيئيات يسمح التي األغشية فيها وتستخدم األغشية. بخار الماء بالمرور مما يسمح للتقنية بالعمل تحت درجة حرارة وضغط أكثر انخفاضا مع ما يترتب على ذلك من

خفض للتكاليف. ونور فرانسيس، ليجو و السعدي، أحمد الفريق: أعضاء

الدين غفور

تصنيع جزيئيات النانو باستخدام اللهبالنانو جزيئيات إنتاج أساس على التقنية هذه تقوم باستخدام تقنية مجربة لتصنيع اللهب. وسيتم من خالل استخدام تطورات حديثة في تقنية اللهب تطوير نموذج النانو تجاري أولي إلنتاج عدة كيلوغرامات من جزيئيات إضافة إلى خارطة طريق تفصيلية لتطوير مرفق إنتاج قابل

لالستمرارية.أعضاء الفريق: ناصر ميمون، وماجد الرفاعي، وأمير ميمون

املشاريع الفائزة حديثاجبوائز صندوق التمويل التأسيسي

LATeST SeeD fUnD WInneRS AnnoUnCeD

نافذة على مكة يتم هنا استخدام تقنية واقعية محسنة ومناظر بانورامية محتويات تأمين إلى المنتج هذا ويؤدي درجة، 360وبالتالى المكرمة مكة في التاريخية للمواقع تفاعلية

إضافة المزيد من اإلثراء لتجربة ضيوف الرحمن والزوار.الفريق: بيتر راوتك، وعبدالواحد الزيدي، ومحمد الزيدي

معلومات عن صندوق التمويل التأسيسي صندوق التمويل التأسيسي هو عبارة عن تمويل يستهدف تطوير المنتجات بما يمكن من دفع األفكار الواعدة في اتجاه تحويلها إلى خدمات وسلع تجارية ويؤدي في نهاية المطاف إلى تكوين شركات جديدة. وسيتم افتتاح الجولة نرجو المعلومات، من للمزيد .2013 فبراير في القادمة مع التواصل أو التأسيسي التمويل صندوق موقع زيارة

[email protected] :البريد االلكتروني

osmo h2oBased on new technology that integrates sea-

water desalination and wastewater treatment,

this process provides a sustainable option for

water supply. this membrane-based technology

will be used to recover fresh potable water from

wastewater effluents and seawater with 50%

less energy consumption and less use of chemi-

cals for membrane cleaning.

team: Gary Amy, Lijo Francis, Rodrigo

Valladares, Muhannad Abu-Ghdaib, Zhenyu Li

mSmdthis multi-stage membrane distillation unit

combines the advantages of two conventional

methods: thermal and membrane processes. A

membrane that allows water vapor molecule

passage will be utilized, allowing the technol-

ogy to work under lower temperature and lower

pressure, resulting in lower cost.

team: Ahmad Alsaadi, Lijo Francis, noreddine

Ghaffour

manUFaCtURInG oF nanoPaRtICleS USInG FlameSthis technology is based on nanoparticle pro-

duction using a proven technology of flame

synthesis. utilizing recent advancements

in flame-based technology, a commercial

prototype will be developed to produce several

kilograms of nanoparticles, as well as a detailed

roadmap for developing a viable production

facility.

team: nasir Memon, Majed Al Refae, Amir

Memon

maKKah WIndoWusing Augmented Reality technology and 360

degree panoramas, this mobile application pro-

vides interactive content for historical sites and

landmarks in Makkah, further enriching the

experience of pilgrims and visitors.

team: Peter Rautek, Abdulwahid Al-Zaydi,

Mohammed Al-Zaydi

about the Seed Fund: the Seed Fund is a product development fund-

ing mechanism that can help move promising

ideas further toward commercialization, and

ultimately lead to the formation of a new busi-

ness. the next round will be open in February

2013. For more information, visit the Seed Fund

website or email: [email protected].

front row (from left to right): Amin Shibani (Vice president of economic Development), Teo Uysal (manager of new Ventures), majed A. Alrefae, Zhenyu Li, Gary Amy, Lijo francis, Abdulwahid Al-Zaydi, noreddine GhaffourBack row (from left to right): muhannad Abu-Ghdaib, Rodrigo Valladares, Ahmad Alsaadi, peter Rautek, mohammed Al-Zaydi, nasir memon

Awards6 The BeaconJanuary 2013

At tHe third annual Global entrepreneurship

Summit (GeS) held in december in dubai, uAe,

KAuSt was select as the Best Higher education

Institution in the Arab World supporting entre-

preneurship. the award was presented by HH

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum,

uAe VP, PM, and Ruler of dubai. the inaugural

GeS in 2009, highlighted by uS President Barack

Obama's speech in Cairo, had as its founding

and continuing mission to “empower entrepre-

neurs with the skills and resources necessary to

compete and thrive in the 21st century.”

KAuSt was recognized for the university's

exemplary work in areas reflected in the

award's following five main criteria:

•entrepreneurship courses and coaching

(VentureLab lecturing, coaching, WeP

entrepreneurship, and Speaker Series)

• Incubation Center (Startup sessions,

VentureLab and Seed Fund Incubation

space and services)

•R&d Support (technology commercializa-

tion support for innovative R&d projects)

•Access to Seed Funding (Seed Fund

program)

•Partnership and alliances (Partnering

with key players in entrepreneurship in

KSA; networking)

A focal point of the university's commitment

to empowering entrepreneurs and fostering

innovation in the Kingdom and the world is

the university’s entrepreneurship Center. the

center recently held its 2012 VentureLab final

showcase event and winners were announced

in last month’s issue of The Beacon.

FRom a WInnInG Idea to a VIaBle BUSIneSS: the VentURelaB and Seed FUnd PRoCeSSIn the spirit of the GeS award's guiding princi-

ples, the VentureLab acts as a potent incubator,

allowing diverse groups of entrepreneurs to

assess each other and match each other's

skills in a productive way. In fact, many of

the VentureLab's aspiring entrepreneurs come

equipped with only a technical background;

while others come mainly with an idea or

relevant business experience. teams are then

formed at VentureLab from a process emulat-

ing the real world - where participants come

together to complement each other's skills to

maximize their efficiency.

Manager of the KAuSt entrepreneurship

Center, Ahmed Abdulwahab, remarked: “For

any successful start-up, you need two things: a

great idea and a great team. It doesn't work with

just an idea or just a team. If you have a great

idea, you then need a team to actually execute it.

For VentureLab, we look for people with a great

background in business, or in technology or any

kind of interesting background. then in the first

two weeks we're matching them; actually they

match themselves.”

After successfully being short-listed through

the VentureLab event, top teams move on to the

next phase of preparing to present to the Seed

Fund committee. If they are able to secure fund-

ing, they will take part in a lengthier and more

intense two-year incubator in the Seed Fund.

during this time, the entrepreneurs' concepts are

developed into a business and they must achieve

a set number of milestones as part of the Seed

Fund requirements. the goal then becomes to

prepare teams for the marketplace, creating a

positive impact in stimulating the economy.

the university's focus on coaching entre-

preneurs will be further highlighted at this

month’s Winter enrichment Program (WeP).

the entrepreneurship Center will run a one-

week entrepreneurship Certificate Course

provided by Cornell university running from

January 14 - 21.

KAUST WInS Top honoRS foR enTRepReneURShIp

nAeem AnD ARAYAnAn ReCeIVe BeST poSTeR AWARDS

اختيار جامعة امللك عبداهلل كأفضل مؤسسة يف دعم املشاريع املبتكرة

يف العامل العريبتم اختيار جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية كأفضل دعم في العليا الدراسات مستوى على تعليم مؤسسة الجائزة وقدم العربي. العالم في المبتكرة المشاريع نائب مكتوم، آل راشد بن محمد الشيخ السمو صاحب دبي شهر وحاكم المتحدة العربية اإلمارات دولة رئيس للقمة الثالث السنوي االحتفال في الماضي ديسمبر في عقدت التي )GES( المبتكرة للمشاريع العالمية بالقمة أوباما باراك األمريكي الرئيس أشاد وقد دبي. االفتتاحية التي نظمت في العام 2009 وذلك إبان زيارته بأنها والمستمرة التأسيسية رسالتها ووصف القاهرة إلى "لتمكين أصحاب المشاريع المبتكرة بالمهارات والموارد

الضرورية للتنافس والنمو في القرن الحادي والعشرين".

وقد نالت جامعة الملك عبداهلل التقدير لعملها الذي يعد نموذجا في المجاالت التي تهتم بها الجائزة وهي المعايير

الرئيسية الخمسة التالية:

الدورات الدراسية والتدريب على املشاريع املبتكرة •

املبتكرة واملشاريع املبتكرة األعمال مختبر (محاضرات

في برنامج اإلثراء الشتوي وسلسلة احملاضرات)

مركز احلاضنات (جلسات الشركات اجلديدة وخدمات •

مختبر املشاريع املبتكرة وخدمات ومساحات احلاضنات

في برنامج التمويل التأسيسي)

التقنيات • حتويل والتطوير (مساندة األبحاث مساندة

إلى خدمات وسلع جتارية ملشاريع األبحاث والتطوير

املبتكرة)

التأسيسي • التمويل برنامج من التمويل علي احلصول

التأسيسي) التمويل (برنامج

املساهمني • مع املشاركة والتحالفات (برامج الشراكات

االساسيني في املشاريع املبتكرة داخل اململكة وتكوين

شبكات التواصل)

يتمثل محور تركيز الجامعة في تمكين أصحاب المشاريع المبتكرة من رعاية وتعزيز االبتكار في المملكة من خالل المركز نظم وقد المبتكرة التجارية المشاريع مركز للعام نشاط كآخر الجريئة المشاريع مختبر مؤخرا 2012 الستعراض المشاريع . وإضافة إلى مختبر المشاريع إدارة الجريئة التجارية المشاريع مركز يتولى الجريئة،

مبادرات أخرى تشمل سلسلة المحاضرات والتدريب.

RAeeCe nAeeM and Kiran narayanan received best poster awards

at the Saudi Arabian High Performance Computing (SAHPC) con-

ference in december; the competition categories were sponsored

by Intel Corporation and Fujitsu, respectively.

Raeece naeem is a Research engineer in the Pathogen Genomics

Laboratory. He gained his Bachelor of engineering degree in

Computer Science in India (2002). Prior to joining KAuSt, naeem

was a senior software developer at the Sanger Institute, uK.

naeem’s winning poster described ReAdSCAn, a highly

scalable parallel program to identify non-host sequences of

potential pathogen origin and estimate their genome relative

abundance in high throughput sequence datasets. the work

was done in collaboration with postdoctoral fellow Mamoon

Rashid and naeem’s supervisor, Professor Arnab Pain. A paper

describing the work, “ReAdSCAn: A Fast and Scalable Pathogen

discovery Program with Accurate Genome Relative Abundance

estimation”, will be published in the journal Bioinformatics. An

advanced access copy is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/

bioinformatics/bts684.

Kiran narayanan is a Phd student in the Computational Solid

Mechanics Laboratory. He graduated from the university of

Madras, India (2004), as a gold medalist with a bachelor’s degree

in Mechanical engineering. Before joining KAuSt in 2012,

narayanan worked as a Junior Research Fellow at the defence

Institute of Advanced technology, Ministry of defence, India.

narayanan’s winning poster was entitled “A Hybrid, Parallel

Implementation of a Genetic Algorithm for Optimization of

Impact Performance.” the work was conducted in collabora-

tion with Angel Mora, nicholas Allsopp, and Professor tamer

el Sayed. A paper that describes the work was published in

the International Journal of High Performance Computing

Applications in July. the paper is available at http://dx.doi.

org/10.1177/1094342012451474.

the third category was won by Muhamed Mudawar from King

Fahd university of Petroleum and Minerals. His poster was enti-

tled “Clustering Cores for Parallel thread execution.”

Raeece naeem receives hpC Best poster Award sponsored by Intel Corporation

Best poster Award winner, Kiran narayanan

التجارية األعمال إلى الرابحة الفكرة من القابلة للنجاح

الراشدة للجائزة يخدم مختبر انطالقا من روح المبادئ المشاريع الجريئة كحاضنة تسمح للمجموعات المتنوعة بعضهم مهارات تقييم المبتكرة المشاريع أصحاب من العديد من أصحاب يأتي بصورة مثمرة. وفي واقع األمر المشاريع الواعدة إلى المختبر وال يملكون في جعبتهم سوى الخلفية الفنية، بينما يأتي اآلخرون بصورة أساسية ذلك وبعد باالبتكار. ذات عالقة تجربة عمل أو بفكرة أسلوب باستخدام المختبر في المشاركون تشكيل يتم لتكملة معا يجتمعون حيث الحقيقي العالم يحاكي وانسجام مهاراتهم مع بعضهم بهدف إظهار فعالياتهم. "لنجاح أي شركة جديدة ال بد من أمرين، أولهما الفكرة المشروع ينجح وال الممتاز. الفريق وثانيهما الجيدة عن بمعزل الممتاز الفريق أو وحدها الفكرة بفعل فإنك ستحتاج فكرة عظيمة لديك كانت وإذا الفكرة.

إلى فريق لوضعها موضع التنفيذ. ويقول أحمد عبدالوهاب مدير مركز المشاريع التجارية المبتكرة، بالنسبة لنا في مختبر المشاريع الجريئة فإننا نبحث عن األشخاص الذين لديهم خلفية معرفية عظيمة مهمة. خلفية أي أو التقنية في أو األعمال مجال في يقومون أو نقوم األولين االسبوعين وخالل ذلك وبعد

هم في الواقع بعملية التوافق واالنسجام". مختبر فعالية في بنجاح القائمة في دخولهم بعد إ لى األولى الثالثة المشاريع انتقلت الجريئة المشاريع مشاريعهم لعرض اإلعداد في المتمثلة التالية المرحلة تمكنوا وإذا التأسيسي، التمويل صندوق لجنة أمام حاضنة في يشاركون فسوف التمويل على الحصول من التمويل صندوق في عامين تستمر مدة وأطول أكثف التأسيسي. وخالل هذه المدة يتم تطوير مفاهيم أصحاب هذه من والهدف تجارية. وخدمات سلع إلى المشاريع المرحلة إعداد أصحاب المشاريع للسوق بحيث يكونون

من المؤثرين فيه وفي تنشيط االقتصاد.تدريب على الجامعة تركيز واستعراض ابراز وسيتم في أكبر بصورة المبتكرة والمشاريع األفكار أصحاب برنامج اإلثراء الشتوي هذا الشهر. حيث سيقدم المركز وجامعة كورنيل دورة اعتماد المشاريع المبتكرة لمدة

.2013 أسبوع من 14 إلى 21 يناير

Awards 7www.kaust.edu.sa January 2013

my universityOla ali Student Speaker for KAuSt’s third Commencement, Ola Ali, earned her bachelor’s degree

in Chemical engineering from the university of Khartoum, Sudan. Although her plans once

involved continuing her studies in europe, once she heard of KAuSt she decided to instead

seek a unique experience by joining one of the world's newest universities.

When Ola joined KAuSt in 2011, she found the research opportunities and the awe-

inspiring environment she was hoping for, and more. “I found a community, and it made

KAuSt feel like a second home. there’s diversity at KAuSt, and there’s respect, and it’s a

perfect combination,” Ola says. As an MS graduate, Ola will stay at KAuSt and continue

with her research on cellulosic membranes under the supervision of Professor Klaus-Viktor Peinemann. “I

plan to carry on and do a Phd as I have a passion for research,” she says. “I am interested in the unique area

between academia and industry, and I would love – eventually – to work, R&d for a reputed company.”

MaRiNa KOCHETYGa Marina Kochetyga is from Kiev, ukraine. She has a master’s degree in psychology from

Kharkiv national university, ukraine, but her passion and career are in fashion and pho-

tography. She has been a freelance photographer for the past ten years, and has published

her work in a wide range of printed periodicals – from scientific journals such as Science to

fashion magazines like Vogue.

Marina is especially drawn to portrait photography. “As a photographer, I can combine my

academic background and my passion. I enjoy working on psychological portraits; I want

to capture my subject’s physical likeness but I also want the portraits to show a psychologi-

cal likeness,” she says.

Since joining KAuSt in 2010, Marina has produced portraits of the university faculty, staff, and community

members, captured stunning architectural photos, and covered various events. Her work can be seen on the

pages of The Beacon, the Annual Review, KAuSt brochures, and on the university website.

Outside work, Marina enjoys cooking, and spending time with her husband and her friends. She snorkels and

dives, and has a yellow belt in nunchaku – an Okinawan martial art.

Amaria Rebiai, who works on the University Library’s Digital Repository team, captured this glowing sunset at KAUST Beach from aboard a paddle boat.

Have a photo to share? Send us a scene captured at KAUST for consideration for Photo of the Month. Email your photo to [email protected]

dR. PeteR Markowich, distinguished Professor of Applied Mathematics

and Computational Science, has been invited to present a lecture at

Collège de France – the most highly regarded higher education and

research establishment in France.

Prof. Markowich will present his Applied Mathematics Seminar lec-

ture on January 25; the seminar series is organized by mathematician

Pierre-Louis Lions, and is regarded one of the world's most prestigious

mathematical seminars.

