News

September 2022

• 

  Steering Customized AI Architectures for HPC Scientific Workloads: A Bird of Feather at SC22!

  1 min read · Thu, Sep 15 2022

  News

  machine learning HPC numerical linear algebra artificial intelligence

  Abstract: We explore the possibilities of a hybrid system capable of solving both HPC and AI scientific problems. Such a hybrid architecture combines the synergism between classical HPC platforms and dedicated AI chip systems, which is important due to the computational challenges brought to the fore by massively parallel Exascale systems. We discuss the system functionality, the algorithmic software adaptations, and performance considerations. We present efforts in supporting AI/ML applications in addition to seismic imaging, climate/weather prediction, and computational astronomy on hybrid
• 

  Mixed Feelings About Mixed Precisions: Birds of a Feather at SC22!

  1 min read · Tue, Sep 13 2022

  News

  Mixed Precisions HPC GPU Computing

  Abstract: Come and share your experiences with the state-of-the-art of mixed-precision techniques! By wisely trading off accuracy, we can mitigate data movement overheads and increase performance of applications, including real-time adaptive optics simulations on ground-based telescopes and genome-wide association study for agricultural genomics. No free lunch, however: these optimizations require support from the software/hardware ecosystem and strong numerical validation. For instance, the tile Cholesky factorization is a fundamental matrix algorithm in solving covariance problems that
• 

  CBRC alumnus Dr. Tanvir Alam awarded "The Early Career Researcher Award" by HBKU

  1 min read · Sun, Sep 11 2022

  News

  CBRC's Alumni Dr. Tanvir Alam recently received The Early Career Researcher Award from Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha on its first annual Research Day on September 7, 2022. Research Day was an opportunity for HBKU to recognize and honor the accomplishments of faculty and scientists, early-career researchers, and students, with the presentation of research awards in different categories.
• 

  How much do model organism phenotypes contribute to the computational identification of human disease genes?

  1 min read · Sun, Sep 4 2022

  News

  Ontologies phenotype ontologies gene-disease associations

  PhD Student Sarah M Alghamdi from the Bio-Ontology Research Group (BORG) explains how phenotype ontologies help in identifying disease genes through phenotype comparison. Her research was picked as a highlight in the July 2022 issue of Disease Models and Mechanisms Journal.

August 2022

• 

  The ten-year road from Thuwal to KAUST

  1 min read · Sun, Aug 28 2022

  News Spotlight

  A boy from Thuwal, who remembers vividly the construction of KAUST and how it influenced the local people, is now a student at CEMSE. This is his story and how his story made history.
• 

  Better health from better data

  1 min read · Tue, Aug 23 2022

  News

  statistics geospatial statistics health surveillance

  The fast-developing science of geospatial statistics offers new insights into diverse health challenges, from cancer hotspots to problems of air pollution and the spread of COVID-19. Three new projects should yield a better understanding of what causes disease in Saudi Arabia and how to fight it. KAUST also stands to make a real contribution to the region by improving health in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The field of geospatial statistics and health surveillance, known as GeoHealth, uses data from multiple sources to create disease maps of geographical areas. When information is
• 

  A model for millions of locations

  1 min read · Tue, Aug 23 2022

  News

  climate change Environmental Statistics modeling statistics

  CEMSE statisticians developed a framework which enables modeling of a range of meteorological and environmental datasets from up to 2 million locations globally.
• Watching viscous flow, but faster

  1 min read · Tue, Aug 23 2022

  News

  modeling Computer science

  A state-of-the-art method for modeling the behavior of liquids described by the Computational Sciences Group represents a breakthrough in computational speed for viscous liquids.
• 

  KAUST students' research wins first place at IEEE AP-S/URSI 2022

  1 min read · Mon, Aug 22 2022

  Awards News

  RFICs sensors Antennas

  Hanguang Liao and Yiming Yang from the KAUST IMPACT Lab won first place in the 2022 IEEE AP-S Student Design Contest at the 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (IEEE AP-S/URSI 2022), held in July in Denver.
• 

