April 2011

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology at Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

BE the

April 2011 / Rabi-II 1432 Issue No. 8

CON

Catalyzing transformation Economic Development Turn to p. 4–5

www.kaust.edu.sa

ReWARDING INNOVATION THREE innovative projects have been awarded $556,662 from the KAUST Seed Fund to move forward their new technologies.

KAUST Economic Development announced the winning projects from the third round of the Seed Funding Program at an awards ceremony held in the University’s Harbor Sports Club on March 8th.

The successful applicants include a student, a postdoctoral researcher and a professor who were selected from over 100 entries by the Seed Fund Committee, a truly cross campus team.

The success of the Seed Fund Program is being closely monitored by other institutions; modeled on initiatives in the United Kingdom and Europe it was launched in January 2010.

The winning projects are: • N-Imaging: Dr. Faycal Saffih, Postdoctoral Researcher and a member of Prof. Muhammad Hussain’s Integrated Nanotechnology research group, Physical Sciences and Engineering. Inspired by intelligent biological vision systems, Dr. Saffih plans to integrate his KAUST-patented smart photo sensors using nanofabrication technology into the microelectronic CMOS image sensors (cameras) manufacturing industry. His disruptive imaging technology is expected to have a high impact on biomedical, camera-phone, security, and inspection imaging applications, to name a few. He was awarded $249,640.

• Isoporous membranes: Klaus Viktor Peinemann, Professor, Chemical and Life Sciences and Engineering.

These next generation polymeric membranes combine a state-of-the art membrane fabrication technique with the self-assembly of molecules into complex structures for life science applications that could include drug delivery. The seed fund award will facilitate the development of a phase inversion machine to produce samples with a view to commercialization. He and his team were awarded $248,000.

• Grandma & Grandpa Book: Rawad Sheikh Shabab, graduate student, Mathematical and Computer Sciences and Engineering, has designed a social networking and medical treatment application for the elderly and people with Alzheimer’s in the Kingdom. Rawad was awarded $59,022.

The Seed Fund Program offers finance and support to students, faculty, and staff at KAUST who wish to develop their ideas and discoveries into commercial ventures. Two of these three projects have already generated key intellectual property that is owned by KAUST. So far the Seed Fund has awarded winning projects a total of $1,722,464. The first six recipients were awarded $563,519.

The second five recipients have been awarded $602,283 to date and the third set of winning projects received $556,662.

All winners receive additional funds and support from the University for administration purposes. 

Subsurface

RESONANCE Dr. Gerard Schuster and Dr. Shuyu Sun, KAUST professors of geosciences, and their team of more than 16 research scientists and graduate students at the Center for Subsurface Imaging and Fluid Modeling (CSIM), uniquely combine techniques from distinct disciplines. As bats use sound waves to locate objects and allow them safe passage, Prof. Schuster’s seismic imaging uses sound to produce accurate three dimensional images of the subsurface geology; at the same time, Prof. Shuyu Sun’s group models sub-surface fluid flow to optimize the management of subsurface aquifers and hydrocarbon reservoirs. These CSIM team members are harnessing their cross-disciplinary strengths to characterize subsurface fluids such as water, oil, and gas so they can be managed in the most environmentally friendly, sustainable, and cost-effective manner.

Why is it important to characterize fluids in the earth? We tend to think of the subsurface of our planet as static, but in the same way that blood flow is essential to human life, fluid movements

in the earth’s crust are essential to the generation and preservation of life on our planet. Examples of this include convection flow in the mantle that gives rise to volcanoes that regenerate our atmosphere and repave our land surface; the excess precipitation that is stored as life-giving water in subsurface aquifers; and the hydrocarbon energy banked in underground reservoirs that fuels our current civilization.

How does seismic imaging work? An intense sound wave, produced by a small explosion for example, is directed into the ground, and receivers called geophones pick up “echoes” that resonate through the ground recording the intensity and time of the “echo” on computers. Data processing by supercomputers such as Shaheen transforms these signals into images of the geologic structure.

Continued on p.2

CRYPTOLOGY: A DISTINCTLY ARABIC SCIENCE

In founding KAUST, King Abdullah spoke of the university as a new House of Wisdom, a new home for science and technology to flourish in the Arab world. He hoped that it would “rekindle and spread the great and noble virtue of learning that…marked the Arab and Muslim worlds in earlier times…”

In his President’s Distinguished Visiting lecture on March 7, 2011, H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel harkened back to the original House of Wisdom – Bayt al-Hikma – to tell a fascinating story of Arab and Muslim contributions to cryptology, the science of secure communications.

Continued on p.2

H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel

INSIDE:

News 1-3

Tomogram of Seismic Velocity located in the fault North of King Abdullah Economic City.

The circled areas are Colluvial Wedges.

Economic Development 4-5

Research 6-7

Community 8

NEWS

April 2011 This month we open the Red Sea Research Center (RSRC). Just outside our windows, the Red Sea is an extraordinary scientific and environmental resource for our community. Following the opening, the RSRC conference captures a range of the exciting work underway to analyze and document the forces at play therein and thereon and the diversity of life within. It also

The Beacon

furthers collaborations with partners around the globe who, with us, now have unique access to her waters. Other tides of change include yet another farewell, this time to Caroline Kingdon, an editor/writer on the Beacon since its beginning. Our loss is the Qatar Foundation’s gain as she joins them to set up the Qatar Biobank.

As the Red Sea’s health depends on its currents and tides, the region itself benefits from the diversity of talent moving between its leading institutions. We wish her the best and we shall miss her.

—THE BEACON Editorial

Write to us at thebeacon@kaust.edu.sa The Beacon, Issue 8, April 2011. Published by The Communications Department, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal 23955-6900, Saudi Arabia.

Contact Salah Sindi +966 (2) 808-3221, email salah.sindi@kaust.edu.sa, or Christopher Sands +966 (2) 808-3228, email christopher.sands@kaust.edu.sa © King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Printed on partially recycled paper.

Geophysics Continued from p.1

Top right: Dr. Sherif Mahmoud Bottom: Feras AlTawash, Student, design seismic and electrical surveys at the Qadima fault.

