News

March 2021

• 

  Meet KAUST New Student: Zhenwei Tang

  1 min read · Sun, Mar 7 2021

  News

  Zhenwei Tang, a telecommunications graduate from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China, joined KAUST in January 2021. Tang joined KAUST as a M.S./Ph.D. candidate and member of the Machine Intelligence & kNowledge Engineering (MINE) Lab under the supervision of Professor Xianglinag Zhang.
• 

  Meet KAUST New Student: Aijaz Lone

  1 min read · Sun, Mar 7 2021

  News

  nanoelectronic devices Neuromorphic Spintronics

  Aijaz Lone is a M.S. graduate in electrical and computer engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), India. Lone first came to KAUST as a visiting student in 2020 and was instantly impressed by the facilities he encountered. It was these very facilities that piqued his interest in joining the University as a Ph.D. student to pursue his research career.
• 

  KAUST RISC lab hosts Center of Excellence for Aeronautics and Astronautics(KACST)

  1 min read · Thu, Mar 4 2021

  News

  robotics drones

  KAUST Robotics, Intelligent Systems, and Control (RISC) Lab hosts a 3-day visit by personnel from the Center of Excellence for Aeronautics and Astronautics at King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology ( https://ceaa.kacst.edu.sa/). During their visit, a team of ten, led by Dr. Hesham Shageer of KACST attended talks by RISC Profs. Eric Feron and Shinkyu Park on diverse aspects of robotics. The KACST team also visited FalconViz ( http://www.falconviz.com/) and Firnas ( https://www.firnas.aero/home.php)Two KAUST startups relying on drone technology to perform a variety of tasks, such as
• 

  Rue honored by Royal Statistical Society

  1 min read · Wed, Mar 3 2021

  Spotlight News

  ​KAUST Professor of Statistics Håvard Rue has been honored by the Royal Statistical Society (RSS) for his "substantial and significant contributions in the area of efficient and scalable computational techniques for the data analysts' toolbox."
• 

  This black is the new black, and light is its prisoner

  1 min read · Tue, Mar 2 2021

  News

  ​Originally published in Wired Black gold signals the future of energy in the Middle East—and, for once, that doesn't mean oil. At least this is the vision of Italy-born academic Andrea Fratalocchi, who in 2015 was recognized by Guinness World Records for co-creating the "blackest black"—the darkest human-made substance, which is actually fashioned from gold. The nanomaterial Fratalocchi's team invented absorbs more than 99 percent of visible light and over 98 percent of infrared. Think of it as a tiny, imperfect, terrestrial black hole, just sucking in light rays. While having joined Neil

February 2021

• 

  ECRC contributions to SIAM CSE21

  1 min read · Sat, Feb 27 2021

  News

  research conference HPC computational science and engineering

  ECRC @ SIAM CSE21! Follow us @KAUST_ECRC 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 CSE21, nominally in Fort Worth, Texas, but held virtually due to the pandemic. ************************************************** SIAM CSE21 will run virtually with live sessions. ************************************************** Registration to SIAM CSE is required to gain access to the online platform and attend live sessions. Once registered, please use your personal
• 

  Tien Khee Ng recognized as IET and IOP Fellow

  1 min read · Tue, Feb 23 2021

  News

  Dr. Tien Khee Ng, principal research scientist, electrical and computer engineering, has been recently recognized as a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (IOP).
• 

  CovMT: Tracking virus mutations across the world

  1 min read · Sun, Feb 21 2021

  News

  human health pathogens computation bioscience

  An interactive platform helps users visualize where SARS-CoV-2 mutations start, how wide they spread and how infectious they are.
• 

  CEMSE New Faculty: Suhaib Fahmy, Associate Professor, Computer Science

  1 min read · Sun, Feb 21 2021

  News

  Suhaib Fahmy joins KAUST as an associate professor of computer science and the principal investigator of the KAUST Accelerated Connected Computing Laboratory (ACCL). Fahmy’s research explores novel ways to integrate accelerated computation and communication to achieve improved efficiency, latency, and security in computing systems — improvements he deems key considerations as computing continues to pervade all aspects of our lives.
• 