  Stochastic geometry-based low latency routing in LEO satellite networks

  1 min read · Mon, Aug 22 2022

  News

  In recent years, we have witnessed the booming development of low earth orbit (LEO) satellite networks. In terms of low latency and ultra-long distance communication, the LEO satellite network has excellent advantages over ground networks and high orbit satellite networks. In ultra-long distance communication, multiple satellites are used as relays to complete multi-hop routing. How to select the relay satellite to achieve the minimum latency routing becomes one of the challenges. CTL researchers studied the routing in massive low earth orbit (LEO) satellites. They proposed a nearest-neighbor
• 

  KAUST Ph.D. candidate wins ISBA-BayesComp poster award at the International Society for Bayesian Analysis 2022

  1 min read · Sun, Aug 21 2022

  News

  Bayesian computational statistics

  Esmail Abdul Fattah, a KAUST Ph.D. candidate in statistics, won a poster award in the "junior-BayesComp-ISBA" category at the 30th meeting of the International Society for Bayesian Analysis (ISBA 2022) held from June 26 to July 1 in Montreal, Canada.

July 2022

• 

  Professor Markowich elected to the European Academy of Sciences and Arts

  1 min read · Thu, Jul 21 2022

  News

  Applied Partial Differential Equations diffusive phenomena generalized Sobolev inequalities inverse problems quantum mechanical kinetic theory mean-field games

  KAUST Distinguished Professor of Applied Mathematics and Computational Science Dr. Peter Markowich has been named a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA). He will officially be inducted as a member at the organization's annual inauguration ceremony in early 2023.
• 

  KAUST New Faculty: Yating Wan, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

  1 min read · Tue, Jul 19 2022

  News

  photonics Optical Wireless Communication Biosensors energy harvesting quantum information processing

  Yating Wan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, joins KAUST as a member of the KAUST Photonics Laboratory from her most recent position as a postdoctoral research associate at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), U.S.

June 2022

• 

  Bone formation comes down to the nanowire

  1 min read · Thu, Jun 30 2022

  News

  human health

  Jasmeen Merzaban, Jürgen Kosel and colleagues from their labs developed nanotechnology that accelerates the transition of stem cells into bone and could advance regenerative medicine.
• 

  KAUST ECE alumnus wins Design Automation Conference Under-40 Innovators Award

  1 min read · Thu, Jun 30 2022

  News

  automation microelectronics

  Former KAUST Sensors Lab researcher Hesham Omran (Ph.D. ’15) has been named as one of the four winners of the Design Automation Conference (DAC) 2022 Under-40 Innovators Award. The award recognizes the top young innovators who have made a significant impact in the field of design and automation of electronics.
• 

  The 20-year dash: Celebrating the accomplishments of our inspiring in-Kingdom and international female scientists

  1 min read · Mon, Jun 27 2022

  News

  The presence of women in scientific disciplines in the Kingdom has risen from almost zero to 32 percent in just 20 years. KAUST has contributed greatly to the positive trend as a platform for women from Saudi Arabia and all over the world to study and develop their ideas in a modern campus and research environment.
• 

  Extreme analysis of seizures

  1 min read · Mon, Jun 27 2022

  News

  neuroscience machine learning human health statistics

  CEMSE researchers Matheus Guerrero, Raphaël Huser and Hernando Ombao developed a new approach for analyzing seizures in epilepsy patients by applying extreme value theory to real EEG seizure data.
• 

  Professor Park receives O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award at the 2022 American Control Conference

  1 min read · Sun, Jun 26 2022

  News

  robotics intelligent systems

  Professor Shinkyu Park has been awarded the 2022 O. Hugo Schuck Best Paper Award (Theory) from the American Automatic Control Council (AACC) for his paper investigating a new mathematical framework to study decision making in multi-agent systems.
• 

  Workshop Stochastic Numerics and Statistical Learning: Theory and Applications - May 2022

