Speakers

Dr, Abdullah Almojel joined KAUST in August 2008 as Vice President, University Relations. In December 2009, he was named Vice President, University Development reporting directly to the Executive Vice President of Finance and Administration. Dr. Almojel is an engineer and university educator with 11 years of experience as a cultural ambassador and manager of international students. He has taught at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, where he holds an associate professorship in computer engineering. He had previously served as department chairman. Dr. Almojel joined KAUST from the Saudi Ministry of Higher Education, where he served for eight years as Deputy Minister for Cultural Relations. In that post, he organized scientific and cultural relations between Saudi universities and institutions, including top international book fairs and exhibitions. In addition, he was the General Supervisor of the King Abdullah Scholarship Program, which grants scholarships to more than 18,000 Saudi students who wish to study at top universities abroad. Dr. Almojel managed two dozen Saudi Arabian cultural missions and attachés overseas where Saudi students abroad report. Dr. Almojel earned his doctorate in computer engineering and science at The George Washington University (1997), in Washington, D.C., where he majored in computer engineering and architecture. His dissertation was partially supported by the Center of Excellence in Space Data and Information Sciences (CESDIS) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He holds a masters in Computer Science from the University of Denver (1991), in the United States, and a bachelor's in Computer Engineering from King Saud University (1987) in Saudi Arabia. He was a Visiting Research Scholar at Advanced Parallel Architecture Lab of George Washington University (May 1997 – June 1998). He has published more than 40 papers and technical research reports in peer-reviewed publications, and given more than 80 technical and professional presentations, lectures, seminars, and invited talks in many prestigious international and regional conferences and symposiums, forums, and workshops. His research interests are similar to KAUST’s areas of research, including high-performance computing, parallel processing and architecture, performance evaluation and workload characterization, Grand Challenge N-body problems, interdisciplinary information systems, intelligent multimedia database systems, Internet computing, and e-government applications and technologies. He was heavily involved on several Joint NSF-NASA Initiatives on Evaluation (JNNIE) projects under the auspices of the NASA High-Performance Computing and Communications Program. In one research effort, Dr. Almojel evaluated the performance and architecture of parallel supercomputers such as the Cray T3D and C90, Intel Paragon, IBM SP-2, and Thinking Machines CM-5. He was a Research Assistant at Center of Excellence in Space Data & Information Sciences (CESDIS), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (1993 –1997). Dr. Almojel holds many academic and scientific honors including a Scientific Award from the Center of Excellence in Space Data and Information Sciences (CESDIS) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. He is a fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Salzburg Global Seminar, and the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies. He is also a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the IEEE Computer Society, Association for Computing Machinery, the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), the Saudi Computer Society (SCS), and the Saudi Society for Technology and Development Transfer (SSTDT).

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from HPC - Research Computing to Economic Development in Saudi Arabia Current : Computational Scientist at Research Computing at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology Previous : as a Sales Development Director at Sun Microsystems, Convex and Kendall Square Research as an HPC Specialist at INRIA as a Geophysicist at Schlumberger and Total Education Post Msc : Specialization, Geophysics and Parallel Computing at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Dr. Alyn P. Rockwood is Associate Director of the Geometric Modeling and Scientific Visualization Research Center, and Professor of Applied Mathematics at KAUST. At the pioneering graphics company Evans and Sutherland, he led a team that first achieved certification from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a pilot training simulator, which allowed pilots to train completely for new aircraft on a simulator. At Silicon Graphics, Inc, he developed the method for rendering curved surfaces in real time that is integral to OpenGL today. These and other innovations led the Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques (ACM SIGGRAPH), the premier organization in computer graphics, to appoint him as Research Papers Chair in 1999 and Conference Chair in 2003. Recently, as vice president, he led a multi-million-dollar initiative to create the new conference, SIGGRAPH in Asia. Dr. Rockwood has been in academics at Arizona State University and Colorado School of Mines, where he was Assistant Head of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and Director of Graduate Studies. He has received several teaching awards, the COFES 2007 Innovation in Technology Award, and the CAD Society "Heroes of Engineering" Award. His current research is focused on developing new modeling techniques for industrial design and animation, volume meshing for FE analysis, a new basis for image processing, and engineering applications of Clifford Algebra. Dr. Rockwood has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles, secured six patents, co-founded three successful start-up companies and written three books, including one novel.

