2014 October Beacon

THE BEACON | OCT 2014 1

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

October 2014/Thul Hijjah 1435Volume 5, Issue No. 2

جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية ثول، المملكة العربية السعودية

www.kaust.edu.sa

NOMADD sets sights on solar energy future Page 8

Smart sensors for better and safer living 2

High Performance Integrated Energy Storage Device Reported by KAUST Team Page 9

The art of translating science into business Page 13

The Red Sea is a nursery for whale sharks Page 14New school year brings

new faculty Page 10

The State of the University Address Page 11Reflections on

Five years of science and research Page 6

خمس سنوات من الذكريات

Reading the hidden messages between DNA and the environment

قراءة الرسائل الخفية بينالحمض النووي والبيئة

Page 4

THE BEACON | OCT 20142

KAUST celebrated its five-year anniversary in September. To underscore the signifi-cance of the occasion, we’ve taken a fresh look at The Beacon.

Since the inception of The Beacon in Sep-tember 2010, we’ve refined our sense of purpose. We will continue to cover KAUST advances and events, and we hope this new look with vivid photography and exciting dig-ital art will better showcase our news, events and people in an easier-to-read format.

We promise to put a publication in your hands every month that you’re proud to carry, wherever the pursuit of innovation takes you.

Highlighting the adventure of learning, KAUST President Jean-Lou Chameau welcomed new students and faculty and staff to the Universi-ty’s fifth annual academic Convocation cere-mony on August 19.

“You have arrived at a special time in our his-tory as we celebrate our fifth year as a global university,” Chameau told the audience. “You are now part of this history and we welcome you to the community.”

This year, KAUST welcomed 284 new students from 38 countries onto the campus. Of these, 112 students are master’s degree students and 172 are doctoral candidates.

“KAUST’s international DNA makes us unique,” said Chameau. “We have the best talent and the best ideas from all corners of the earth,” he continued, noting that the international student population brings “new energy, new ideas, and a fresh view of the world” to the University.

Chameau told the new students they would find “an adventure of the mind, spirit, and im-agination” at KAUST, and would have myriad opportunities to contribute, learn and discover.

To enrich their adventure, he said students would need to be passionate about their stud-ies; work with tenacity in the laboratory and the classroom; prepare themselves to be leaders; and take the time to grow as a person.

“We want you to be scientists, engineers, inven-tors, entrepreneurs and people who strive to make our world a better place,” said Chameau.

Fellow speakers at the event included Mitchell Morton, a master’s degree student in Biosci-ence, and Dr. Mohamed Eddaoudi, Associate Director of the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research Center and KAUST Professor of Chemical Science.

Morton, who came to KAUST in 2013 after completing his bachelor’s degree in Biology at Imperial College London (UK) in 2011, echoed President Chameau’s sentiments. When he attended Convocation a year ago, he “wasn’t quite sure what to expect coming here,” but said he was sure he had “embarked on an ad-venture…that has been full of discoveries.”

Morton advised the new students to take full advantage of KAUST’s learning environment, the intellectual guidance offered by faculty advisors, and the top-notch research facilities. He also urged them to interact with the rest of the international community at KAUST to improve their teamwork, communication, and leadership skills.

“Here, citizens from over 80 countries are gen-erously hosted by the Saudi people,” he said. “Where better to experience this rich cultural interface than in a House of Wisdom—Bayt al-Hikma—with some of the brightest minds of our generation?”

Eddaoudi introduced the audience to his on-going research in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), a promising class of hybrid solid-state materials to remove CO2. This year, Eddaou-di has been recognized as one of Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researchers for his work in this field.

“Like many of you, I was once a graduate student,” Eddaoudi told the students. “And like many of you, I left my home and went abroad for my studies. I found myself in a new culture and environment. But once I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time. In 1997 at the labs of Arizona State University, I was the first to find and then to prove that a new class of hybrid solid-state materials (MOFs) can actually be porous. Since that first discovery, a new area of research opened and attracted international attention.”

“It is my belief that this class of materials is well-positioned to address many enduring challenges,” he continued. “It is just a matter of time before we see these materials in real ap-plications. I hope that our materials discovered and developed here at KAUST are in the elect.”

Eddaoudi told the students to “aim at solv-ing problems that were never solved before…In this way, you are assured you will make an impact by addressing a given challenge.” He added that “all of us, new and returning stu-dents, postdoctoral fellows and professors, staff members and administrators, are lucky to be here at KAUST. But nothing is free. With that luck comes huge responsibility. Our success as a university is all in our hands. In this revived 21st century House of Wisdom, we can make an impact, we can help to transform lives, and we can use science as an engine for change. Let us work together on our University’s prom-ise and do science that makes a difference.”

Celebrating not only the start of a new academ-ic year, but also the five-year anniversary of the University on September 5, Chameau noted KAUST’s values—excellence, collaboration, discovery, diversity, integrity, and openness—to the audience. These are upheld by the entire community and “point our path forward year after year on our journey, not as another univer-sity, but as a great university,” he said.

Editor’s note

Fifth academic Convocation welcomes new students to “adventure of learning”

The BeaconVolume 5, Issue 2

PUBLISHED BY THE COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENTKing Abdullah University of Science and TechnologyThuwal, Saudi Arabia

The Beacon StaffManaging Editors: Michelle D’Antoni, Salah Sindi Editor: Nicholas DemilleWriters: Caitlin Clark, David Murphy, Michelle Ponto, Meres WecheTranslation: Adel AlrefaiePhotography: Andrea Bachofen-EchtDesign: Hazim Alradadi, Omnia AttallahEmail: [email protected]

The Beacon is published monthly.

© King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

احتفلت جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية في شهر سبتمبر الماضي بالذكرى الخامسة على إنطالقتها. وتأكيدًا على أهمية هذه المناسبة فقد قامت إدارة تحرير صحيفة المنارة بتطوير شكل ومضمون الصحيفة بعد مرور نحو اربع سنوات من االصدار األول.

وستستمر الصحيفة بتغطية األنشطة العلمية واالجتماعية في الجامعة باالضافة إلى تقديم المقاالت الموثقة بالصور الرقمية وبطريقة منقحة وسهلة للقراءة. نأمل أن تحوز هذه التغييرات على اعجابكم وأن تستمتعوا بالشكل الجديد.

1

By Caitlin Clark

www.kaust.edu.sa 3

Professor Heribert Hirt, formerly associate director of the center for desert agriculture, has been appointed director of the center. Professor Mark Tester has taken over the role of Associate Director with his responsibilities focusing on desert agriculture and transla-tional research.

Hirt and Tester will build upon the foundation for cross-disciplinary research and the high scientific standards set by Dr. Nina Fedoroff, now Professor Emerita, who served as the CDA Director between 2012 and 2014.

These appointments reflect the dual mission of the Center for Desert Agriculture, which is to both promote basic research in plant sciences and develop translational projects relevant to desert agriculture.

In addition to these two appointments, Asso-ciate Professor Salim Al-Babili will chair the newly created Plant Sciences program. This new program will distinguish itself by its focus on arid and harsh environments and the out-standing faculty working in this research area in the BSE Division.

Cover: Image courtesy of the KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Research Program (KEEP).

1. KAUST President Jean-Lou Chameau speaks to faculty, staff and students in the KAUST auditorium during the fifth annual academic Convocation ceremo-ny August 19, 2014.

2. Prof. Heribert Hirt on a recent expedition to collect plants in the Syrian Desert.

Dr. Nikos Hadjichristidis was recently awarded the 2015 American Chemical Society (ACS) Award in Polymer Chemistry sponsored by ExxonMobil Chemical Company. He will be honored at an awards ceremony on March 24, 2015, in conjunction with the 249th ACS national meeting in Denver. ACS will also organize a symposium in honor of Hadji-christidis during the national meeting.

Hadjichristidis joined KAUST in September 2011 with the dream of building a world-class Polymer Synthesis Laboratory.