Professor Markowich’s main research interests lie in partial differential equations, their

mathematical and numerical analysis, and their application in modeling physical, biological,

and socio-economic phenomena.

dR. MARC Genton, a Professor of Statistics in the Computer, electrical,

and Mathematical Sciences and engineering division, has been elected

a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

(AAAS). this prestigious award is presented to scientists who have made

distinguished contributions to the advancement of science. Prof. Genton

will be recognized for his achievements at the Fellows Forum, to be held during the AAAS

Annual Meeting in Boston, uS, in February.

Prof. Genton works on statistical analysis, modeling, prediction, and uncertainty quantifica-

tion of spatio-temporal data. His work has applications in environmental and climate science,

renewable energies, geophysics, and marine science.

PROFeSSOR Raul tempone has been elected program director of the

uncertainty Quantification activity group of the Society for Industrial

and Applied Mathematics (SIAM).

SIAM is an international society that aims to ensure strong interactions

between mathematics and other scientific and technological communi-

ties through conferences, membership activities, and publications. the

society’s 18 activity groups provide a forum for the members interested

in exploring one of the areas of applied mathematics, computational science, or applications.

dr. tempone is an associate professor of Applied Mathematics and Computational Science,

and the director of the Center for uncertainty Quantification in Computational Science and

engineering, a KAuSt Strategic Research Initiative.

PROF. MARKOWICH TO GIVE A LECTURE AT COLLÈGE DE FRANCE

PROFESSOR MARC GENTON ELECTED AAAS FELLOW

PROF. TEMPONE ELECTED PROGRAM DIRECTOR

phoTo of The monTh

OPENING OF THE ART INSTALLATION BY JANET ECHELMAN

Wep 2013

Wendy Keyes, office of the Arts Director, and artist

Janet echelman

January 2013 Community8 The Beacon

inSide: winter enrichment program 4-5 Research 6-7 Community 8news 1-3

viCe PresidenT for research, Professor Jean Fréchet, has been

announced as co-recipient of the 2013 Japan Prize. The Japan Prize

acknowledges original and outstanding achievements in science and

technology which are recognized as having “advanced the frontiers of

knowledge and served the cause of peace and prosperity for mankind.”

Prof. Fréchet and C. Grant Willson of the University of Texas at

Austin are recognized for their achievement in the “development of

chemically amplified resistant polymer materials for innovative semi-

conductor manufacturing processes.”

renowned scientists across north America, europe, and Asia

– including nobel Prize Laureates, Japan Prize Laureates, and

Millennium Technology Prize winners – have been swift in sending

their warm congratulations.

nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 2001) Professor ryoji noyori of riKen

and nagoya University, Japan, said: “Jean Fréchet has unlimited crea-

tivity and he finds no borders in science. Furthermore, Jean has bridged

science, engineering, and innovation, generating beneficial economic

and social value. his chemically amplified photo-resists renovated the

production process of all kinds of memory chips used in modern elec-

tronic technologies. This splendid prize will further vitalize science and

technology in the Kingdom of saudi Arabia, particularly at KAUsT."

From his early work in solid-phase synthesis at the University of

Ottawa, to his studies in polymers for therapeutics at the University

of California Berkeley, Prof. Fréchet's research in the field of func-

tional polymers has been renowned for its innovative nature and great

breadth, spanning fundamental studies, the search for properties, and

the exploration of applications.

nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 1987) Professor Jean-Marie Lehn of The

University of strasbourg, agreed: “The research of Jean Fréchet extends

far into other areas at the meeting point of organic chemistry, materials

science, and chemical engineering. it bears the triple seal of excellence,

creativity, and technological innovation."

robert Grubbs, a nobel Laureate (Chemistry, 2005) of the California

memBrAnes | Continued on p6 JAPAn PriZe | Continued on p3

seLeCTIve seParaTIon oF sImILarLy sIzed ProTeIns WITh TunaBLe nanoPorous BLoCK CoPoLymer memBranes

تم اإلعالن عن فوز البروفسور جان فريشيه، نائب رئيس جامعة الملك عبداهلل لألبحاث، كفائز مشترك بجائزة اليابان 2013.

وتمنح جائزة اليابان تقديرا لإلنجازات األصلية والمتميزة في العلوم والتقنية ذات التأثير الفعال في تقدم مجاالت المعرفة وخدمة قضايا السالم ورفاهية البشرية.

ويلسون من جامعة تكساس و سي. غرانت فريشيه البروفسور تكريم تم وقد في أوستن لقاء إنجازهما المتمثل في تطوير مواد البوليمر المقاومة والمعززة وسرعان المبتكرة. الموصالت أشباه تصنيع عمليات في لالستخدام كيميائيا ما بادر العلماء المشهورون من أمريكا الشمالية وأوروبا وآسيا- بمن في ذلك األلفية بجائزة والفائزون اليابان بجائزة والفائزون نوبل جائزة على الحائزون

للتقنية- إلى اإلعراب عن التهاني الحارة للفائزين. من ،2001 الكيمياء في نوبل بجائزة الفائز نويوري، ريوجي البروفسور يقول معهد ريكين وجامعة ناغويا في اليابان، "يتمتع جان فريشيه بمواهب إبداعية ذلك، على وعالوة العلوم حدود. في مجاالت تعترض مساره وال ال محدودة تولى فريشيه بناء الجسور بين العلوم والهندسة واالبتكار مما ترتب علي ذلك منافع اقتصادية واجتماعية جمة. وأدت طريقته لتطوير مواد البوليمر المقاومة الذاكرة رقائق أنواع إنتاج جميع تجديد عملية إلى والمعززة كيميائيا للضوء ستؤدي الرفيعة الجائزة وهذه الحديثة. االلكترونية التقنيات في المستخدمة إلى مزيد من التفعيل لنشاطات العلوم والتقنية في المملكة العربية السعودية

وخاصة في جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية". ومنذ بداية أعماله المبكرة في توليف الحالة الصلبة في جامعة أوتاوا إلى دراساته نالت بيركلي، في كاليفورنيا في جامعة العالجية لألغراض البوليمر مواد في الوظيفية الشهرة بفضل طبيعتها البوليمر البروفسور فريشيه في مواد أبحاث االبتكارية واتساع نطاقها وامتدت شهرتها لتشمل الدراسات األساسية والبحث

في الخواص واستكشاف التطبيقات. وأشاد روبرت قربز، الفائز بجائزة نوبل في الكيمياء )2005( من معهد كاليفورنيا للتقنية بجهود البروفسور فريشيه قائال "تمثل أبحاث البروفسور فريشيه مزيجا فريدا بتميز جودتها النوعية وعمقها واتساع نطاقها في عمليات توليف وتصميم مقدرة اسهامات فريشيه البروفسور وقدم العضوية. المواد البوليمر/ مواد تراوحت من المقاومات الضوئية إلى الجزيئيات المتشعبة ومواد الفرز، مما دعم

التوفيق الذي حالفه بصورة ملحوظة في تفادي الملل الفكري". ويقول البروفسور السير رتشارد فريند، الفائز بجائزة األلفية للتقنية )2010( واألستاذ األعلى في جامعة كيمبردج ورئيس المجلس االستشاري الدولي لجامعة الملك عبداهلل "تعتمد التطورات على امتداد خارطة طريق الكترونيات السيليكون بصورة

الربوفسور جان فريشيهحيصد جائزة اليابان2013

A GrOUP of KAUsT researchers has advanced

in their work on ph-responsive nanoporous

films and manufactured a membrane with uni-

form pore sizes and tunable (ph-responsive)

charges. The membrane can be used not only

for size-based protein separations, but also for

something no commercially available mem-

brane is currently able to achieve – to separate

similarly sized molecules.

The research effort was led by Professor Klaus-

viktor Peinemann and dr. Xiaoyan Qiu from

the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials

research Center. The work was conducted in

collaboration with the Center’s postdoctoral fel-

lows haizhou yu and Madhavan Karunakaran,

research scientist neelakanda Pradeep, and Prof.

suzana nunes from the Water desalination and

reuse Center. The paper that describes the work,

pRof. JeAn fRéChet AwARded 2013 JApAn pRize

تتمه صفحة 3

فريق من جامعة امللك عبداهلل يطور تقنية جديدة

يف االغشية املسامية

عبداهلل الملك جامعة باحثي من فريق قام مجال في أعماله بتطوير والتقنية للعلوم لألس الحساسة النانو بتقنية المسامية االغشية ذي غشاء تصنيع من تمكن حيث الهيدروجيني مسام متجانسة وشحنات قابلة للضبط والتعديل. لفصل فقط ليس الغشاء استخدام ويمكن لفصل أيضا ولكن الحجم، أساس على البروتين ال خاصية وهي ، المماثل الحجم ذات الجزيئات

تتوفر في االغشية التجارية الحالية. من كل قيادة تحت البحثي المشروع هذا وكان والدكتور بينيمان فيكتور كالوس- البروفيسور المتطورة األغشية مركز من تشيو يان شياو بعد ما زمالء مع بالتعاون المسامية والمواد الدكتوراه في المركز وهم هايتشو يو، ومادهافان براديب، نيالكاندا األبحاث وعالم كاروناكاران، أبحاث مركز من نونز سوزانا والبروفيسور نشر تم ولقد المياه. استخدام واعادة تحلية عنوان تحت ACS Nano مجلة في البحث هذا

تتمه صفحة 6

Prof. Peinemann demonstrates the manufacturing process to dr. mohamed samaha

King Abdullah University of Science and technology at thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

www.kaust.edu.sa

BeAConthe

ة املنـارfebruary 2013 / Rabi ii 1434

Volume 3, issue no. 6

in Brief

hiS RoYAl hiGhneSS pRinCe KhAlid Al-fAiSAl ViSitS KAUSthis rOyAL highness Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, Governor of the Makkah Province, visited KAUsT

January 24, addressing KAUsT leadership and touring the campus.

hrh Prince Khalid reasserted that King Abdullah University of science and Technology is one of the

most important mega projects of the reign of the Custodian of the Two holy Mosques King Abdullah

bin Abdulaziz Al saud. “We are looking forward to, in fact we want you to, employ the greatest amount

of your knowledge and experience to improve this land which is the cradle and center of the islamic

world,” he said. “This country cannot only be, but also ought to be, a role model for the islamic world.

These aspirations can be achieved with the assistance of a modern scientific institution, a knowledge

beacon the caliber of this research university.”

his royal highness, accompanied by KAUsT President Choon Fong shih, Provost stefan Catsicas,

and executive vice President of Administration and Finance nadhmi Al-nasr, concluded his visit

with a short tour of the Museum of science and Technology in islam and the KAUsT research

Centers and laboratories.

memoRAndUm of UndeRStAndinG SiGned Between KAUSt And KinG ABdUllAh CitY foR AtomiC And RenewABle eneRGYA sTrATeGiC partnership memorandum of understanding between KAUsT and the King Abdullah

City for Atomic and renewable energy (K.A.CAre) was signed January 26 by he dr. Khalid

Al-sulaiman, K.A.CAre vice President of renewable energy, and dr. Mohamed samaha, KAUsT

senior vice President of economic and Technology development. The agreement outlined pro-

posed areas of r&d collaboration in such areas as solar and photovoltaic engineering, wind

energy, and solar resource mapping. Cooperation in the areas of energy focused entrepreneurship,

industry collaboration, technology transfer, and best practices and know-how transfer are also

covered in the Memorandum of Understanding.

memoRAndUm of CoopeRAtion SiGned Between SAUdi GeoloGiCAl SURVeY And KAUSt

A MeMOrAndUM of Cooperation was signed between the saudi Geological survey (sGs) and

KAUsT in order to expand and deepen collaborative research in earth sciences and related fields.

The ceremony was held on January 29 at KAUsT, at which dr. Zohair bin Abdulhafeez nawab,

President of sGs, and Professor Choon Fong shih, President of KAUsT, signed for their organi-

zations, in the presence of he Minister Ali ibrahim Al-naimi, Chairman of the KAUsT Board of

Trustees and member of the board of the sGs. delegates from both organizations participated in

the ceremony, which included presentations about the scientific vision of this memorandum given

by Professors Thomas Missimer and Martin Mai.

identified areas of cooperation between the two organizations include knowledge transfer from

sGs to KAUsT and vice versa, and a broad data exchange that includes sharing of hydrological

and geological data for research on groundwater aquifer recharge, and exchanging geophysical

and seismological data for volcano imaging and earth structure studies. Moreover, sharing of

equipment and logistical resources for field studies and other activities is envisioned to enable

scientific collaboration that leads to co-publication of research results.

This Memorandum of Cooperation has the potential to generate direct benefits to the Kingdom.

These include the development of geothermal energy resources, the development of detailed geo-

logical information on the red sea and the Gulf of Arabia coastlines and their use in the subsurface

intakes for seawater desalination, and the mapping of soils, soil moisture and water levels in agri-

culture. Other possible benefits are refined monitoring of seismicity and volcanic activity, improved

mapping of earth structure, and state-of-the art seismic and volcano hazard assessment.

هيئة المساحة الجيولوجية وجامعة الملك عبداهلل توقعان مذكرة تعاون

وقعت هيئة املساحة اجليولوجية السعودية وجامعة امللك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية مذكرة تعاون تهدف إىل توسعة وتعميق األحباث التعاونية يف علوم األرض واملجاالت املتعلقة بها. وجرى التوقيع يف احتفال نظم مؤخرًا )29 يناير 2013( يف مقر اإلدارة العليا يف جامعة امللك عبداهلل، حيث وقع على املذكرة كل من الدكتور زهري بن عبداحلفيظ نواب، رئيس اهليئة، والربوفسور تشون فونغ شيه، رئيس اجلامعة، حبضور معايل املهندس على بن إبراهيم النعيمي، وزير البرتول والثروة املعدنية، رئيس جملس أمناء اجلامعة وعضو جملس إدارة هيئة املساحة اجليولوجية السعودية. كما حضر احتفال التوقيع قيادات وشخصيات متثل اجلهتني. وعقب كلمات االفتتاح قدم

الربوفسور توماس مسمار والربوفسور مارتن ماي استعراضا للرؤية العلمية هلذه املذكرة.

وتشمل جماالت التعاون اليت مت حتديدها بني الطرفني نقل املعرفة من اهليئة إىل اجلامعة وبالعكس وتبادل قطاع عريض من البيانات اليت تشمل املشاركة يف املعطيات املائية واجليولوجية ألغراض األحباث املتصلة بإعادة تعبئة الطبقات احلاملة للمياه اجلوفية وتبادل املعلومات اجليوفيزيائية والزلزالية املتصلة بصور الزالزل ودراسات البنية األرضية، إضافة إىل املشاركة يف موارد املعدات واملوارد اللوجستية للدراسات امليدانية وغري ذلك من النشاطات.

وتتوقع اجلامعة من هذه املذكرة التعاون العلمي الوثيق الذي يؤدي إىل النشر املشرتك لنتائج هذه األحباث.وينتظر من مذكرة التعاون هذه أن تسهم بإمكانيات وفرص حتقيق منافع مباشرة تصب يف مصلحة اململكة، مبا يف ذلك تطوير موارد الطاقة احلرارية والبيانات اجليولوجية التفصيلية حول ساحلي البحر األمحر واخلليج العريب واستخدامها يف مأخذ حتلية مياه البحر وانتاج خرائط ألنواع الرتبة ورطوبتها ومناسيب املياه لألغراض اخلرائط وانتاج والربكانية الزلزالية للنشاطات املوثق الرصد املحتملة األخرى املنافع وتضم الزراعية.