These advanced imaging tools are now being used by Dr. Sherif Mahmoud (Director of CSIM’s state-of-the-art Geophysical Equipment Laboratory) and master’s student, Feras Al-Tawash to assess the earthquake hazard along the Red Sea. Its importance was recently highlighted at an earthquake hazard conference organized in early March

by Professors Sigurjon Jonsson and Martin Mai at KAUST, with significant input provided by geologists at the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS). Work presented by SGS scientists prompted Dr. Sherif Mahmoud and Prof. Sigurjon Jonsson to design seismic and electrical surveys over a conjectured location of the Qadimah fault, north of KAUST. The preliminary interpretation of the seismic (shown on page 1) and electrical tomograms indicates that this site is characterized by a hidden fault, and its proximity to the King Abdullah Economic City suggests that the frequency and size of the associated earthquakes should be carefully studied and drilling through this fault is in discussion. Using 3D seismic tomography to characterize the ancient scars of earthquakes, i.e., the colluvial wedges shown on page 1,

was pioneered by Prof. Schuster during his 24 years at the University of Utah.

In recognition of his lifetime achievements in seismic imaging and his recent seminal contribution to the emerging field of seismic interferometry, Prof. Schuster was awarded the prestigious Virgil Kauffman Gold Medal by the Society of Exploration Geophysicists at their international annual meeting in October, 2010. This honor is awarded to a person who, in the unanimous opinion of the Honors and Awards Committee and the Executive Committee, has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the science as manifested during the previous five years.

Ernesto Sandoval Curiel, a recent KAUST master’s graduate, has joined Saudi Aramco as an exploration geophysicist at the EXPEC Advanced Research Center. He told The Beacon that this is a testament to the robust training he received at KAUST. “Prof. Schuster's world class research results in tools and techniques for use in oil exploration and production in the real industry; it isn’t just about publishing." 

Cryptology Continued from p.1

Dr. Suwaiyel, the President of King Abdullah City for Science and Technology (KACST), Saudi Arabia’s national science agency and national laboratory, is a computer scientist by training and served as a professor and dean of Computer Science at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals before taking the reins of KACST. Cryptology, the making (cryptography) and breaking (cryptanalysis) of secure codes, is a subject dear to any computer scientist, particularly in the Internet age when secure transactions on the web are the backbone of our new web-based economy.

But Dr. Suwaiyel did not talk about public key cryptography, signature schemes or quantum cryptography­—the concerns of twenty-first century computer scientists. Rather, he described how a recent discovery of fifteen important manuscripts, buried in library collections in Paris and Istanbul, pushed back the history of cryptology by 500 years and established that the origins of this science are distinctly Arabic.

As Dr. Suwaiyel explained, three scholars from Syria, Mohammed Mrayati, Yahya Meer Alam, and Hassan at-Tayyan, became intrigued by an unsubstantiated comment that David Kahn had made in his seminal work on secret codes, The Code Breakers (Macmillan, 1967), that “Cryptology was born among the Arabs” (p. 93).

Armed with just one or two titles of lost books, they began a hunt for the manuscripts that would substantiate Kahn’s assertion. Their detective work took them deep into archives in Paris and Istanbul where they had to wipe the dust of centuries off old manuscripts that had essentially fallen into oblivion.

Dr. Suwaiyel joined the project after the three Syrians showed him their reprints, in Arabic, of the books that they had located. He encouraged them to translate and publish the books in English so that the texts would enjoy a wider audience.

When the translations were ready, Dr. Suwaiyel took a look and realized that they written in a style “more like Shakespeare” than contemporary English. He helped to update the English, make the texts more technical, and then publish the volumes under the auspices of KACST and the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRI).

One of the books the three Syrians unearthed was written by Abu Yusuf Ya’qub Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi, the first director of Bayt al-Hikma.

Known as the first great Arab philosopher and a true polymath, Al-Kindi wrote extensively on medicine, philosophy, arithmetic, logic, geometry, and astronomy. And, as the three scholars discovered, he also wrote a treatise on cryptology. In that book, Al-Kindi classified cipher systems into categories using tree diagrams and he used statistical and frequency analysis to introduce the principle of “the probable word,” well before statistics was established as a field of science in the seventeenth century.

Al-Kindi’s treatise is the first volume in the English translation series published under Dr. Suwaiyel’s sponsorship and it reveals a ninth-century thinker who seems particularly modern, as Dr. Suwaiyel was careful to point out.  At Bayt al-Hikma, what Dr. Suwaiyel called “the KAUST of the time,” Al-Kindi wrote the following words that are worth remembering today: “We ought not to be embarrassed of appreciating the truth and of obtaining it wherever it comes from, even if it comes from races distant and nations different from us. Nothing should be dearer to the seeker of truth than the truth itself, and there is no deterioration of the truth, nor belittling either of one who speaks it or conveys it.”

In Brief

2

ed Sea Research R Center Opening

On Saturday, April 9, Prof.

Terry Hughes, Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies in Queensland, Australia will give the keynote speech to open the Red Sea Research Center. This begins a three-day international symposium in which many researchers from KAUST and the international community will speak on topics including marine microbiology, modeling and circulation in the Red Sea, and the ecology and genomics of the coral reef and fisheries. Recent results of the Red Sea expedition to determine the status of the reefs and habitat mapping will be discussed. Center Director, Prof. James Luyten, encourages participation from all interested members of the KAUST community. 

TUM-KAUST CATALYSIS ALLIANCE On February 27 President Shih and Wolfgang Herrmann, President of Technische Universität München (TUM) signed a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a framework for an academic and research collaboration between the KAUST Catalysis Center (KCC) and the Catalysis Research Center (CRC) of TUM. The scope of collaboration includes research in areas of mutual interest realized by joint research projects funded by either of the two universities or third party agencies and exchange of students, graduate students and scientists in particular those involved in the common research projects. 

PARADE OF NATIONS H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel during his lecture.

During International Week (March 5-9) at The KAUST Schools, children learned about the diverse nationalities represented within our community. The week-long celebration of cultural activities, events, and food culminated with a Parade of Nations – a colorful display of traditional costumes and national flags. A stunning 75 nationalities were represented by early childhood, elementary, and secondary students and their family members. 

