The Dow SISCA awards at KAUST recognized two Ph.D. students for their sustainability-focused research. Anas Abu-Taha won first place and $10,000 for his work on nanoscale thermoelectrics for waste heat energy harvesting. David Conchouso Gonzales was the runner-up, receiving $2,500 for his poster on sustainable production of controllable emulsions using microfluidic droplet generators. Why it matters: The awards highlight KAUST's dedication to sustainability research and its ongoing partnership with Dow Chemical in fostering innovative solutions.
KAUST researchers Anthony Cioppa and Silvio Giancola have developed SoccerNet, an open platform for AI-driven sports analysis. SoccerNet uses a large reference set of soccer game recordings (500 games, 850 hours) to provide a platform for research. It enables researchers to develop AI systems that understand and analyze soccer games. Why it matters: This platform addresses the challenge of limited datasets in sports AI research, fostering innovation and standardized performance comparison.
The Symposium on Data Mining and Applications (SDMA 2014) was organized by MEGDAM to foster collaboration among data mining and machine learning researchers in Saudi Arabia, GCC countries, and the Middle East. The symposium covered areas such as statistics, computational intelligence, pattern recognition, databases, Big Data Mining and visualization. Acceptance was based on originality, significance and quality of contribution.
KAUST alumnus Jagdish Chandra Vyas (Ph.D. '17) received a Student Presentation Award at the Seismological Society of America (SSA) Annual Meeting for his poster "Mach Wave Coherence in the Presence of Source and Medium Heterogeneity." Vyas's Ph.D. research at KAUST, under the direction of Professor Martin Mai, focused on analyzing the effects of rupture complexity and heterogeneities in Earth structure on near-source ground motions. He is currently a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. Why it matters: This award recognizes the high-caliber research being conducted at KAUST and its impact on the field of seismology.
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.
Dominique Sciamma, Managing Director at Strate School of Design in France, gave a presentation at KAUST during Enrichment in the Fall of 2017. The title of the presentation was "From Descartes to Morin." The event was held at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Why it matters: While the event is dated, KAUST's ongoing enrichment programs contribute to fostering a culture of innovation and knowledge exchange in Saudi Arabia.
KAUST Professor David Keyes chaired the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) 2020, which was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The conference featured a record registration of 4,735 specialists in high-performance computing (HPC). A paper by KAUST Ph.D. students Noha Al-Harthi and Rabab Al-Omairi on computationally simulated acoustic scattering won the 2020 Gauss Award. Why it matters: KAUST's leadership in ISC and the Gauss Award highlight Saudi Arabia's growing contributions to the global HPC community.
Former Saudi Research Science Institute (SRSI) student Abdullatif, now a junior at Berkeley, published a paper in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS). The paper, "Isomerically Pure Tetramethylrhodamine Voltage Reporters," details the design, synthesis, and application of Rhodamine Voltage Reporters (RhoVRs). Abdullatif, who worked at KAUST during her SRSI program on carbon dioxide capture, plans to return for advanced studies. Why it matters: This highlights KAUST's role in nurturing young Saudi talent in STEM and contributing to high-impact scientific research.