.املحسنة لبنية األرض وتشكيالتها والتقييم املتطور ملخاطر الزالزل والرباكني

األمير خالد الفيصل مخاطبًا قيادات جامعة الملك عبداهلل: بمعرفتكم وخبراتكم سيكون هذا البلد نموذجًا لدول العالم المسلم

أكد صاحب السمو الملكي األمير خالد الفيصل، أمير منطقة مكة المكرمة، أن جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم بن الملك عبداهلل الشريفين الحرمين بها عهد خادم تميز التي العظيمة المشاريع أهم والتقنية هي أحد عبدالعزيز، وقال سموه مخاطبًا قيادات الجامعة في "ثول" ظهر أمس: نحن نتطلع بل نريد استخدام أكبر قدر من المعرفة والخبرات الخاصة بكم لتحسين هذه األرض التي هي مركز العالم اإلسالمي" وأضاف األمير خالد: "هذا البلد يمكن أن يكون بل ينبغي أن يكون نموذجا للدول في العالم المسلم.. يمكننا فعل ذلك بمساعدة

مؤسسة علمية حديثة ومنارة معرفية بحجم هذه الجامعة البحثية". جاء ذلك أثناء زيارة سموه أمس لجامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية في ثول التي رافقه فيها االمير مشعل بن ماجد محافظ محافظة جدة، وبدأت الزيارة بجولة في مجتمع الجامعة والحي السكني، ثم التقى األمير خالد بقيادات جامعة الملك عبداهلل واستمع لعرض مفصل عن الجامعة بدءًا من الرؤية وحتى أضحت واقعًا فريدًا تفخر به حيث استعرض المهندس نظمي النصر نائب الرئيس التنفيذي للشؤون المالية واإلدارية ما أسماه بـ رحلة األلف يوم وهي مدة إنجاز جامعة الملك عبداهلل ومراحل تأسيسها وشرح أهدافها االستراتيجية التي تتمثل

في أن تكون الجامعة عاماًل مساعدًا في حياة الناس وتنويع االقتصاد السعودي والنهوض بالعلم والتقنية. وذكر النصر أن خادم الحرمين الشريفين أعلن عن تأسيس هذا المكان انطالقًا من مبادئ اإلسالم الخالدة و التي تحث على طلب العلم، وتدعو إلى عمارة األرض وتعارف الناس وبعد التوكل على اهلل جل جالله كما جاء في كلمته حفظه اهلل أثناء وضعه حجر أساس الجامعة )2007( والتي يأمل الملك عبداهلل أن تكون منارة من منارات المعرفة وجسرًا للتواصل بين الحضارات و الشعوب، و أن تؤدي رسالتها اإلنسانية السامية في بيئة نقية صافية مستعينة باهلل و بالعقول النيرة من كل مكان بال تفرقة و ال تمييز انطالقا مما درجت عليه المؤسسات التعليمية في عصور الحضارة العربية واإلسالمية الزاهرة.. ثم قدم البروفيسور تشي فونغ شيه عرضًا عن واقع الجامعة الحالي واألبحاث

التي تعمل عليها في مراكزها التسعة ومستقبل هذه األبحاث والفائدة المنتظرة منها لتحسين حياة الناس. وقبل أن يختم زيارته بجولة قصيرة في متحف العلوم والتقنية في اإلسالم، تجول سمو األمير خالد داخل التنفيذي الرئيس ونائب شيه فونغ تشي البروفيسور عبداهلل الملك جامعة رئيس يرافقه الجامعي الحرم المهندس نظمي النصر والوكيل نائب الرئيس التنفيذي للشؤون األكاديمية البروفيسور ستيفان كاتسيكاس حيث اطلع على مراكز األبحاث وتعرف على المعامل والمختبرات واإلمكانيات الهائلة التي تزخر بها الجامعة

.واستمع إلى شرح مفصل عن كل ذلك

hrh Prince Khalid al-Faisal is greeted by KausT President Prof. Choon Fong shih and mr. nadmi al-nasr, executive vice Pres. of admin and Finance, during his recent visit to KausT.

he ali I. al-naimi, Chairman of the KausT Board of Trustees and member of the Board of sGs, joins hands with dr. zohair bin abdulhafeez nawab, President of sGs, and Prof. Choon Fong shih, KausT President, at the signing of a memorandum of Cooperation between the two institutions.

he dr. Khalid al sulaiman, K. a. Care vice President of renewable energy, and dr. mohamed samaha, senior vice President of KausT economic and Technology development, shake hands on the occasion of the signing of a strategic Partnership memorandum of understanding with KausT Pres. Choon Fong shih in attendance.

news2 February 2013 The beacon

OUr CAMPUS has been buzzing with activity with the 2013 winter Enrichment Program (wEP), collabo-

rative partner signings, on-going research, and exciting news of Professor Fréchet’s latest accolade. The

University was especially honored to receive a visit from HrH Prince Khalid Al-Faisal.

A month filled with many highlights, this issue offers a snapshot of the various happenings before

the start of the spring semester. wEP 2013 truly delivered a diverse program teeming with opportunities

for both personal and professional enrichment, and many thanks go to the organizing committee, under

the leadership of Vice President for Education, James Calvin. because of their dedication and hard work,

members of our community as well as regional and international guests were able to discover, learn, and

participate in one of the most anticipated and popular annual events on campus.

The Beacon, Volume 3, issue 6, February 2013. Published by The Communications department, King abdullah university of science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.Contact Salah Sindi [email protected], or Michelle d'Antoni [email protected] © King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Printed on partially recycled paper.


institute of Technology, shared: “Frechet's

research is an incredible combination of quality,

depth, and breadth in the synthesis and design of

polymer/organic materials. he has made signifi-

cant contributions from photoresists to dendrimers

to separation materials. he has been remarkably

successful at avoiding intellectual boredom."

Professor sir richard Friend Frs, a Millennium

Technology Prize Laureate (2010), is Cavendish

Professor at the University of Cambridge and

Chair of the President's international Advisory

Council at King Abdullah University of science

and Technology. he noted: “Advances along the

silicon electronics roadmap depend critically

on the performance of the photoresists used

for photolithographic patterning. This award

recognises the seminal advance of Fréchet

and Willson, whose brilliant new chemical

approaches brought unprecedented performance

in sensitivity and resolution."

A formal Presentation Ceremony will be

held in Tokyo in April, in the presence of Their

Majesties the emperor and empress of Japan.

Celebration events are also attended by the Prime

Minister, the speaker of the Japanese house of

representatives, the President of Japan's house

of Councilors, the Chief Justice of the Japan

supreme Court, foreign ambassadors to Japan,

and more than a thousand other distinguished

guests including eminent academics, researchers

and representatives from public life, industry and

the international media.

KAUsT President, Professor Choon Fong shih,

said: “Jean Fréchet is multi-talented – an outstand-

ing scientist and engineer, an inspirational educator,

and a hugely respected entrepreneur. At King

Abdullah University of science and Technology

one of his key roles is to strengthen the synergy

between scientific advancement and technological

innovation to bring benefits to the Kingdom and

humankind. his fellow faculty, the staff, and stu-

dents of King Abdullah University of science and

Technology are thrilled and inspired that our vice

President for research, who oversees KAUsT's sci-

entific direction, has been recognized by the Japan

Prize Foundation. it is a proud day for all of us to

have an internationally acclaimed scientist working

and living in our red sea community."

حرجة على أداء المواد المقاومة للضوء المستخدمة وال الضوئية. بالليثوغرافيا الطباعة أنماط عمل في شك أن هذه الجائزة تأتي تقديرًا للتطورات المبدئية ترتب اللذين وويلسون فريشيه من التي حققها كل على أساليبهما الكيميائية الجديدة أداء غير مسبوق

في حساسية المواد ودقتها.". من واحدة إال هي ما الكيميائي التضخيم وعملية إنجازات البروفسور فريشيه العديدة التي أتاحت إنتاج في أسهم مما المدمجة والدوائر الضوئية المقاومات تطوير أجهزة الحاسوب وغيرها من األجهزة االلكترونية استخدام على األخيرة أعماله ركزت وقد الحديثة. البوليمر في االستخدامات العالجية، بما في ذلك األدوية

المستهدفة واللقاحات وفحوص الحمض النووي. و فريشيه أيضا مؤسس شركتي أرديليكس وأكوانونو، كما عمل كمستشار علمي لبعض من أكثر الشركات ابتكارا ونجاحا على نطاق العالم، بما في ذلك شركات يونيليفر وميرك ونوفومر وآي بي إم واكسون موبيل و اكزيروكس وباير وباسف وديبونت وأموكو ونوفارتيس. ومنذ العام 1984، نال 74 عالما من 13 دولة جائزة اليابان، حيث تسلم كل واحد من كل فئة من فئات تذكارية وميدالية وجدارة تقدير شهادة الجائزة

وجائزة بمبلغ 50 مليون ين ياباني. في الجائزة بتقديم رسمية احتفالية تنظيم وسيتم اليابان في شهر أبريل المقبل بحضور جاللة امبراطور

oVeR 70 AlUmni Attend SeCond AnnUAl AlUmni lUnCheonOver 70 in-Kingdom and GCC KAUsT alumni attended the

second Annual Alumni Luncheon on January 24. The luncheon

was organized by the Alumni Team within the Office of Graduate

Affairs as part of the 2013 Winter enrichment Program (WeP).

Among the attending alumni were four individuals who were

invited to give presentations about their current activities as

part of the 2013 WeP program. They were hommood Al-rowais,

daniel Lecocq, rami hammad, and Mark rosa.

Al-rowais, a 2010 master’s graduate in electrical engineering,

is presently pursuing a Phd at Georgia Tech University. during

his WeP presentation, he discussed his research in bio-inspired

sensors for sensory loss in the vestibular system. Lecocq, a 2010

master’s graduate in Applied Mathematics and Computer science,

now works in the Us as a software engineer. he spoke about

Computer Languages used in his work. hammad, a 2010 Ms grad-

uate in Mechanical engineering, now works at saudi Aramco in

the inspection Technology Unit, as does rosa, a 2012 Ms graduate

in Materials science engineering. in their presentation, they shared

their experiences about the new types of technology they were

analyzing and introducing for pipeline inspection.

The four spoke briefly at the luncheon as well, reflecting on

both personal and professional experiences gained at KAUsT.

Al-rowais hopes to stay in academia. he said his drive to do so

was fostered by his experience at KAUsT, and he and his father

hope that one day his academic career might even lead to his

becoming President of the University. Lecocq spoke of the spe-

cial bonds he made at KAUsT with his fellow students, two of

whom became such good friends that they were in his wedding.

hammad described how being a KAUsT graduate gained him

stature in the workplace. “i can see in colleagues’ eyes that they

think better of me after hearing i am from KAUsT,” he said. rosa

agreed and said that his degree had opened many doors for him

in the workplace.

University President Choon Fong shih welcomed the group to

the luncheon saying he always looks forward to meeting so many

young people who possess an abundance of the 3 e’s – energy,

enthusiasm, and enterprise. Prof. shih said that he heard from

saudi Aramco colleagues at the Third Commencement Ceremony

in december that KAUsT graduates are really excelling in the

workplace and that they are giving their counterparts from lead-

ing global research universities a “real run for their money.”

“Much of building a great university is about investing in people

and recruiting the best minds – the promising and the proven –

from within the Kingdom and across the world; so my heart is really

lifted when i hear from professors and industry leaders that KAUsT

talent is making a difference in discovery and delivery,” he said.

Associate Provost Brian Moran described the luncheon as a

celebration of the contributions KAUsT alumni are making in the

workforce. “hearing from rami, Mark, hommood, and daniel that

graduate study and research at KAUsT prepared them for their

current jobs was gratifying. hearing them speak of their passion

for KAUsT and how it continues to inspire them was heartwarm-

ing,” he said. “it challenges us at KAUsT to continue to provide

excellent instruction, research opportunities, and career guidance

for our students.”

Prof. shih said that there was a profoundly touching and per-

sonal resonance to the luncheon. it was the last WeP Alumni

event at which he will preside as President before stepping down

later this year. he said it has been a privilege, an honor, and a

source of deep joy to serve as the Founding President of KAUsT

and that he, like the alumni, would be a flag bearer for the special

KAUsT academic community and its unique values and attributes

to the Kingdom of saudi Arabia and the world.

رئيس أيضا االحتفال وسيحضر اليابان. وامبراطورة الوزراء و رئيس مجلس النواب الياباني ورئيس مجلس المستشارين الياباني ورئيس القضاء والمحكمة العليا والسفراء األجانب وأكثر من ألف من كبار الضيوف، بمن في ذلك المتميزون من االكاديميين والباحثين ووسائل والصناعة العامة للحياة البارزين والممثلين

اإلعالم العالمية. جامعة رئيس شيه، فونغ تشون البروفسور وأدلى الملك عبداهلل ، بتصريح قال فيه "البروفسور فريشيه مبرز ومهندس وعالم المواهب متعدد شخص هو ومعلم صناعي ورجل أعمال ومشاريع مبتكرة محترم. جامعة وطالب وموظفو التدريس هيئة في وزمالؤه الرئيس نائب بفوز للغاية مغتبطون عبداهلل الملك أجندة على يشرف والذي الجامعة في لألبحاث والتقدير التكريم بهذا العلمي وتوجهها األبحاث للجامعة يحق يوم وهذا اليابان. جائزة مؤسسة من

والمملكة أن تفخرا به كل الفخر". يذكر أن جائزة اليابان هي جائزة دولية كبرى في مجال العالمية الجوائز وإحدى والتقنية العلمية األبحاث األكثر رفعة في هذا المجال، ويعتبر حصول أحد كبار علماء جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية على هذه بالجامعة وإشادة تقدير بمثابة يعد الرفيعة، الجائزة

.بعد أربع سنوات فقط من انطالقها

JAPAN PRIZE | Continued from p1 تابع جان فريشيه حيصد جائزة اليابان 2013

KausT alumni pose with members of KausT Leadership at the second annual alumni Luncheon.

news 3February 2013www.kaust.edu.sa

the KAUSt SChoolS (tKS) winteR enRiChment pRoGRAmThe inAUGUrAL TKs WeP (Winter enrichment Program) at the Garden secondary school (Gss)

was a week-long, jam-packed enrichment experience for students. it was designed to enrich and

expand all aspects of the TKs curriculum, providing a “hands-on” experiential learning opportu-

nity in support of the international Baccalaureate Learner Profile traits.

Coinciding with the University’s WeP program, students in grades 6 through 12 met with many of

the WeP keynote speakers in special sessions. spencer Wells, leader of the Genographic Project and

explorer-in-residence at the national Geographic society, spoke to a full assembly at the school.

Phillippe Cousteau, Jr., environmentalist and grandson of Jacques Cousteau, met after school with

the diploma Programme Biology and environmental systems class. Claude nicollier, european space

Agency astronaut, visited the diploma Programme Physics classes, and Charles elachi, director of

nAsA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who oversees the Mars rover, spoke with grade 7 students.

Unique to the TKs WeP program, there were bus excursions to a rabigh Beach camp, golf in Jeddah,

the Modern Ocean Lab at KAUsT, the envirohome, and more. Other activities for Gss students included

classes in robotics, building with power tools, career exploration, earth architecture, italian cooking,

Korean pop culture, Oriental Arts, solar astronomy, and ceramics, to mention a few.

Also incorporated into the week was student leadership and service training provided by the

JUMP! Foundation. The JUMP! team held sessions with the Gss student Council and middle and

high school students to explore community building, leadership, conflict resolution, and cultural

respect. There was a special session for grade 10 and 11 students on initiating action and com-

munity service projects.

By the end of the TKs WeP week, over 250 Gss students had taken part in some of the 120

enrichment sessions and 20 field trips.

TKs students learn to build with power tools. others learned about robotics.

The WinTer enrichment Program came to a close at the end of January after three weeks of

stimulating lectures, classes, symposiums, and recreational and cultural events. A coordinated effort

involving divisions, departments, and individuals from across the University and community, WeP

delivered an inspiring program under the leadership of the 2013 committee.

vice President for education: Prof. James Calvin

WeP Chair: Prof. suzana P. nunes, Pse (Physical sciences and engineering division)

WeP Co-Chair: Prof. William roberts, Pse

WeP Conference Manager: Marie-Laure Boulot, Provost’s Office

2013 WeP CommITTee

Prof. husam Alshareef, Pse

Prof. shuyu sun, Pse

Prof. Uli stingl, Bese (Biological and environmental sciences and engineering division)

Prof. ying Wu, CeMse (Computer, electrical, and Mathematical sciences and engineering division)

Prof. niveen Khashab, Pse

Alaa i. ragab, Ms student, Bese

Alvaro Morales Gutierrez, Phd student, CeMse

dr. Christiane hoppe-Jones, postdoctoral fellow, Water desalination and reuse research Center

dr. raed A. Bkayrat, economic development

dr. steve Cutchin, visualization Core Lab

Wendy Keyes, Office of the Arts

Georg eitelhuber, The KAUsT schools

ioanna Karariga, The KAUsT schools

PhILIP rosedaLe sPeaKs on enTrePreneurshIP suCCess

siLiCOn valley technology entrepreneur Philip

rosedale gave a keynote speech on his business back-

ground, philosophy, and the predictors of entrepreneurial

success. The founder and chairman of the virtual world website

second Life, rosedale has seen many startups come and go. The

advice he gives to emerging entrepreneurs is to be fully committed.

“The investor needs to know that you've got no choice but to make this

business successful. That's when they know it's time to invest," said rosedale.

his latest project is called Coffee and Power. his new company of two years offers

solutions to people to help them work together in unconventional ways.

read more about this talk online. scan the Qr code or visit the University website

http://www.kaust.edu.sa/media/features/rosedale.html

dr. sPenCer WeLLs, exPLorInG The WorLd's GeneTIC dIversITy

nATiOnAL Geographic explorer-in-residence, dr. spencer Wells, focused

his keynote address on the Genographic Project. As a human population

geneticist, dr. Wells' primary research focus is to explain patterns of human

diversity. Launched in 2005, the Genographic Project has been using the

latest dnA analysis techniques to study samples collected from indigenous

populations and people from around the world.

The accumulated dnA information gathered has enabled dr. Wells and his team at

the Genographic Project to map historical human migration patterns using genetics as a

tool rather than simply using archaeology or paleoanthropology.

read more about this talk online. scan the Qr code or visit the University website

http://www.kaust.edu.sa/media/features/wells.html

2013 WInTer enrIChmenT ProGram wRAp-Up

2013 WeP CommITTee LeadershIP

February 2013 The beaconwinter enrichment program4

PhILIPPe CousTeau, Jr., our oCeans, ourseLves

LiKe generations of people around the world, environmental advo-

cate Philippe Cousteau, Jr. draws inspiration from his legendary

grandfather, the explorer and pioneering marine conservationist

Jacques Cousteau. Philippe Cousteau, Jr. continues the family legacy on edu-

cating the public about environmental and conservation issues. "My

mission in life is to help people to understand the power they have to

change the world," he said during his keynote lecture.

read more about this talk online. scan the Qr code or visit the

University website

http://www.kaust.edu.sa/media/features/cousteau.html

CharLes eLaChI on neW sPaCe FronTIers and sCIenTIFIC InnovaTIondr. ChArLes elachi, director of nAsA’s Jet

Propulsion Laboratory and member of the President’s

international Advisory Council at KAUsT, presented a

keynote lecture on the recent successful landing of the

Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars.

dr. elachi explained that the rover program has “confirmed by analyzing the rocks that actually

salty liquid ocean existed in the past, which modified the rocks.” in fact, geological analysis has

confirmed that the Curiosity rover landed onto what was once a riverbed.