NEWS

www.kaust.edu.sa

April 2011

3

KAUST Students Go Global

Kai Cheung Ng (left) and Andrew Yip (right) surround fellow entrepreneur from India at the NYSE

Six carefully selected KAUST postgraduates were privileged to attend the Kairos Global Summit in New York in February. Aimed at “exploring humanity’s most pressing challenges” and “developing sustainable and entrepreneurial solutions to these problems,” the meeting brought together 350 students from all over the world, with KAUST the only Middle East university represented.

Participants spent the first day at the United Nations where they learned from dynamic keynote speakers how to become leaders in future technology by engaging in research and entrepreneurship. Speakers, including Peter Diamandis of the X PRIZE Foundation, Thomas Goetz, Executive Editor of Wired, and Daniel Kraft, Chair of Medicine at Singularity University, talked of setting milestones for research and ways in which technologies will influence us all in the future.

On the second day, the group visited the floor of the NY stock exchange, where KAUST master’s students, Andrew Yip and Kai Cheung (Jacky) Ng had been chosen to present their company, Ideoasis: one of the 50 Most Innovative Student Ventures. Ideoasis is an innovative technology development and enterprise creation venture based in Jeddah. It brings together engineers, scientists,

From left: Dr. Karen Holbrook, University of South Florida, Dr. Chunli Bai, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mr. Mohammed Al-Mady, SABIC, and President Choon Fong Shih, KAUST

Presidential Peer Review Saturday, February 26, 2011 was declared a special holiday to mark the return of King Abdullah to the Kingdom. All KAUST employees enjoyed an unscheduled day off, except for the University’s top administrators and management team. They were scheduled to meet with members of the President’s International Advisory Council (IAC) that day and the next. With thirteen distinguished university presidents, scientists, and corporate executives flying in to learn about the state of the University, there was no time for a holiday.

Chaired by Sir Richard Friend, Cavendish Professor of Physics from the University of Cambridge, the IAC has the charge to advise and counsel President Shih on the academic direction of the University. Not meant to rubberstamp the President’s plans, instead, much like reviewers of journal papers and grant proposals, the IAC acts as a face-to-face peer review for the President and the executive management team.

Sir Richard Friend, IAC Chairman, and Dr. Alice Gast, President of Lehigh University and IAC member

The meetings in February were characterized by lively discussions, helpful exchanges, and important engagement between the University’s top management team and IAC members.

Dr. Mohamed Samaha, Senior Vice President for Economic and Technology Development said that the IAC had “reaffirmed most of the assumptions that we had initially, while making it clear that the University needs to act as a leading model for advancing innovation in the Kingdom.”

Professor Jean Frechet, Vice President for Research, said, “what this meeting has reinforced for me is that we must be very proactive in recruiting additional faculty members and in establishing our priorities to achieve our research function and to meet our academic needs.”

After the IAC meeting, President Shih noted, “we gained much from the IAC’s generous sharing of expertise and experience as we considered the challenges facing KAUST in our endeavor to build a globally renowned research university in Saudi Arabia.” He will next review the IAC’s recommendations with the executive management team and continue the dialogue with Sir Richard Friend and other members of the IAC throughout the year.  A list of all members of the IAC can be found on the KAUST website at: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/about/iac/iac.html or access it from your phone by using the following QR code:

researchers, and entrepreneurs to create high-growth enterprises with the goal of establishing Saudi Arabia’s tech sector. The booth attracted many interested visitors and gave our other student representatives the opportunity to answer the many questions people posed about what it is like to live and study at KAUST. Later, all the students participated in round table discussions of their choosing led by leaders in finance and commerce in subjects as diverse as personalized medicine, urbanization, and rebuilding economies through innovation and entrepreneurship.

Students Muhamed Falemban, Faisal Nawab, Mona Alsayadlani, Reem Khojah, Andrew Yip, and Kai Cheung Ng felt that “the summit exceeded expectations” and that their discussions on “cutting edge ideas and how to communicate them” will empower them as they seize the opportunities that they are offered at KAUST for innovation and entrepreneurship. The students were able to tell the KAUST scholarship students in attendance (currently undergraduates in the U.S.) that the entrepreneurship programs that will be available to them at KAUST are “powerful and nurturing.” 

From left: Prof. Stefan Catsicas, President Choon Fong Shih, Prof. Bai Chunli and Prof. Deng Yong, Executive Vice President of Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Dual Degree Program with China

A landmark agreement was recently signed which will provide the opportunity for students to study at both KAUST and the Graduate University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (GUCAS).

Prof. Bai Chunli, Executive Vice President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and President of GUCAS, accompanied by Prof. Deng Yong, Secretary General of CAS and Executive Vice President of GUCAS, Prof. Zhu Xiangbin, Assistant President of GUCAS, and Prof. Su Gang, Provost of GUCAS visited KAUST from February 25 to 27.

During their meeting, Prof. Bai and President Shih signed an agreement which will establish a student exchange program between KAUST and GUCAS. Each student, supported by KAUST, will be appointed two academic supervisors, one from each university. After fulfilling the credit requirements of both institutions, they will be entitled to apply for a GUCAS degree and a KAUST degree.

Headquartered in Beijing with four campuses and five branches in Shanghai, Chengdu, Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Lanzhou, GUCAS was founded in 1978 and is backed by more than 100 institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, located in more than 20 cities throughout China.

By 2004, GUCAS had graduated 50,000 graduate students including 20,000 Ph.D. students. The university’s faculty includes over 300 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and its research facilities number over 150 national and state laboratories as well as key R&D Centers for technology. 

4

Economic Development

April 2011

The Beacon

CATALYZING TRANS KAUST is one of the world’s first research universities to build an integrated economic development and technology commercialization program designed around the principles of open innovation. As an integral part of the University, KAUST’s Economic Development Department is committed to developing entrepreneurial and innovative activities that promote industry

collaboration and raise the level of science and engineering innovation in the Saudi economy.