Dr. Amro M. Elshurafa received his BEng (with distinction), MASc, and PhD degrees all in electrical engineering from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2002, 2005 and 2008 respectively. During his graduate education, Dr. Elshurafa was the holder of the prestigious Canadian Network of Centers of Excellence on Microelectronics (MICRONET) scholarship during the academic year 2007-2008 which is funded by the Federal Government and Industry of Canada. He was invited to write an application note to the Canadian Microelectronic Corporation (CMC Microsystems) regarding the compatibility between L-Edit and COMSOL, which later became a most downloaded document for two consecutive months in 2008. His journal paper published in the IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems (JMEMS) in February 2012 introducing RF MEMS Fractal Capacitors has also been among the top 10 most accessed articles in March 2012 for JMEMS. Further, his research published in the Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering was also featured on High Beam Research and Electronics Newsweekly. He is the author of nearly 30 publications and patents. A certified six sigma black belter, an ISO9000 certified internal quality auditor, Dr. Elshurafa is a registered professional engineer in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. Immediately following his PhD, Dr. Elshurafa joined the Sensors Lab at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia, as a post doctoral fellow where he still remains.

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Creative media professional with 11+ years experience producing audiovisual content and 8+ years managing AV media production for scientific documentation at the University of California, San Diego. At UCSD, she instructed university multimedia classes, managed university computer science and video production staff and students to create interactive software and audio-video for web projects developed for education outreach. Now she is working as a digital media production engineer developing video content for researchers at KAUST.

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Attab Haddad holds a degree in Business Management, a diploma in Sound Engineering, as well as a Master’s degree with Distinction in Music Performance. He studied the oud with Ahmed Mukhtar in London, and with Nihad El-Sayed and the renowned virtuoso Naseer Shamma at the Arab Oud House in Cairo. He has collaborated with many artists in many genres (e.g., Juan Martin, Cerys Matthews, Max Baillie, John Metcalfe, Eugene Skeef, Clara Sanabras, Ramon Ruiz) as co- composer, producer, musician and session player and was featured as a guest on various albums. He is a key member of the contemporary-and-classical crossover group The Sabina Rakcheyeva Ensemble, as well as being a founding member of the Flamenco fusion band, Alcazaba. Haddad’s work has been featured on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 6, BBC Radio Scotland, SOAS Radio and Resonance FM, as well as on various Middle Eastern and Turkish TV Channels. He has performed in the UK, Europe, the USA, the Middle East and India to much acclaim. In April 2010 he was the subject of an hour-long documentary on Arabic TV Channel AL-Fayhaa that highlighted his innovative new approach to the oud. In 2008 he founded the Attab Haddad Quintet which plays his own compositions, drawing on Middle Eastern music, Flamenco, Jazz and contemporary music creating a unique sound. The Quintet has been very well received and has appeared live on BBC Radio as well as playing at some of London’s finest venues including Cadogan Hall where they were the closing act at the London Jazz Festival in 2011. The Quintet released their first CD, ‘Days Distinctive,’ on the 30th of January 2012, on Weave Records to a great response from critics. Haddad has also worked within the spheres of dance, television and film, and has written musical scores for The Jean Abreau Dance Company and co-written Dialogo with violinist, Max Baillie. Haddad's film and TV credits include session work on Paul Gladstone-Reid's music for Isaac Julien's Phantom Creole, numerous collaborations with TV composer David Lowe, and session work on James Newton Howard's music for Ed Zwick's film, Blood Diamond, starring Leonardo Di Caprio and Jennifer Connelly, as well as various documentaries and TV programs. He also writes music for adverts and corporate ad campaigns with sound engineer Lee Sparey, recently completing the music for Pampers' TV ad campaign during Ramadan in the Middle East and Far East.

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Bianca has a degree in Astronomy from UT Austin, USA. She specialized in instrumentation and participated in the building of the infrared spectroscope TEXES, used on the 2.7-meter H.J. Smith Telescope at McDonald Observatory, West Texas, and Hawaiiﾒs Mauna Kea on NASA IR-Telescope Facility. She worked in stellar evolution as a research scientist at the University Sergio Arboleda in Bogota, Colombia. BB has experience conducting stargazing trips, including one during WEP 2013.