“Polymers are very important in KAUST research in the four thrusts, as they make up the membranes in our water research, are in solar cells and play a role in petrochemicals in energy research and CO2 capture. They are also used as feedstock in environment research, and packaging and green housing in food,” said Hadjichristidis. “I dream of a lab-oratory which will be a pole of attraction in these areas that will consist of the best faculty and students from all over the world, and thus to contribute to the vision and mission of KAUST and the dream of the King.”

Currently, Hadjichristidis’s research focuses on the synthesis of model polymers with dif-ferent macromolecular architectures. While the synthesis of model polymers is time-con-suming and often leads to a small quantity of products, he says the research is worth it because of their tremendous potential.

“These polymers are ideal models for checking the theory, understanding and improving the performance of industrial polymers (e.g. polyethylene, polystyrene based thermoplas-tic elastomers) and are potential candidates for high-tech applications (e.g. nanolithogra-phy, drug delivery, high temperature membranes),” he said.

Earlier this year, he was selected as ACS 2014 POLY fellow for his research in advancing the field of polymer science.

On August 28, the academic council of the Internation-al Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM) honored Professor Enrico Traversa with the IAAM Smart Materials Medal of 2014 for outstanding contributions in the field of Materials Science and Technology, during the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Smart Mate-rials and Surfaces.

Professor Traversa is the Principle Investigator at the Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage (MECS) Lab within the Phys-ical Science and Engineering Division. His research interests include nanostructured materials for sustainable development including energy, environment, and healthcare. The majority of his recent work has been on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), including chemically stable proton conducting oxide electrolytes, miniaturized SOFCs, hydrocar-bon-fueled SOFCs, and reversible SOFCs for energy storage. He is also interested in the biological interactions of materials, investigating redox active oxide nanoparticles with pharmacological potential, novel strategies for drug delivery, and novel scaffolds for cardiac tissue engineering elucidating the role of mechanical and biological cues.

Accolades

Hirt named director of KAUST’s Center for Desert Agriculture

Nikos Hadjichristidis

Enrico Traversa

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At the onset of the 1990s, an international scientific endeav-or known as the Human Genome Project set out to map the sequence of human DNA. Once the human genome sequencing was successfully completed in 2003, scientists around the world had access to an unprecedented data-base, or roadmap, to understand our molecular constitution, mechanisms and development.

“People said this is the ‘book of life’; now we understand the language of life. But immediately thereafter, people realized that this was a book they could not read,” said Valerio Orlando, Professor of Bioscience and Head of the KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Program (KEEP). The main reason for that was that 95 percent of the genome “is producing information which is not satisfying the prevailing dogma of one gene, one protein.” Only 5 percent of the gene produces protein. The rest is producing something which is called non-coding RNA.

In addition, a decade earlier developmental biologists work-ing on a variety of organisms such unicellular, plants and an-imals discovered that several components of chromosomes, in addition to DNA, were responsible for correct expression and inheritance of genetic programs. Thus the landing on the DNA planet was just the starting point of a much more challenging mission for the comprehension of the genetics universe.

As Orlando indicated, the field of epigenetics matured and transitioned just at the right time (as the genome project was being completed), because it helped to explain this non-coding data evolving at the epigenetic level. Stemming from the Greek term “epi” used to denote “over, outside or around,” the field of epigenetics sheds light on phenomena occurring beyond the defined structure of the DNA se-quence (the genotype) and how these help to explain cell identity (phenotype).

Epigenetics is concerned with the non-coding RNA mole-cules and chromosomal components, which play an active role in regulating gene expression in response to environ-ment and individual biological experience. Orlando and his KEEP team are interested in how cells acquire and maintain cellular memory. It is the defined program responsible for the formation and functionality of the variety of cell types that compose complex organisms.

Epigenetic mechanisms maintain cell-specific information while the core genetic information is the same for all cells in the body. So it’s through an additional molecular layer built by proteins, called histones and non-coding RNA associated with the genetic material, that cells are marked with epige-netic information.

As Dr. Paolo Sassone-Corsi of UC Irvine explained during his visit to KAUST for an Epigenetics Day event, “the classical example I would give is that the DNA is like written music

and epigenetics is the orchestra playing that music.” Orlan-do added that “we know how the same music piece (ge-nome) can be interpreted in different ways, and this is what makes every concert unique.”

This is what must happen to allow cells and organs to per-form and adapt every minute of life as in the case of chang-es in environmental conditions such as nutrition, stress and so on.

Environmental factors shaping heredity“One of the big questions at the moment in contemporary biology,” Orlando delineated, is “understanding genome functions through epigenetics. How does the genome actually communicate with the environment? How does the genome record biological experience, produce biodiversity and ensure our ability to perform on a daily basis?”

In essence, epigenetics examines the heritable variations in phenotype expression, passed on to our progeny that are independent from variations in our DNA sequence. The epigenome, the second layer wrapped around the DNA, is characterized by chemical tags, which cover both the DNA, histones and non-coding RNA.

Those epigenetic tags react to signals from the outside world such as diet, stress, toxins and behavior—thereby in-fluencing gene expression. So the epigenome is flexible and adjusts specific genes dynamically in response to changing environments.

“The KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Program acronym, ‘KEEP,’ is actually a key word in epigenetics,” said Orlando. “Epigenetics has to deal with the ability of genomes to re-cord and remember, as well as imprint biological experienc-es in order to ‘keep’ this memory. So this memory is imprint-ed in the structure of our chromosomes; it allows genes to respond to environment.”

It is now clear that epigenetic mechanisms strongly con-tribute to neuronal plasticity. Experience modifies neuronal circuits, a phenomenon known as neuronal plasticity, which is at the basis of learning and memory.

The same holds true for plant life, where epigenetic mecha-nisms also operate. For instance, plants have the ability to “re-member” exposure to cold as a cue for the right time to flower.

Similarly, individuals who have been exposed in the early stages of their lives to good or bad environmental condi-tions, or even nutritional habits and behaviors, will tend to experience the resulting impacts in their future. Even mo-nozygotic twins, who start life with the same genetic back-ground, will develop divergent individual characteristics, epigenetically speaking, as they adopt different diets and lifestyles and may develop different diseases.

Reading the hidden messages

between DNA and the environment

By Meres J. Weche 1

www.kaust.edu.sa 5

These predispositions are shaped by environmental experiences and lifestyle choices, which are learned, memorized and performed. This memory can even be transmitted hereditarily to the next generation. People struggling with alcoholism or drug abuse, for example, can po-tentially transmit such vulnerabilities to their progeny.

From a societal point of view, understanding these trends can provide scientists with valuable insights on problems related to malnutrition and obesity. And unraveling the epigenetic mechanisms that govern changes in cell identity is crucial for deeper understanding of stem cell biology, tissue regeneration and biomedical applications.

A Saudi genome projectThere is indeed a growing field within epigenetics which looks at big data -- using mathematics and bioinformatics, to make such predictive models. Other scientists focus on the study of physics to understand the physical properties of chromosomes in relation to anticipated re-sponses to drug treatments. In addition to advances in imaging, which may lead to one day being able to visualize the genome, “all this can be anticipated, interpreted, measured and applied to diagnostics,” said Prof. Orlando. “It’s going to be a revolution.”

Given the multi-disciplinary resources and collaborative environment at KAUST, the Environmental Epigenetics Research Program is well positioned to offer a valuable contribution to the field. Companies fo-cusing on metabolism and nutrition are interested in the solutions that epigenomics can offer. Notably, the program has been receiving strong attention from industry around the world.

“There are consortia around the world dedicated to understanding the complexity of the epigenome and we hope that Saudi Arabia will be part of this,” said Orlando. “Collaboration between scientists at KAUST and some of the healthcare systems in the Kingdom have the potential to provide information that isn’t available in other places in the world.”

KAUST recently began meetings with King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh to start working on a Saudi Genome Project. Orlando and other members of the division welcomed their proposal to collaborate and merge KAUST’s technology-focus and expertise in epi-genetics and bioinformatics with their large genetic collection of samples from the Saudi population. “This is going to be a very powerful combina-tion which we hope will make a difference in the field,” said Orlando.