The Technology Transfer & Innovation Program, Research Park, and Innovation Cluster are just a few elements of our open innovation environment where technology-based businesses can collaborate on research and development with our faculty,

LEADING THE CHARGE KAUST’s mission rests on the three substantial pillars of education, research, and economic development. Dr. Mohamed Samaha, Senior VP (Economic & Technology Development) has spent the last 3-4 years focusing on the infrastructure at KAUST, but always with a vision of the future aspirations of the university. He told The Beacon that economic development at KAUST “lives and thrives due to its close links to the University… playing its role as an economic driver for its research.”

He explained that while many universities are now embracing innovation as part of their mission, far fewer focus on the broader mandate of economic development. “Our founder, King Abdullah, made it crystal clear that he wants this university to be a house of wisdom that develops knowledge in the Kingdom to help the people of Saudi Arabia, the region, and the world. In the charter, it says that KAUST will catalyze the transformation of the Kingdom’s economy.

“Saudi Arabia is eagerly awaiting a tangible contribution from KAUST to the economy,” explained Dr. Samaha, but “realistically going

forward, our desire is to define excellence and to be a role model for others to emulate and amplify…a cascade effect. You need integrity and credibility and you must not promise things that you are unable to deliver… There are many young people in the Kingdom who can be unified by the pursuit of the common goal of enabling science and technology for economic benefit,” he continued.

Dr. Samaha used as an illustration the almost 2.5 percent of the GDP of Saudi Arabia that is spent on water desalination. Twenty percent of the water desalinated worldwide is desalinated in the Kingdom, “so for us to have a water desalination center here wasn’t a coincidence, it is part of KAUST’s DNA…” We hired a “great center director to run it” and it reaches across disciplines to membrane and solar technologies as well as the catalysis expertise at KAUST in a “synergistic relationship that will not only benefit water desalination but is likely to impact gas and oil operations.”

KAUST Research Park has received nearly $0.25BN so far in external investment: an “extraordinary achievement”, Dr. Samaha told The Beacon. KAUST will closely monitor the alignment of what happens in the Research Center with the university's priorities.

researchers, and students. This vibrant community of entrepreneurs and innovators keeps scientists and students in close contact with leading industries from around the world, encouraging collaborative research, fostering economic growth, and helping to further the commercialization of the University’s intellectual assets for the benefit of the Kingdom.

SEED FUND PROGRAM KAUST’s environment of open innovation is further enhanced through economic development, by helping associate key players in order to create value. It‘s through this mix of entrepreneurs and research where creative new ideas have a unique launching point. Specific programs exist within the university to help develop these new ideas and technologies into commercially viable products and services.

The Seed Fund is such a program, catalyzing economic competitiveness in Saudi Arabia by providing grants to technological innovations from KAUST that lead to the establishment of enterprises. The Seed Fund Program aims to stimulate new business formation through the

leverage of university resources such as infrastructure and in-house expertise.

Through the Seed Fund, awards up to $250,000 are given per application, along with critical support services and facilities, to help budding entrepreneurs start new companies.

Functioning as a business accelerator, it aims to reduce the barriers experienced by other earlystage funds to invest. This seed funding does not compete with venture capital, but strives to act in a synergistic manner to facilitate veryearly and early stage developments towards commercial uptake.

Applicants can be entrepreneurs, faculty, students, postdocs, researchers or staff.

KAUST Industry Collaboration Program (KICP) The KAUST Industry Collaboration Program (KICP) mission is “to create, facilitate and leverage partnerships with companies and organizations with the aim of fostering research innovation in science and technology and creating economic value,” KICP Manager, Imad K. Abukhalaf told The Beacon.

The key objectives of this mentorship program are: • To align KAUST’s research and development with that of its KICP industrial partners • To introduce strategic studies in areas related to the Saudi and regional economy • To develop collaborative business opportunities with regional and global industry partners • To provide access and networking opportunities to KICP members through a series of events These events include the KICP Research Symposium, the “Meet the Industry” Series and the KICP Seminar Series.

Members serve on the KAUST Industry Advisory Board (KIAB) chaired by Senior Vice President (Economic and Technology Development), Dr. Mohamed Samaha, where they have the opportunity to encourage the alignment of the university’s research with industrial needs as part of their mentorship role. Associate members receive guidance and training in areas such as process innovation and technology enhancement. Members include Saudi Aramco, Boeing, Siemens, Rolls Royce, Sumitomo Chemicals, SABIC and Cristal Global, with Mars, LyondellBasell and Kaneka being the first associate members.

Saudi companies receive particular encouragement to seize these two-way mentorship opportunities.

Many senior company executives attended the annual KIAB meeting and provided KAUST with invaluable information, feedback and guidance. In addition, KICP members engage with KAUST on many levels including R&D, student internships, postdoctoral support, and the recruitment of KAUST graduates.

The original Research Park conceptual master plan has been developed into a new “Science Town” concept that provides direction for future growth of the innovation cluster, research park, and supporting community. By closely aligning the need for a research park with the vision and goals of the university, this plan puts in place a clear framework for development within which research and researchers will thrive.

Following the lead of the University, it aims to take a revolutionary step forward in research park design, focusing on adaptive design principles and a community approach to enhancing the quality of life found within a research setting. KAUST Research Park will be a setting for inspired global collaboration aimed at significantly improving the “science of science.”

The vision encompasses: • A community that is richly interactive in all aspects of living and working • A place where innovation in science and technology is fostered through more than merely state-of-the-art technology, but innovation is embedded in all aspects of life in the town • A place where great ideas might emerge over a cup of coffee in a café along the research spine or through serendipitous meetings in the various research courtyards • A testing ground for progressive research agendas: a place where failure is a necessary part of the process and experimentation is always welcome

Economic Development

www.kaust.edu.sa

NSFORMATION

April 2011

5

KEY COMPANIES TO SET UP AT KAUST

Two major collaborations were announced in March between KAUST and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC), and KAUST and the Dow Chemical Company.

SABIC is a public Saudi company that has grown by acquisition since its inception in 1973.

In a bid to be more innovative globally, they have doubled their level of investment in research and development, aiming to expand their pool of intellectual property. SABIC’s areas of interest include microalgae, feedstuffs, catalysis, and composites.

The company aims for a target of 150 employees, by using part of the KAUST innovation cluster, extending the current accommodation. The agreement also includes the funding of a named chair over five years and significant contributions towards postdoctoral fellowships and sponsored research.