William ("Brier") Tomlinson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Haverford College, and a Masters in Architecture from Carnegie Mellon University. He is licensed in New York State and in California, and holds a current California registration. He is an architect and planner, with 30 years of practice and broad experience in related design fields, especially landscape design and interior design. His initial professional experience was with Fisher-Friedman Associates, an architecture and planning firm in San Francisco specializing in high density low rise housing. Beginning in 1986 and continuing through 2002, he worked for Innocenti & Webel in Locust Valley, New York, a firm with a celebrated history in landscape architecture which also grew to include planning, architecture, and interior design. For that firm he did high profile conceptual and design work on many important and high profile projects and clients. These included a sculpture garden for the Smithsonian's Cooper Hewitt Museum, National Design Museum in New York City; landscape concepts for the on-site Museum at the BMW North American Assembly Plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina; planning, architecture, and landscape architecture improvements for the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia; concept and planning work for a proposed refit of the HMS Queen Elizabeth, as well as for the Q5, a project for a new transatlantic liner. In recent years the focus of his work has been providing architectural services to Tucker & Marks, Inc, a leading interior design company in San Francisco with a specialty in high-end residential design. His work for them has been varied, with projects ranging from the complete interior architecture of large houses to the design of light fixtures and furniture. His concurrent work has been in the area of virtual worlds, with a focus on content creation for Second Life; that body of work makes him, quite possibly, the most experienced and prolific architect creating high quality content in the area of virtual worlds. He has designed and created projects for academic institutions, including a large events venue for the University of Western Australia, and, with David Denton, a teaching installation for the University of New Mexico. His entry to the University of Western Australia's Flagship Challenge, to design the UWA Cultural Precinct Flagship Building, took first prize. His projects for individuals and virtual businesses have ranged from elegant and meticulous compositions in traditional styles, to gritty futuristic and science fiction environments with evocative atmospherics.

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Catherine Newman has a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and has been working as a product designer for the past 4 years. Her work has been published in design magazine ReadyMade and she is currently the head mechanical designer at San Francisco-based company, Streetline Networks

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Chris Breward completed his BA, MSc and DPhil at the University of Oxford. His doctoral thesis was on the Mathematics of Foams. Following two years at the University of Sheffield studying the mathematics of vascular tumour growth, he returned to Oxford to a part admin, part research role as Research Facilitator. He became a full-time academic in October 2008 when OCCAM was launched.

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Cornelia is a marine ecologist working as Postdoc at the Red Sea Research Center in KAUST. Before studying Red Sea coral reefs, she have participated in coral reef projects on Bermuda, in Costa Rica, Thailand and China. Cornelia's main interest is in reef metabolism, reef-water interactions and the effects of changing environmental conditions on reefs. Cornelia has been a Reef Check scientist since 2006 and have conducted Reef Check workshops in Egypt since then.

Corry Moriarty (BA, DM, B.Ed. MA) is a music, drama and creative movement educator with a focus on inquiry-based learning and integrated curriculum. She is also a musician who has performed internationally in a variety of musical ensembles. She is a vocalist, arranger, and director and plays guitar, piano, percussion, and ukelele. Since 1999, she has been working with children and teachers in collaborative inquiry projects that offer a variety of ‘languages’ to artistically and performatively explore and express their understandings of the world around them. Various teaching positions and/or speaking engagements have taken her to Dubai, China, Hong Kong, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Canada, and the Solomon Islands. She is currently the PYP Performing Arts teachers at The KAUST School in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.

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Daniel is a PhD student in Mathematics. He likes playing table tennis and (to a lesser extent) badminton, squash and tennis.

David Denton, a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology, is an architect and urban planner with over 30 years of experience in the field. He started his career as a volunteer teaching architecture in the Peace Corps in Tunisia and was an exchange student in the IAESTE program working as an urban planner in Harlow New Town, UK. He was the design partner for the San Francisco firm of Whistler Patri responsible for numerous large scale commercial projects including the well known San Francisco Center. Before starting his own design firm in Los Angeles in 1997 he was the managing partner of the internationally renowned firm, Frank Gehry and Associates. He was directly involved in many of the well-known buildings produced by that office such as the Walt Disney Concert Hall. His own design practice for the last four years has incorporated the use of the virtual world in architectural design and urban planning projects. He was one of the first architects to use Second Life as a design tool for a real life project, a shopping center now under construction in Cairo Egypt. He cofounded the Project K2 C with his Egyptian colleague, Dr. Amr Attia inspired by Pres. Barack Obama's speech in Cairo in which he outlined his vision of Internet collaboration between students in Kansas and Cairo. The project brings together in collaboration American and Egyptian architecture students on architecture and planning projects of mutual interest. This project is currently being funded by the US State Department and is being expanded. The students collaborate in the virtual world through their personalized avatars. He also has designed several projects in the virtual world for universities that will be utilized as teaching tools for children. Current clients in the Virtual World include The McKinsey Company, Stanford University Library, University of Southern California, University of New Mexico and Santa Barbara City College. His innovative work in the virtual world has been featured in several publications including the Architectural Record and the New York Times. His work has also been selected to be archived in the permanent collections of Stanford University and the Library of Congress as innovative work in the early development of the virtual world. Currently he is designing a multi-media installation to be built on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. His lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. DavidDenton.com daviddenton@earthlink.net