The next step, he adds, is to perform chemical analysis to see if it has the

right ingredients for organic material.

read more about this talk online. scan the Qr code or visit the University

website http://www.kaust.edu.sa/media/features/elachi.html

dr. IsmaIL seraGeLdIn on BuILdInG a GLoBaL KnoWLedGe soCIeTy

dr. serAGeLdin heads one of egypt's most ambitious projects

as the distinguished director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the

new Library of Alexandria. in his keynote lecture, dr. serageldin

described the major social and technological forces that are fostering

and challenging the creation of a global knowledge society, and how

the changes will affect the “manner in which knowledge is organized,

transferred, and passed on across space and time.”

read more about this talk online. scan the Qr code or visit the University

website http://www.kaust.edu.sa/media/features/serageldin.html

WaTer susTaInaBILITy symPosIum

WeP 2013 hosted a one-day symposium focusing on sustainable water management. The event

was organized by the University's Water desalination and reuse Center (WdrC) in acknowledge-

ment of the United nations international year of Water Cooperation.

The one-day symposium, "sustainable Water Management as an Adaptation to the Challenge of

Climate Change," brought together prominent water technology specialists, chief executive offic-

ers, and leading academics working in the water sector. The seminar covered the current relevant

topics on sustainable water management, highlighting the burning issues of water education,

water diplomacy, trans-boundary water management, financing operations, and legal frameworks.

The day concluded with round table discussions by industry leaders and stakeholders mainly from

within the Kingdom of saudi Arabia.

“i wanted to see if we can dispute the historical perspective, and come up with an alternative

approach,” said Professor Gary Amy, director of WdrC. in his talk, he highlighted the need to

think about "comprehensive, integrated, and holistic approaches" and "flexible water designs" that

Philip rosedale

spencer Wells

dr. Charles elachi

Philippe Cousteau, Jr.

dr. Ismail serageldin

wep.acadox.com

February 2013www.kaust.edu.sa 5winter enrichment program

are able to take uncertainties and environmental issues into account.

Prof. nina Fedoroff, director of KAUsT’s Center for desert Agriculture, talked about water and

food in arid regions. she summed up the food crisis challenges by saying, “We need to reduce

agriculture’s ecological impact… reduce its demand for fresh water… adapt staple crops to a hot-

ter and drier world… and double the food supply.” Although the task is daunting, she believes this

all could be achieved in a sustainable way if we “apply much more sophisticated thinking and

planning” and “think outside the box.”

in the symposium’s closing talk, Gary White, CeO and Co-founder of Water.Org, urged KAUsT

students to tackle some of the water sustainability problems: “if we harness the best and the

brightest towards solving the crisis, in the same way that we have some of the best and the

brightest trying to figure out how to make the next smartphone… we are in a good shape to put

this crisis behind us.”

saudI BusIness Leaders serIes: JarIr GrouP Ceo, muhammad aLaGILAs PArT of WeP 2013’s Business

Leadership series lectures, KAUsT wel-

comed Muhammad Alagil, CeO of Jarir investment and Chairman of Jarir Group.

Alagil shared the story of his family business with the audience. A leading regional corporation

comprised of Jarir Marketing and the Jarir Bookstore chains, the scope of the Jarir Group’s activi-

ties extend into stationary, computer supplies, books, and office machines.

recalling how his family started the business from a single modest building, Alagil shared some

of the guiding principles which have secured their success. The overriding message he expressed

was: “having the highest ethics leads to making a business a success.”

in order to ensure full transparency and a successful line of succession, Alagil explained that

in order for family members to be hired in leadership roles at Jarir, they must spend three years

working in another organization and be promoted at least once. The family’s commitment to

excellence and basic business ethics is at the core of the corporation’s value system.

The Jarir Group is strongly rooted in the Gulf region and focuses on continuing to develop its

presence in saudi Arabia and the GCC. The region’s youthful and growing population represents

a prime consumer pool according to Alagil.

JaneT eCheLman: merGInG an anCIenT arT WITh modern TeChnoLoGy

ACCLAiMed artist Janet echelman, whose public art installa-

tions have graced urban public spaces in cities around the

world, spoke about her work and career. describing how

echelman’s netted sculptures embrace thousand-year-

old art with new millennium software innovations,

Professor david Keyes praised her for “taking so

many steps as an artist towards technology.”

echelman shared with the audience how she evolved

as an artist from working with traditional fishermen

in india, creating a net of a million and a half hand-

tied knots, to meeting the CeO of Autodesk after a

Ted Talk and working with his company on custom-

ized design software taking into account the effects of

gravity and wind on 3d models.

in 2001 tens of thousands of people had attended the

opening of her hand-made temporary netted sculpture

installation on the courtyard roof of the spanish national

Trade Fair Complex in Madrid. she met a greater challenge

when, at that event, she was asked to create a similar per-

manent sculpture to be displayed in the waterfront area of

Porto-Matosinhos in Portugal.

echelman first wondered if the ephemeral and delicate nature

of her temporary art installations and their essence would be

lost by the robust engineering requirements of a permanent

structure. But when the 40,000 pound structure was completed in 2005, she described standing

under the sculpture and feeling “both sheltered and connected to the infinite sky.”

The challenge had been to find a fiber that could withstand ultra-violet rays without losing its

strength. At the same time, the material had to be soft enough to move fluidly in the wind. The

sculpture’s netted structure also had to withstand hurricane force winds of more than 90 miles per

hour for the building permit to be granted. The fiber was actually found in saudi Arabia, through

umbrella forms made of material that had been exposed to ultra-violet rays for more than thirty

years without any loss of strength.

The resulting 14-story-high textile sculpture, made from Tenera Architectural Fiber selected for

its low degradation properties, became a social gathering place that people were naturally drawn

to. “A previously invisible place became a real part of the area,” said echelman.

ChInese PaInTInG and CaLLIGraPhy WITh PenG LonGxI

PenG Longxi is a Chinese painting and calligraphy

master with a first class national teaching certif-

icate in fine arts. he joined 2013 WeP from the

southwestern part of China, where he is a master

at the Wenjiang Liucheng Painting and Calligraphy

institute. he is also a member of sichuan Artists

Association and secretary-General of Xiling

Painting Academy. Peng specializes in landscapes,

flowers, and birds. his style, brushwork, and spirit

reflect those of Master huang Binhong, who is con-

sidered to be one of the last great innovators of the

southern school of Chinese painting.

Peng introduced the WeP community to the art and history of Chinese painting

and calligraphy with a five-day program that included a lecture, art exhibition, painting

demonstrations, and a series of hands-on workshops.

mr. mohammad alagil

Janet echelman’s mesh sculpture in the administration Building foyer

Peng Longxi

Photo by heIKKI LahvasLaIho

Phot

o by

heI

KKI L

ahva

sLaI

ho

MEMBRANES | Continued from p1 تابع األغشية املسامية

Selective Separation of Similarly Sized" Proteins with Tunable Nanoporous Blockعلمية مجلة وهي ، "Copolymer Membranesرائدة في علوم وتقنية النانو، ويمكن اإلطالع على http://pubs.acs. التالي: الرابط عبر المجلة

ogr/doi/abs/10.1021/nn305073eوكان معدل تصريف الماء عبر هذا الغشاء المبتكر في المتاح التصريف من األقل على بدرجة أعلى تجاريًا المتوفرة المماثلة المسامات ذات األغشية في الخصوص وجه على جدًا مناسبًا يجعله مما على البيولوجية للجزيئيات االنتقائي الفرز عملية بخطوة الغشاء تصنيع ويمكن . الحجم أساس واحدة ذاتية التجميع مما يتيح الفرصة إلنتاجة على

نطاق واسع. محاوالت توجد " بأنه بينيمان البروفسور وذكر ذات صناعية أغشية لتصنيع أعوام عدة منذ تنظيم عال واستجابة للمحفزات من خالل التجميع األولى للمرة أثبتنا أننا إال ، للجزيئيات الذاتي على ذلك تحقيق امكانية الفريدة طريقتنا بفضل بينيمان البروفيسور وقدم مستمر". تشغيل جهاز التنمية قسم إلى 2010 العام في التقنية هذه

االقتصادية في الجامعة. محافظ مديري كبير بشير سامي الدكتور ويقول بقسم واالبتكار التقنية نقل وحدة في التقنية التنمية االقتصادية " رأينا شيئًا جديدًا و فريدًا من نوعه" ، و استطرد قائاًل :" سعى فريقنا الى حماية التقنية على نطاًق العالم. و في الوقت نفسه، درست التنمية قسم في التأسيسي التمويل صندوق لجنة االقتصادية اإلمكانيات والفرص التجارية والجوانب االبتكارية لهذه التقنية ، ومنحت بحث البروفيسور جائزة ""Isoporous Membranes " بينيمان

صندوق التمويل التأسيسي في مارس 2011.ويجري تطوير هذه التقنية في مجمع االبتكار حيث بدأ بواسطة األغشية بتصنيع الجائزة الحائز على الفريق جهاز قام برنامج التمويل التأسيسي بتصميمه وشرائه. أغشية انتاج الفريق :"يستطيع الدكتور بشير ويقول

بأحجام كبيرة يمكن اختبارها على المستوى التجاري". للتنمية الرئيس نائب الشيباني أمين ويصف األبحاث مخرجات بين التعاون هذا االقتصادية والتنمية االقتصادية في الجامعة بقوله " تمكنا من والمكان التحتية والبنية والموارد التمويل توفير الصناعة، مع التواصل إلى إضافة للتقنية الفعلي الذي الجسر بمثابة االقتصادية التنمية وتعتبر يترجم مخرجات األبحاث في الجامعة إلى منتجات و

تطبيقات تجارية مبتكرة ".

“selective separation of similarly sized Proteins

with Tunable nanoporous Block Copolymer

Membranes,” was published in a leading nano-

science and nanotechnology journal ACS Nano,

and can be accessed at http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/

nn305073e.

The membrane obtained a water flux of at

least an order of magnitude higher than what is

presently possible with commercially available

membranes with comparable pore sizes, making

it particularly well suited for size-selective and

charge-based separation of biomolecules. The

membrane can be manufactured in a self-assem-

bling one step process, allowing for large-scale

production. “The manufacturing of highly

ordered and stimuli-responsive artificial mem-

branes by molecular self-assembly has been tried

for many years, but we demonstrated for the first

time that, due to our unique process, this can be

done on a continuously operating machine,” said

Prof. Peinemann.

in 2010, Prof. Peinemann introduced the

technology to the Univesrity’s economic

development department. “We saw the nov-

elty of the work. We saw something unique,”

said senior Technology Portfolio Manager

sami Bashir from the economic development’s

Technology Transfer and innovation unit. “Our

team sought global protection for the tech-

nology. in parallel, economic development’s

seed Fund Committee looked at the commer-

cial potential of the technology. They saw

the novelty and the business potential, and

awarded Prof. Peinemann’s research ‘isoporous

Membranes’ seed funding in March 2011.”

The technology is being incubated in the

innovation Cluster, and the awarded team

has started manufacturing membranes with

a machine that was designed and purchased

through the seed Fund program. “instead of lab-

sized membrane samples, the team can produce

significant size membranes that can be tested at

a commercial level,” dr. Bashir said.

describing the synergy between the University's

research output and economic development,

Amin Al-shibani, vice President of economic

development, said, “We were able to provide

funding, resources, infrastructure, a physical

home for the technology, and connections with

the industry… economic development acts as a

bridge that translates the University’s research

output into innovative commercial products and

applications.”

selective protein separation with a tunable nanoporous block copolymer membrane. The ACS Nano-illustration was created by scientific illustrator olga Kasimova from the KausT office of academic Writing services.

Research6 The beaconFebruary 2013

The seCOnd Annual international research Poster Competition for Undergraduates, sponsored by WeP

2013 and organized by Professor niveen M. Khashab, honored its winners at an award ceremony on

January 30. This year’s winners were:

1st place: Whitney Wagner – Cornell University (Us), Chemical engineering, Developing a

Novel Transport Layer for Quantum Dot Solar Cells

2nd place: Pierce Maguire – Trinity College (dublin, ireland), Physics, Physical

Characterisations of Nanoparticles Systems for Nanotoxicology Studies

3rd place: Nouf AlZahrani – KAU (saudi Arabia), diagnostic radiology, Value of cardiac mag-

netic resonance imaging in the evaluation of myocardial viability

selected from three hundred poster abstracts, the top twenty-seven undergraduate finalists from

the Us, Canada, saudi Arabia, and several other countries were invited to present their posters at

KAUsT. in the final competition, participants were judged on:

•novelty of the work

•Ability of the presenter to showcase their project

•The poster presentation

The Annual research Poster Competition also represents a valuable recruiting tool for KAUsT

as it attracts participation from top students from schools such as harvard, Cornell, and stanford.

every year, 15-30 saudi students also take part and have the opportunity to meet with saudi

initiatives at KAUsT.

Professor James Calvin, vice President for education, told the award ceremony audience that

while resources and infrastructure dedicated to research vary around the world, “brilliance and

intellectual capacity is uniformly distributed everywhere.” Global competitions such as KAUsT’s

Annual research Poster for Undergraduates competition, he added, “made it really obvious that

this statement is undeniable.”

SeCond AnnUAl inteRnAtionAl ReSeARCh poSteR Competition foR UndeRGRAdUAteS

undergraduate Poster Competition under way

The 27 undergraduate finalists with WeP organizers

Prof. Peinemann

in A QUesT to produce renewable fuel in an environmentally friendly way, scientists have been

exploring techniques to split water molecules to produce hydrogen, the “fuel of the future.” A

KAUsT collaboration has made a significant contribution in the field of photoelectrochemi-

cal water splitting. Professor Peng Wang's group from the Water desalination and reuse Center

(WdrC) collaborated on the research with dr. Mohamed nejib hedhili from the imaging and

Characterization Laboratory.

“in the process of photoelectrochemical water splitting, water molecules are split into hydro-

gen and oxygen with electricity that is generated by a semiconductor on exposure to light,”

explains Prof. Wang. his group is an expert in titanium dioxide (TiO2) and in making TiO2 nano-

tube arrays. “TiO2 is often the semiconductor of choice because it is stable, cheap, and nontoxic."

however, TiO2 is only responsive to Uv light. Out of the solar light that reaches the surface of the

earth, 95% is in the visible and infrared regions; TiO2 is only responsive to 5% of the solar light.

“My group has been striving to expand the TiO2’s responsive range into the visible light to put

our TiO2 nanostructures into practical applications,” said Prof. Wang. The group, with dr. Zhonghai

Zhang as the project’s leading postdoctoral researcher, has now reached a milestone by producing

a material that generates a record-breaking water splitting performance under visible light.

“To achieve this, we utilized a TiO2 nanotube array structure and deposited small gold parti-

cles on the surface,” Prof. Wang said. "Gold nanoparticles interact strongly with visible and even

infrared light via 'surface plasmon resonance.' This process produces 'hot electrons' that can be

utilized by the adjacent TiO2 to split the water.”

Over the past couple years, there have been a few publications on combining TiO2 with gold

for visible-light water splitting, but Prof. Wang's material takes this concept one step further.

“The essence of our design is that the TiO2 nanotube array structure helps to selectively trap the

light which gold particles are able to use to generate hot electrons. The TiO2 assisted surface

plasmon resonance of gold particles' significantly boosted the water splitting performance of

this composite material.

