Professor Raul Fidel Tempone is an internationally known expert in Numerical Analysis and Uncertainty Quantification (UQ). In KAUST, Professor Tempone has established the Stochastics Numerics Research Group. The research is driven by applications from areas such as computational mechanics, quantitative finance, biological and chemical modeling, and wireless communications. More specifically, research contributions include a posteriori error approximation and related adaptive algorithms for numerical solutions of various differential equations, including ordinary differential equations, partial differential equations, and stochastic differential equations. Further research topics include Bayesian model calibration and validation, data assimilation, hierarchical and sparse approximation, optimal control, optimal experimental design, scientific machine learning, stochastic optimization, and uncertainty quantification. 

Education and early career

Raul Tempone received his Ph.D. from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm in 2002. He then worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Computational and Engineering Sciences (ICES) at the University of Texas, Austin, and as an Assistant Professor at Florida State University, Tallahassee. From 2009, Tempone is a Full Professor at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Thuwal, Saudi-Arabia.

Areas of expertise and current scientific interests

Raul Tempone's research interests concentrate on numerical analysis to develop and analyze efficient and robust numerical methods for problems involving stochastic models and differential equations in engineering and sciences.  

Why KAUST?

KAUST has understood the importance of numerical and stochastic analysis as fundamental disciplines for optimizing industrial processes and controls, offering me the opportunity to work and break new ground.

Throughout his tenure at KAUST, Prof. Tempone successfully supervised ten PhDs until completion, directed the KAUST Strategic Research Initiative in Uncertainty Quantification (2012-2016), and served as the Program Director of the SIAM Uncertainty Quantification Activity Group (2013-2014). In 2016, Thomson Reuters recognized him as a highly cited researcher, and in 2018, Prof. Tempone was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt professorship hosted by RWTH Aachen. His research group placed a dozen faculty members in Germany (Uni. Karlsruhe), Norway (Uni. of Oslo), Saudi Arabia (KFUPM), the United Kingdom (Dundee, Heriot-Watt, Leeds, Nottingham), and the USA (University of New Mexico). Some of his research team members have also obtained positions in the industry, including, among others, Bain & Company in Finland, Baker Hughes, Enel Group in Italy, G-Research hedge fund in the UK, Honeywell, InConcert Spain, McKinsey & Company, Saudi Aramco, UK Meteorological Office and United Technologies (Raytheon). He has also collaborated with Saudi Aramco through multiple projects.

Education Profile

• ​​​​Ph.D. Numerical Analysis, Royal Institute of Technology, 2002
• M.S. Engineering Mathematics, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay, 1999
• B.S. Industrial and Mechanical Engineering, Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo, Uruguay, 1995