The Dow agreement focuses on water-related research of major significance to the Kingdom, including the creation of a pilot plant with novel membrane technology. This water platform

aims to be a regional center of excellence and will involve scientists from KAUST including Prof. Gary Amy, Prof. Ingo Pinnau, and the core labs including visualization, NMR and electron microscopy. Dow hopes to have 40 employees at KAUST by the end of next year and their key messages embrace sustainability, credibility, and benchmarking. They too will be supporting the university by offering scholarships, sponsored research, and a research challenge competition.

Technology Transfer & Innovation Program (TTI) The Technology Transfer group has responsibility for the protection and sound management of all KAUST intellectual property. The TTI strategy is based upon open innovation, an approach that focuses on how KAUST can help grow technology-based companies in Saudi Arabia.

Technology “transfer” describes the process by which promising research from KAUST centers and labs is developed into new technology and then licensed with patent rights to companies who turn the technology into new products and

services. The companies pay royalties based upon sales. Patent rights are often desired because they confer exclusive market advantage over competitors, especially for startup companies. Patent licensing is generally unknown in Saudi Arabia and TTI hopes to develop a first successful model in the Kingdom.

The TTI team has six members, with two joining this month. In addition to negotiating intellectual property terms for research agreements and KAUST Global Collaborative Research partner programs,

members of the KAUST community have already reported more than 70 new inventions, each of which is assessed for commercial potential and patentability.

TTI has arranged a co-development agreement with the American University in Cairo to manage technology jointly owned with KAUST and is working on two more agreements with the University of Illinois and the National University Singapore.

NEW VENTURES & ENTREPRENEURSHIP A new office, but not a new concept within the Economic and Technology Development portfolio, this group will encompass Entrepreneurship, the already very successful Seed Fund Program, and a Venture Capital Fund which is currently being developed.

Following the success of the Cornell entrepreneurship training program held during WEP 2011, a speaker series is being planned as well as further training courses and a formal mentorship program. Until these are in place, entrepreneurs will have access to informal mentors, scientists with whom they can bounce ideas around, and venture strategists to help with advice, direction, focus, and business plans.

Director Oleg Kaganovich, told The Beacon that he also expects to take advantage of the exceptional communications technology here at KAUST and set up remote training and mentoring with

entrepreneurial experts worldwide. While all of this is underway, and until he builds up his team, Oleg suggests that anyone at KAUST with an idea or question regarding a potential venture contact him directly – he would love to hear from you at oleg.kaganovich@kaust.edu.sa.

The Venture Capital Fund is intended to help address the funding gap within the Kingdom. This equity-based fund would provide bridge or early stage funding to follow on from seed funds (distinguished as grants, rather than investment) and other innovative new projects from across KAUST and the Kingdom. This will be flexible and defined on a case by case basis.

In line with KAUST’s mission to be of direct benefit to the Kingdom, these services will ultimately be made available to anyone in the Kingdom with a link to KAUST.

TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENT AND APPLICATION (TAA) New Energy Oasis

NEO Eco-Site

The New Energy Oasis (NEO) is an initiative for introducing renewable energy technology to the Kingdom.

Functioning as an extension of KAUST’s mission to address regional and global concerns regarding food, water, energy and the environment, it’s designed as a staging platform for alternative energy technologies such as photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, and wind power. Just a quick drive past the Innovation Cluster, one will notice the solar panels currently in place in the NEO area. These panels are part of a larger program to demonstrate, test, qualify, and certify green technologies that will impact Saudi Arabia and the region. Currently, NEO is divided into three sections:

The Eco-Site is a project of the New Energy Oasis to create an energy efficient, environmentally friendly and sustainable site. This eco-site will capitalize on natural elements, environmental technologies and unique climate conditions to function in a completely energy efficient way. Only in the concept phase at the moment, the eco-site plans to highlight integrated technologies, some of which are currently in development at KAUST with our Global Collaborative Research partners that include National University of Singapore and American University in Cairo. The aim is to provide a multi-purpose site that demonstrates sustainable living in a desert environment by creating what will be KAUST’s flagship for environmental stewardship.

1. Solar photovoltaics component testing and benchmarking 2. Solar technology performance, demonstration and verification 3. A multipurpose environmentally friendly site

Provost Stefan Catsicas

JEDDAH ECONOMIC FORUM 2011 The Jeddah Economic Forum is an annual networking platform organized by the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce for regional and international business communities. Held at the Hilton Hotel from March 19 – 22, this year’s theme was “A 21st Century Transformation: The Impact of Global Forces” and featured notable guests and speakers.

The Jeddah Economic Forum aims to keep pace with breakthrough economic and technological changes and includes discussion about major environmental, economic, and social issues in the Kingdom and region. Guests of honor to the 2011 forum were Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and HRH Prince Khalid Al Faisal Bin Abdulaziz, Governor of Makkah region. Over 40 international, regional, and local speakers addressed the forum’s 11 sessions.

In addition to serving as the 2011 academic partner for this global forum, KAUST's presence was highlighted through a keynote lunch address entitled, “Worldwide Technology Trends and KAUST” and an economic development panel entitled, “Science, Technology, Innovation, and Sustainable Economic Growth.” The lunch address was presented by Provost Stefan Catsicas (pictured above) and the panel discussion was led by Prof. Jean Marie Basset, Director of the Catalysis Research Center; Amin Shibani, Vice President of Economic Development; and Dr. Terence McElwee, Director of Technology Transfer and Innovation.

Since its inception in 2000, the Jeddah Economic Forum has promoted the city as the commercial capital of Saudi Arabia and highlighted its role as a major center of finance, trade, and economy in the Middle East. The forum facilitates valuable dialogue between world leaders and this year’s sessions focused on the Kingdom’s economic potential, global trade, and Islamic financing. As in previous years, a select group of local and international economists, social and cultural thinkers, along with politicians and academics helped enrich the experience of those attending the 2011 forum.

6

April 2011

Research

The Beacon

Images 1. " Smart" nanoparticles in action against breast cancer cells 2. Prof. Aram Amassian with a student analyzing the molecular structure of one of their carbon-based nanomaterials.