The paper that describes the work, “Plasmonic Gold nanocrystals Coupled with Photonic Crystal

seamlessly on TiO2 nanotube Photoelectrodes for efficient visible Light Photoelectrochemical Water

splitting,” has been published by the journal Nano Letters. http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/nl3029202 .

photoeleCtRoChemiCAl wAteR SplittinG

جامعة امللك عبداهلل حتقق خطوة مهمة يف احباث )وقود املستقبل(

في سعيهم إلنتاج وقود متجدد بطريقة ال تلحق أضرارا بالبيئة، ظل العلماء يستكشفون أساليب متعددة لشطر جزيئيات الماء إلنتاج الهيدروجين الذي يعد بمثابة "وقود المستقبل". وفي إطار جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية، حقق برنامج بحثي تعاوني اسهامات مقدرة في مجال الفصل الضوئي الكهربائي الكيميائي للماء وذلك بفضل أبحاث مهمة قامت بها مجموعة البروفسور بينغ وانغ في مركز أبحاث تحلية وإعادة استخدام المياه بالتعاون مع الدكتور محمد نجيب حضيلي من مختبر التصوير والتوصيف.ويقول البروفسور وانغ "في طريقة الفصل الضوئي الكهربائي الكيميائي للماء يتم فرز جزيئيات الماء إلى هيدروجين وأوكسجين باستخدام الكهرباء المولدة من أحد أشباه الموصالت عند تعريضها للضوء". ومجموعة البروفسور وانغ لها خبرة في ثاني أوكسيد التيتانيوم وعمل مجموعات أنابيب نانو ثاني أوكسيد التيتانيوم. وغالبا ما يكون ثاني أوكسيد التيتانيوم هو مادة شبه الموصل المفضلة ألنها ثابتة ورخيصة الثمن وغير سامة، ولكنها ال تستجيب وال تتفاعل إال مع األشعة فوق البنفسجية . ومن بين ضوء الشمس الذي يصل إلى سطح األرض، فان %95 منه يكون في نطاقات األشعة تحت الحمراء المرئية وبذلك ال يستجيب

ثاني أوكسيد التيتانيوم إال مع %5 من ضوء الشمس.ويقول البروفسور وانغ "سعت مجموعتي جاهدة لتوسعة نطاق استجابة ثاني أوكسيد التيتانيوم في نطاق الضوء المرئي من أجل وضع تركيبات النانو الخاصة بثاني أوكسيد التيتانيوم في نطاق التطبيقات العملية. لقد وصل الفريق اآلن مع الدكتور زهونغ زانغ، باحث ما بعد مرحلة الدكتوراه وقائد فريق المشروع ، إلى مرحلة هامة وتمكنوا من إنتاج مادة ينتج عنها قدرة أداء تتجاوز كل

األرقام القياسية لفرز الماء تحت الضوء المرئي.ويصف البروفسور يانغ العملية قائال" استخدمنا لتحقيق ذلك مجموعة أنابيب نانو من ثاني أوكسيد التيتانيوم وقمنا بترسيب كميات صغيرة من جزيئيات الذهب على السطح وتفاعلت جزيئات الذهب النانو بقوة مع اإلضاءة باألشعة تحت الحمراء المرئية من خالل ما يسمى برنين بالسمون السطحي وأنتجت هذه العملية "الكترونات ساخنة" يمكن استخدامها بواسطة مادة ثاني

أوكسيد التيتانيوم المجاورة لفصل الماء إلى أوكسجين وهيدروجين". وقد نشرت على مدى العامين الماضيين مطبوعات قليلة تجمع بين مادة ثاني أوكسيد التيتانيوم و الذهب لفرز الماء بالضوء المرئي ولكن مادة البروفسور يانغ تأخذ هذا المفهوم خطوة إلى األمام، حيث يقول "إن جوهر تصميمينا يتمثل في أن هيكل أنابيب النانو لمادة ثاني أوكسيد التيتانيوم تساعد في احتجاز الضوء بصورة انتقائية والذي تستطيع جزيئيات الذهب توظيفه لتوليد االلكترونات الساخنة، ويتولى رنين بالسمون السطحي لجزيئيات الذهب تعزيز أداء عملية فرز الماء باستخدام هذه المادة المركبة بصورة كبيرة".http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ الورقة التي تصف هذا العمل في الموقع "The Journal Nano Letters" وقد نشرت مطبوعة

nl3029202 تحت عنوان:"Plasmonic Gold Nanocrystals Coupled with Photonic Crystal Seamlessly on TiO2 Nanotube Photoelec-trodes for Efficient Visible Light Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting,”

Photoelectrochemical water splitting enhanced with gold particles on a Tio2 nanotube array.

Illustration by dr. zhonghai zhang.

dr. mohamed nejib hedhil, dr. zhonghai zhan, and Prof. Peng Wang

The UniversiTy Library will host various training classes designed to help KAUsT researchers

obtain the information they need for achieving success in their studies.

KAUsT specialists will present the following classes:

Research Skills

•effective Literature search

•Building Better search strategies

•Using Web of science (science citation database)

•Using scopus (science citation database)

•Using Business source Complete (business database)

•A Trip to engineering village

•Mastering Mathscinet and siAM

•decoding the ACM digital Library

•endnote (citation management software)

• More Citations for your research with KAUsT digital Archive

Computing Skills

• introduction to C

•OpenMP Parallelization introduction

•Linux Bootstrap

•MathLab Tutorial

To register for classes, visit libguides.kaust.edu.sa/libtraining. Classes are open to all members of

the KAUsT community.

Research 7www.kaust.edu.sa February 2013

liBRARY tRAininG ClASSeS Set foR SpRinG SemeSteR

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photo of the month

my universityWendy Keyes The UniversiTy's Coordinator of Arts Programming, Wendy Keyes, grew up in the Boston

area of the Us. she graduated with degrees in viola performance from the new england

Conservatory of Music and from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she was in

the Fellowship string Quartet. she has taught music and played in a number of orchestras

and ensembles, including the new haven and virginia symphonies and in the Park Avenue

Chamber symphony of new york, where she was the Principal violist. Wendy was active in

the new york City chamber music scene before joining KAUsT in October 2008.

Wendy created and established the KAUsT performing arts program in coordination with

recreation, Communication, the Library, and other relevant organizations. she now oversees and supports the

community orchestra and the community chorus, and organizes and manages events such as the in-house

sunset Concerts, the Talent show and the WeP arts program.

“One of the things i like about my job is that it spans all aspects of the community,” Wendy said. “in the

orchestra and the community chorus, we have students, faculty, staff, KAUsT school teachers, and other com-

munity members. in the past, we have even had a couple of talented high school students. We have been able

to serve and inspire a broad spectrum of the community.”

The ACAdeMiC campus was the site of a science extrava-

ganza on January 27 when KAUsT faculty, scientists,

graduate students, elementary and secondary students, and

community members presented a series of experiments,

demonstrations, and shows celebrating science for the

community at large. There were presentations in chem-

istry, physics, environment and energy, archaeology, and

microscopy and imaging.

interactive stations lined discovery Walk (the pedestrian

spine of the academic campus), where adults and children

could learn more about volcanos, a solar powered car, or

brushless motor. There were demonstrations on how to split

water and harvest the sun’s energy, make clouds, or move

colors by using milk and soap. Participants could learn how

to operate a top scanning electron microscope or about

solar panels and how they work, about traffic sensors, or

how to make one’s own radar. discovery Walk truly became

a festival of scientific fun for everyone involved.

The excitement carried over to the evening with dr.

Bunhead’s Blast Off show. The Auditorium was packed

with captivated children, their parents, and community

members as dr. Bunhead demonstrated scientific prin-

ciples in a fun-filled explosive manner. dr. Bunhead,

Tom Pringle in real life, is a qualified secondary science

teacher and chartered chemist who moved his classroom

to the stage, Tv camera, and the world as the UK’s most

successful “stand-up scientist.” he has made science

exciting to over a quarter million people in over 1600

shows in 500 venues in the last 13 years. his perfor-

mance at KAUsT was no exception. Children cheered,

giggled, and explored their inner scientist during his edu-

cational and entertaining performance.

CElEbrATing SCiEnCE AT THE FUn FAir And blAST OFF SHOw

On yOUr mark! Get set! Go! And they were off – the 400 participants in the

5K Family Fun run running, jogging, walking, and some pushing strollers.

The Fun run, carried out by recreation on January 17, was part of the 2013

WeP sponsored activities.

some participants came in crazy outfits to vie for the prize of best costume.

Others came to complete the race course as fast as they could. no matter what,

everyone came for a little exercise and a good time.

Winners were by category:

Adult Male:

1. sid samtaney (who broke the 5K Fun run record, with

a time of 17 minutes and 48 seconds)

2. John Pearman

3. Abdullah dehwah

Adult Female:

1. Cheryl Kane

2. yvette Michelle Mesa

3. Christina Marcella smith

Under 15 Male:

1. yosef Gary

2. hayden evans

3. Leon eppinger

5K FAMily FUn rUn

Under 15 Female:

1. Acacia d’Antoni

2. Caroline Cassell

3. Mayar elBaz

Cirrocumulus clouds create a beautiful collage for KAUSt residents in the Safaa Gardens neighborhood near the sea. photo by madhav R. Yada.

And theY’Re off!!!

down the home StRetCh!

the winneRS!

dr. Bunhead’s pyrotechniques

The science Fair, held along discovery Walk, attracted many visitors who experimented themselves in some cases.

Children were fascinated by Luca Passone’s Quad-Copter squadron

February 2013 Community8 The beacon

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InsIDe: Red sea expedtion 4 Research 5-7 Community 8news 1-3

trACKinG suCCess | Continued on p5 SOFT MATTER | Continued on p7

TRACKinG SUCCESS

ExplORinG THE BEAUTY OF pATTERnS in lipiD MOnOlAYERS

تعيني رئيس جديد جلامعة امللك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية

KAUst AppoInts Its next pResIDent

تتمه صفحة 5تتمه صفحة 7

جناحنظام التتبع

استكشاف أمناط الدهون أحادية الطبقة

تتمه صفحة 2

أمناء مجلس ورئيس المعدنية، والثروة البترول وزير النعيمي إبراهيم بن علي المهندس معالي أعلن جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية في 16 فبراير 2013، أن المجلس عّين البروفسور جان – لو شامو

رئيسًا جديدًا للجامعة. )Caltech( باسم والمعروف للتقنية كاليفورنيا لمعهد الحالي الرئيس شامو, البروفسور وسيصبح تلقى وقد العام. هذا من الحق وقت في والتقنية للعلوم عبداهلل الملك لجامعة الثاني الرئيس

ChAmeAu | Continued on p2

H. e. ALI I AL-nAIMI, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral resources and Chairman of the KAUST

Board of Trustees, announced on February 16 that the Board of Trustees has appointed Professor

Jean-Lou Chameau as the next President of KAUST.

Professor Chameau, President of the California Institute of Technology (CalTech), will

become the second President of KAUST later this year. A native of France, Prof. Chameau

yoU Are in a shopping mall and your

toddler suddenly wanders off. Searching

frantically, you soon find him in a neigh-

boring shop, but the minutes he was lost

felt like hours. This type of ordeal inspired

parent and faculty member Atif Shamim to

explore a possible solution. The Integrated

Microwaves Packaging Antennas & Circuits

Technology (IMPACT) Lab at KAUST, part of

the Computer, electrical, and Mathematical

Sciences and engineering division, has

developed a prototype device that is low-cost,

wearable, and capable of tracking minors and

other people or objects with high accuracy

both indoors and outdoors through the use of

an internet-enabled phone or other comput-

ing gadget.

Led by dr. Atif Shamim, Assistant Professor

of electrical engineering, the team, includ-

ing students rana Bilal and Fahad Farooqui

and postdoctoral fellow dr. Hammad Cheema,

is using a new inkjet-printing technology to

develop a paper-based, wearable tag. The

choice of paper over traditional substrates

seems unconventional, but it offers a new

paradigm of inkjet-printed electronics. The

paper is lightweight, flexible, biodegradable,

and comes from a renewable source, and with

“PATTernS Are BeAUTIFUl,” says Sahraoui

Chaieb, Associate Professor of Mechanical

engineering and Materials Science and

engineering in the division of Physical Science

and engineering. His research and experi-

mental laboratory work at KAUST on lipid

molecules forming patterns was published in

the February 7 issue of the high-impact jour-

nal Soft Matter, and was also featured on the

cover. Prof. Chaieb is the corresponding author

and a co-author of the paper, “Chiral hierar-

chical self-assembly in Langmuir monolayers

of diacetylenic lipids.” He developed the the-

ory, idea, and research design for the work and

the paper, and began the lab experiments in

والحظت طفلك، مع للتسوق مركز في كنت لو ستبدأ حولك. يعد ولم فجأة اختفى طفلك أن في لحظات بعد تجده ثم بجنون عنه بالبحث متجر مجاور وتتنفس الصعداء. ولكن بال شك أن الدقائق التي كنت تبحث خاللها عن طفلك مرت

عليك كالساعات. هيئة وعضو األب المزعجة التجربة هذه ألهمت التدريس البروفسور عاطف شميم، أستاذ في الهندسة الكهربائية بجامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية، في بحثه عن الحلول الممكنة لمثل هذه المشكالت. الكهربائية والدوائر الهوائيات تقنية مختبر وطور أحد ،)iMPaCt( المدمجة المايكرويف لموجات الحاسوبية والهندسة العلوم قسم مختبرات أوليًا نموذجًا الجامعة، في والحسابية والكهربائية وقادر ارتداؤه، ويمكن التكلفة، منخفض لجهاز األشياء أو الناس من وغيرهم الُقصر تعقب على بدقة عالية داخل المباني وخارجها باستخدام هاتف

متصل باإلنترنت أو أي جهاز حاسوبي آخر.البروفسور قاده الذي البحث فريق ويستخدم عاطف شميم وضم كاًل من الطالب رنا بالل وفهد حماد الدكتور الدكتوراه بعد ما وزميل فاروقي بطاقة لتطوير جديدة حبرية طباعة تقنية شيما، ورقية يمكن ارتداؤها. وبالرغم من أن الورق يعتبر يقدم أنه اال الحالة، هذه في تقليدي غير بدياًل لإللكترونيات. الحبرية للطباعة جديدًا نموذجًا لالنحالل وقابليته وزنه وخفة بمرونته يتميز إذ الحيوي. كما أنه يأتي من مصدر متجدد، وبالتكييف للماء، صاد أو للماء ماص جعله يمكن الصحيح

المشارك األستاذ سهراوي شايب البروفسور قام وهندسة وعلوم الميكانيكية، الهندسة قسم في الباحثين من جامعة بالتعاون مع فريق من المواد والية كينت في أوهايو بالواليات المتحدة بتقديم جزيئات تشكلها التي األنماط عن بحث ورقة Chiral hierarchical" عنوان تحت الدهون self-assembly in Langmuir monolayers ofالبحث هذا نشر تم وقد ."diacetylenic lipidsللعلوم عبداهلل الملك بجامعة ُأجري الذي والتقنية في مجلة )سوفت ماتر( العلمية الشهيرة وتصدر صورة غالف المجلة وذلك في العدد الذي البروفسور .2013 فبراير من السابع في صدر و هو من وضع للورقة الرئيسي الباحث شايب هو على و المختبر في والتصاميم واالفكار النظرية مختبر في المخبرية التجارب وبدأ البحث، ورقة

professor Jean-lou Chameau, the newly appointed president Designate of KAUST, during his recent visit to KAUST.

Soft Matter journal cover: KAUST Scientific illustrator Olga Kasimova’s illustration of prof. Sahraoui Chaieb’s research work on chiral lipid molecules graces the February 7, 2013 cover of the journal Soft Matter.

image reproduced by perm

ission of Sahraoui Chaieb and The Royal Society of Chemistry

from Soft M

atter, 2013, 9, 1437-1446, DOi: 10.1039/C2SM26771C (link to http://dx.doi.

org/10.1039/C2SM26771C)

ISSN 1744-683X

www.rsc.org/softmatter Volume 9 | Number 5 | 7 February 2013 | Pages 1383–1722

1744-683X(2013)9:5;1-G

PAPERSahraoui Chaieb et al.Chiral hierarchical self-assembly in Langmuir monolayers of diacetylenic lipids

King Abdullah University of science and technology at thuwal, Kingdom of saudi Arabia

www.kaust.edu.sa

BeAConthe ة املنـار

march 2013 / Jumada Al-Awwal 1434 Volume 3, Issue no. 7

Chameau | Continued from p1

تابع تعيني رئيس جديد للجامعة امللك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية in brief

pRofessoR fRéChet honoReD At ReCeptIonProFeSSor JeAn Fréchet, Vice President of research, who was named co-recipient of the

2013 Japan Prize, was honored recently with a university reception to mark this outstanding

accomplishment. The prize acknowledges original and outstanding achievements in science

and technology which “advance the frontiers of knowledge and serve the cause of peace and

prosperity for mankind.”

KAUST President Choon Fong Shih said, “we have gathered to show how thrilled we are for

Jean. we all recognize that he is multi-talented and continues to add tremendously to KAUST’s

efforts in scientific advancement and technological innovation.” Prof. Shih said Prof. Fréchet’s

accomplishments were lauded by several nobel Laureates who sent their congratulations upon

hearing of the prize.

Prof. Shih, Provost Stefan Catsicas, and executive Vice President of Administration and

Finance nadhmi Al-nasr presented Prof. Fréchet with a limited edition reprint of the Kitab al-

Diryaq, a scientific work rich in calligraphy and illustration from the Golden Age of Islamic

Civilization. Prof. Shih said it was particularly appropriate for Prof. Fréchet because it con-

tains a treasury of ancient chemical recipes.

Prof. Frechet expressed his thanks for the accolades and encouraged young professors and

academics to “think outside the box” – just as he and dr. Grant willson had done to develop

their Japan Prize winning discovery.

GoVeRnment AffAIRs ReCoGnIzeD foR exCellenCeTHe GoVernMenT Affairs Team, led by Sulaiman Thunayan, was recognized for excellence

at a luncheon hosted recently by KAUST President Choon Fong Shih. Professor Shih said that

the excellence demonstrated by the Government Affairs Team is recognized by the whole

community. “Colleagues have said consistently that Government Affairs is our top team when

it comes to reliability, professionalism, and friendly, helpful customer service,” Prof. Shih said.

“I think this is all the more impressive when you consider the great complexity and sensitiv-

ity of the work you do.”

He continued, “Such high standards and professionalism can only be maintained when a

team truly works together, when you have shared goals, and when you are all united in aim-

ing for the best. I sense great pride among the team in Government Affairs.”

Prof. Shih presented a special plaque inscribed with the image of the Breakwater Beacon to

the group in recognition of the team’s outstanding contribution.

professor Jean Fréchet, second from left, is presented with a gift from KAUST leadership at a reception honoring his being awarded the Japan prize.

The Government Affairs Team poses with KAUST president prof. Choon Fong Shih and Executive Vice president of Administration and Finance Mr. nadhmi Al-nasr. The team led by Sulaiman Thunayan, seated fourth from the left, was acknowledged for excellence.