  CEMSE New Faculty: Di Wang, Assistant Professor of Computer Science

  1 min read · Wed, Feb 17 2021

  News

  Di Wang, assistant professor of computer science, joined KAUST in January 2021 to take up his new role as principal investigator of the KAUST Privacy-Awareness, Responsibility and Trustworthy (PART) Lab. Wang’s research interests include machine learning (ML), security, theoretical computer science, and data mining.
• 

  New Book of Postdoc Michal Mankowski and Professor Mikhail Moshkov is published by Springer

  1 min read · Tue, Feb 16 2021

  News

  New book "Dynamic Programming Multi-Objective Combinatorial Optimization" by Michal Mankowski and Mikhail Moshkov is published by Springer.
• 

  Cloud simulations get a dose of realism

  1 min read · Mon, Feb 15 2021

  News

  big data visual computing computation Computer science

  A focus on the fundamental physics of cloud formation leads to highly realistic simulations of different types of clouds.
• 

  KAUST Ph.D. Student Gaurav Agarwal wins ASA SCSG and ENAR Student Paper Awards

  1 min read · Sun, Feb 14 2021

  Awards News Spotlight

  Gaurav Agarwal, a Ph.D. candidate in statistics and member of KAUST Associate Professor Ying Sun's Environmental Statistics (ES) research group, recently won an American Statistical Association (ASA) Student Paper Award sponsored by the Sections on Computing and Graphics (SCSG). In addition to his ASA SCSG award, Agarwal has also been selected a Distinguished Student Paper Award winner by the Eastern North American Region (ENAR) of the International Biometric Society for his paper titled "Flexible Quantile Contour Estimation for Multivariate Functional Data: Beyond Convexity."
• 

  KAUST ECE researcher named among MIT Technology Review Arabia’s "MENA Innovators Under 35" for 2020

  1 min read · Tue, Feb 2 2021

  News Spotlight

  Nazek El-Atab, a research scientist based in the KAUST MMH Labs, was recently named amongst the MIT Technology Review Arabia’s "MENA Innovators Under 35 (IU35)" for 2020. Together with nine other trailblazers, El-Atab was acknowledged by a leading panel of academic and industry experts as being among the young innovators “who are advancing science and technology” in the MENA region.
• 

  KAUST ECE alumnus receives prestigious Egyptian State Encouragement Award in Engineering Sciences

  1 min read · Tue, Feb 2 2021

  News Spotlight

  Former KAUST Sensors Lab researcher Hesham Omran (Ph.D. ’15) has received the prestigious Egyptian State Encouragement Award in Engineering Sciences. Omran was honored by Egypt's Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) for his scientific contributions and achievements for a “distinguished scholar younger than 40.”

January 2021

• 

  First 3D Visualizations of SARS-CoV-2 Cryo-EM Tomography Data

  1 min read · Sun, Jan 31 2021

  News

  visual computing Computer science

  Together with our partners from Tsinghua University and Nanographics, our group has succeeded in depicting the first 3D visualizations of Cryo-EM microscopy tomography directly from the data. We are advancing the technology to allow for clear, noise-free visualization of this challenging data modality. Once we succeed with that our next challenge is to integrate such 3D visualization into the structural modeling process. Stay tuned!
• 

  Asrar Damdam selected as L'Oréal-UNESCO Women in Science Award winner

  1 min read · Sun, Jan 31 2021

  News

  L’Oréal UNESCO award

  KAUST Ph.D. student Asrar Damdam has been selected as one of the six winners of the 7th L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Middle East Regional Young Talents Program. Damdam received the prestigious award for her design and fabrication of a reconfigurable silicon-based electronic platform specifically designed for a heart-assistive device. The platform was designed to comply with the heart’s shape and its rhythmic expansions and contractions during the cardiac cycle.
• 

  Norway's electric vehicle revolution and KAUST researchers' exploration of wireless charging roads

  1 min read · Mon, Jan 18 2021

  News

  In 2020, electric car sales in Norway surpassed those of petrol, diesel, and hybrid vehicles, with Volkswagen outpacing Tesla as the top battery-vehicle producer. Battery electric vehicles (BEV) accounted for 54.3% of new cars sold in Norway, up from 42.4% in 2019. The country aims to end the sale of petrol and diesel cars by 2025, offering tax exemptions to fully electric vehicles, making Norway a testing ground for automakers transitioning from internal combustion engines. Researchers at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, i.e., postdoctoral fellow
• 