Representing a major step toward these goals, KAUST and the Center for Epigenetics and Metabolism (CEM), directed by Paolo Sassone-Corsi at UC Irvine recently announced a “partnership to advance research on how genes and metabolism shape our bodies and minds.”

The goal of the KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Program (KEEP) is to create a “critical mass of people who share concepts and technologies in a diversified manner.” The program hopes to welcome mathemati-cians, statisticians, engineers and others in order to learn and benefit from different ways of tackling biological problems.

مشروع الجينوم البشري هو مشروع علمي ودولي كبير ابتدأ العمل فيه في مطلع التسعينات بهدف تحديد تسلسل الحمض النووي البشري

والذي اكتمل في عام 2003. وكان من نتائجه أن أصبح للعلماء في جميع أنحاء العالم قاعدة بيانات كبيرة ومفصلة عن تركيبة البشر الجزيئية

واآلليات والتطور الجزيئي . ويقول البروفيسور فاليريو أورالندو، أستاذ العلوم البيولوجية ورئيس

برنامج علم الوراثة الالجينية البيئي: »ظن الناس في وهلة أنهم عثروا على الكتاب الذي يحتوي على أسرار الحياة. ولكنهم أدركوا وعلى الفور

أنه كتاب يستحيل قراءته«. وكان السبب الرئيسي في ذلك هو أن %5 من الجينومات تنتج البروتين والبقية )%95(هي مجرد سالسل غير مشفرة من

.RNA الحمض النووي الريبيوباإلضافة إلى ذلك، اكتشف علماء البيولوجيا التطورية قبل عقد من

الزمن وأثناء إجرائهم أبحاثًا على مجموعة متنوعة من الكائنات وحيدة الخلية والنباتات والحيوانات أن العديد من المكونات الجينية، باإلضافة إلى الحمض النووي DNA، كانت مسؤولة عن التعبير الوراثي الصحيح

للبرامج الوراثية. لهذا كان الفهم العميق للحمض النووي DNA هو نقطة االنطالق لمهمة تمثل تحديا أكبر بكثير لفهم علم الوراثة.

وهناك بالفعل حقل متزايد داخل علم الوراثة الالجينية يبحث في البيانات الكبيرة باستخدام الرياضيات وعلم رصد المعلومات الحيوية لصنع هذه

النماذج التنبؤية. ويركز علماء آخرون على دراسة الفيزياء لفهم الخصائص الفيزيائية للكروموسومات من ناحية االستجابات المتوقعة للعقاقير

واألدوية. ويقول البروفيسور أورالندو »ستكون ثورة علمية كبيرة لو تقدمنا في مجال التصوير لدرجة نستطيع من خاللها تصوير الجينوم«.

والجدير بالذكر هنا هو أن إنشاء برنامج علم الوراثة الالجينية البيئي في جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية بالتحديد سيكون مفيدُا جدًا في

هذا المجال نظرًا لما تمتاز به الجامعة من بيئة تعاونية فريدة وموارد متعددة التخصصات خصوصًا أن الهدف من البرنامج هو وضع بيئة تعاونية يتشارك فيها مختلف الباحثين في المفاهيم والتقنيات«. ويرحب البرنامج بجميع علماء الرياضيات واإلحصائيين والمهندسين وغيرهم من أجل التعلم

واالستفادة من الطرق المختلفة لمعالجة المشاكل البيولوجية.

قراءة الرسائل الخفيةبين الحمض النووي

والبيئة

1. Prof. Valerio Orlando, Head of the KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Research Program – KAUST file photo.

2. Image courtesy of the KAUST Environmental Epigenetics Research Program (KEEP).

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Reflections on five years of science and research

The KAUST community came together to cele-brate the five-year anniversary of our University. “This is your celebration,” said President Jean-Lou Chameau, as he thanked both long-time and more recent community members for their commitment to the success of KAUST.

The scientific journey undertaken thus far by en-gaging scientific minds at KAUST, in their efforts to tackle important challenges for the world, was visually represented in a colorful sound and light show. The bedrock research themes of energy, water, food, and the environment came alive, through captivating images and video, set against the backdrop of a tall water fountain emerging from the Red Sea.

The event brought together thousands of KAUST stu-dents, faculty, postdocs, staff, service providers and their families for a festive evening. Many expressed their pride and enthusiasm around being part of such a groundbreaking and inspiring organization.

Representing the rich cultural diversity of KAUST, the colorful crowd enjoyed food and entertainment of a truly international flavor.

Five years. Looking back in life, it can seem like it goes by with a snap of the fingers. Looking forward - one thousand, eight hundred and twenty five days makes it sound like an eternity. KAUST began as a vision, perceived across a great expanse of dry, unremarkable desert sand.

Five years — and some key ingredients later it is growing into a global force of academics, and is a proud pillar of light to its native nation. Of those key ingredients, none were more vital than the people who helped KAUST rise from the sands. They added water, and they added stone. They brought ideas, and they brought energy. They came to work, but they ended up bringing life. Life was all that the vision needed.

As KAUST celebrates its five-year anniversary, we asked those who have been here from the very be-ginning to reflect on the early days, to share some of their stories, and to tell us what has changed about KAUST and about their lives. Thank you to those who took the time to contribute. We’ve se-lected some of our favorite quotes to share.

خمس سنوات من الذكريات

احتفلت جامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية بذكرىمرور 5 سنوات على بداية انطالقها. تحدثنا مع أولئك الذين كانوا هنا منذ البداية لنشاركهم ذكريات وقصص األيام األولى للجامعة.

“I remember the library being completely empty when I first saw it. I helped to establish the library system and workflow from scratch.

In the first month, we worked so hard, you could sleep while you were walking. I bumped into my colleague who was walking in the corridor, and found that he was also closing his eyes.”

-Yi Yu, Systems Librarian, University Library

“When we compare early KAUST with present KAUST, it has changed a lot. I’m sometimes amazed to see students walking around the campus, children playing in the grounds, lots of traffic on the KAUST roads, and residents in the busy community. Once upon a time this was only a dream, but now it is being fulfilled.”

-Philip Joseph, IT Specialist, F&C/M&U-TS

“Chances are rare in life to be part of something that is completely new. I am just grateful that I was a part of that, and seeing KAUST grow to be a suc-cessful university, with excellent graduates, is a reward in itself.”

"منحتني جامعة الملك عبداهلل الشجاعة التخاذ القرارات الصعبة والحاسمة والتي كان ينبغي علي اتخاذها منذ زمن. كانت تجربة عزيزة على قلبي ورائعة جدًا. و أشكر اهلل أنني كنت جزءًا من شيء جديد و متميز وأن أرى جامعة الملك عبداهلل تتطور لتكون جامعة عالمية ناجحة مع خريجين بأعلى المستويات".

الدكتورة نيفين خشاب، أستاذ مساعد في العلوم الكيميائية-Niveen Khashab, Assistant Professor of Chemical Science


“تأسيس جامعة الملك عبداهلل كان حدثًا إيجابيًا وكبيرًا في تاريخ المملكة وقد أردت أن أكون جزءًا منه. وأنا أعتز بانتمائي لها لما أحدثه هذا االنتماء

من الرقي بمستوى حياتي وحياة أسرتي. فضاًل عن االحترام والتقدير الذي ألمسه من الناس حين يعلمون أنني أعمل في جامعة الملك عبداهلل،

والذي يزيد من اعتزازي وفخري في أن أنتسب إلى مجتمعها المتميز".