3. Absence of friction inside carbon nanotubes makes water molecules flow exceptionally fast 4. Carbon nanotutobes in a membrane to be used for electrocatalytic processes, such as a fuel cell 5. A magnetic core of iron oxide encased in a porous and fluorescent shell of silicon dioxide

NANO:

SMALL STRUCTURES,

BIG IMPACT

When Albert Einstein calculated the size of a sugar molecule as one nanometer for his Ph.D. thesis, he would never have suspected that the prefix “nano” would be on everything from household cleaning products to golf clubs a century later.

Nor would Benedictine monks in the 12th century have believed their techniques would be recognized as early nanomaterial production.

However, the fact that nanotechnology is ubiquitous doesn’t mean that it is understood. Nano, derived from the Greek word for dwarf, means one billionth; a nanometer (nm) is one billionth of a meter. A human hair is about 75,000 nanometers in diameter; whereas the dimension of a single hydrogen atom is about one tenth of a nanometer. The U.S. National Science Foundation’s Nanotechnology Initiative defines nanotechnology as “the control and restructuring of matter at the nanoscale ... in order to create materials, devices, and systems with fundamentally new properties and functions due to their small structure.”

Materials at this scale exhibit very different properties compared with those at larger scales. Newtonian physics is no longer applicable and nanoscaled materials act more like a wave than a particle. At this scale, scientists work with uncertainty and probability. The intense interest in working with nanomaterials comes from the fact that they theoretically have superior mechanical, electrical, chemical, and optical properties. Products fabricated from nanomaterials can be lighter and stronger. But, as their functionality is novel, scientists are still learning how to understand and take advantage of these properties.

Nanostructures are either fabricated top-down by designers and engineers, or bottom-up by materials scientists and chemists. The top-down approach often uses thin films, lithography, and etching techniques to fabricate nanostructures. Microchips are the best examples of these.

The bottom-up approach uses the chemical properties of single molecules to self-organize or self-assemble. Given the right conditions, spontaneously ordered arrangements can build into larger structures. Nanotubes (allotropes of carbon with a cylindrical nanostructure) are an example of self-assembled nanostructures.

Getting back to those monks (or at least those who worked for them): it turns out that gold nanoparticles incorporated into glass are the secret to the wondrous colors in medieval stained glass windows.

BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS Nanomaterials have vastly improved medical imaging. In magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI), the addition of fullerenes (C82), a nanomaterial, to encase gadolinium, the metallic contrast agent, provides better contrast, lower toxicity and faster scans than gadolinium alone. Using fluorescence, radiologists can trace the path of enzymes marked with the encased gadolimium and secreted by a tumor or even get an indication of which tumors have been treated by a drug and which have not been treated.

Prof. Niveen Khashab and her colleagues in the Controlled Release and Delivery Lab are working with nanomaterials to increase the bioavailability of drugs – that is, to package and deliver the drug directly to unhealthy cells to increase the speed and efficiency of absorption and reduce the harm to healthy parts of the body.

Her lab aims to functionalize nanomaterials (fullerenes, carbon nanotubes, gold nanoparticles) with targeting moieties so that they can identify viral or cancer cells. The drug is encapsulated by the nanomaterial, wrapped by biodegradable polymers and/or lipids, and then delivered directly to the diseased area.

Virtually everyone has seen a relative or friend ravaged by the effects of chemotherapy. While the treatment kills the cancerous cells, the toxins that are released can often wreak havoc on healthy cells in the body.

Prof. Khashab told The Beacon “we’re not going to cure cancer, we are just trying to improve the administration of drugs and general health care practices including diagnosis and imaging.”

Ultimately, the “smart materials” developed in her lab will know where they need to go, when they need to get there, and exactly when to release the drug.

Energy: Nanomaterials for clean and sustainable energy Generating electrical power from solar radiation seems a simple concept, but designing and optimizing photovoltaic cells for efficient energy conversion at low cost has proved to be a difficult task for researchers over the last several decades. Prof. Aram Amassian is working on organic (carbon-based) photovoltaic materials in a quest to provide low cost and more environmentally friendly solar energy conversion. Organic semiconductors are soluble and can be printed like inks on a newspaper, potentially making them a significantly cheaper alternative to traditional silicon-based solar cell technologies.

To succeed in this quest, Prof. Amassian is working on understanding the influence of molecular design on the structure and morphology of the nanocomposite photoactive organic layer.

Without an established toolbox to assist him in his research, this work is exploratory in nature. Prof. Amassian and his colleagues are developing methods to make the design and discovery of new materials more predictive.

Synchronton-based x-ray sources can provide important insights while being nondestructive to the materials. Through the Faculty Initiated Collaboration award, Prof. Amassian and his team have access to synchrotrons hosted by Cornell University, Stanford University, and University of California, Berkeley to run their experiments.

Once the energy is captured, storage devices are needed. Prof.

Husam Alshareef and his group are developing oxide nanoparticles and electrode nanocomposites to increase the efficiency of supercapacitors, which are energy storage devices that can

be used alone or integrated on chips for energy storage in integrated electronic systems. Prof. Alshareef’s group is using oxide nanoparticles as spacers between graphene sheets to improve the performance of the supercapacitors.

In another energy-related project, Prof. Alshareef and his group are using nanoscale superlattices to enhance the power generation capability of oxide thermoelectric materials using fluctuations in temperature. A recent application of thermoelectric materials in power generation has been the placement of thermoelectric materials over the exhaust pipe of an automobile. The energy potential of the exhaust (more than 300 Watts) is captured and then returned to the system rather than expelled into the atmosphere as heat.

This principle can work to generate power for microelectronic devices and self-powered sensors, another of Prof. Alshareef‘s research interests. To realize these applications, engineering the materials at the nanoscale is critical for improving thermoelectric efficiencies.

Nanoporous and Nanostructured Materials In the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center, Prof.

Yu Han studies how inorganic porous materials can be used in the adsorption, separation, and storage of gases. He also uses nonporous particles to separate polymers or peptides of different molecular weights such that solutions are purified in columns seeded with nanoporous particles of silicon dioxide, carbon, or other metal oxides. He is also looking at how to exploit nanoporous particles as catalytic supports: their large surface areas combined with easy pore access enhance catalytic activity.