  Simulating evolution to understand a hidden switch

  1 min read · Sun, Jan 17 2021

  News

  genomics Computer science computation epigenetics

  Some organisms evolve an internal switch that can remain hidden for generations until stress flicks it on.
• 

  CEMSE New Faculty: Paulo Esteves-Veríssimo, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering

  1 min read · Sun, Jan 17 2021

  News

  Professor Paulo Esteves-Veríssimo joins KAUST from the University of Luxembourg (UNILU), where he served as FNR PEARL Chair of UNILU’s Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine and Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust. He joins KAUST as the director of the recently established KAUST Resilient Computing and Cybersecurity Center (RC3).
• 

  Broadening horizons for people with quadriplegia

  1 min read · Sun, Jan 17 2021

  News

  Wearable machine learning artificial intelligence electrical engineering

  An assistive technology uses magnetic skin to support freedom of movement for people with quadriplegia.
• 

  A living carbon pump in the ocean could help fight climate change

  1 min read · Tue, Jan 12 2021

  News

  ​It's a deep-sea mystery that has confounded ocean scientists for years: What causes the deeper zones of the ocean to sequester larger amounts of carbon than the lighter, more shallow regions?
• 

  Ferrofluid surface simulations go more than skin deep

  1 min read · Sun, Jan 10 2021

  News

  algorithms visual computing Computer science

  Computer models efficiently and accurately simulate the magnetic responses of ferrofluids by considering only the fluid’s surface.
• 

  Xin Gao promoted to rank of professor

  1 min read · Thu, Jan 7 2021

  News

  Computer science machine learning bioinformatics

  Computational Bioscience Research Center (CBRC) would like to congratulate Xin Gao for being promoted to the rank of Professor, effective January 1, 2021. Prof. Gao joined KAUST in October 2010 and became a CBRC PI in January 2013. He has since then produced tremendous work in the areas of computational biology, bioinformatics, machine learning, and algorithms. Dr. Xin Gao is also the Acting Associate Director of the Computational Bioscience Research Center and the lead of the Structural and Functional Bioinformatics Group at KAUST. Prior to joining KAUST, he was a Lane Fellow at Lane Center
• 

  CEMSE Student Research Excellence Awards and Student Academic Accomplishment Awards winners announced

  1 min read · Tue, Jan 5 2021

  News Spotlight

  student research excellence awards

  The annual CEMSE Student Research Excellence Awards and Student Academic Accomplishment Awards celebrate the talent and achievements of the Division's students. Awarded around the KAUST Commencement ceremony, the awards are presented in recognition of the academic accomplishments and research impact created by our leading students in the fields of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science (AMCS), Computer Science (CS), Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), and Statistics (STAT).
• 

  Charging ahead for electric vehicles

  1 min read · Sun, Jan 3 2021

  News

  Stochastic Geometry

  Roads installed with wireless charging technology could become an integral feature of our cities in an electric vehicle future.

December 2020

• 

  WEP 2021: Connectivity as a universal language

  1 min read · Tue, Dec 29 2020

  News

  Connectivity is a word that underscores the kind of world we live in today. Without access to technologies that enable us to connect with each other, surviving a year of physical distancing due to COVID-19 health prevention measures would have been extremely difficult.
• 

  KAUST launches the call for Al-Khwarizmi doctoral fellowships

  1 min read · Tue, Dec 29 2020

  News

  Successful applicants to the Al-Khwarizmi Graduate Fellowship scheme will be offered generous stipends, free tuition and supplementary grants for Ph.D. studies in an academic program within one of the three divisions. All positions will be based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the three-year completion of the doctoral degree.
• 

  KAUST Commencement 2020: celebrating resilience and transformation

  1 min read · Tue, Dec 29 2020

  News

  commencement

  ​In December, KAUST recognized the graduating class of 2020 in its 11th commencement and first virtual graduation ceremony at its headquarters in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Students and faculty embodied the spirit of community, demonstrating that even virtual events can be celebratory. This year's ceremony honored 149 master's degree graduates (88 male/61 female) and 95 Ph.D. graduates (72 male/23 female) from KAUST's various disciplines and programs. Of the 244 graduates, 87 are from Saudi Arabia (51 male/36 female). The total number from each academic division: Biological and Environmental
• 