Professor Keyes is the director of the Extreme Computing Research Center at KAUST. He earned a BSE in Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences from Princeton University in 1978 and a PhD in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in 1984. Prof Keyes works at the interface between parallel computing and the numerical analysis of partial differential equations. Before joining KAUST as a founding dean in 2009, he led DOE scalable solver software projects and taught at Columbia University and Yale.

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Chemical Life Sciences and Engineering Material Sciences and Engineering Applied Mathematics and Computational Sciences

Started playing Guitar at an Early age . Studied Classical Guitar at Wits University. Bmus in Performance and Composition. Became interested in Jazz and studied with Jazz Legend Johnny Fourie. Influences include Joe Pass, Jim Hall, Bill Evans ,Pat Martino, Carlos Santana, Gary Moore.

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Ms. Erica T. Jolly has been teaching English as a Foreign Language, English for Business, English for Specific Purposes and English for Academic purposes now for over 18 years in 9 different countries, on 4 different continents. Immediately prior to working at KAUST she was teaching at universities in Nottingham and Hull in the UK. Her MA in English Language Teaching Is from the University of Reading in England. Ms. Jolly also has a background in the sciences, with a Bachelors degree in Mathematics.

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61 years old, born in Milan (Italy), lives and works in Rome in both English and Italian. He is married with three children. He is a gastronomical critic and works directly with the director general of the RAI (Radio Televisione Italiana, the Italian national TV network). He is a member of the managing committee of the prestigious restaurant guide of the Italian magazine L’Espresso. He is also a member of the editorial committee of “Limes”, the geopolitical Italian magazine. He collaborates with various other publications. From January 2008 to July 2009 he is director of the RAISAT GAMBERO ROSSO TV channel, which is the leading channel on food and wine. From March 2004 he is vice president “ad personam” at the TG2 TV channel and prepares a series on Wine, Food and Ecology in Italy. From September 2002-2003 he is in charge of the weekly RAI1 TV LINEA VERDE, which is a very popular show on agriculture in Italy. In the first part of his life as a journalist, he was an international news editor, first at “La Repubblica” (one of Italy’s major newspaper) and then as an anchorman at the CANALE 5 TV channel. During these years he travelled extensively and covered many important international events, like the presidential elections in the US or regional conflicts. In 1996 he was the PR in charge of RAI’s relationship to international institutions.

I was born in Lima, Peru. Since I was a child andean music was very common at home because my parents were born in beautiful towns in the peruavian Andes. I start learning music in high school. During my undergraduate studies, I joined the University Center for Folklore, where I learnt peruvian music y an academic way. I play quena (peruvian quena), zampoña (panflute), andean guitar and charango. Currently I am playing in the latin american folk music group in KAUST.

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Hong Kong University (HKUST) (Cosmology, Origins of the universe).

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I am a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Collaborative Applied Mathematics (OCCAM), at the University of Oxford and visiting researcher to the Complex Fluids Laboratory, Princeton.

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Igor Ustinov (sculptor) Born in London the 30 of April 1956 From French, Canadian and Russian descent, he studied in several countries, before entering the Paris Beaux –Arts where he majored from in 1980, in parallel he studies biology at the University of Paris 7 and at the conservatory. In 1980, His first exhibition took place in New York and at the Paul Richard foundation in Paris, since then he has had numerous exhibitions in Europe, north America, and Russia and has created public monuments in France, Switzerland, Great Britain, Bulgaria…..etc. In 1998 he had a retrospective around his monument “Subsistance” in Paris, and is also on the board of several non-profit humanitarian ventures. And has been for the past 16 years on the board of ADAGP where he contributes to defend the interest of authors. As an artist he is well aware of the fragility of authors in this demanding world, so he is committed in the necessity to protect “the Artist”. To know more visit www. Igorustinov.com

Professor James Calvin is Vice President for Academic Affairs at KAUST. He began his relationship with the University as the Director of one of the KAUST Global Research Partnership Research Centers, the Institute for Applied Mathematics and Computational Science (IAMCS) at Texas A&M University. Professor Calvin has since served as a Visiting Professor, Acting Associate Provost and Acting Provost before taking on the role of Vice President for Academic Affairs.