  1 min read · Wed, Jun 22 2022

  News

  Between the 15th and 29th of May 2022, KAUST hosted the Workshop Stochastic Numerics and Statistical Learning: Theory and Application s, organized by Prof. Raul F. Tempone (Stochastic Numerics Research Group) and Prof. Ajay Jasra (Computational Probability Research Group). During these two weeks, 28 talks, two mini-courses, and two poster sessions were held, with the participation of renowned professors, researchers, and students. Over the two weeks, more than 150 people from many universities and research institutes participated, on-site or remotely. The first mini-course was Deep Neural
• 

  KAUST alumnus named in Forbes' “30 Under 30 Asia list” – Class of 2022

  1 min read · Sun, Jun 12 2022

  News

  healthcare technologies machine learning bioinformatics

  KAUST alumnus Yu Li (Ph.D. '20) was recently named amongst the Forbes' "30 Under 30 Asia list" – Class of 2022. Forbes recognized the current assistant professor of computer science and engineering at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) for his work developing algorithms to solve problems in biology and health care.

May 2022

• 

  Computer learns to write captions with feeling

  1 min read · Tue, May 31 2022

  News

  machine learning visual computing artificial intelligence Visual Art Computer science

  Mohamed Elhoseiny and his PhD student Youssef Mohamed are teaching AI to capture the full spectrum of human emotions when annotating artwork in order to reduce emotional bias in computer-generated captions.
• 

  Professor Athanasios Tzavaras elected Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc)

  1 min read · Sun, May 29 2022

  News

  applied mathematics Applied Partial Differential Equations

  Athanasios (Thanos) Tzavaras has been elected Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences (EurASc). He was nominated for his contributions to the interface of nonlinear partial differential equations and applied mathematics in the physical sciences.
• 

  New database to "SpUR" on cancer research

  1 min read · Sun, May 29 2022

  News

  human health cancer Computer science

  Xin Gao's team developed an interactive web portal where cancer scientists can interrogate how RNA splicing in noncoding parts of genes fuels the growth of different types of tumors.
• 

  AI helps diagnose post-COVID lung problems

  1 min read · Sun, May 29 2022

  News

  human health Imaging machine learning Computer science

  A new AI diagnostic tool developed by KAUST scientists allows doctors to visualize lung damage caused by COVID-19 in more detail.
• 

  Code of collaboration

  1 min read · Thu, May 26 2022

  News

  seismic imaging big data

  David Keyes's and Matteo Ravasi's cross-disciplinary project results in improved efficiency for seismic processing, with promising applications for the energy industry.
• 

  Professor Bolin earns American Statistical Association Section on Statistics and the Environment Early Investigator Award

  1 min read · Thu, May 26 2022

  News

  award statistics environment

  Prof. David Bolin has been selected for the American Statistical Association Section on Statistics and the Environment Early Investigator (ENVR) Award for his outstanding contributions to environmental statistics.
• 

  Ditching sensors for streamlined control of microdevices

  1 min read · Wed, May 25 2022

  News

  sensors nanofabrication electrical engineering

  Hossein Fariborzi's team has developed a novel miniature microelectromechanical device that avoids the need to use sensors and has significant potential for use in industrial or medical applications.
• 

  Fiber glow brings more go for underwater communications

  1 min read · Tue, May 24 2022

  News

  communications material science flexible electronics electrical engineering

  KAUST scientists have developed an optical-based wireless network system that has significant potential for faster underwater optical communications.
• 

  Renzo Caballero: Ph.D. Research Proposal Defense

  1 min read · Mon, May 23 2022

  News

  PH.D. RESEARCH PROPOSAL DEFENSE Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at 08:30 a.m. Building 2, Level 5, Room 5220; Join Zoom Meeting "Theory and Dynamics of Self-Repair Systems" Committee Members Prof. Eric Feron, Prof. Shinkyu Park, Prof. Diogo Gomez, Prof. David Keyes, Prof. Taous-Meriem Laleg Abstract We propose approaching the self-repair concept in robots from a control theory and mathematical modeling point of view by understanding the self-repair dynamics and finding conditions for stability in the repair process. We utilize a 3D printer as a proof of concept. Through experimentation and

April 2022

• 

  Finding Terra Incognita

  1 min read · Thu, Apr 28 2022

  News

  extreme weather modeling modeling climate science statistics

  A new study addresses the difficulty in modeling atmospheric turbulence at sub-kilometer resolution, which is challenging due to atmospheric variability, meteorology and changeable terrain such as mountains and cities.
• 

  Can machine learning help predict disease spread?