ماجد كسراني، مساعد خدمات المكتبة، والخدمات اإلدارية

"غيرت جامعة الملك عبداهلل نظرتي نحو المستقبل من خالل إتاحتها الفرصة لي أن أعمل جنبا لجنب مع أشخاص

من أكثر العقول ذكاء في العالم، وأن أكون جزءًا من حلم الملك عبداهلل في جعل المملكة العربية السعودية واحدة من أفضل الدول في مجال العلوم والتقنية. كما أن العمل واإلقامة في مكان واحد مع مئات من الناس من مختلف

الجنسيات والثقافات والعادات غير طريقتي في التفكير وقبول اآلخر. لقد غيرت جامعة الملك عبداهلل الكثير في

حياتي و حياة عائلتي أيضًا . "

سمية القشقري، محللة مالية، قسم المالية

"المختبر كان خاليًا تمامًا كالورقة البيضاء. وكان التحدي األكبر هو في تركيب المعدات وتخزين المواد الكيميائية وتجهيز جميع األدوات التشغيلية. وكان يتعين

علينا لقاء الكثير من المختصين في بيع المواد واألجهزة، وتتبع أوامر الشراء وترتيب مواعيد تركيب األجهزة بواسطة المهندسين، وغير ذلك. أنا سعيد في حصولي على

هذه الفرصة للعب دور في تجهيز وتشغيل مختبرنا وتقديم الخدمات للباحثين في جامعة الملك عبداهلل، واإلسهام في بناء هذه الجامعة العظيمة. كما أن نمط حياة

مجتمع الجامعة تغير بشكل كبير وأصبح ينبض بالحياة مع زيادة أعداد الموظفين والطلبة في الحرم الجامعي".

كوماران ماندي، عالم أبحاث، المختبر األساسي للعلوم البيولوجية

www.kaust.edu.sa 7


The United Nations estimates the Saudi population will grow to 45 million by 2050, while domestic energy demand is anticipated to double by 2030. In recognition of the growing importance of developing sustainable and renewable energy sources for the Kingdom, the Saudi government has estab-lished the ambitious goal of generating a third of the coun-try’s electricity sources (41,000 megawatts) through solar power by 2032. Towards this goal, the King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) aims to construct a $109 billion solar industry in Saudi Arabia, which would repre-sent about 20,000 football fields worth of solar panels.

“We hope to be the industry standard solution to clean all those panels,” said Georg Eitelhuber, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NOMADD. The startup company, de-veloped three years ago at KAUST and originally supported and funded by the Entrepreneurship Center and the Seed Fund program, offers a waterless, remotely operated system to clean solar panels. The acronym NOMADD stands for NO-water Mechanical Automated Dusting Device.

Describing the challenges facing Saudi Arabia’s burgeoning solar energy industry, the NOMADD founder said: “The big challenge, is dust. Desert winds pick up the dust and push it onto the solar panels, all day every day. Sometimes you can have dust storms which put so much dust on the solar panel surface, you can lose 60% of your output in a single day.” Actually, solar panels lose between 0.4-0.8% of their efficiency per day just from desert sand and dust.

A mechanical engineer by training, Eitelhuber was working as a physics teacher at the KAUST School when he start-ed experimenting with Lego blocks and paper to find a solution to clean solar panels exposed to the rough dusty environment of Saudi Arabia. His innovation has since been recognized with 2014 Solar Pioneer Award and he has been working on further testing and developing the solution with world-leading companies in solar energy such as First Solar Inc. and SunPower Corp.

Eitelhuber is grateful for the backing of KAUST, with all of its resources, in assisting inventors like himself. As the NOMADD team works with various industrial testing part-ners on improving the technology, KAUST Tech Transfer is there to maintain control of patentable technology which may emerge in the process. A milestone was achieved last month when KAUST signed its first royalty-bearing license agreement for the NOMADD desert solar solution system.

A continuous drive for improvementDemonstrating the newly devised fifth version of the NO-MADD system in its three years of development, Eitelhuber explained that it’s now “70% lighter than previous versions and uses less than half of the power.” In addition to that, it’s much cheaper to manufacture.

“Every time we do a new version it’s simpler, cheaper and faster,” he adds. For example, the rail system supporting the brushes cleaning the solar panels from top to bottom is not only lighter and cheaper but it also now just clips on – whereas previous versions required many nuts and bolts. The mounting system moreover features an inbuilt self-ad-justment process tailored to determine the optimal gravi-ty-adjusted angle as the solar panels are cleaned.

It’s important for the cleaning system to be both econom-ically and functionally optimized since some panel rows can be 400 meters long. “That’s a lot of rail,” said Eitelhu-ber.” “The old version had literally hundreds of nuts and bolts, little fasteners and washers and it worked great but it also weighted as much as a tank.”

Compared to earlier models, which had around 120-odd manufacturing pieces, the latest NOMADD system has narrowed it down to between 10 to 15 pieces, making it easier to manufacture and assemble. “The key thing is that it has to be cheaper than sending out a worker with a squeegee and more economical than anything else in the market,” he added.

The objective has been to make NOMADD desert-proof as the arid environment causes things to break down at higher frequencies. The device is basically machined aluminum and stainless steel.

It’s also noteworthy that the brushes used to non-abrasively clean the solar panels can be easily replaced. So it would take someone around five minutes to change all the brushes.

In addition, one of the major advantages of the NOMADD system is that it’s remotely operated. The cleaning functions can be monitored and operated online from around the world.

A saudi-specific innovation with a global footprint“The advantage that we’ve got is that we’ve basically been three years in development and we’ve been developing this solution for the desert while being in the desert. We’ve got a real understanding of the issues involved in cleaning solar panels in the desert,” said Eitelhuber.

Unlike some other solar panel cleaning solutions from North American and European companies, designed for mild cli-mates, that use water and require manual labor, the NOMADD system really has an edge by being a waterless model ideally suited for these arid conditions. “We understand that having someone standing outside at 45 degrees Celsius cleaning solar panels eight hours a day isn’t feasible,” he adds.

As they keep an eye out for the competition, the NOMADD team is confident that, once they make it through the final development process, they will have every chance of being a huge commercial success.

NOMADD sets sights on solar energy future

By Meres J. Weche

www.kaust.edu.sa 9

High-performance integrated energy storage device reported by kaust teamBy Caitlin Clark

1. Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NOMADD, Georg Eitelhuber. Photo by Nicholas Demille.

2. A lightweight prototype of the NOMADD system in Georg Eitelhuber’s lab. Photo by Nicholas Demille.

3. (From L-R): Professor Husam Alshareef, KAUST Ph.D. student Nuha Alhebshi and postdoctoral fellow Dr. Narendra Kurra exhibit their micro fabricated supercapacitor in Prof. Alshareef’s lab. Photo by Caitlin Clark.

A KAUST team led by Dr. Husam Alshareef, Professor of Materials Sci-ence and Engineering, has developed a microfabricated energy storage device that delivers unprecedented energy and power density that is superior to current thin-film batteries.

“Our microfabricated supercapacitors exhibit superior performance over current state-of-the-art thin-film batteries, and can be used to supple-ment the performance of existing thin film batteries,” said doctoral stu-dent Nuha Alhebshi, a member of Alshareef’s Functional Nanomaterials & Devices research group.

Alhebshi worked with Dr. Narendra Kurra, a postdoctoral fellow in Alshareef’s group, to develop the devices. Their research was recently published in the high-impact journal Advanced Energy Materials (DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201401303).

The devices were fabricated using a combination of top-down and bot-tom-up fabrication methods, and the researchers used nickel hydroxide (Ni(OH)2) as an active electrode material. The devices exhibited a vol-umetric capacitance density of 325 F/cm3, resulting in energy density higher than thin-film batteries. The microcapacitors also exhibited high scan rate redox activity of up to 500 V/s, a concomitant property of higher power density and capacitance.

The key to the realization of the performance was the control of the nucleation process of the Ni(OH)2 nanostructures deposited by chemical bath deposition. While gold and platinum are typically used as thin-film current collectors, the team found that the nucleation and growth of Ni(OH)2 on Ni-based collectors (consisting of a tri-metal stack of nickel/platinum/titanium) resulted in vertically aligned two-dimensional arrays of Ni(OH)2 with remarkable surface area and electrolyte permeability. As a demonstration, the tandem configuration of these microfabricated devices could glow brighter than a normal LED. Alhebshi developed the Ni(OH)2 process using chemical bath deposition at room temperature.