James McDonald is a writer, and has written a books on a range of subjects. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London in 1990, having travelled extensively in South and Central Asia. He is the châtelain of a late medieval castle in the South of France. More athttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_McDonald_(writer)

Kyoto University, Earthquake Hazards Division.

An experienced Lean Six Sigma practitioner at Master Black Belt level. Have trained approximately 1000 individuals in Lean Six Sigma in the United States, Great Britain, France, Scandinavia and Saudi Arabia. Highly experienced in lean six sigma program deployment in manufacturing and service organizations in both the public and private sectors. Have lead the implemention of the lean six sigma initiative at KAUST. Over 110 Green Belts trained to date.

Jamil Salmi is a global tertiary education expert providing policy advice and consulting services to several governments, universities, multilateral banks and bilateral agencies. Until January 2012, he was the World Bank’s tertiary education coordinator. He wrote the first World Bank policy paper on higher education in 1994 and was the principal author of the Bank’s 2002 Tertiary Education Strategy entitled “Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges for Tertiary Education”. In the past twenty years, Dr. Salmi has provided policy advice on tertiary education development, financing reforms and strategic planning to governments and university leaders in more than 80 countries all over the world. Dr. Salmi is a member of the international advisory board of several universities in Europe, Asia and Latin America. He is also a member of the International Advisory Network of the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, and the Editorial Committee of OECD’s Journal of Higher Education Management and Policy. Between 2008 and 2011, he represented the World Bank on the Governing Board of the International Institute for Educational Planning. Dr. Salmi’s 2009 book addresses the “Challenge of Establishing World-Class Universities”. His latest book, co-edited with Professor Phil Altbach, entitled “The Road to Academic Excellence: the Making of World-Class Research Universities”, was published in September 2011.

American artist Janet Echelman reshapes urban airspace with monumental, fluidly moving sculpture that responds to environmental forces including wind, water and sunlight. Drawing inspiration from both ancient craft and modern technology, incorporating materials from woven fiber to atomized mist, these seemingly living and breathing installations invite residents to participate and immerse themselves with the art – inviting viewers to have a personal dialogue and dynamic relationship with art and place. Her recent US exhibition, As If It Were Already Here, a monumental aerial installation suspended over Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway, soars 600 feet through the air, above street traffic and pedestrian park. Sculpture Magazine qualified Echelman’s work as “one of the truly significant public artworks in recent years”.

A recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Harvard University Loeb Fellowship, a Fulbright Lectureship, and the Aspen Institute Crown Fellowship, Echelman’s TED Talk “Taking Imagination Seriously” has been translated into 34 languages, and with more than one million views to date. She was named an Architectural Digest Innovator for “changing the very essence of urban spaces” and received the Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award in Visual Arts in 2014. Echelman is among nine leading contemporary artists chosen for the inaugural exhibition, WONDER, at the Smithsonian Museum’s newly designed Renwick Gallery in Washington, DC.

Water Environment Federation Fellow International Water Association Fellow American Academy of Environmental Engineers Board Certified CH2M HILL Senior Fellow (highest honor for a CH2M HILL Technologist) CH2M HILL International Water Sustainability Director Active in the profession, Mr. Witherspoon serves in leadership positions for several national and international industry, research, and public groups, delivers keynote speeches at international conferences, represented clients, professional associations (Water Environment Federation (WEF), International Water Association (IWA), Australian Research Council (ARC), California’s TRI-TAC Group and Association of Sanitary Agencies (CASA), and Water Environment Research Foundation (WERF)) at North American and international conferences, in industry working groups, and through public information sharing outreach activities, mentors water sustainability and eco-cities professionals around the world, and led several WEF and IWA water sustainability committees and community of practices. He is also a recognized international research principal investigator for WERF and ARC and has completed several strategic and significant applied research grants that has better industry knowledge in water sustainability, odour and air quality, and biosolids management that has led to significant changes in traditional assessment, modeling, and control practices and modifications to the way wastewater, biosolids, waste management sites, and odour and air quality emissions are processed, handled, reused/recycled, and treated. As a WERF Principal Investigator on six major research grants, he included international team and university members along with US and International POTWs members, universities, equipment manufacturers, industry, and utilities to leverage global knowledge through the investigation of a global problem. Past Masdar City Technology Director and Programme Manager, he developed technology innovations roadmap to meet city vision, issued business plans and business cases for on-site R&D programme, and implemented several water-energy-carbon-transporation nexus applied R&D projects. As CH2M HILL's International Water Sustainability Director, leads a global team focused on providing international best practices and technology innovations to assist the world in solving their water needs, set up and operates a wate4r sustainability centre of excellence, and has worked, managed, and/or consulted on most of CH2M HILL's largest water sustainability focused projects, programmes, and strategies.

