KAUST announces inaugural Global Research Partnership center grants

Dhahran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (April 30, 2008) — King Abdullah University of Science and Technology’s (KAUST) Global Research Partnership (GRP) today announced its grants to four interdisciplinary scientific research centers that are engaged in path-breaking work in the areas of applied mathematics, molecular photovoltaics, nanomaterials and computational science. The Centers are at Cornell University, the University of Oxford, Stanford University, and Texas A&M University.

“We chose these first KAUST GRP Centers from an exceptionally competitive pool of proposals, which represented some of the most talented research teams in the world,” said President-designate Choon Fong Shih of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, a new graduate-level university under development in Saudi Arabia. “Following a highly rigorous technical review process, we selected four very top-quality proposals that best complement KAUST’s institutional priorities at this time in its development.”

The GRP evaluated 41 initial applications submitted in late 2007. The four centers were selected from a pool of 17 finalist proposals. According to KAUST Interim Vice President for Research Mohamed Samaha, “The final 17 proposals were all from institutions that KAUST would like to have as partners and all of a quality we would be proud to be associated with. Given the exceptionally high quality of all of the final proposals, it was a challenge to pick the ones that best fit KAUST’s vision, mission, and current needs.” Dr. Samaha added, “The addition of the Centers and Centers-in-Development expands on our growing network of world-class universities and private-sector research institutions that are working with KAUST on a wide range of scientific and technological questions. The KAUST research portfolio is becoming deeper and more diverse, and our footprint is becoming truly global.”

The GRP also unveiled similar grants to Centers-in-Development, research groups developing new research and the interdisciplinary capacity to create a Center.

With the KAUST GRP Centers and other collaborations with institutions around the world, KAUST is establishing a foundation of talent and research capacity that will enable it to generate innovation and discovery that will benefit Saudi Arabia, the region, and the world. In addition, the Centers will work with partners from industry and other institutions, assist in setting up labs at KAUST, spend time on the KAUST campus, open classrooms to KAUST students via the Internet, conduct joint seminars, training and workshops for junior faculty, exchange faculty and students for teaching and learning opportunities, and participate in curriculum development.