David Bolin is an associate professor of mathematical statistics who joined the KAUST Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) Division earlier this month from the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Gothenburg. Before joining KAUST, Bolin received both his Ph.D. degree in mathematical statistics and M.S.c in engineering mathematics from Lund University, Sweden, in 2012 and 2007, respectively. Upon completing his Ph.D., he spent one year at Umeå University, Sweden, working as a postdoctoral fellow before moving to the Chalmers University of Technology. In 2016, Bolin became an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Gothenburg, where a year later he received the title of Docent in mathematical statistics.

Joaquín Ortega Sánchez is an instructional professor of statistics who joins the KAUST CEMSE Division after spending the last sixteen years working at the Mathematics Research Center (CIMAT) in Guanajuato, Mexico. Born in Venezuela, Ortega completed his postgraduate and graduate studies in London, where he studied mathematics at King’s College London, before obtaining his Ph.D. in Probability Theory across the city at Imperial College London. After his time in the U.K., he returned to his native Venezuela where he worked for over 20 years at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas.   Over the course of his career, Ortega’s research work has focused on stochastic processes, specifically Gaussian processes and time series with applications in oceanography and biostatistics. And more recently his work has focused on functional data analysis.

A deep learning tool could help in structure-based drug discovery.

Areas without earthquake monitoring systems could model the tremors by using data from local landslides.

Deep analysis of the way information is shared among parallel computations increases efficiency to accelerate machine learning at scale.

Mohamed Eddaoudi, KAUST distinguished professor of chemical science and director of the University's Advanced Membrane & Porous Materials Center, recently received the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers for Renewable Energy, an award presented annually by the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation. Omar Knio, KAUST professor of applied mathematics and computational science, was also honored by the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation this year as a joint recipient of the Shoman Award for Mathematical Modeling with Dr. Shaher Mohammed Ahmad Momani.

A more accurate and efficient method of capturing the local factors that lead to extreme rainfall enables better flood prediction across larger regions.

Ghulam Qadir, a third-year Ph.D. student in KAUST Associate Professor Ying Sun's Environmental Statistics research group, recently received a best poster award from the Italian Environmetrics Society (GRASPA) and the International Environmetrics Society (TIES) at the GRASPA 2019 conference held from July 15 to 16 in Pescara, Italy.

More accurate detection of hotspot clusters provides new insights into the behavior of air pollution.

Peter Richtárik, KAUST professor of computer science, recently received a Distinguished Speaker Award at the Sixth International Conference on Continuous Optimization (ICCOPT 2019) held in Berlin from August 3 to 8. ICCOPT 2019 was organized by the Mathematical Optimization Society and was hosted this year by the Weierstrass Institute for Applied Analysis and Stochastics.

Marc Genton, Chair and Distinguished Professor of the Statistics Program of KAUST and Head of the Spatio-Temporal Statistics and Data Science Research Group, received an International Statistical Institute (ISI) Service Award 2019 for his efforts and leadership as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Stat. Professor Genton received his award at the Awards Ceremony during the World Statistical Congress (WSC) 2019 held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 18-23 August 2019.  

KAUST Assistant Professor Raphaël Huser recently received the American Statistical Association's (ASA) 2019 Section on Statistics and the Environment (ENVR) Early Investigator Award for his outstanding contributions to environmental statistics. He accepted the award at the 2019 Joint Statistical Meetings held in Denver, Colorado, U.S., from July 27 to August 1.

Mapping variations in sunlight across the Arabian Peninsula reveals a bright future for solar energy in the region.

The spatial variation in different air pollution components helps identify possible targets for pollution control.