  1 min read · Sun, Apr 17 2022

  News

  human health machine learning statistics

  Machine learning techniques can provide accurate forecasting of the spread of viruses during pandemics. Under the supervision of Ying Sun and Fouzi Harrou, Yasminah Alali developed an approach that removes human bias and assumptions, predicting pandemic evolution more accurately.
• 

  A novel modeling technique for LEO satellite networks

  1 min read · Mon, Apr 11 2022

  News

  Low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite plays an indispensable role in the equal access network because of its low latency, large capacity, and seamless global coverage. For such an unprecedented extensive irregular system, stochastic geometry (SG) is a suitable research method. The SG model can not only cope with the increasing network scale but also accurately analyze and estimate the network’s performance. CTL researchers investigated several standard satellite distribution models and satellite-ground channel models. System-level metrics such as coverage probability and their intermediates were
• 

  MS Thesis Defense: Embedding Ontologies using Category Theory Semantics by Fernando Zhapa Camacho

  1 min read · Sun, Apr 10 2022

  News

  Computer science

  Fernando Patricio Zhapa Camacho an M.S./Ph.D. candidate in the KAUST Bio-Ontology research group under the supervision of Professor Robert Hoehndorf successfully defended his thesis "Embedding Ontologies using Category Theory Semantics".
• 

  Yi-Hsuan Chen: Master's Thesis Defense

  1 min read · Sun, Apr 3 2022

  News

  Master's Thesis Defense Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at 5:30 pm Building 3, Level 5, Room 5220; Join Zoom Meeting: https://kaust.zoom.us/j/91694715622; Meeting ID: 916 9471 5622 "Control design and analysis for reduced-gravity atmospheric flights." Committee Members Prof. Eric Feron, Prof. David Keyes, and Prof. Shinkyu Park Abstract This work presents a longitudinal flight control algorithm to guide an aircraft to follow a parabolic trajectory by minimizing the position deviation between the aircraft and a reference object (proof mass). As an aircraft flies along the parabolic trajectory, it will
• 

  Getting the tail straight

  1 min read · Sun, Apr 3 2022

  News

  Environmental Statistics big data modeling statistics

  KAUST’s Extreme Statistics Group has developed an improved statistical model for analyzing environmental data of extreme events, such as heavy rainfall or strong wind data.

March 2022

• 

  MS Thesis Defense: Description Logic EL++Embeddings with Intersectional Closure by Xi Peng

  1 min read · Thu, Mar 31 2022

  News

  machine learning Knowledge representation and reasoning

  Xi Peng MS Student under the supervision of Professor Robert Hoehndorf successfully defended his thesis "Description Logic EL++Embeddings with Intersectional Closure"
• 

  MS Thesis Defense: Rare variant collapsing analysis on UK Biobank by Yang Liu

  1 min read · Thu, Mar 31 2022

  News

  bioinformatics machine learning

  Yang Liu, M.S./Ph.D. candidate in the Bio-Ontology research group under the supervision of Professor Robert Hoehndorf successfully defended her thesis "Rare variant collapsing analysis on UK Biobank".
• 

  Professor Markowich named Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications

  1 min read · Sun, Mar 20 2022

  News

  Applied Partial Differential Equations diffusive phenomena inverse problems

  Prof. Peter Markowich has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA). IMA Fellowships are awarded to individuals who have shown demonstrable achievement and competence in the development or application of mathematics.
• 

  SRSI student success story at Ibdaa 2022

  1 min read · Sun, Mar 20 2022

  Awards News

  environmental applications data analysis computational methods

  Faisal Fadi Hasan Almulla, who worked last year under the mentorship of Dr. Fouzi Harrou and Professor Ying Sun as part of the annual KAUST Saudi Research Science Institute (SRSI) summer program, won two awards at the National Olympiad for Scientific Creativity — Ibdaa 2022.
• 