“The value of this process is that it is cheap and scalable, and the deposi-tion of active material is done entirely at room temperature,” said Alhebshi.

Supercapacitors are energy storage devices that fill the gap between batteries and electrostatic capacitors. The market size for supercapac-itors is growing extremely fast, and they are already appearing in many applications, including portable power tools, cranes, intercity trains and street lamps.

The capacitors fabricated by the KAUST team have a different form fac-tor compared to conventional double-layer or pseudocapacitors. The devices are fabricated on a substrate and can be integrated with other electronic components. For example, the microfabricated supercapac-itors can be used to power up microelectronic devices such as microe-lectromechanical systems (MEMS), microsensors and nanorobotics.

“The supercapacitors could serve as small scale, on-chip energy storage devices to be integrated with microelectronic devices,” explained Kurra.

Alshareef’s group is active in the area of energy storage, focusing on electrode material development for supercapacitors, Li-ion batteries and more recently Na-ion batteries.

“I believe this research area is a strategic area for KAUST and the King-dom, and I am happy that we have built a recognized program in this field,” stated Alshareef.

KAUST’s director of New Ventures and Entrepreneurship, Gor-don McConnell, says NOMADD’s local presence in the Kingdom will help contribute to building a knowledge-based economy in Saudi Arabia. “The local incorporation is not just of bureaucratic significance, but will enable NOMADD to develop a business that will help create high-level jobs in sales, marketing and technical areas, while also offering an opportunity to build up local manufacturing capacity,” said McConnell.

The NOMADD project has benefited from the collaborative efforts of key team members such as Guodong Li, Chief Electrical En-gineer, and Elizabeth Cassell, the project’s chief Administrator as well as Head Mechanical Design Engineer Steven Schneider who has been instrumental in producing technical drawings for manu-facturing. Andres Pablo, a doctoral student, and Razeen Stoffberg, one of Eitelhuber’s former students from The KAUST school, assissted with technical setups, product testing and evaluation.

Also, as much of the manufacturing work is done in Asia, the NO-MADD team has set up an office in Singapore, headed by Chief Development Officer Cliff Barrett. As a next step, the team has been actively recruiting a new CEO to help the project achieve critical mass and reach their ambitious milestones.

“Thanks to some great mentorship from the KAUST New Ven-tures and Entrepreneurship team, I’ve done my best as a CEO but I’m an engineer and an inventor by nature,” said Eitelhuber. “It’s been one of my dreams from the very beginning to try and start something which will have a net positive environmental and social impact.”

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New faces on campusBy Will Clark

Carlo LiberaleDr. Carlo Liberale joins KAUST as an assistant professor in Bioscience in the Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division. He previously worked as the team leader at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Genova, Italy. His main research interests have been devoted to nonlinear optics and biophotonics.

Well rounded in both research and teaching, Liberale has instructed at the IIT, the University of Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, the University of Pavia, and the International Centre for Science and High Technology. His education was completed at the University of Pavia, where he received his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Electronic Engineering.

Daniele DaffonchioDr. Daniele Daffonchio has spent twenty years teaching microbial ecology and biotechnology for agriculture and environmental protection. In that time, he has imparted his extensive knowledge on countless bachelor, master and doctoral stu-dents. Coming from the University of Milan in Italy, he joins KAUST as professor of Bioscience with the department of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE).

With more than 150 papers published in peer-re-viewed scientific journals and major multidisci-plinary journals, Dr. Daffonchio brings a wealth of research-driven knowledge to KAUST. His primary interests are in the microbial ecology of complex ecosystems in conventional and extreme aquatic and terrestrial habitats. His research spans from basic aspects of microbial ecology through the application of synthetic ecology approaches to applied aspects for the environmental protection and sustainability of agriculture.

Dr. Daffonchio enjoys the outdoors, listing biking and hiking as two of his favorite activities. In his downtime, he loves a good novel and listening to jazz music. When asked what attracted him to KAUST, he stated, “KAUST is providing an inval-uable set of state-of-the-art facilities as well as excellent financial resources and administrative support—all features essential to accomplish im-portant research results. Besides these important aspects, KAUST attracted a research environ-ment of outstanding quality where cooperative activities are stimulated for producing multidisci-plinary investigations.”

Andrea FalquiProfessor of Bioscience, Andrea Falqui, brings outstanding credentials to the division of Bio-logical and Environmental Sciences and En-gineering (BESE). Born, raised, and educated through his Ph.D. in Cagliari, Italy, Dr. Falqui spent his last six years in Genoa, where he was a senior scientist and the electron microsco-py laboratory director at the Italian Institute of Technology. There, he helped establish the electron microscopy lab of the institute, and was its principal investigator, working with nanos-tructure imaging studies.

The co-author of more than 120 scientific pub-lications and one book chapter, Dr. Falqui has taught General Physics (classical dynamics and electromagnetism), Mathematics (differential and integral calculus), Physical Chemistry (ideal and real gases theory, thermodynamics, phase transitions, statistical mechanics, principles of quantum physics and chemical kinetics), and Solid State Physical Chemistry (experimental condensed matter physics, crystallography and electron microscopy).

Falqui enjoys playing and listening to both jazz and classical music, reading novels, and is a lifelong black-and-white photographer. He con-siders himself a “lucky man” to have the oppor-tunity to work at KAUST. “The human climate, the beauty of the location and architecture, the diffused passion for science and discovery, and a sort of shared feeling to be part of a commu-nity that works to build something different and exceptional for this country. Since the first time I was here, I found KAUST wonderful and exciting,” said Flaqui.

Ying SunDr. Ying Sun comes to KAUST from The Ohio State University, where she was an assistant pro-fessor in the Department of Statistics. In 2011, she secured her Ph.D. in statistics from Texas A&M University. Afterward, at the University of Chica-go’s research network for Statistical Methods for Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences (STATMOS), she was a postdoctoral researcher. While there, she also worked closely with the Statistical and Applied Mathematical Sciences Institute (SAMSI) in the uncertainty quantification program.

Her impressive background is not limited to re-search, as she has a reputation for being an excel-

Daniele Daffonchio

Andrea Falqui

Carlo Liberale

Ying Sun

Athanasios Tzavaras

www.kaust.edu.sa 11

In the annual “State of the University” address on September 9, KAUST President Jean-Lou Chameau commemorated the Univer-sity’s five-year anniversary and discussed KAUST’s past, present and future with an audience of faculty, students and staff.

“An anniversary is a celebration of love, trust, partnership, toler-ance and tenacity, and I think these words describe the KAUST anniversary well,” President Chameau said. He noted the past five years were about creating an international university “with global impact,” and that none of this would have been possible without the input and efforts of the entire community. KAUST’s five-year celebration on September 5 was “a great celebration for all of you, a great celebration for all of us,” he said.

Chameau recognized the achievements of KAUST’s faculty and students, noting that those who started with the University in 2009 “could not have imagined such [academic] accomplishments after five years.” Because of these outstanding achievements, he said, KAUST is now able to “compete with some of the best universities in the world.”

Among the accolades Chameau mentioned, he noted Professor Nikos Hadjichristidis’s recent selection as a 2014 POLY Fellow by the American Chemical Society’s Polymer Chemistry Division, and Associate Professor Kuo-Wei (Andy) Huang’s recent speaking engagement as a “Rising Stars” lecturer at the 41st International Conference on Coordination Chemistry in Singapore.

Achievements for students and alumni also took center stage, with Chameau applauding the December 2013 graduation of KAUST’s first Saudi Ph.D. candidate, Dr. May Al-Qurashi. Other notable achievements in 2014 were the establishment of KAUST’s first alumni chapter in Saudi Arabia, and a meeting of alumni in China to establish a chapter there as well.