البروفسور شامو الفرنسي األص ل دراسته الجامعية the École nationale Supérieure( جامعة في على وحصل فرنسا، في )d’arts et Métiersالمدنية من جامعة الهندسة الدكتوراه في درجة وكان األمريكية. المتحدة بالواليات ستانفورد أستاذ في الهندسة المدنية ورئيس برنامج هندسة إلى معهد ينضم أن قبل بوردو في جامعة التربة مدير منصب يشغل كان حيث للتقنية، جورجيا لكلية عميدًا ثم والبيئية، المدنية الهندسة

الهندسة، وبعد ذلك تم تعيينه وكياًل للجامعة. عّين في عام 2006 رئيسًا لمعهد كاليفورنيا للتقنية )Caltech(، حيث عمل على تشجيع أسلوب األبحاث والتعليم متعدد التخصصات وتأسيس تطوير البرامج التأثير المجتمعي، بما في ذلك الطاقة في مجاالت والعلوم الطبية والبيئية. كما اهتم البروفسور شامو بفرص والدفع التعليمية الطلبة تجارب على وركز التدريس لهيئة المبتكرة االستثمارية المشاريع رئاسته صنف فترة على حد سواء. وخالل والطلبة ضمن األولى المرتبة في للتقنية كاليفورنيا معهد حسب وذلك باألبحاث المهتمة العالم جامعات العامين في العالي للتعليم )تايمز( مجلة تصنيف

.2011-2012النعيمي إبراهيم بن علي المهندس معالي وقال رئيس مجلس األمناء: "ما كان بإمكاننا العثور على رئيس أفضل للجامعة من الدكتور شامو الذي يتميز بسجل باهر كباحث ومعلم وقائد أكاديمي مميز مما يجعله مؤهال بصورة فريدة لقيادة المرحلة المقبلة

من تطوير الجامعة".

تشون البروفسور الحالي، الجامعة رئيس أما قائال بالقرار غبطته عن أعرب فقد شيه، فونغ الماضي في لو – جان مع عملي بفضل "الحظت فهمه العريض وبصيرته النافذة في مجالي األبحاث فخور اهلل عبد الملك جامعة ومجتمع والتعليم. مسيرتها في الجامعة بقيادة شامو الدكتور بقيام الهادفة إلى بناء جامعة عالمية ذات تأثير وفعالية".التعيين قرار على تعليقه في شامو الدكتور ويقول عالمي كمركز وميثاقها الفريد موقعها "بفضل جديد للعلم واألبحاث، فان جامعة الملك عبداهلل تجد نفسها في وضع يتيح لها أن تلعب دورًا مؤثرًا فهي السبب ولهذا ككل. والعالم المملكة في ليست مجرد جامعة وحسب بل هي وعد وعهد ذو في لقيادتها طاقتي كل وسأكرس تاريخية. أهمية

اتجاه تحقيق رؤيتها الجريئة على أرض الواقع".كارول الدكتورة وحرمه شامو البروفسور وقام وقت بعد عبداهلل الملك جامعة بزيارة كارمايكل الحرم في بجولة وقاما التعيين. خبر من قصير الجامعي وسط ترحيب الموظفين والطالب وأعضاء الجامعة قادة كبار مع وإلتقيا التدريس هيئة

وزوجاتهم في حفل استقبال أقيم بهذه المناسبة.سيكرس أنه زيارته، خالل شامو البروفيسور قال و األشهر الستة األولى لمعرفة المزيد عن جامعة الملك عبداهلل وأعضاء هيئة التدريس فيها باالجتماع بهم عميق عن وأعرب معاملهم. في وجماعات أفرادًا حفل أثناء تكريم و حفاوة من لمسه لما تقديره امتياز استشعر أنه وقال الجامعة في االستقبال

.وشرف أن يسمى الرئيس المقبل للجامعة

received his undergraduate education at the

École nationale Supérieure d’Arts et Métiers

in France and later his Phd in civil engi-

neering at Stanford University. He was a

professor of civil engineering and head of the

Geotechnical engineering Program at Purdue

University before joining Georgia Institute of

Technology, where he was director of Civil and

environmental engineering, then dean of the

College of engineering and later Provost. He

joined Caltech as its President in 2006.

At Caltech, Prof. Chameau has actively pro-

moted a multidisciplinary approach to research

and education and encouraged the develop-

ment of programs in areas of societal impact,

including energy, medical science, and the

environment. He is credited with improving

students’ educational experiences, increasing

the diversity of the community, and advancing

entrepreneurial and international opportuni-

ties for faculty and students. during his tenure,

Caltech was named the number one university

in both 2011 and 2012 in the Times Higher

education world University rankings.

H. e. Ali Al-naimi said, “we could not have

found a better President for KAUST. Jean-Lou

Chameau’s track record as a researcher, educa-

tor, and distinguished academic leader makes

him uniquely qualified to lead the next phase

of KAUST’s development.”

Professor Choon Fong Shih praised Prof.

Chameau as “an outstanding scholar who

brings with him broad, deep academic experi-

ence, global visibility, and widely-recognized

leadership qualities…our KAUST community

is thrilled at the prospect of his taking up the

baton to lead KAUST on its journey to build

a research university with global reach and

impact.”

Prof. Chameau commented on his appoint-

ment, “Because of its unique location and its

charter as a new international center of learn-

ing and research, KAUST is positioned to

have a dramatic impact on the Kingdom and

the world. For that reason, it is more than a

university; it is an undertaking of historic

importance. I will dedicate my energy to lead

it toward achieving its bold vision.”

Prof. Chameau and his wife, dr. Carol

Carmichael, visited KAUST shortly after the

news of the appointment. They toured the cam-

pus, met staff and students, greeted faculty at

an afternoon reception, and met with KAUST

Senior Leadership and their spouses.

during his visit, Prof. Chameau said he

plans to take the first six months to learn

about KAUST and the faculty by meeting with

them individually and in groups in their labs.

He appreciated the warm welcome he received

at KAUST and said he felt privileged and hon-

ored to be named the next president of the

University.

news2 March 2013 the beacon

thiS iSSue shares exciting university news about the appointment of the next President for KauSt:

Jean-Lou Chameau, current President of Caltech, will become KauSt’s second President later this year.

Prof. Chameau’s distinguished academic career and impressive leadership has not only earned high

praises from senior KauSt leadership, but also enthusiastic support from across the KauSt community.

these pages also highlight the latest research led by Professors atif Shamim and Sahraoui Chaieb, the

launch of an 88-day red Sea expedition, and recent talks given by nobel Laureate guest speakers. and

you can’t miss the burst of color on page 8 - photos from a favorite annual community event, the Parade

of nations.

The Beacon, volume 3, issue 7, March 2013. Published by the Communications department, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi arabia.Contact Salah Sindi [email protected], or Michelle d'antoni [email protected] © King abdullah university of Science and technology. Printed on partially recycled paper.


“seCRets of the ReD seA” ReVeAleD At seDCo ReseARCh exCellenCe AwARD woRKshopULI STInGL, Assistant Professor of Marine Science, and his

research team are uncovering the microbial treasures that lie

within the waters of the red Sea, thanks to their win of the

2011 research excellence Award from the Saudi economic and

development Company (SedCo). during a workshop at KAUST

from February 19-20, Professor Stingl and his team presented

the findings of their project, “The deep-Sea Brine Pools of

the red Sea: From novel extreme organisms to Commercial

Applications,” to an audience of KAUST students and research-

ers and a delegation from SedCo, including Anees Moumina,

SedCo’s Chief executive officer, and Sheikh Abdelelah Salem

Bin Mahfouz, a member of SedCo’s founding Bin Mahfouz fam-

ily and the award’s main donor.

“The red Sea is so important to [Saudi Arabia],” explained

Jean Fréchet, Vice President for research, at the opening of

the workshop. describing the selection process for the winning

project, Prof. Fréchet noted that 19 research proposals were

received, but the selection committee wanted to choose a project

that would “really serve the nation.” Prof. Stingl’s project was

deemed “ideal.” Moumina stated that the selection of projects

like this would help “lead the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia forward

into the future based on the strength of a knowledge-based econ-

omy,” and praised the team’s “awe-inspiring” research progress.

Abdullah Almojel, Vice President for University development,

thanked SedCo for their funding and “commitment to the eco-

nomic growth and diversification of Saudi Arabia through

cutting-edge research and

collaboration.” SedCo has

“encouraged [the team]

to success,” noted Prof.

Fréchet.

Prof. Stingl and his team

recover salt-tolerant extre-

mophile microbes from

anoxic brine pools located

at depths up to 2500 m in the red Sea. once samples are col-

lected, they are assessed in the KAUST Labs to discover which

extremophiles are present in them. Because extremophiles thrive

in exceptionally harsh environments, these organisms have

developed unique proteins, chemicals, and metabolic pathways

that enable them to live in these conditions. Their proteins and

chemicals have “a very high potential for diverse biotechnologi-

cal applications,” Prof. Stingl explained.

Two voyages from KAUST to the brine pools took place in

2011 and 2013, during which seven pools were visited. Although

there are brine pools present in other bodies of water, such as

the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, the pools of

the red Sea are unique because their high temperatures, which

may reach 70˚C. From their samples, the research team isolated

over 700 strains of extremophiles which were then assessed at

KAUST for their potential biological and industrial uses.

From their work, one collaborating KAUST team, led by Professor

Vladimir Bajic, director of the Computational Bioscience research

Center, research Scientist Sunil Sagar, and postdoctoral fellows

Mandeep Kaur and Luke esau, all from the Computation Bioscience

research Center, produced a paper published in the journal BMC

Complementary and Alternative Medicine in early 2013 outlining

the anti-cancer activities of bacteria isolated from the brine-seawa-

ter interface of the red Sea pools. It can be accessed at http://www.

biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/13/29. extracts from Halomonas

and Sulfitobacter had the highest anti-cancer properties, with the

team stating that other bacterial isolates must be “explored fur-

ther to find novel drug-like molecules.” Their work will continue

throughout the rest of 2013 to uncover more potential biological

applications from the extremophiles.

A delegation from SEDCO and KAUST senior faculty members and administration, including KAUST president Choon Fong Shih, Mr. nadhmi Al nasr, Executive Vice president of Admin and Finance, and prof. Uli Stingl, assemble at the Administration Building before the start of the SEDCO Research Excellence Award Workshop.

prof. Stingl describes the research findings the SEDCO grant funded.

noBeL LAUreATe Kurt wüthrich visited KAUST

to give a keynote lecture in the International

Conference on Biomolecular dynamics:

experiment Meets Computation (ICBd).

Professor wüthrich is an authority on the struc-

ture and function of proteins and nucleic acids

and on developing nuclear magnetic resonance

(nMr) spectroscopy for the study of biologi-

cal macromolecules. He was awarded the nobel

Prize in Chemistry (2002) "for his development

of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for

determining the three-dimensional structure of

biological macromolecules in solution."

“while X-ray crystallography has been the

dominant technology in structural studies, nMr

is unique because it allows us to study biological

macromolecules in solution rather than as crys-

tals,” Prof. wüthrich said. “we can adjust the

solution according to our specific requirements

and study molecules in environments that

closely mimic the physiological conditions in

body fluids in cells and tissues.”

nMr has become an important technique not

only in three-dimensional structure determina-

tion, but also in the study of protein–ligand and

protein–protein interactions, in discovering how

proteins acquire their three-dimensional struc-

tures, and how dynamic conformational changes

are important for the biological functions of pro-

teins. In the past decade, nMr structures have

become critical in drug design, where Prof.

wüthrich's current research focus lies.

Prof. wüthrich is the Cecil H. and Ida M.

Green Professor of Structural Biology at The

Scripps research Institute, La Jolla, CA, US, and

a Professor of Biophysics at the eTH Zürich,

Zürich, Switzerland, and pursues research at

both institutions. His current projects have a

special focus on the dynamics and function of

G-protein coupled receptors (GPCrs), an impor-

tant group of transmembrane receptors which

represent the targets for close to 50% of all pre-

scription drugs on the market. “Although my

research group is not in the business of drug

design, we provide information that can support

drug development by others,” Prof. wüthrich

said. “The ultimate goal of our work is to

improve the quality of human life.”

nobel laureate Kurt Wüthrich Keynote Speaker at Biomolecular Conference

professor Kurt Wüthrich

“we STUdy the dynamics of biomolecules, such as proteins and rnA, in order to understand

their function better,” said Xin Gao, Assistant Professor of Computational Science from the

Computational Bioscience research Center, and organizer of the International Conference on

Biomolecular dynamics. The three-day mid-February conference gathered leading experts to

KAUST, where they shared the latest knowledge on biomolecular mobility and flexibility.

“Because we have both computational scientists and experimental researchers working in the

same field, we wanted to bring both sides together,” said Prof. Gao. “our goal was to try to identify

common interests and find ways for each side to support the other.”

To reach this goal, Prof. Gao invited a group of notable speakers to share the advances in their

specialist area. The keynote lectures were by three renowned scientists, all authorities in their

respective field. Prof. Kurt wüthrich, from Scripps research Institute and eTH Zürich, is a nobel

Laureate known for developing nuclear magnetic resonance (nMr) for studying biological mac-

romolecules. Prof. Axel Brunger from Stanford University is known for developing a computer

program used for solving structures based on X-ray diffraction and nMr data, and Prof. Mingjie

Zhang from Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is an authority on the organiza-

tion and regulation of neuronal signaling complexes and on structural and biochemical studies in

signal transduction complex organization. The conference lectures covered recent progress in both

the experimental and computational techniques and the data interpretation challenges that have

arisen from the new methods.

on the conference outcome, Prof. Gao said: “Attendees of the conference have understood each side

much better and in a more systematic way. They are also planning to initiate some promising collabo-

rations, and some of the visitors may send their graduates or postdocs to KAUST in the near future.”

Sharing Knowledge on Biomolecular Dynamics

prof. Kurt Wüthrich addresses the audience of the international conference on Biomolecular

Dynamics held recently at KAUST.

news 3March 2013www.kaust.edu.sa

A Multicorer is used to collect sediment samplings. it consists of 6 polycarbonate tubes, each about a meter long, that close on both ends when the sampler is lifted back up from the seabed.

KAUST students work in the ship’s laboratory.

March 2013 the beaconRed sea expedtion4

KAUST LAUnCHed its fourth marine scientific expedition on February 14, continuing its quest to

understand the mysteries of the red Sea. relatively few oceanographic studies have been conducted

in the red Sea, a unique body of water with high temperature, brine pools, and perhaps the world’s

longest coral reef. KAUST students and scientists, with local and international collaborators, are

filling this information vacuum with their discoveries and research conducted on samplings and

observations through the University’s red Sea expedition series.

“The Fourth red Sea expedition is a major achievement for KAUST and is a major scientific cruise

by international standards because of its duration, the number of students and scientists participating,

and the number of research projects and sampling works that will be conducted,” said Abdulaziz M.

Al-Suwailem, Manager of the Coastal and Marine resources Core Laboratory, which spearheads the

preparation and implementation of the expedition series.

The voyage is composed of six cruise legs, will span 88 days at sea, and will meet the sampling

requirements of over 20 studies. one hundred and ten KAUST students, research scientists and

professors will be participating. They will be joined by Professor rania Siam from the American

University of Cairo and Professor Pei-yuan Qian from Hong Kong University of Science and

Technology, each for one leg of the cruise. Also unique to this cruise is that sampling will be con-

ducted not only in the red Sea but also in the Mediterranean for comparison purposes.

Previous expeditions studied large-scale oceanography, microbial genetics, coral reef ecology,

and deep-sea biology. These studies resulted in new discoveries and breakthrough findings, such

as novel bacteria strains, deep-sea corals thriving at depths beyond the reach of sunlight, a cold

seep system with dense microbial and animal assemblages, and a high abundance of mesope-

lagic fishes.

“It is our intention to move from exploration to advanced multidisciplinary research on this

expedition,” said Xabier Irigoien, director of the red Sea research Center (rSrC). “Scientists will

examine in-depth areas of interest discovered on previous voyages. our long range goals are to

study ecosystems that thrive in warmer temperatures to better plan and prepare for global warming;

to study novel organisms to ascertain their potential for new chemicals for industry and bioscience;

to study how the abundant mesopelagic fish have adapted to warmer temperatures; and to study

the deep corals and their adaptations that allow them to thrive at great depths with no sunlight, all

potentially important in a warming, overpopulated world.”

Using the chartered vessel rV Aegaeo, the same used in the 2010 and 2011 expeditions, this

year’s excursion will employ a more in depth analytical focus, wider sampling coverage, and

improved instrumentation and sampling approaches. new instruments being used this voyage are

the In Situ Ichthyplankton Imaging System (ISIIS), Laser optical Particle Counter (LoPC), Laser In

Situ Scattering and Transmissometry (LISST), Trios radiometer, and a towed underwater vehicle

(ScanFISH) that will carry different sensors for measuring water properties. By integrating sev-

eral optical sensors, like the aforementioned instruments, scientists can resolve multiple properties

within the red Sea, study certain aspects of the biogeochemistry with measurements that provide

greater area and resolution than analytical laboratory methods, and validate and tune satellite

observations to ocean color.

The different legs of the expedition will cover most of the red Sea. Leg one began from Piraeus,

Greece, moved to sampling locations in the Mediterranean Sea and, and after a brief stopover

at Crete Island, passed through

the Suez Canal to the northern

red Sea for sampling works at

the Kebrit deep. on this leg, the main tasks onboard the vessel were for microbial ecology research

in the Mediterranean Sea and the red Sea, but different measurements were also conducted for

acoustic mesopelagic fish and atmospheric environment studies. Leg Two will not stray far from

KAUST, traveling to the brine pool sites of Atlantis II, Valdivia, and Shagara deeps for in depth

microbial studies. Leg Three covers the length of the red Sea to conduct hydrography and plank-

ton surveys. Leg Four, studying mesopelagic fish and brine pool acoustics, will travel as far north

as Kebrit and south to Valdivia and the Jeddah coastal area. Leg Five will stay close to home to

study the Thuwal cold water seeps, and Leg Six will concentrate on deep sea corals surveying the

entire red Sea. Although these studies are the focus of the legs, multiple studies will be ongoing

on each segment.

