KAUST Associate Professor Aamir Farooq has been named a co-recipient of the 2019 Hiroshi Tsuji Early Career Researcher Award, co-sponsored by Elsevier and The Combustion Institute. Farooq, who leads the KAUST Chemical Kinetics and Laser Sensors Laboratory, is recognized for his work on fuel ignition chemistry. His research aims to improve fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in transportation and power generation. Why it matters: This award highlights KAUST's commitment to fostering talented faculty and advancing research in clean combustion, a critical area for Saudi Arabia's energy future.
KAUST Professor Yoshihide Wada has been awarded the 2025 Joanne Simpson Medal by the American Geophysical Union (AGU). The award recognizes Wada's pioneering research modeling the human impact on the global hydrological cycle. Wada joined KAUST in 2022 and has collaborated with Saudi stakeholders to develop scalable solutions for the Kingdom. Why it matters: This award highlights KAUST's growing prominence in environmental research and its commitment to addressing critical global challenges related to water resources and climate change.
Jysoo Lee, Facilities Director of Research Computing Core Labs at KAUST, received the SCA HPC Leadership/Achievement Award at SupercomputingAsia 2022 in Singapore. The award recognizes Lee's leadership in developing South Korea's HPC community and advancing international cooperation. Lee led the legislation of the “National Supercomputing Promotion Act” and founded the National Institute of Supercomputing and Networking (NISN) in South Korea. Why it matters: This award highlights KAUST's role in attracting top global talent in HPC and showcases the increasing importance of supercomputing infrastructure in the region.
KAUST Ph.D. student Raid AlRowais won the best paper award at the 11th International Meeting on Advances in ThermoFluids in Japan. The conference took place at Kyushu University. AlRowais received the award from Professor Takahiko Miyazaki. Why it matters: This award recognizes promising research and talent at KAUST in thermal and fluid sciences.
KAUST Ph.D. student Jinhui Xiong won the best paper award at the 24th International Symposium on Vision, Modeling, and Visualization in Germany for his paper "Stochastic Convolutional Sparse Coding". The paper, co-authored with KAUST Professors Peter Richtárik and Wolfgang Heidrich, introduces a novel stochastic spatial-domain solver for Convolutional Sparse Coding (CSC). The proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art solutions in terms of execution time and offers an improved representation for learning dictionaries from sample images. Why it matters: This award recognizes significant research in efficient image representation and dictionary learning, contributing to advancements in visual computing and AI at KAUST.
KAUST Ph.D. students Amal Hajjaj and Sherif Tella won best paper awards at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers 2017 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference. Tella's paper was on electrothermally actuated microbeams, while Hajjaj's paper focused on the behavior of MEMS resonators. The students are supervised by KAUST Associate Professor Mohammad Younis. Why it matters: The awards recognize significant research contributions in micro- and nanosystems and highlight KAUST's strength in fostering impactful engineering research.
KAUST Professor Pierre Magistretti received the 2016 Fondation IPSEN Neuronal Plasticity prize for his work in neuroenergetics. The award recognizes Magistretti's contributions to understanding the relationship between neuronal activity and brain energy consumption. He shares the award with Dr. David Attwell and Dr. Marcus Raichle, and will be honored at FENS in Copenhagen. Why it matters: This award highlights KAUST's contribution to international neuroscience research and strengthens its reputation in biological and environmental science.
KAUST Professor Hussain was awarded the Outstanding Young Texas Ex Award (OYTEX) by the University of Texas (UT). Hussain studied at UT from 2003-2005 and later founded KAUST's Integrated Nanotechnology Laboratory in 2009. His work includes 15 patents, 18 research awards, and recognition from Intel and Samsung. Why it matters: The award recognizes the impact of KAUST faculty and their contributions to nanotechnology research, highlighting KAUST's growing prominence in the field.