King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
BEACON املنـارة at Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
May 2014 / Rajab 1435 Volume 4, Issue No. 8
the
www.kaust.edu.sa
GCR SYMPOSIUM ENDS WITH INSPIRING POSTER COMPETITION
االجتماع السنوي اخلامس للمجلس االستشاري الصناعي يف جامعة امللك )KIAB( عبداهلل للعلوم والتقنية
President Jean-Lou Chameau, Director of OCRF Teofilo Abrajano, and research scientist John Archer at the poster session
TRIPLE HELIX FRAMEWORK FOR INNOVATION AT WORK
KAUST hosted a two-day event on March 26-27 to recognize and celebrate the University's innovative global alliances first established by the Global Collaborative Research (GCR) program.
IN HIS presentation as part of the 5th annual meeting of the
The GCR program was launched in 2007 and helped introduce the
KAUST Industry Advisory Board (KIAB) in February, H.E.
University to the world by involving over 30 institutions from Asia,
Dr. Abdulrahman M. Al-Ibrahim, Governor, Saline Water
Europe, and North America in the development of KAUST's research
Conservation Corporation (SWCC), emphasized the strategic
programs and infrastructure.
importance of partnerships with KAUST and KAUST Industry
GCR SYMPOSIUM | Continued on p5
Collaboration Program (KICP) partners. KICP includes 34 industry members and five honorary members representing key Saudi quasi-government entities, and is the primary conduit for
KAUST’S TTI OPENS DOORS FOR SCIENTIST’S OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE
engaging industry in collaborative research with faculty. Dr. Al-Ibrahim noted that KAUST and its robust partnerships with industry and organizations like SWCC are key to transferring knowledge and innovation. SWCC is not interested in “black box” solutions, Dr. Al-Ibrahim stated, reiterating the importance of developing human capital to localize and improve on holistic systems. The approach of integrating waste-heat and renewable energydriven desalination demands interdisciplinary, “triple helix” partnerships among industry, academia, and government agencies, he explained, and such collaborations are the hallmark of KAUST, as exemplified by KIAB.
عقد المجلس االستشاري الصناعي لجامعة الملك عبداهلل للعلوم من شهر فبراير27 و26 والتقنية اجتماعه السنوي الخامس بتاريخ بحضور أعضاء المجلس من، في ثول، في مقر الجامعة2014 لعام شركة سعودية27 الشخصيات المحلية و الدولية والذين يمثلون ويعتبر االجتماع الخامس.ال عن خمس قطاعات حكومية ً ودولية فض للمجلس حدثا مهمًا للنهوض باألبحاث التي تتم في جامعة الملك ويهدف. إضافة إلى التطوير التعاوني لنتائج هذه األبحاث،عبداهلل المجلس إلى تقوية واستمرارية الشراكات المثمرة بين القطاع البحثي واألكاديمي وأنشطة وأهداف التنمية االقتصادية والقطاع الصناعي من خالل تبادل األفكار والخبرات والمساهمة في تطوير .اقتصاد المملكة العربية السعودية و تخلل اجتماع هذا العام العديد من حلقات النقاش والعروض التي قدمها أعضاء هيئة التدريس في جامعة الملك عبداهلل كما تميز بإتاحة الفرصة.وممثلي الشركات الصناعية المشاركة ألعضاء المجلس للتفاعل والحوار ليس فقط مع اإلدارة العليا ولكن أيضا مع أعضاء المجلس اآلخرين،لجامعة الملك عبداهلل لو شامو- وهو ما أشار اليه رئيس جامعة الملك عبد اهلل جانبأنه أحد الجوانب المهمة في هذا االجتماع مؤكدًا ضرورة تفعيله في االجتماعات القادمة وإتاحة المزيد من فرص التواصل بين .المنظمات والقطاعات المشاركة 4 تتمه صفحة
TRIPLE HELIX | Continued on p4
SQUEEGEE METHOD LETS TEAM SEE TINY CRYSTALS FORM
Craig Kapfer
DR. ARAM Amassian, Assistant Professor
and the resulting liquid is spread on a flat
KAUST’s first open-source product, KUBE, was developed
of Materials Science and Engineering,
surface using a squeegee-like contraption.
by Craig Kapfer in collaboration with his team in IT. KUBE
and a team of KAUST and international
The trailing liquid dries, leaving behind a
is a benchmarking framework for analyzing performance of
scientists recently published a paper in
remarkably well-ordered, highly continuous
software applications and systems. It is a Linux application
Nature Communications describing a novel
thin film with unusual structures and unique
designed to reliably benchmark systems over time. The metrics
crystallization process of organic molecules
electrical properties.
used to measure a given application or system are user-
(doi:10.1038/ncomms4573). This process
defined, allowing the user to test for performance, accuracy,
has potentially wide-ranging applications
and scalability.
in the electronics, pharmaceutical, and
and developed KUBE while in the IT department. He’s also
Their paper explains the production of
one of the recent scientists to have a technology licensed via
“strained organic semiconductors,” a type of
Researchers have created a novel way to do time-lapse studies of crystallization Crystallization that could lead to more flexible and captured on camera effective electronic displays, circuits, and pharmaceutical drugs. Bao’s research team wanted to understand
KAUST’s Technology Transfer and Innovation (TTI) department.
organic semiconductor which may lead to
how the process she pioneered created such
Kapfer recently joined the Computational Bioscience Research
the creation of high performance, low-cost,
Stanford Professor of Chemical Engineering
an electronically useful crystal lattice. To
Center, where he plans to continue using KUBE.
flexible, and transparent electronic devices
Dr. Zhenan Bao discovered strained organic
do this, they sought the expertise of Prof.
and displays on large area substrates.
Kapfer joined KAUST in 2010 as a Computational Scientist,
“I’ve worked on many other types of software in the past, but this is the first one that has gone from initial concept to an official licensed open source release,” said Kapfer. KAUST’S TTI | Continued on p3
INSIDE:
News 1-3
food industries.
semiconductors several years ago, when
Amassian, who specializes in studying
To produce the semiconductors, organic
she demonstrated that they were among the
the formation of organic thin films for
molecules are dissolved into a solution
fastest plastic electronics at the time. Dr.
electronics and solar energy.
“SQUEEGEE” METHOD | Continued on p7
Research 4-7
Community 8