Since the University’s establishment, over 4000 journal papers have been published by faculty and students, with over 35% published in top 10 journals. “This means we have had almost one publication every ten hours” since 2009, Chameau said. In addition, KAUST has five faculty members who are on the Thompson Reu-ters 2014 list of the top 1% of highly cited individuals in the world: Professors Heribert Hirt, Jean Fréchet, Mohamed Eddaoudi, Jean-Luc Bredas, and Victor Calo. This number will increase to seven in December, he noted, as two other highly cited researchers will be joining the faculty.

“Our scientists and engineers have the opportunity to be curi-ous,” Chameau said. “We encourage them to work together, to collaborate, to seek partnerships with some of the best people in the world. At KAUST, we promote a culture of expertise that is cross-disciplinary.”

KAUST is a university where the whole community “embraces knowledge as a unifying and energizing force,” he stated, but not-ed that most importantly, “[faculty, students and staff] are the ones who make it happen day after day. Let’s make the coming year a great year of accomplishment and trust.”

By Caitlin Clark

lent teacher. Sun has published research papers in many top statistical journals and subject matter journals. She has won multiple awards from the American Statistical Association and the Transportation Research Board National Academies. The Workshop on Environmetrics and the Conference on Resam-pling Methods and High-dimensional Data have honored her with best poster awards.

Sun joins the Division of Computer, Electrical and Mathemati-cal Sciences and Engineering at KAUST, where she will be an assistant professor of statistics. Her current research interests include spatio-temporal statistics with environmental applica-tions, computational methods for large datasets, uncertainty quantification and visualization, functional data analysis, robust statistics, and statistics of extremes.

Athanasios TzavarasBorn in Athens, Greece, Dr. Athanasios Tzavaras received his Di-ploma in Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at Athens’ National Technical University. He spent the majority of his re-maining formative years in the United States. Attending Brown University, Dr. Tzavaras completed both his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics. As an assistant professor, then full pro-fessor, his work took him to Purdue University, the University of Wisconsin, and the University of Maryland, before he returned to his homeland as professor of the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Crete.

Tzavaras joins the Department of Computer, Electrical, Math-ematical Sciences and Engineering at KAUST. His research objective is to build a group on partial differential equations and mathematical modeling of materials. “I find very appealing the strong horizontal structures of the organization of KAUST and hope to develop ties with researchers working on material mod-eling and computation in other divisions,” said Tzavaras.

A lover of jazz, ethnic music and cinema, Tzavaras found the offer to join KAUST too good to pass up. Asked why he chose KAUST, he responded, “Because of the growth opportunities, and the challenge of participating in the development of the Applied Mathematics and Computational Science program in a world-class University.”


Atif Shamim and Christian Claudel, KAUST Assistant Pro-fessors of Electrical Engineering, work together to create wireless sensor networks for “smart cities,” a technology Shamim describes as “game changing.”

In the “smart-city” of the future, electronic devices will communicate with each other via fixed network nodes and centralized servers. These sensors are connected through the Internet of Things (IOT), which enables them to share information. Intelligent systems at the central servers are then used to analyze and process the data from the sensors.

“The critical component for these processes is low-cost wireless sensing modules,” explained Shamim. “Fixed sensor nodes are useful, but for these you need a lot of infrastructure, such as towers and assemblies. Our idea is that you would have some fixed sensors, but you would disperse many small, mobile sensors that com-municate wirelessly to the fixed sensors, which then communicate all the received information to a central station for analysis.”

Collaborating for smart progressThe use of small, mobile sensors reduces the cost of the infrastructure tremendously, noted Shamim. It also en-ables information to be gathered from remote locations where it is difficult or impossible to mount fixed sensors, such as in forests or deserts.

Together, the research groups of Shamim and Claudel combined their talents and expertise to make progress in using wireless sensors for flood monitoring. This issue is of high importance to Saudi Arabia and cities such as Jeddah, which saw a catastrophic flood in 2009 claim the lives of hundreds and cause considerable property damage.

“Classical sensing solutions, such as fixed wireless sensor networks or satellite imagery, are too expensive or too in-accurate to detect floods—in particular flash floods—well,” noted Claudel. “We tested the use of Unmanned Aerial Ve-hicles (UAVs) equipped with mobile, floatable, 3D printed microsensors and sensor delivery systems to sense and monitor flash flooding events.”

This new system called Lagrangian sensing, “is very promising for large-scale sensing, or on-demand sens-ing, as it requires minimal infrastructure,” the researchers stated. Using this method, UAVs drop the small, disposable wireless sensors over an area to be monitored. The sen-sors float, so they are carried away by the water flow of the flood. As they move along in the water, they send signals to the UAVs. These signals map the extent of the flood, and this information is transmitted to a central, fixed station for processing. It can then be used to warn the public and other authorities about the extent of the flood.

“Claudel carries out the systems-level design and imple-

mentation for the research project, and my group devel-ops the actual, physical sensors,” said Shamim. “In that way, I believe we are a very good fit for collaboration.”

Their collaboration produced a paper recently pub-lished in IEEE Transactions on Antennas & Propagation, entitled “An Inkjet-Printed Buoyant 3-D Lagrangian Sensor for Real-Time Flood Monitoring” (DOI: 10.1109/TAP.2014.2309957). KAUST has applied for patent protec-tion for this and other related technologies.

Developing low-cost solutionsOne of the challenges Claudel and Shamim faced was designing the sensors. “We wanted to make them low-cost so they are basically disposable,” explained Shamim. “We use inkjet printers to print electronics on paper and plastics, but in this case we used paper, as it is lightweight, 1/10th the cost of plastic, and is very suitable for inkjet printing. In addition, it is biodegradable and comes from a renewable resource.”

The researchers produced a small, 13 mm paper cube, complete with an electronic sensor that weighs 1.8 grams and a 3D antenna, which enables it to send out a signal in any direction.

“Because we were working on a flood monitoring appli-cation, we had to optimize the sensor to work in water as well as in air,” Shamim noted. “We were skeptical about its performance in water, so we sealed it with a special glue. We then produced a cube that is very small, lightweight, floats in water, and is electrically sealed. It works very well in water and radiates up to 50 meters in all directions. The performance was better than we expected.”

The technology has many other possible applications: “You can integrate sensors for ammonia, sulfur, carbon monox-ide, humidity, or temperature into the cube,” said Shamim. “This would allow for detection of poisonous gases and other environmental conditions, which would be especially helpful in industrial settings and in remote locations, such as during forest fire events.”

Shamim and Claudel want to integrate their low-cost, print-able, disposable microsensor technology into the day-to-day lives of everyday people. Not only would the technolo-gy enable greater safety for individuals during catastrophic events such as floods, but it could also assist in locating cars in busy parking lots, tracking expired foods in super-markets, and in creating smart houses, where household appliances and electronic lock systems “talk” to each other to make sure they are in proper working order.

“I believe this technology will change the way people live, shop, and monitor things,” said Shamim. “We will have better living, from our homes to our offices to our industries – and that is a benefit for all.”

Smart sensors for better and safer living

By Caitlin Clark

1. The complete electronic sensor, which weighs only 1.8 grams, is imbedded in the cube, and a 3D antenna is positioned around it. Here the sensor is shown next to a paper clip for size. Photos by Muhammad Fahad Faroouqi.

2. The electronic sensor is shown imbedded inside the small paper cube that enables it to float and give a signal in any direction that it is moving.

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www.kaust.edu.sa 13

The art of translating science into businessBy Meres J. Weche

“There are many things which can go wrong when starting a company; but the worst thing that can go wrong is to not do it,” said Professor Karl Leo, former director of KAUST’s Solar & Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center.

A physicist by training, Leo highlighted the point that he is primarily a scientist who stumbled onto business by chance. “For me it’s always started with and been about the science,” he said. All his spin-off companies came about as a result of basic research he and his group conducted on organic semiconductors. Speaking to young researchers hoping to emulate his success as an academic and entrepreneur, Leo said: “The message I want to pass along is if you really want to do things, just be curious. Don’t say I want to do research to make a company. Do very basic research and the spin-off ideas will come along.”