Professor Burt Jones and colleagues from the rSrC are preparing to go out on Leg Three. of

particular interest to Prof. Jones are eddies found in the red Sea that have been identified by

satellites. These areas of circular seawater movements influence the exchange of biological organ-

isms and transport of physical properties including heat in the red Sea. They sometimes rotate

faster, expand and pulse at various times of the year. on this expedition the group will study

their structure - temperature, salinity, chlorophyll content, and particle suspension using the

new LISST machine – and leave behind gliders to continue measurement of physical, chemical,

and biological variables throughout the year. Studies on plankton and fish larvae by Professors

Irigoien and Michael Berumen, respectively, also form part of the Leg Three, which will involve

the uses of ISIIS, ScanFISH, and LoPC.

during Leg Four, Prof. Stein Kaartvedt, also from rSrC, will set out to further investigate the

abundant migration behavior of mid-water (mesopelagic) fish in the red Sea by actual net col-

lection and echosounder detection. Another interesting focus by Prof. Kaartvedt is to understand

how the red Sea brine pools impact the deep-sea organisms. Leg Five is dedicated to follow-up

studies on the newly discovered cold seep system in the central red Sea, now named Thuwal

Seeps, through the collaboration of KAUST, HKUST, and Hellenic Center for Marine research.

Finally, Leg Six will close out the expedition by undertaking more detailed studies on the ecol-

ogy of deep-sea corals, which were discovered for the first time in the red Sea during the 2011

cruise. As in the previous years, the present expedition also involves research by scientists from

other KAUST academic centers and core labs, such as Professor Tom Missimer from the water

desalination research Center, who will study the hydrogeology at Thuwal Seeps and Professor

Georgiy Stenchikov from Physical Sciences and engineering for the study of atmospheric aero-

sols and gases over the red Sea. with the large samples required for the entire expedition, the

University’s Core Labs also play key roles in supporting the operational and analytical needs of

the different studies involved.

Leg one of the expedition was completed on March 6 when the rV Aegaeo docked at KAUST. The

desired sampling scope was successfully completed even though the group encountered inclement

weather in the Mediterranean that made their work more challenging. The ship sailed for Leg Two

on March 9.

foURth ReD seA expeDItIon BeGIns A Boxcorer acts like a multicorer except that the

mechanism used to collect the sediment sampling is a box-like compartment that automatically closes when the sampler is retrieved from the seabed.

the right tweaking, it can be made hydrophilic

or hydrophobic, opaque or almost transpar-

ent, delicate or strong, coarse or smooth.

“The other major factor favoring paper is its

extremely low cost, as it is approximately

ten times cheaper than a plastic film,” says

Prof. Shamim. Another distinct advantage of

this technology involves its transition from

prototype to mass-scale production, where

electronics can be printed roll-to-roll and

reel-to-reel with speeds of up to 30 meters per

second. “This means that eventually we will be

able to print low-cost and flexible electronics

like newspapers and magazines with very fast

turnover times,” Prof. Shamim adds.

Until recently, inkjet-printed electronics

on paper were difficult to produce due to the

poor conductivities of the nanoparticle inks.

The latest developments in materials science

have improved these conductivities and made

the inks comparable to bulk metals. This has

triggered an interest in printing electronics on

unconventional substrates such as plastics,

glass, leather, and paper, enabling countless

possible applications of this technology. For

example, the wearable tracking tag can be

used not only for minors but also for tracking

the elderly and family pets. In addition, the

tags can be used for crowd management on

occasions such as the Hajj and at events like

concerts and football games.

explaining the current tracking tag opera-

tion, Prof. Shamim says, “outdoor tracking

based on GPS for location identification is

being used at present. The problem is that

this solution does not work indoors, is bulky

to wear, and is quite expensive. The edge we

have is that ours is a completely integrated,

low-cost solution which works outdoors and

indoors with unprecedented accuracy. It is

also approximately one-tenth the cost of

existing devices.” The tag is multilayer and

hosts a GPS receiver chip that reads the loca-

tion of the person, which is then sent to a

central server using a GSM/GPrS chip. The

unit also benefits from inkjet-printed anten-

nas, which are on a second layer. Finally, a

thin polymer battery is on the third layer. All

of these layers are vertically integrated and

can be packaged into any kind of clothing

or other similar material. The backend server

then maps the received location on Google

Maps, which can then be accessed through

any internet-enabled device. Based on unique

Ids, a user can track multiple tags simulta-

neously; for example, parents could view the

location of all their children playing in a park.

“our field tests have shown a tracking accu-

racy of less than five meters, which is better

than state-of-the-art,” Prof. Shamim adds.

GPS signals become too weak as soon as

a person moves inside a building, making

tracking indoors impossible. To address this

issue, the researchers found an ingenious way

of tracking indoors using wi-Fi, which is

available in most buildings today. “our inte-

grated solution seamlessly switches from GPS

to wi-Fi tracking as a person moves inside a

building, and it estimates the person’s loca-

tion with almost identical accuracy as outdoor

tracking. we haven’t found a similar solution

anywhere in the world,” says Prof. Shamim.

For indoor tracking, the tag hosts a wi-Fi

chip with a custom on-paper antenna. Using

the pre-formed radio maps of a building, the

algorithm matches the received wi-Fi signal

characteristics to the radio map and gives an

estimate of the current location. The intel-

lectual property of the device and tracking

scheme has been protected by a KAUST pat-

ent application.

Prof. Shamim plans a demonstration day of

his technology for potential international and

Saudi stakeholders in May on the University

campus. Maria douglass, acting director of

Technology Transfer and Innovation within

economic development, who assisted the team

with the funding and support of their work,

anticipates a high level of interest from vis-

iting Saudi and international companies. “‘It

sounds almost too good to be true’ was the

initial feedback,” she explains. And, because

of the low cost of inkjet printing, the project

“could seed a whole industry, a whole new

knowledge-driven area of the economy. This is

a really important project from the perspective

of engaging Saudi industry and entrepre-

neurial businesses,” Ms. douglass says. She

also praises Professor Shamim for “going the

extra mile” to work with Saudi industry and

companies.

Both Prof. Shamim and Ms. douglass note

that the market for personal tracking devices

is forecast to grow at a rate of 40%, reach-

ing US$1 billion in 2017. Both feel that the

group’s integrated tag has tremendous poten-

tial to be highly successful. “My motivation

for research,” says Prof. Shamim, “is to make a

social impact” and to integrate technology to

address “real-world applications so it is useful

for people.”

TRaCKING SuCCeSS | Continued from p1

أو أو صلب، خشن رقيق الشفافية، أو شديد معتم ناعم. يقول البروفيسور شميم: "إن العامل الرئيسي للغاية، المنخفضة تكلفته هو للورق تفضيلنا في مرات". بعشر البالستيكية األفالم من أرخص فهو لهذه المتميزة األخرى الخصائص إحدى تكمن و األولي النموذج نقلها من مرحلة التقنية في سرعة إلى مرحلة اإلنتاج واسع النطاق، حيث يمكن طباعة تصل بسرعة ببكرة وبكرة بلفة لفة اإللكترونيات شميم البروفسور ويضيف الثانية. في متر 30 الى المطاف أننا سنتمكن في نهاية بقوله: "وهذا يعني من طباعة اإللكترونيات المرنة والمنخفضة التكلفة

بسرعة كبيرة كالصحف والمجالت". و حتى وقت قريب، كان من الصعب إجراء الطباعة ضعف بسبب الورق على لإللكترونيات الحبرية الصغر( )المتناهية النانوية الجزيئات موصالت لألحبار. و لكن حسنت التطورات األخيرة في علوم مماثلة األحبار وجعلت الموصالت هذه المواد الذي األمر التوصيل، ناحية من المعادن لمعظم إللكترونيات طباعة مجال في االهتمام من زاد الزجاج، البالستيك، مثل تقليدية غير أوساط على الجلود، والورق، وبالتالي الخروج بعدد ال يحصى من التطبيقات الممكنة لهذه التقنية. فعلى سبيل المثال، يمكن استخدام بطاقات التتبع القابلة لالرتداء ليس والحيوانات المسنين لتتبع أيضا للقصر ولكن فقط في البطاقات هذه استخدام يمكن كما األليفة. إدارة الحشود الكبيرة في مناسبات مثل الحج أو في

الحفالت الموسيقية ومباريات كرة القدم. التتبع و قال البروفسور شميم خالل شرحه لعملية الحالية : "حاليًا، يستخدم نظام تحديد المواقع عبر خارج التتبع عملية في gPS االصطناعية األقمار المباني داخل يعمل ال الحل هذا أن إال المباني، لكن للغاية. مكلفًا ويعد وتثبيته ارتداؤه يصعب و ومنخفضة تمامًا متكاملة ابتكرناها التي الوحدة األجهزة قيمة ُعشر حوالي تكلف حيث التكلفة المباني خارج العمل وبمقدورها حاليًا الموجودة وداخلها وبدقة لم يسبق لها مثيل". وتحتوي بطاقة التتبع على عدة طبقات ومثبت بها رقاقة استقبال إرسال ثم الشخص، موقع بتحديد تقوم gPSرقاقة باستخدام مركزي خادم إلى اإلحداثيات هوائيات من أيضًا الوحدة وتستفيد .gSM/gPrSوأخيرًا، ثانية. طبقة في والمثبتة الحبرية الطباعة توجد بطارية بوليمر رقيقة في الطبقة الثالثة. جميع هذه الطبقات مدمجة بصورة رأسية ويمكن تثبيتها خلفي خادم ويقوم المالبس. من نوع أي على خرائط على وتحديدها الموقع إحداثيات باستالم

جوجل التي يمكن الوصول إليها من خالل أي جهاز موصل باإلنترنت. وباإلمكان تعقب عدة بطاقات في بطاقة، لكل مميز )id( رقم بتحديد الوقت نفس فمثاًل، يمكن لآلباء معرفة مواقع كل أطفالهم وهم يلعبون في الحديقة. يضيف البروفسور شميم بقوله: بأقل تتبع لدينا دقة الميدانية "أظهرت االختبارات تلك أفضل بكثير من و هي قيمة أمتار، من خمسة

التي نجدها في أحدث األجهزة المتوفرة حاليًا". للغاية ضعيفة المواقع لتحديد gPS إشارات تصبح يصعب مما مبنى، داخل الشخص دخول بمجرد الباحثون وجد المعضلة، هذه ولحل التتبع. عملية وسيلة بارعة للتتبع داخل المباني باستخدام موجات معظم في اليوم والمتوفرة الالسلكية wi-fiحلنا "يستطيع شميم: البروفسور يقول األماكن. wi- الى gPS التبديل بسهولة من نظام المتكامل تحديد ثم مبنى داخل الشخص دخول بمجرد fiموقعه بدقة تكاد تكون متطابقة لنظام التتبع خارج المبنى. ولم نجد أي حل مماثل له في أي مكان في البطاقة ، تستخدم المبنى العالم". وللتعقب داخل الورق. على مخصص هوائي مع wi-fi شريحة الجاهزة الالسلكية الموجات خرائط وباستخدام مع المستقبلة wi-fi اشارة مطابقة تتم للمبنى للموقع تقدير وإعطاء الالسلكية الموجات خريطة الفكرية الملكية حقوق تسجيل تم وقد الحالي. وبراءة االختراع للجهاز ونظام التتبع لجامعة الملك

عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية. وأفصح كل من البروفسور شميم والسيدة دوغالس 40٪ بمعدل التتبع أجهزة سوق نمو توقعات عن لتصل إلى 1 مليار دوالر أمريكي في عام 2017. وهما المتكاملة التتبع بطاقة أن من كبيرة قناعة على بإذن كبيرًا نجاحًا ستحقق الفريق ابتكرها التي اهلل. يقول البروفسور شميم:"دافعي للبحوث هو أن لصنع التقنية باستخدام المجتمع في تأثيرًا أحدث

."تطبيقات في العالم الحقيقي تخدم الناس

تابع استكشاف أمناط الدهون أحادية الطبقة

prof. Atif Shamim shows off his small, paper-based, inkjet-printed, low-cost tracking tag.

prof. Atif Shamim and his research team examine a novel indoor/outdoor tracking tag produced by inkjet printing at KAUST in prof. Shamim’s iMpACT lab.

March 2013www.kaust.edu.sa 5Research

THe FIrST International workshop on Spin-orbit Induced Torque was hosted at KAUST from

February 24 – 26. organized by a team from Materials Science and engineering, electrical

engineering, and the Core Labs, and chaired by Assistant Professor of Materials Science and

engineering Aurelien Manchon, the workshop explored the growing field of spin electron-

ics, or “spintronics,” which marries nanoscale electronics and magnetism. Lectures, seminars,

and chaired discussion groups during the workshop concentrated on developments in spin-orbit

induced torque (SoIT). SoIT, an alternative method to control magnetism in nanodevices, was

given increased exposure in the spintronics field by research published from Prof. Manchon’s

Spintronics Theory Group at KAUST in the journal Physical Review Letters in 2012 (See Beacon,

September, 2012), and the group continues to work on understanding and exploiting SoIT.

Spintronics harnesses a unique quantum property of electrons called “spin.” Although electrons

do not really “spin” around an axis like a top, it is helpful to imagine their behavior this way.

The rotation of electrons induces a magnetic moment which has one of two orientations, either

up or down. when the electrons’ spins are mostly aligned in the same direction (mostly all up or

mostly all down) in a material, magnetism is created. However, conducting electrons’ spins are usu-

ally half-up and half-down. If these conducting spins can be manipulated and are controlled to all

be parallel, a spin-polarized current will be created, and the interplay between this spin-polarized

current and the magnetization of the material results in unique properties. Using these interactions

in nanoscale magnetic devices is the foundation of spintronics.

Scientists exploit the electron’s spin and use the spin property in electronic technology, such as

data storage and non-volatile memories. The manipulation of spins in various materials may ena-

ble a new generation of electronic devices to be produced, leading in turn to novel computational

paradigms. Spintronics was famously used in the production of IBM’s Giant Magnetoresistive (GMr)

spin-valve head for magnetic hard-disk drives, which was developed in 1997. The GMr led to hard-

disk drives being able to hold very high amounts of data (up to 1 terabit/inch2).

Spin-orbit induced torque (SoIT) is an alternative method of magnetization switching by electri-

cal means. with SoIT, torque, a property in physics that changes the rotational motion of an object,

acts on the magnetization. SoIT is capable of “significantly simplif[ying] the design of devices while

opening new avenues for device development,” said Prof. Manchon, and it has “real potential” to be

used in various electronic applications. An objective of the workshop, he explained, was to “estab-

lish a common understanding of the complexity of the physics underlying the [SoIT] experiments.”

Prof. Manchon also wanted to help the KAUST academic community place spintronics and SoIT

“into a broader picture, demonstrating [their] actual potential in terms of economic development as

well as the beautiful fundamental physics.” The workshop was “a fantastic way to present [KAUST]

to the spintronics community and expose our research,” he said.

Visiting researchers from universities, companies, and research organizations around the world,

such as Cambridge University (UK), Korea University (Korea), the national University of Singapore

(Singapore), IBM, and the national Institute of Standards and Technology (US) attended the

workshop to speak about and discuss their work with SoIT and spintronics in general. Also in

attendance were KAUST faculty, approximately 20 KAUST Phd students, and 10 external Phd

students. In addition to the 20 seminars given by established senior spintronics researchers, four

seminars were presented by KAUST Phd students and a postdoctoral fellow, and were, as Prof.

Manchon noted, an excellent opportunity for the junior researchers to present their work to an

international academic audience.

of special note was a lecture for the workshop and the President’s distinguished Visiting

Speaker Series given by dr. Albert Fert, Professor emeritus of the University of Paris-Sud and

Scientific director of a research laboratory of the Thales Company (France) and the national

Scientific research Laboratories of France. Prof. Fert was also a joint winner of the nobel Prize

in Physics in 2007, and has won various other national and international awards for his research

in physics and spintronics.

Prof. Fert explored the potential of new ideas on the innovative use of spintronics during his

lecture, in particular outlining spin transfer phenomena, which will enable reduced energy con-

sumption when running computers, and the use of new materials, such as graphene or carbon

nanotubes, which can be exploited to develop new devices through spintronics. Speaking at the

lecture, KAUST President Choon Fong Shih praised Prof. Fert for “proposing to us next-generation

devices that will do the undoable,” and said he was honored to present to KAUST “one of the most

outstanding scientists of [Fert’s] generation.”

Prof. Manchon stated that through “intense discussions” at the workshop, the researchers identi-

fied various interconnected key mechanisms underlying the observations in experiments with SoIT

and spintronics. “The next step,” he explained, “is to understand these interconnections and find

a way to probe and control their impact on device properties.” Because of the workshop’s success,

“the tremendous developments [in spintronics] clearly call for a new workshop next year,” said Prof.

Manchon. It is his hope that the researchers can “regularly meet to carry on [their] common progress

in this fascinating topic.” In the future, as Prof. Fert noted in his lecture, spintronics may “take us

beyond the limits of modern technology.”

