Four KAUST scientists received The Supreme Council of Almarai Prize for Scientific Creativity at the 19th annual award event held at KACST in Riyadh. Mohamed Eddaoudi and Osman Bakr jointly received the Almarai Distinguished Scientist Award. Another KAUST researcher also received an award at the event. Why it matters: The award recognizes and supports scientific research and innovation within Saudi Arabia, promoting scientific excellence among researchers in Saudi universities.
KAUST Professors Atif Shamim and Osman Bakr received the King Prize for Honoring Inventors and the Gifted from KACST. Shamim was awarded for his real-time microwave sensing system that determines the proportion of water mixed in oil, enhancing production efficiency. Bakr won for his work on hybrid perovskite materials for optoelectronics and solar cell applications. Why it matters: The King Prize recognizes impactful innovations developed within Saudi Arabia, encouraging further advancements in key technological areas and highlighting KAUST's role in addressing national challenges.
KAUST Professors Osman Bakr and Omar Mohammed have been awarded the Kuwait Prize 2021 in Condensed Matter Physics for their research on perovskite materials. Their work focuses on solar energy applications and high-energy radiation sensors. The prize, awarded by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences, includes approximately $132,000 in funding. Why it matters: The recognition highlights the importance of materials science research in the GCC and the potential for regional contributions to global sustainable energy and medical technology advancements.
KAUST Professors Mohamed Eddaoudi and Omar Knio have received the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers. Eddaoudi was recognized for his work on metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for clean energy and carbon capture, while Knio was honored for his contributions to mathematical modeling and simulation of thermo-fluid systems. The award, established in 1982, recognizes outstanding scientific output and aims to encourage a culture of scientific research in the Arab world. Why it matters: This recognition highlights the impactful research being conducted at KAUST and underscores the importance of Arab researchers' contributions to solving regional and global challenges.
KAUST Ph.D. graduate Dr. Noha Al-Harthi and doctoral student Rabab Alomairy won the German Gauss Center for Supercomputing (GCS) Award for optimizing solvers for high-performance computing applications. Their work focused on acoustic boundary integral equations, common in engineering and fluid dynamics. The award provides them access to the supercomputer "Isambard" in the UK and other opportunities. Why it matters: This recognition highlights KAUST's leading role in high-performance computing research in the Middle East and the growing expertise in supercomputing among Saudi researchers.