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King Abduallah University of Science and Technology

Research Overview

Research Lead:  Tom DeFanti, Principal Investigator, GreenLight, Research Scientist, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Calit2

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia is a new international, graduate-level research university dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the Kingdom that will also benefit the region and the world. KAUST is the realization of a decades-long vision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

KAUST contracted with Calit2 CyberInfrastructure and Advanced visualization teams led by Tom DeFanti at UCSD to design and deploy advanced IT and Visualization Showcase resources for their University, using best practices gleaned from similar UCSD projects, including GreenLight. As such many GreenLight experiences have contributed to the design for initial prototypes at KAUST.

The University, which is merit-based and open to men and women from around the world, adheres to these founding principles:

• Create an international community of scholars dedicated to advanced science.
• Welcome leaders in science, technology, commerce, business, and education through appointments and partnerships.
• Provide researchers the freedom to be creative and experiment.
• Embody the highest international standards of scholarship, research, education, and learning.
• Provide unfettered access to information and share knowledge, skills, and expertise to achieve economic growth and prosperity.
• Nurture and protect freedom of research, thought, and discourse relating to scholarly work

KAUST will pursue its research agenda through four strategic research thrusts that focus on areas of science and technology that are important to Saudi Arabia, the region, and the world:

• Resources, Energy and Environment;
• Biosciences and Bioengineering;
• Materials Science and Engineering;
• Applied Mathematics and Computational Science.

Calit2 and GreenLight researchers worked on KAUST activities during Year 1 and worked at KAUST on initial designs from August 11 - September 15, 2009 , and are currently continuing KAUST related research in Year 2. Calit2 staff traveled again to Saudi Arabia to help set up the KAUST Visualization Showcase area January 25 - February 4, 2010. They also traveled to Saudi Arabia to participate in the KAUST Winter Enrichment Program (all KAUST specific efforts and travel was funded by KAUST).

GreenLight engagements with KAUST include

• The GreenLight virtual model can be seen on the KAUST funded NexCAVE.
• The KAUST strategic research thrust focus toward conserving resources, energy, and the environment is directly in line with what GreenLight outreach goals.
• We are working with KAUST to establish a student summer internship at UCSD to work on GreenLight-related research in June.
• KAUST copied and implemented the GreenLight-proven Avocet power distribution unit (PDU) strategy for all displays and computers in their Showcase. This provides monitoring of energy usage via Ethernet queries, as well as sophisticated electronics for isolating the equipment from the surge effects of power interruptions.