Research6 the beaconMarch 2013

An InTernATIonAL group of leading data analysis researchers,

led by Professor Mikhail Moshkov of King Abdullah University

of Science and Technology (KAUST)’s Applied Mathematics and

Computational Science program, have recently published a book,

“Three Approaches to data Analysis,” examining the common

approaches of three data analysis theories: Test Theory, rough

Sets and Logical Analysis of data.

while all these three theories have much in common, as they

are all related to Boolean reasoning, “researchers active in one

of these areas often have a limited knowledge about the results

and methods of the other two,” said Prof. Moshkov. In an effort

to stimulate new theoretical results and real-life applications from

the relationship between the three paradigms, Prof. Moshkov

approached Prof. david Keyes, Vice President for education

James Calvin, and Vice President for research Jean Fréchet for

support of year-long book preparation and bringing together

leading experts in the field for a workshop at KAUST.

In June 8-11, 2012 KAUST hosted the International workshop

on Three Approaches to data Mining. Supported financially and

logistically by KAUST Global Collaborative research, the work-

shop brought together, for the first time ever, top researchers from

the three areas of data analysis. The publisher, Springer, espe-

cially for this workshop, printed 10 exemplars of the book – six

month earlier the official data of publication.

The team of scientists who collaborated on the book is com-

prised of: Mikhail Moshkov, Igor Chikalov, and Beata Zielosko

from KAUST (who focused on Test Theory), Hung Son nguyen

and Andrzej Skowron from warsaw University, Poland (rough

Sets), as well as Vadim Lozin and Irina Lozina from the University

of warwick, UK (Logical Analysis of data).

The three famous approaches to data analysis use decision

trees and decision rules for data representation and classification.

Founded by Sergei V. yablonskii (1924-1998) in USSr during

the 1950s, Test Theory was created for imperfect consistent data

study and applications ranging from military uses, to geology

(gold mining) and medicine.

rough Sets theory founded by

Zdzisław I. Pawlak (1926-2006) in

Poland at the beginning of 1980s

focused on dealing with not only

imperfect but also inconsistent

data, and extended essentially the

areas of applications.

Finally, the Logical Analysis of

data, the youngest of the three

approaches founded by Peter L.

Hammer (1936-2006) in USA at

the second half of 1980s, added

to the data analysis power of the

theory of partially defined Boolean

functions.

we expect that the book and the workshop will stimulate

research on new data mining methods based on combination of

Test Theory, rough Sets and Logical Analysis of data, explained

Prof. Moshkov. Such methods should be, in particular, scalable for

large data sets and applicable to multiple domains.

KAUst BRInGs toGetheR top DAtA AnAlysIs sCIentIsts

spIn-oRBIt InDUCeD toRqUe woRKshop UnVeIls ADVAnCes In fIelD of spIntRonICs

nobel laureate prof. Albert Fert discusses spintronics topics with KAUST students during a scientific poster presentation session at the First international Workshop on Spin-Orbit induced Torque.

professor Mikhail Moshkov

“For deCAdeS, physicists and mathematicians have searched for a simple model to predict

chaotic shock waves,” said Aslan Kasimov, Assistant Professor of Applied Mathematics and

Computational Science in the division of Computer, electrical, and Mathematical Sciences and

engineering. His team has recently proposed an equation that captures almost all of the com-

plex chaotic dynamics of explosion shocks.

Professor Kasimov heads the University’s curiosity-driven Physical Mathematics Laboratory. “I

am very fortunate to have a talented and diverse group of postdocs and students,” he said. “In this

particular research, the key contribution was made by my Phd student Luiz Faria.”

The new equation is perhaps the simplest partial differential equation to predict chaotic solu-

tions, but simplicity does not imply triviality. “It’s simply one scalar equation that has one time

derivative, one space derivative, and that’s it. But it has an extremely complicated set of solutions

– extremely complicated,” Prof. Kasimov said.

“we expect that its richness will be of interest to scientists specializing in shock waves, dynami-

cal systems, and the theory of partial differential equations. Perhaps, its biggest significance is

that it provides a convincing demonstration that behind the complicated chaotic solutions seen

in simulations of detonation waves, there is a simple mechanism hidden, so simple in fact that it

can be captured by a single scalar partial differential equation,” he said. difficulties with analysis

of detonation shocks have led some researchers to even speculate that the detonation may be a

“no-theory” phenomenon, that we may be unable to describe it – even in principle – by anything

simpler than the full set of equations of gas dynamics. “our model is an example refuting such

pessimistic view and motivating search for simpler theories. we have shown that the secret is

there, the secret is simple, and it just needs to be found,” Prof. Kasimov concluded.

The research was done in collaboration with dr. rosales from MIT. The paper, “A model

for shock-wave chaos,” will be published in the journal Physical Review Letters, doi:10.1103/

PhysrevLett.110.104104.

THe CoMPUTATIonAL Bioscience research Center (CBrC) team has developed a new method-

ology and a web tool to predict translation initiation sites (TISs) in plant genome sequences.

The application was published in the leading Mathematical and Computational Biology journal

Bioinformatics, with three equally contributing researchers: Phd students Arturo Magana-Mora

and Haitham Ashoor, and Senior research Scientist dr. Boris Jankovic. The CBrC project was led

by the Center’s director, Prof. Vladimir Bajic.

“recognizing TIS signal motifs in genomic dnA sequences is much more complex than rec-

ognizing them in mrnA or cdnA sequences. Methods and tools that can solve this problem

are important for gene discovery and genome annotation,” Prof. Bajic said. “The high-accuracy

prediction tool that has resulted from the new methodology we developed is, to the best of our

knowledge, the only publicly available predictor of TIS motifs in plant dnA sequences.”

The research team hopes that the tool will aid the studies and annotation of plant gene proper-

ties, and provide a further insight into the mechanisms of translation initiation.

The web-based tool is freely accessible at http://cbrc.kaust.edu.sa/dts. The paper, “dragon TIS

Spotter: an Arabidopsis-derived predictor of translation initiation sites in plants,” is available at

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bioinformatics/bts638.

Shocking Chaos

Dragon TiS Spotter: an Arabidopsis-derived predictor of translation initiation sites in plants

KAUST’s nano-biophysics Lab. A team of scien-

tists from Kent State University (ohio, US) also

contributed research and lab expertise for the

paper. It can be accessed at http://pubs.rsc.org/

en/content/articlepdf/2013/sm/c2sm26771c.

The paper discusses how, as temperature

increases, molecules of dynePe, a double-

chained lipid, assemble to form stripes with

either spiral or concentric “target patterns”

when on the surface of a liquid (in this case,

water). dynePe molecules are chiral, a prop-

erty by which an object or molecule’s mirror

image cannot be superimposed upon itself. An

example is the right and left human hands:

A left hand cannot be superimposed onto a

right hand no matter which way the hands

are turned or oriented. Chirality affects mol-

ecules from intra- to supra-molecular levels,

and in particular influences their self-assem-

bly. dynePe will self-assemble to form chiral

domains between 30 and 37˚C.

The researchers discovered a unique property

of dynePe: unlike what was found in previous

studies, dynePe’s domains grow in four different

levels, beginning with long, thin, needle-shaped

“claws” as the lipid film is compressed for view-

ing using a special technique called Brewster

Angle Microscopy (BAM). BAM was created in

the lab where Prof. Chaieb did his Phd research

at the École normale Supérieure in Paris, France,

and he himself had a part in inventing this tech-

nique during his Phd work. Using BAM, the

claws bend counter-clockwise and, with fur-

ther compression, they form stripes. The stripes

then transition from spiral to concentric tar-

get patterns as the temperature increases. But

above 37˚C, the domains fall apart as the lipids

reach their chain-melting point. “Temperature

destroys the order via the ‘boundary condi-

tions,’” explains Prof. Chaieb.

The chiral needle-like structures may be

why pattern change takes place, the research-

ers propose. As Prof. Chaieb notes, “Stripes are

inherent of the broader system, but the transi-

tion from spiral to target [pattern] is inherent

to this kind of object.” The “domain centers”

of the claws enable radial packing at lower

temperatures and curled packing at higher tem-

peratures, creating the two distinct patterns.

when the chain-melting point is reached, the

patterns disappear as both configurational chi-

rality and chiral packing are eliminated.

“This paper is a model for self-assembly of

beautiful objects that is controlled by geom-

etry,” says Prof. Chaieb. But the patterns are

not only pretty to look at: the mechanism that

creates them may be a key to how stripes and

target patterns are produced in nature, where

they are found in our fingerprints, for exam-

ple. Lipid monolayers are also essential for

forming the surfactant in lung alveoli, which

is required to carry out proper breathing by

producing correct surface pressure in the alve-

oli. Inhaling compresses the surfactant, which

lies on a surface of water. Surfactant is often

absent in premature babies and a condition

called respiratory distress Syndrome results,

causing labored breathing. The researchers

believe these lipids may be able to replace the

missing natural surfactant, resulting in correct

alveolar surface pressure and proper breathing.

As Prof. Chaieb points out, the chiral lipids

have “a relationship to many possible future

biological applications.”

في جامعة النانو( )بتقنية النانوية الحيوية الفيزياء الملك عبداهلل للعلوم و التقنية.

وتناقش الورقة كيفية تجمع جزيئات dynePe – وهي األسطح - على السلسلة عبارة عن دهون مزدوجة الحرارة بارتفاع الحالة( هذه في )الماء السائلة أو لولبية إما مستهدفة" "أنماط خطوط لتشكل أنها الجزيئات هذه خصائص ومن المركز. متحدة غير متناظرة في المرآة، أي ال يمكن أن تتناظر صورة الجزيء في المرآة مع أصلها في الواقع. ومثال على ال والتي لإلنسان اليسرى واليد اليمنى اليد ذلك في التناظر عدم وتؤثر خاصية تتناظران. أن يمكن البيني الجزيئي المستوى من الجزيئات على المرآة عملية على خاصة بصورة تؤثر كما السطحي، إلى بالتجمع dynePe جزيئات وتبدأ الذاتية. تجمعها الذاتي لتشكيل النطاقات الغير متناظرة عند درجة

الحرارة بين 30 و 37 درجة مئوية. dynePe لدهون فريدة خاصية الباحثون واكتشف تختلف عن ما تم التوصل إليه في الدراسات السابقة، وهي تشكل أنماطها في أربع مستويات مختلفة، حيث تكون في البداية على شكل إبرة رقيقة وطويلة تشبه "المخالب" و يتم ذلك بضغط شريط الدهون لعرضه باستخدام تقنية خاصة تسمى الفحص المجهري بزاوية البروفسور التي شارك التقنية )baM(، وهي بروستر شايب في ابتكارها في المختبر الذي أجرى فيه بحث درجة الدكتوراه في مدرسة األساتذة العليا في باريس. عكس "المخالب" تنحني التقنية هذه وباستخدام اتجاه عقارب الساعة، وبزيادة الضغط تبدأ بتشكيل خطوط والتحول من أشكال لولبية الى أنماط متحدة الوصول تتفكك عند الحرارة. لكنها بارتفاع المركز انصهار نقطة وهي مئوية درجة 37 حرارة لدرجة

الدهون. ويقول البروفسور شايب "درجة الحرارة تدمر النظام عبر الظروف الحدودية".

قد األنماط تغّير وراء السبب أن الباحثون ويذكر يكون الهياكل الغير متناظرة الشبيهة باإلبرة. ويشير متأصلة الخطوط أنماط أن إلى شايب البروفسور اللولبي الشكل من التحول لكن النظام نفس في من النوع هذا في متأصل المستهدف النمط إلى بالنمط الخاصة النطاق" "مراكز وتسمح األجسام. الحرارة درجات في اإلشعاعي الربط من المخلبي المنخفضة والربط الملتف في درجات الحرارة العالية وبذلك تنتج لنا نمطين مختلفين. وتتالشى األنماط عند الوصول إلى نقطة االنصهار بزوال كل من خاصية

التهيئة الالتناظرية والربط الالتناظري.ويذكر البروفسور شايب بأن هذا البحث ُيعد نموذجًا تمهيديًا عن التجمع الذاتي ألجسام جميلة الشكل يتم األنماط هذه فائدة تتركز وال هندسيًا. بها التحكم بجمالها فقط بل إن آلية تشّكلها قد تكون المفتاح لمعرفة كيف تنتج هذه الخطوط واألنماط المستهدفة في الطبيعة، مثل تلك الخطوط الموجودة في بصمات أصابعنا على سبيل المثال ال الحصر. والدهون أحادية الطبقة ضرورية أيضا لتشكيل المادة الخافضة للتوتر السطحي في الحويصالت الهوائية في الرئة والتي تلعب دورًا مهمًا في عملية التنفس بإنتاجها ضغط سطحي على القدرة وبالتالي الحويصالت تلك داخل صحيح التنفس بصورة طبيعية. وال تتواجد أحياًنا هذه المادة بمتالزمة الحالة هذه وتسمى الُخدج، األطفال في الضائقة التنفسية أو عسر التنفس. ويلفت البروفسور شايب النظر إلى أن هذه الدهون الغير متناظرة سوف البيولوجية التطبيقات من بالعديد عالقة لها يكون

.المحتملة في المستقبل

SOFT maTTeR | Continued from p1 تابع استكشاف أمناط الدهون أحادية الطبقة

Research 7www.kaust.edu.sa March 2013

Aslan Kasimov (front row, second from right) and his team of phD students and postdoctoral fellows

my universityGOWRY HODGE Gowry HodGe joined KAUST in January 2009 as one of the University’s founding mem-

bers. “we worked from the interim office on Prince Sultan Street in Jeddah, and lived at the

Sierra Compound,” she said. “I had never worked outside of London so this was indeed a

change. I arrived with six recruits from London and Ireland, and we felt togetherness, not

alone in our new job, new city, and new culture.”

Gowry is the Senior executive Secretary to General Counsel william Stamm. “why KAUST?

why not? At this point in life I could travel, change jobs, do whatever I felt like doing. I

enjoy my work, and the team I work with. I also like the location.”

Gowry joined KAUST from a Scottish law firm in the City of London, UK. She is a professional, a mother,

and an athlete. She has five national (england) titles in women's 400 meters hurdles, and has represented

england in world Championships, Commonwealth games, and the olympics. She reached her personal best

(54.63s) in the 1992 Barcelona olympic game semifinals, and won silver at the 1998 Commonwealth Games

in Malaysia. In 1992, she qualified to represent not just england but the whole of europe at the IAAF world

Cup in Cuba, and won silver.

outside of work, Gowry’s time is spent with her Australian Shepherd, red. “I take red out on the bike, spend

time with friends, and do sports. KAUST is an ideal place to do sport!”

THe LATeST Sunset Concert featured a collection of pieces performed by

the community’s talented musicians, featured works by Handel, Vivaldi, and

Beethoven, and included one of the most famous pieces of Chinese music

for violin, Butterfly Lovers. Perhaps the most touching pieces of the program

were three works written and composed by KAUST community members, all

of which featured lyrics honoring love and friendship, commemorating the

library’s founding director, Joseph Branin, who passed away in december.

Professor david Keyes, a performer in the concert, noted that the “perfect”

Library venue was made even more ideal because it was Branin himself who

first suggested concerts should take place there once a month. “The program

was somber in terms of the music and lyrics,” Prof. Keyes said, “but at the

same time celebratory of the life of the mind and heart that [Branin] culti-

vated personally and professionally.”

Branin’s positive influence will be lasting at KAUST. As Amy Stoll, a

KAUST Schools teacher and concert performer stated, Branin stood for “the

actualization of talent and commitment and making a difference in the

world, and he will continue to be a role model for us all.”

SunSet ConCert at the univerSity Library

aSSiSt. Prof. MuhaMMad MuStafa huSSain SeLeCted to be diStinguiShed LeCturerProfeSSor Sigurdur thoroddSen

eLeCted a feLLow of the aMeriCan PhySiCaL SoCiety

March 2013 Community8 the beacon

MUHAMMAd MUSTAFA Hussain, Assistant

Professor of electrical engineering (Computer,

electrical, and Mathematical Sciences and

engineering division), has been selected to be a distinguished Lecturer for

the Ieee electron devices Society (edS) for 2013 and 2014. edS is a vibrant

professional community of researchers from semiconductor industries like

Intel, IBM, Global Foundries, Samsung, Toshiba, Panasonic, HP, and Texas

Instruments.

The Ieee sponsored edS distinguished Lecturer Program provides edS

chapters with quality lecturers who are experts in their fields. The lectur-

ers travel to various technical and regional groups to present at events.

This is the first time an assistant professor has been selected for this honor

by Ieee edS.

MeCHAnICAL enGIneerInG Professor Sigurdur Thoroddsen (Physical Sciences

and engineering division) was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

He received the honor “for the development and use of high-speed imaging to

understand the dynamics of small-scale multiphase and interfacial flows, leading

to fundamental new understanding of the behavior of bubbles and drops, breakup

and coalescence, cavitation, splashes and other free surface flows.”

Additionally, he and his group had a strong showing at the 65th Annual Meeting of the division of Fluid

dynamics in San diego, CA, held in november 2012, where he and his collaborators presented research results

in seven separate talks.

photos of the month

KAUST’s talented Sunset Concert performers pose at the February 9 event.

Higher Education Exhibit 2013 Beacon Jan-Mar

Documents

Transcript of Higher Education Exhibit 2013 Beacon Jan-Mar