  KAUST researchers rank in top 1% of cited work worldwide

  1 min read · Wed, Dec 23 2020

  News

  Fifteen KAUST faculty members and one postdoctoral researcher rank among the 2020 Highly Cited Researchers from around the world, according to Clarivate Web of Science Group, a global leader of academic research analytics. The list names individuals whose work accounts for the top 1% of research cited worldwide.
• 

  KAUST Discovery features "Optoelectronic devices that emit warm and cool white light"

  1 min read · Mon, Dec 21 2020

  News

  material science electrical engineering

  A single semiconducting material can produce white light by emitting light across the visible spectrum.
• 

  Alumna Imane Boudellioua (PhD ’19, MS ’12) receives KACST prize

  1 min read · Mon, Dec 21 2020

  News Spotlight

  Congratulations to Computer Science alumna Imane Boudellioua (Ph.D. ’19, MS ’12) for receiving a prize in the 19th edition of the annual KACST Almarai National Prize for Creative Scientific Work for Students (Ph.D. Level). As a Ph.D. student in the Computational Bioscience Research Center, Dr. Boudellioua worked in machine learning and data mining algorithms, with research targeting the potential to help patients with mysterious ailments find genetic causes for their undiagnosed disease.
• 

  Hesham Omran, PhD ’15, received Award in Engineering Sciences

  1 min read · Mon, Dec 21 2020

  News Spotlight

  Congratulations to Electrical Engineering alumnus Hesham Omran, Ph.D. ’15, on receiving Egypt's prestigious State Encouragement Award in Engineering Sciences. Dr. Omran, an Assistant Professor at Ain Shams University, was honored by Egypt’s Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT) as a 'distinguished scholar younger than 40'.
• 

  Modeling rainfall drop by drop

  1 min read · Sun, Dec 20 2020

  News

  water security Environmental Statistics statistics

  A high-frequency model developed using data from new high-precision rain gauges gives fresh insight into the dynamics of rain and runoff events.
• 

  KAUST Ph.D. student among top talents nominated for prestigious Falling Walls award

  1 min read · Tue, Dec 15 2020

  Awards News Spotlight

  Falling Walls Award balloon catheter cardiovascular system biomedical devices Biomedical Engineering

  KAUST Ph.D. student, Khalil Youssef Moussi, was recently selected as a top ten winner in The Falling Walls Remote 2020: “Emerging Talents” Category. On Monday, November 9, Moussi’s project, "Breaking The Wall of Coronary Artery Disease," was presented to an online audience of industry leaders, decision-makers, investors, and international media as part of the Falling Walls and Berlin Science Week: World Science Summit 2020.
• 

  Modeling the neighborhood boosts landslide prediction

  1 min read · Sun, Dec 13 2020

  News

  statistics extreme statistics

  A prediction model that considers multiple landslides over time in a given region may improve the accuracy of early warning systems.
• 

  KAUST VCCVIS researchers win IEEE Scientific Visualization (SciVis) 2020 Best Paper Award

  1 min read · Sun, Dec 6 2020

  News

  IEEE SciVis award

  Researchers from the KAUST High-Performance Visualization Group (VCCVIS) have won the IEEE Scientific Visualization (SciVis) 2020 Best Paper Award at the IEEE Visualization Conference (IEEE VIS) 2020. Held virtually from October 25-30, IEEE VIS 2020 brought together a host of researchers and practitioners from academia, government, and industry to discuss advances in theory, methods and visual analytics applications.
• 

  KAUST STAT students come together for second ASA chapter meeting

  1 min read · Thu, Dec 3 2020

  News

  statistics data science

  Members of the KAUST American Statistical Association (ASA) student chapter recently came together for the group’s second online meeting held on Tuesday, November 10, 2020. The meeting served as an orientation exercise for new KAUST Statistics (STAT) Program students while also highlighting the shared experience of STAT Ph.D. candidates: Jian Cao, Wanfang Chen, Yuxiao Li, and Gaurav Agarwal.
• 

  Professor Ghanem wins 2020 Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers

  1 min read · Wed, Dec 2 2020

  Awards Spotlight News

  machine learning big data

  Bernard Ghanem, KAUST associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and computer science, recently received the 2020 Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers for ''Machine Learning and Big Data.''
• 

