8
Community
April 2013
The Beacon
Earth Hour, a Global Initiative to Save Our Planet On Saturday, March 23, KAUST joined Earth Hour 2013 to raise awareness about our planet’s environmental issues, sustainability, and climate change. Earth Hour is a worldwide event organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The first event was held in Sydney, Australia, in 2007, and it has grown
photo of the month "This photo was taken on Earth Day to show KAUST’s efforts to help promote global awareness about saving our environment. Turning the lights off for just one hour all over the globe makes a big difference.”
Photo by Ronald M. Serato, KAUST IT Department
ever since. This year’s event was adopted by a global community of more than 150 countries. KAUST has taken part in the event every year since its inauguration. This year, the Facilities & Community Department helped community members take part by broadcasting several documentaries in Discovery Square. The films included “Earth Hour,” the award-winning documentary film “An Inconvenient Truth,” and a feature of a KAUST project, “Ideal House.” The Ideal House, a KAUST green building, is designed to reduce the overall impact of the building’s environment on human health and the natural environment by using energy, water, and other resources efficiently and by reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation. The day’s activities culminated in Earth Hour. From 8:30 to 9:30 p.m., the KAUST website was dimmed, and all unnecessary lights were turned off in the community.
my university Ahmad Showall
Ahmad. After completing his studies, he hopes to join the faculty ranks of one of the Saudi
Ahmad Jameel Showall is one of the University’s founding students. He
universities to share the fruits of his experience at KAUST and to push higher education devel-
earned his master’s degree at the first graduating ceremony in 2010 and
opment in Saudi Arabia.
is currently pursuing his PhD in Computer Science. As a member of the
Ahmad participated in several internships over the last few years. He interned at Texas A&M
Networking Lab (NetLab), Ahmad’s research focuses on wireless networks,
University in 2011 where he initiated a project called SmartBelt, which is a comprehensive Hajj
specifically on finding the optimal buffer size in multi-hop wireless networks.
pilgrimage solution using Wireless Sensor Networks. In 2010, he conducted a research project at
Ahmad left a position as a system engineer in 2009 to join KAUST.
Oxford University’s e-Research Center. The main goal of the project was to enable multi-level
“Working in an industrial business is really nice, but I missed the human
parallelism in Parallel MATLAB. Ahmad was also an intern at Saudi Aramco, working with the
touch. I love to interact with people, so I decided to go into academia and
medical computer services group within the IT department to support chronically ill patients.
pursue a PhD in order to have the opportunity to teach students and help them develop,” said
Accolades for SRSI Graduates
Annas AlFadda – 4th place
Hanan Wali – 4th place
Mentor: Dr. John Archer
Mentor: Professor Xabier Irigoien
Congratulations to 20 KAUST Saudi Research Science Institute (SRSI) alumni who won top positions in the Research
Nawaf AlHowaish – 4th place
Shyma AlHuwaider – 4th place
Track for male and female students at the IBDA’A National
Mentor: Professor Vivek Polshettiwar
Mentor: Professor Christian Claudel
Bader AlMubarak – 5th place
Sarah AlSawaf – 5th place
Mentor: Professor Jörg Eppinger
Mentor: Professor Kuo-Wei (Andy) Huang
Olympiad held in Riyadh on March 20. Over 5500 high schools participated in the competition. The SRSI program is managed by Saudi Initiatives, under the leadership of Dr. Najah Ashry, VP, Saudi Initiatives, and is designed to inspire a select group of talented Saudi high
Ahmed Halawani –6th place
Yara Jan – 5th place
school students to pursue careers in science, technology, engi-
Mentor: Professor Iman Roqan
Mentor: Professor Christoph Gehring
in a rigorous program of lectures, research, and intensive aca-
Ammar AlAmeer – 6th place
Arwa AlAngry – 6th place
demic writing. The goal is to develop budding young scientists
Mentor: Professor Osman Bakr
Mentor: Professor Udo Schwingenschlögl
neering, and mathematics. For six weeks, students are engaged
as a resource pool of talent for the Kingdom. The program has been held at KAUST in the summers of 2011 and 2012 and now
Mohammed Lahiq – 6th place
Lujain AlHibshi – 6th place
has 65 alumni. Forty more inquisitive students will take part in
Mentor: Professor Mohammad Mustafa Hussain
Mentor: Professor Kazuhiro Takanabe
SRSI this coming summer from June 11-July 26. Acknowledgement and thanks go to the KAUST professors and research scientists who have invested their hard work and
Hamad AlEidi – 6th place Mentor: Professor Aram Amassian
efforts into mentoring students’ projects each year, enabling them to achieve these excellent results. The 20 winners are:
Redah Al Ibrahim – 6th place Mentor: Professor Aram Amassian
Research Track
Research Track
Males, 11 winners
Females, 9 winners
Abdullah Bukhamsin – 2nd place
Reem AlRabiah – 1st place
Mentor: Professor Nina Fedoroff
Mentor: Professor Christian Voolstra
Nawaf AlFawzan – 3rd place
Sheikha AlShuwaish – 2nd place
Mentor: Professor Jörg Eppinger
Mentor: Professor Jürgen Kosel
Ammar AlKhouli – 4th place
Alma AlHussaini – 4th place
Mentor: Professor Xabier Irigoien
Mentor: Professor Gilles Lubineau