The growing influence of organic semiconductors

Leo started doing research on organic semiconductors about 20 years ago. He has since been passionate about this field’s developments and future potential. Despite his early skepticism resulting from the ephemeral lifetime of organic semiconductors in the ‘90s, the performance levels of LED devices for instance have gone from just a few minutes of useful life then to virtually not aging today. “In the long-term, as in 20 to 30 years from now, almost everything will be organics,” he said. “Silicon has dominat-ed electronics for a long time but organic is something new.” Organic products have evolved into a variety of ap-plications such as: small OLED displays, OLED televisions, OLED lighting, OPV and organic electronics.

Organics, as opposed to traditional silicon-based semicon-ductors, are by nature essentially lousy semiconductors. Mobility, or the speed at which electrons move on these materials, is a really important property. However, when looking at the electronic properties of semiconductors, car-bon offers interesting developments for the performance of organics. For instance, graphene, which is a carbon-based organic material, has even higher mobility than silicon.

One of the companies Leo co-founded and began oper-ating out of Dresden, Germany in 2003, Novaled, became a leader in in organic light-emitting diode (OLED) field. OLEDs are made up of multiple thin layers of organic ma-terials, known as OLED stacks. They essentially emit light when electricity is applied to them.

Novaled became a pioneer in developing highly efficient and long-lifetime OLED structures; and it currently holds the world record in power efficiency. They key to No-valed’s success, as Leo explained, is “the simple discovery that you can dope organics.” This was a major break-through achieved simply adding a very little amount of another molecule.

This organic conductivity doping technology, used to enhance the performance of OLED devices, was the main factor leading to the company being purchased by Sam-sung in 2013.

Organic photovoltaics: technology of the future

Following the successful commercial penetration of OLED displays in the consumer electronics market, Leo has since turned his focus to organic photovoltaics. “I think organic PV is something that can change the world,” said Leo. Among the many advantages of or-ganic photovoltaics are that they are thin organic layers which can be applied to flexible plastic substrates. They consume little energy, can be made transparent, and are compatible with low-cost, large-area production technologies. Because they are transparent, they can be made into windows for instance, and also be manufac-tured in virtually any color. All these characteristics make organic PV ideal for consumer products.

Again based on basic research conducted by his group, Leo also started a company, Heliatek, which is now a world-leader in the production of organic solar film. Heliatek has developed the current world record in the efficiency of transparent solar cells. The company also holds the record for efficiency of opaque cells at 12 percent. Leo believes that it’s possible to achieve up to 20 percent efficiency in the near future, which will be necessary to compete with silicon and become com-mercially viable.

Don’t believe business plans

Leo explained that the experience he and his team gained from launching a successful company like No-valed helped them to both define the objectives and obtain funding from investors for his solar cell company, Heliatek. “Once you create a successful company, things get much easier,” he said. But Leo also cautioned the budding entrepreneurs in the audience to be willing to adapt as they present and implement their ideas.

“If you have a good idea and you are convinced you have a good idea, never give up,” he said. But being able to adapt to market needs is also crucial. For instance, Leo’s original business plan for Novaled focused on manufac-turing displays. But the realities of the market, and the prohibitive cost of manufacturing displays, convinced his team that the smarter way to go was to supply materials.

“Business plans are useful but they must not be over-estimated,” said Leo. “Business plans are a good indi-cator of how entrepreneurs are able to structure their thoughts, identify markets and create a roadmap, but nobody is able to predict the future in a business plan—it’s not possible.”


It’s been five years since KAUST marine scientists first fitted the whale sharks aggregating in the Red Sea around Al-Lith with satellite tags. But it wasn’t until now that Dr. Michael Berumen, Associate Professor of Marine Science at KAUST, and his team believed they had captured enough data to accurately tell the story of the movement of this Red Sea population. Their results were [DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0103536] published in PLOS ONE.

“Initially, it was a surprise just to discover the aggregation site near Al-Lith. However, we were putting out so many satellite tags and tracking so many sharks that we decided to wait until we had the movement data so we could pres-ent a more comprehensive paper. This is much more useful to researchers interested in the movements of big animals,” Berumen said.

He goes on to say that it is important to note the number of whale sharks involved in their study. The paper presents the data from 47 satellite tags. Previous research on other whale sharks conducted by other groups has typically ranged from single sharks to just a few individuals. The KAUST study is the largest of its kind conducted to date on whale sharks. “The tags are not cheap, they can be difficult to attach to the sharks, and the sharks may be hard to find – so it’s really not surprising that we are lacking some basic information about this species,” he said.

Solving the whale shark mystery one tag at a timeWhile tracking one or two sharks is still valuable informa-tion, Berumen cautions that it may not really tell us what the average whale shark is doing. But with nearly 50 satellite tag tracks from a single location, they can start to talk about the typical movements of the population at Al-Lith, informing future research ultimately intended to protect the majestic creatures. “The motivation to understand the movement of any marine species is frequently related to conservation. If you don’t understand the movement patterns of animals, they are very hard to protect,” Berumen explained.

Berumen estimates there are over 100 whale sharks visiting the site around Al-Lith each year. But what we understand about whale sharks is surprisingly little — especially given their popularity, how much attention they attract, and that they are the world’s largest fish.

“We know almost nothing about their biology. We don’t know where they breed. We don’t know where they give birth. We don’t know where they are except in the limited times of the year within limited places that we know they aggregate. We don’t know exactly how many whale sharks there are in the world because our window is restricted to these aggregations and that’s kind of crazy,” Berumen said.

Whale sharks have remained a mystery in part because of the size of the sea and because they aren’t mammals

like dolphins or whales. In other words, they don’t have to breathe so don’t need to come to the surface. They can stay under water for years at a time. “Even in a place like Al-Lith where we know they exist, if the whale shark is two or three meters under water, we are not likely to see it – even if the water is clear,” Berumen explained.

The team’s tag data and a handful of other studies show that whale sharks spend a lot of time deep in the sea, and are at times more than a thousand meters deep. Away from the known aggregation sites, they seem to spend a lot of time alone. One can imagine that a single whale shark swimming a kilometer underwater in the middle of a very large ocean is extremely hard to study, leading to a huge knowledge gap.

“The aggregation sites may be good areas to feed, or there may be some social aspect that we just can’t detect. Most aggregations seem to have immature animals so it seems unlikely that they are breeding there, but it may be possible that they find future mates there. They may leave, grow up, and reproduce years later when they are mature — we sim-ply don’t know,” Berumen said.

At Al-Lith, the typical “whale shark season” usually begins in the spring in March and extends through May or June. The data Berumen’s team is collecting suggests that most sharks that come to the aggregation site stay in the area for about three weeks. But the team has also learned that not seeing sharks does not mean the sharks have left, because they may be staying below the surface. Using multiple tech-nologies allows the KAUST team to more fully understand the behaviors of the sharks near the aggregation site.

Satellite tag technologyA single satellite tag is a self-contained system with the com-puter, transmitter and all sorts of technology bundled togeth-er. The tag is capable of tracking the shark anywhere in the world and to great depths. “If a shark dove to 3000 meters, the immense pressure could damage or destroy the tag. We do have an option to include a mechanism to release the tag from the animal if it reaches about 1800-2000 meters, but we don’t use it. We tend to take the chance to see how deep the shark will go,” Berumen said.

There are several types of satellite-based tracking technol-ogies. The best accuracy is provided by GPS systems, but the main problem is that GPS signals only travel a few cen-timeters underwater, so tags can’t get a position if they are not at the surface. The GPS network is also only a one-way network. Without another mode of communication from the tag, researchers have to recover a tag to get all the infor-mation off it. Given the scale of movements for animals like whale sharks, recovering tags is very difficult.

The solution to this problem is to use an alternate satel-lite-based system that allows for two-way communications.