  Visiting Slovenian student relishes time at KAUST

  1 min read · Tue, Mar 15 2022

  News

  nanovisualization cryogenic electron microscopy

  KAUST visiting student Aljaz Bogataj, who spent three months in the NANOVIS research group, shared his impressions of work and life at KAUST.
• 

  KAUST research wins Radar Challenge at the IEEE Radar Conference

  1 min read · Sun, Mar 6 2022

  News

  KAUST M.S. Graduate Rudi Coppola, KAUST Research Scientist Dr. Sajid Ahmed, and KAUST Distinguished Professor Dr. Mohamed-Slim Alouini won first prize at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Radar Challenge 2021. Their work titled "Road Users Classification Based on Bi-Frame Micro-Doppler with 24-GHz FMCW Radar," presents a case study for a 24 Gigahertz (GHz) frequency modulated continuous wave radar module.
• 

  Perovskites used to make efficient artificial retina

  1 min read · Wed, Mar 2 2022

  News

  artificial intelligence Computer Vision sensors electrical engineering

  KAUST researchers have built an artificial electronic retina that mimics the behaviour of the eye’s rod retina cells. Their artificial retina can recognise handwritten numbers.
• 

  Decrypting the interdependence of cryptocurrencies

  1 min read · Tue, Mar 1 2022

  News

  big data modeling statistics

  A team of KAUST statisticians has analyzed the price movements of the top five cryptocurrencies to further understand their market behavior. Their model will help investors assess the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies.

February 2022

• 

  Learning about robots and coding through play

  1 min read · Wed, Feb 16 2022

  News

  robotics coding Decoding learning

  "Hour of Code,” a worldwide initiative with the scope to teach children the basics of computer science, recently took place at The KAUST School Kindergarten. During Computer Science Education Week, December 5-9, 2021, researchers from the KAUST RISC Lab volunteered to help the children to “demystify” code and grasp their first concepts of robotics.
• 

  Blocking microgrid cyberattacks to keep the power flowing

  1 min read · Tue, Feb 15 2022

  News

  cybersecurity smart grids resilience Cyber attacks and defenses

  Power grids have become far more complex in recent decades due to energy demands, environmental regulations and small-scale renewable energy systems that turn businesses and individuals into combined consumer-producers. One way to ensure that power supplies remain resilient is to create small groups of sources and loads called microgrids. Microgrids can operate independently of the main grid when required, such as supporting hospitals during natural disasters, for example. As microgrids grow more complex, they require sophisticated computer networks to coordinate, control and distribute
• 

  Dominik L. Michels appointed Associate Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics

  1 min read · Mon, Feb 14 2022

  News

  algorithmics machine learning scientific computing visual computing numerical simulations

  KAUST faculty member Dominik L. Michels has recently been promoted to associate professor of computer science and applied mathematics.
• 

  ECRC contributions to SIAM PP22

  1 min read · Tue, Feb 1 2022

  News

  As in previous SIAM conferences on Parallel Processing (PP) and Computational Science and Engineering (CSE), ECRC members and their collaborators will have a strong presence at SIAM PP22, nominally in Seattle, Washington USA, but held virtually due to the pandemic.

January 2022

• 

  Smart memory devices that can sense

  1 min read · Wed, Jan 26 2022

  News

  In-memory computing sensors nanofabrication electrical engineering

  In-memory sensing technology will facilitate electronic systems that are faster, smaller and consume less energy.
• 

  Competition sheds light on approximation methods for large spatial datasets

  1 min read · Thu, Jan 20 2022

  News

  extreme statistics modeling big data statistics

  Marc Genton, Huang Huang and colleagues from KAUST organized a global competition with 21 competing teams to compare different approximation methods for analyzing large spatial datasets.
• 

  Getting to the bottom of deadly weather

  1 min read · Sun, Jan 9 2022

  News

  human health Environmental Statistics climate change statistics

  Cold still causes far more deaths than heat in India. A study of the correlation between temperature and mortality in the Indian city of Pune has found that cold, rather than heat, is by far the bigger killer.