What really excites Prof. Yu Han is the manipulation of nanoparticles, either by integrating different functionalities into one type of nanoparticle, or by assembling the superstructure of the nanoparticle. A paper published by Langmuir (an American Chemical Society journal) beautifully illustrates the possibility of the former process: here, a magnetic core of iron oxide is encased in a porous shell of silicon dioxide; the core allows the use of a magnetic field to control movement of such particles, while the porous shell can accommodate fluorescent dyes or drugs for bioimaging and targeted delivery.

In a paper published in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, Prof. Yu Han and colleagues from Singapore demonstrated the precise assembly of gold nanospheres into a nanochain (see illustration). The self-assembly mechanisms described in the paper are critically important to the development of synthetic strategies for complex nanostructures.

Prof. Osman Bakr, from the Materials Science program, also takes a bottom-up approach to engineering nanomaterials. Using nanoparticles as building blocks, he assembles them into chains, ordered self-assemblies or lattices to create new functional materials.

Research

www.kaust.edu.sa

April 2011

2.

Photo by Dr. Madu Srinivasan

LAB GEAR ASML Stepper

3.

1.

Photo courtesy of Prof. N. Khashab

Photo courtesy of Prof. S. Nunes 4.

Laser light passes through the mask, and the series of precision lenses, forming the image from the mask on the wafer.

Photo courtesy of Prof. Yu Han 5.

The finished wafer may contain hundreds of patterns.

By measuring the size and density of each nanoparticle, Prof. Bakr can help colleagues, for instance, in the design of more effective drug delivery materials because it will help them know exactly how much drug reaches the target.

Nanoelectronics Every year, smart phone chipmakers use nanoelectronics to dramatically boost the computation and image resolution capabilities of smart phones while reducing their prices to make their high-tech gadgets more attractive to consumers. The pressure to produce smaller and cheaper devices puts nanotechnologists on the cutting edge of science. In the last decade alone, seven Nobel prizes were awarded for advances in nanoelectronics and more than one hundred thousand patents were generated by a highly skilled global work force of over 350,000 technologists and engineers.

Atleast two challenges remain in the drive to improve nanotechnology further. First, is the need to make nanoscaled transistors smaller. This can make them faster, but they tend to become leaky (leading to heat in the backplane of our laptops, for example, a sign of excessive power consumption). The second is to extend data storage capabilities in a smaller area and with lower power consumption.

To address these challenges, several KAUST faculty members are collaborating on nanoelectronics. Professors Udo Schwingenschlögl, Aurelien Manchon, Husam Alshareef and Aram Amassian are studying the physics of nextgeneration nanoelectronics materials, such as graphene and functional oxides, molecular electronics and spintronics. In a complementary effort, Muhammad Hussain and Jurgen Kosel are looking at large-scale integration of novel nanowire/nanotube transistors with graphene, nanoelectromechanical switches and spintronic devices. Khaled Salama and Atif Shamim are focusing on nanocircuit configurations for energy-efficient RF communications.

WATER The worldwide problem of access to clean and fresh drinking water is well known. KAUST is tackling the issue head on with a team of experts in its Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC).

Prof. Gary Amy and his colleagues are developing “tight”nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) membranes, finding that they can provide an effective barrier to the flow of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, endocrine disruptors, and other organic contaminants into water supplies.

Assistant Prof. Suzana Nunes, in WDRC, has previously combined polymers and functionalized nanofilters in different membrane applications. In fuel cells, for instance, she used carbon nanotubes to tune the electric conductivity of the membrane surface and, at the same time, accommodate catalysts. She is now working with Vivek Polshettiwar in the Catalysis Center to disperse nanotubes into a polymer matrix of membrane catalysts supported by silica nanoparticles. These membranes will break down pollutants (such as endocrine disruptors) into other molecules that are small enough to pass through the membrane (if they are non-toxic), or be trapped and removed with other toxic effluents.

Carbon nanotubes are also being investigated for a new generation of water separation membranes. Carbon nanotubes are superhydrophobic. Once water gets into the tubes, the flow inside is exceptionally fast due to the unusually low viscosity. Scientists are now trying to embed nanotubes in polymeric membranes to take advantage of this exceptionally high flux.

Membranes for water desalination using reverse osmosis (RO) have a very thin (nanometer scale) selective layer.

Tailoring this layer to achieve high flux and high salt selectivity has been a challenge for decades. Researchers at KAUST are working on the nanoscale to meet this challenge. 

The ASML PAS5500 350C stepper in the Nanofabrication Lab can print millions of microscopic circuit elements in an area the size of a fingernail within a second. KAUST is among a few academic institutions in the world to own such a tool.

A stepper is similar in principle to an overhead projector with a light source (a 248 nm KrF excimer laser), a transparency (a quartz plate with the circuit designs, called a mask), a series of precision lenses (30 of them, each about 30 cm in diameter and stacked 1 meter high), and a screen (the silicon wafer).

In the printing process, a silicon wafer is coated with a light-sensitive chemical called photoresist. Laser light then passes through the mask, forming an image of the mask pattern on the wafer. The wafer is then developed like photographic film and sent on for etching. This whole process, known as photolithography, is performed under yellow light, because white light exposes the photoresist.

Only a small part of the wafer is exposed at a time, allowing very high resolution. After each exposure, the instrument "steps" to the next field and for another exposure until the entire wafer is filled with hundreds of mask patterns.

An electronic chip is built up layer-by-layer, each defined by a mask.

Every layer must be aligned to the previous one so that electrical connections can be made. The stepper must move to a field, align, expose, then step to the next field and repeat at an accuracy of 30 nm.

With the stepper and another 100 tools, the Nanofab lab can enable fabrication of just about any nano-device that researchers may need. 

President's Gift

ECC Kindergarten students visit the Integrated Nanotechnology Swing Lab, March 2011

When he arrived to deliver the President’s Distinguished Visiting lecture, H.E. Dr. Mohammed Al-Suwaiyel came to KAUST bearing many gifts. He presented President Shih with copies of the translations of the works on cryptology that he described in his lecture (see page one).