The Red Sea is a nursery for

whale sharksBy Michelle Ponto

www.kaust.edu.sa 15

1. Professor Berumen photographing a whale shark in the Red Sea. Photo by KAUST Red Sea Research Center.

Berumen’s team uses the Argos satellite network for the tracking programs. This allows some tags to transmit a signal back to the researchers whenever the whale shark comes to the surface. The same network can be used by the tag to determine its location. “This is great for turtles and dolphins that come to the surface regularly, but the sharks don’t have to surface,” Berumen said.

This is where their second approach for tracking comes in. In addition to satellite signals, some tags record light levels, which can be used in conjunction with an internal clock to figure the time of sunrise and sunset, thus identi-fying an approximate location. And when this is combined with temperature and depth data, the researchers can get a good idea of where the shark is even when not at the surface. But it’s not as accurate as satellite positioning. “We’re talking plus or minus one hundred kilometers, but at least we know whether the shark is in the Red Sea or the Indian Ocean or close to Australia. So light technology works well at a broad scale,” Berumen said.

Each of the various tags kept track of the whale shark and processed information for 6 to 12 months. The tags then disconnect from the shark, float to the surface, and then transmit the information to the Argos satellites. Typically, Berumen and his team will not hear anything from the tags until they “pop off” the shark, sometimes a year later. “Waiting is the hardest part — you put so much effort into deploying a tag, then you have to wait a year or more even just to find out if everything worked as planned,” Berumen says.

The team also tracked some sharks through a simple photo identification approach. “If you look at a whale shark, the spot and stripe pattern they have on their body is very unique. It’s like a fingerprint. Certain software al-lows you to map those dots and stripes to see if that shark has been seen before — and once you know which shark it is, the sighting data can be used as a kind of tracking method,” Berumen said. The researchers use a website called Wildbook for Whale Sharks. On this site, the public is invited to post their photos of whale sharks, along with the date, time and location that they saw the animal, to help build a global database. The major advantage this

approach has compared to electronic tags is that the unique pattern is believed to be stable for the entire life of the shark, so individuals can be re-sighted years later.

The story is just beginningThe publication of their research is not the end of the story about the whale sharks in Al-Lith. It’s just the be-ginning of future studies about why sharks come to a particular place year after year and what role the aggre-gation site plays. “If we learn the Red Sea or the Al-Lith aggregation site is indeed acting as a nursery and the sharks are later leaving to join the bigger adult popula-tion in the Indian Ocean, then Saudi Arabia plays an im-portant role in protecting the juveniles who later become the important adults in the ocean,” said Berumen.

Berumen says he’s excited about the research that is to come. His team is already starting to cooperate with other scientists within the Red Sea Research Center to answer one of the big questions: Why do whale sharks come to Al Lith? “We can look at plankton and see if plankton com-munity changes drive the aggregation. Are there more or different kinds of plankton during that season and is that what brings the whale sharks there? Is there an upwelling system next to the reef that attracts them? Do the ocean-ographic patterns in the region change in that season? These are all interesting hypothesis that we can test because we now know something about the movement of the sharks in the area,” Berumen said.

1


As the Fall 2014 semester continues, students are looking for new challenges and new friends. Many student groups have formed to aid in helping students share interests with others. More than fifty formal groups are now operating at KAUST. These span the spectrum of interests—athletics, theater, social causes, travel and more.

The KAUST Theater Troupe, headed by Daniel Binham, is open to anyone with an interest in theater, plays and acting. This group is pretty flexible, and is willing to take on stu-dent-penned plays—in addition to established works. In the past, they’ve done several of these student plays, An Iliad, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

For those who often find themselves staring off into space, the Amateur Astronomy Association (AAA) might be a good fit. This student-led group holds lectures on Astronomy, and also has regular observation events at KAUST. In previous years, the AAA has held observations for special Astronomy events, such as the transit of Venus, a partial solar eclipse and a partial lunar eclipse. Since 2013, they have also worked with the Office of Enrichment Programs, to organize Astronomy workshops dur-ing WEP. Current projects for the star-gazers include regular trips to the desert for observation and Astrophotography.

The Graduate Association of Musicians (GAM) helps to con-nect musicians and provide a platform for students and com-munity members to practice and perform. Graduate Affairs has been very supportive of this group and has generously pro-vided two music rooms at the Student Center—which are well equipped with a wide range of instruments including: digital pi-ano, acoustic, bass and electric guitars, electric drums, bongos, cajons and electric violin. Student sub-groups have formed from the main group, and play different kinds of music—pop, rock, classical and traditional Latin American folk songs, among other genres. Often, these groups are called upon to per-form at events, such as the year-end gala dinner, the Tuesday Lounge and student orientations. The GAM also provides mu-sic lessons for community members, including children.

The Underwater Photography group has an impressive array of high-caliber photography gear. This group is open to everyone, from beginners to those with more advanced skills. In collabora-tion with another student group, Thuwal Divers, the Underwater Photography group has trips to Jeddah and Yanbu, and longer jaunts to Al Lith and the Farasan Islands.

For more information on all student groups — go to Graduate Events & Recreation, level 2 of the Student Center — or visit http://kaust.collegiatelink.net.

Self-directed groups thriving on campusBy Meres J. Weche

Alex Schultes spent the last decade in Miami, before coming to KAUST. He’s the acting-head of Saudi Graduate Recruitment and Development where his job is to bring the Kingdom’s best and brightest home to pursue graduate and postgrad-

uate study at KAUST.

Alex spent six years at the University of Miami and two years at Northwestern University as part of the

Kellogg school of Management Executive MBA Program. He graduated from UM with a master’s in International Administration, along with an expected Ph.D. in International studies in the works for 2015.

Alex loves lacrosse, a game that has its origins among the Native Ameri-can and First Nation peoples of North America. “In another life, I compet-ed internationally, as a player, and then as a University Athletics coach. Being the product of a liberal intercollegiate sporting environment, I adored giving back to the game that has given me so much over the years. It was a tremendous opportunity to share my passion and knowl-edge with the next generation. It’s my hope that one day in KAUST we will have enough players to form a team.”

He is excited to be part of the dynamic community and he adds, “KAUST is providing me the chance to meld together my two main areas of inter-est when it comes to academic work—International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies.

He describes the Saudi people as some of the most gracious and hospi-table people he has ever encountered, “So many people have gone out of their way to welcome us, and we cannot thank everyone enough.”

Burhannudin Sutisna is a Ph.D. student in Chem-ical Engineering, working at the Nanostructured Polymeric Membrane Lab. He is also a Provost Award winner, an accolade awarded to select stu-

dents in recognition of their outstanding scholastic achievements and personal accomplishments.

Burhan (as he prefers) has a fine academic pedigree, in addition to his Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng)

from TU Eindhoven, in the Netherlands, he also has a M.S. in Chemical and Biological Engineering from KAUST along with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) in Indonesia.

Under the guidance of Prof. Suzana Nunes, Professor of Environmen-tal Science and Engineering at KAUST, Burhan is looking forward to completing his Ph.D. at KAUST. “I am interested in nanotechnology and membranes for water treatment. I am keen to solve problems with water scarcity and poor quality in some parts of the world. I also love teaching.”

Aside from his studies, and as a native of Bandung, West Java, Indone-sia, another passion of Burhan is the playing of his Angklung. A tradition-al Indonesian musical instrument crafted from bamboo. Not only has he travelled across Europe participating in various events, Burhan has also set up his own group here at KAUST, Angklung Ensemble, to share his passion for the Angklung with others.

“I was involved in the establishment of an Angklung group in Eind-hoven, and now here at KAUST, called Angklung Ensemble. I also gave a two week Angklung workshop at the Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) 2014. I taught people how to play various kinds of songs. The participants consisted of both, KAUST staff, students and guests from outside the University.”

“I chose KAUST because of its a multicultural community and its excellent facilities and faculties. I found KAUST to be a young institution, a place striving for innovation, and one which is highly involved in breakthroughs in the area of research that I am interested in, which is membranes.”

My University Alex Schultes

Burhannudin Sutisna

1. A performance by graduate student members of The Musicians Group—one of over 50 self-directed groups on campus.

2014 October Beacon

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