  KAUST Distinguished Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini honored with IEEE accolades

  1 min read · Tue, Dec 1 2020

  News

  Wireless Communications IEEE award

  Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini has been awarded both the 2019 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Communication Society Communication Theory Technical Committee (CCTC) Technical Achievement Award, and the 2020 IEEE Vehicular Technology Society James Evans Avant Garde Award. The CEMSE Division founding faculty member received the awards for his contributions in the modeling, design, performance evaluation, and optimization of wireless communication systems and networks.
• 

  Mohamed-Slim Alouini elected as 2021 OSA Fellow

  1 min read · Tue, Dec 1 2020

  Spotlight News

  ​KAUST Distinguished Professor Mohamed-Slim Alouini was recently elected as a 2021 Fellow of the Optical Society (OSA). The prestigious recognition highlights members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics. This year's cohort comprises 118 newly elected members from 24 countries. The new Fellows will be honored at OSA conferences and meetings throughout 2021.

November 2020

• 

  KAUST startup aims to disrupt last-mile delivery

  1 min read · Mon, Nov 30 2020

  News

  As e-commerce continues to spike worldwide, especially with the pandemic, the number of parcels delivered each day has dramatically increased. Customer expectations for speedy fulfillment have also been rising, however, leaving companies to grapple with multiple, last-mile delivery challenges.
• 

  Machine Learning Arabic NLP webinar

  1 min read · Sun, Nov 22 2020

  News

  machine learning

  Join us to learn, compete, and win at the Machine Learning Webinar and learn more about participating in the Arabic NLP challenge! Register Now!
• 

  Deep learning in the emergency department

  1 min read · Sun, Nov 22 2020

  News

  machine learning artificial intelligence statistics human health

  Harnessing the power of deep learning leads to better predictions of patient admissions and flow in emergency departments.
• 

  An algorithm for success: KAUST-designed differential equation-solving algorithm included in Maple 2020

  1 min read · Tue, Nov 17 2020

  News

  algorithm nonlinear ordinary differential equations Symbolic Computation

  A KAUST-designed symbolic algorithm to solve nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) has been selected for inclusion in the current version of the computer algebra system (CAS) Maple 2020. The global symbolic and numeric computing software system—developed by the Canadian company Waterloo Maple (Maplesoft)—is widely used by scientists, engineers, and researchers to analyze, visualize, and solve mathematical problems.
• Sensors get a laser shape up

  1 min read · Sun, Nov 15 2020

  News

  sensors material science electrical engineering

  Laser writing breathes life into high-performance sensing platforms.
• 

  Intelligent surfaces signal better coverage

  1 min read · Wed, Nov 11 2020

  News

  networks connectivity electrical engineering

  A mathematical model shows specialized reflective panels could be deployed on a large scale to enhance communication networks in urban areas.
• 

  Talented KAUST Ph.D. student aims to revolutionize healthcare with machine learning

  1 min read · Tue, Nov 10 2020

  News

  machine learning healthcare bioinformatics

  KAUST Ph.D. student, Yu Li, is a talented young computer scientist with an interest in developing novel computational methods and algorithms to solve and understand the principles behind the “bio-world.”
• 

  KAUST startup tackles COVID using AI and robotics

  1 min read · Mon, Nov 9 2020

  News

  robotics artificial intelligence COVID-19

  The COVID-19 pandemic has activated vital innovation and R&D initiatives to tackle the crippling effects, health ramifications, and overall impact of the coronavirus on global societies and economies. In recent months, the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, launched a COVID-19-themed virtual accelerator aimed at supporting talented innovators, aspiring entrepreneurs, and innovative small companies dedicated to finding solutions to mitigate the spread of the virus through protection, prevention, tracking/detection, and treatment solutions.
• 

  KAUST alumni receive SPE 2020 Regional Awards

  1 min read · Mon, Nov 9 2020

  News

  MEMS sensors IoT

  KAUST alumni Dr. Chinthaka Gooneratne and Dr. Bodong Li both recently received Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) 2020 Regional Awards for the Middle East and North Africa Region. Gooneratne won the Regional Drilling Engineering Award, while Li was awarded the Regional Formation Evaluation Award.