In turn, President Shih turned the books over to Mr. Joseph Branin, Director of KAUST Libraries, to make them available to the entire community. Dr. Suwaiyel also presented a beautiful facsimile copy of Abu Al’iz Ibn Ismail Ibn Al-Razaz Al Jazri’s monumental work, the Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, published in 1206.

In this book, Al Jazri describes fifty mechanical devices and includes instructions for building the devices. He also includes his own detailed

illustrations of the devices. Shown here is his “Water Clock of the Peacocks.” Al Jazri’s book will be kept in KAUST’s Museum of Science and Technology in Islam (MOSTI) for all to enjoy. 

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COMMUNITY

April 2011

The Beacon

Accolades Pia Wiche Bioscience master’s student, Pia Wiche was recently awarded the prize for the best Senior Undergraduate Project in her home school in Chile and has been invited to give an oral presentation at the third International Conference of Life Cycle Assessment

(CILCA for the initials of its title in Spanish) in April. A graduate of Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, her winning project was entitled, “The life cycle assessment of the production of second generation bio-ethanol.” Using data-extraction, Pia looked at the life cycle of biofuel from wood residue from the planting of the seed through to the fuel production. Discarded wood is an economically feasible alternative to food

stock such as maize in a country like Chile where forestry is a major industry; wood production doesn’t compete with the use of soil intended for feedstock and at the same time wood is a far more energyintensive material.

Provost Stefan Catsicas commented “it is gratifying to see a student entering KAUST with a strong record and such a well-developed interest in understanding alternative energy sources.” 

KAUST Programmers to Represent Region In Beirut, November 2010, two teams each comprised of three KAUST Computer Science students huddled around one computer per team and sweated over nine programming questions for an intense five hours. Their coaches watched nervously from the sidelines as the students battled against the clock using problem solving, logic and strategy. This was the Thirteenth ACM Arab Collegiate Programming Contest, hosted by the Lebanese American University.

The results were “gratifying” for their Dean, Prof. David Keyes.

It is “unusual for a newcomer university to place twice in the top ten regionally” and the two KAUST teams placed sixth (team “Unique”) and ninth (team “NoTeamNameException”) out of a total of 54 teams.

The ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest (ICPC) began in 1977 and evolved into a global network of universities hosting regional competitions that advance teams to the ACMICPC World Finals. Since IBM became the sponsor in 1997, the number of participants in the regional and final contests has increased from less than 3,000 to over 30,000 students (from 2,000 universities in 88 countries).

Questions are related to real-world problems, such as helping FIFA make changes to their ranking and points system for the

Left to right: Team “NoTeamNameException”: Abdurrahman Ahmed, Anas Nabil, Hassan AbouEisha, Shahid Hussein (coach); Team “Unique”: Suhib Alsisan, Jinling Jiang, Ruogu Ding, Guoda Chen (coach)

next World Cup and determining the optimal route for a new highway between cities. The team that solves the most problems in the fewest attempts in the least cumulative time is declared the winner.

Team “Unique” won a place in the international finals in Orlando, Florida, May 27-31. They will be competing against 105 teams from all over the world.

The contest fosters creativity, teamwork, and innovation in building new software programs, and enables students to test their ability to perform under pressure. Many students from regional and international winning teams have been head hunted by companies such as IBM and Google.

KAUST will be looking forward to upholding and perhaps moving up its regional standing in 2011. Practice sessions will start in the fall – if you were born in 1988 or later, look for notices in order to join in the fun. 

My university suzana Nunes With a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Campinas in her native Brazil, Prof. Suzana Nunes first went to Germany on a postdoctoral fellowship, returning two years later to her alma mater for 10 years as an Associate Professor. In 1997 Suzana moved back to Germany to lead a group on membranes for energy (fuel cells, CO2 sequestration, hydrogen/hydrocarbon separation, etc.) at the Helmholtz Research Centre on Polymers, near Hamburg. Considering new challenges after 15 years in this center, she asked the opinion of

respected international colleagues, Prof. Enrico Drioli and Dr. Bill Koros.

They both suggested KAUST as an exciting opportunity to pursue.

The first year was a slow transition – from the extreme of too many meetings in Europe to the greater solitude at KAUST. However it turned out to be an excellent opportunity for scientific work and now she enjoys being involved with industrial and university partners in the Water Desalination and Reuse Center and also working with students. A special motivation is to make it possible that talented female students have the same chance she had. 

Rayan Alghanim Born and raised in the Eastern Province, Rayan spent some of his childhood in Germany before taking his undergraduate degree at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, doing research at North Carolina State University during two summers. Despite offers from other major U.S. universities, he chose to come to KAUST to study for his master’s degree in Earth Science and Engineering.

Rayan is interested in the fluid track aspects of oil recovery, particularly the multi-phase flow of substances in porous media. Movement in geological structures can be affected by pressure, sheer stress, and other boundary conditions. Rayan is “amazed by the facilities at KAUST” which he feels are not available at any other school he knows. He looks forward “to seeing more people on campus as the university grows.” 

LAB OF THE YEAR AWARD Dr. Mohamed Samaha, Senior Vice President of Economic and Technology Development, was “surprised and delighted” to hear that KAUST had been named “Laboratory of the Year” in the new construction category for 2011 by R&D Magazine.

The U.S. HOK Group, Inc. planned and engineered the campus, with Oger International and Saudi Oger as the architect of record and construction contractor.

The interaction between people and space “is in the very DNA of the building,” said Dr. Samaha. Examples of the winning facilities include a central spine facilitating communication and transdisciplinarity. All labs were built using a “core and shell” principle with adaptive casework, maximizing flexibility. Instead of wall space, white boards facilitate creativity and discussion. KAUST’s advanced laboratories include a computation and visualization facility featuring the brightest and highest resolution virtual environment in the world; an imaging and characterization laboratory with comprehensive facilities for scanning, microscopy, magnetic and thermal measurements; and a catalysis center acknowledged to be one of the finest worldwide.

Established in the early 60s, the “Laboratory of the Year” award is one of the oldest award programs in laboratory design.

Previous winners include the Plant Conservation Science Center at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Illinois and the Gary C. Comer Geochemistry Building and Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, both at Columbia University. 