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Approximately 30 years experience as a career counselor and job placement specialist. Primary experience working with post secondary students in the USA and UAE.

Jessica Bouwmeester is a post-doctoral fellow in the Reef Ecology Lab, Red Sea Research Center

World percussionist Joëlle Barker is one of the UK's finest. She is a graduate of the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies who first started playing in Egyptian bands under the wing of Ibrahim El Minyawi and gurus of his ilk. She now specializes in Middle Eastern percussion, using frame drums in particular, being an endorser of 'Cooperman' drums. Joëlle also plays cajon in bands such as TG Collective, congas in Del Camino, and drums in ADO (Alternative Dubstep Orchestra). She has toured internationally with people such as Yasmin Levy, Celloman and oud player, Attab Haddad. Joëlle also has her own duo, Barker & Moon, and a new electronic band called Jolt! Joëlle has also been involved in theatre, doing a season at the Royal Shakespeare Company and with the Birmingham Royal Ballet. She currently teaches percussion in her hometown of Birmingham, UK.

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John Lipor is currently a master's student in Electrical Engineering at KAUST. His research focus is on multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) radar.

U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica. MAT from School for International Training, Brattleboro Vermont. Lived and taught in Italy, Jamaica, South Korea, Spain, France, Saudi Arabia and Mexico. Explored and studied Saudi Arabia's caves from 1981 to present. Spent four years with Saudi Geological Survey in cave-related projects. Presently teaches English at the Monterrey Tec University, Guadalajara, Mexico.

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Kathryn Furby is a research assistant at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. Her research is currently centered on coral population dynamics and environmental monitoring. Previously, she has worked on shark movement, elasmobranch sensory research, public aquarium impacts on conservation, and the biogeochemistry of coral stress. She received her Bachelor's degree in biology from Bennington College in Vermont.

Dr. Takanabe's research interests include the development of novel nano-materials for a variety of energy-conversion reactions for sustainable development, from conventional methane conversion to photocatalytic hydrogen production. His research is focused on understanding the reaction mechanisms involved in catalytic processes using rigorous kinetic and isotopic analyses and using spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques.

Marketing & Communications Manager at Safaa Golf Club & Academy. My KAUST birthday in 5th June 2011, the same as my actual birthday

Lisa Rowland is a San Francisco-based improvisor and a member of BATS Improv, and Improv Playhouse of San Francisco. She is also a founding member of Awkward Dinner Party, and was voted Best Actor in the Bay Area in the SF Bay Guardian for 2012. In addition to performing, Lisa has been a teacher of improv for nearly ten years, teaching improv to students of all ages and experience levels. She coaches high school improv teams in the San Francisco Bay Area and is also is a trainer for improv-based workshops for professional teams. She has worked with organizations such as Google, Oracle, Stanford University and Genentech. She's been lucky enough to travel all over the country and the world doing improv, and is pleased to be coming back for a second year teaching as a part of WEP at KAUST.

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Working in KAUST since the startup (2009) and actively involved in the community activities.

Inventor and founder of Eole Water

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I am a scientist researching the area of feedstocks and biorenewables for SABIC-CRI. My interests lie with understanding pathways on cellular and molecular levels.

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Matt Ridley began playing bass guitar at age 15 and after a matter of months decided that music would be his chosen career. After completing his A level exams, he went on to study at the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, where he graduated with distinction and was awarded the ‘Bass Guitar Student of the Year’ award. He developed an interest in Jazz and went on to obtain a degree in Jazz Studies at Trinity College of Music. Under the tutelage of Steve Watts and Corin Long, he began studying double bass and jazz in earnest. He graduated in 2005, winning the Trinity College of Music ‘Friends in New York’ award for excellence, and also garnering the Archer’s Scholarship for big band. Since graduating he has made a name for himself on the London jazz scene; the list of people he has worked with being a veritable who's who of UK jazz. Some appearances include: Art Themen, Alan Barnes, Alan Skidmore, Benn Clatworthy, Ben Davis, Brandon Allen, Bobby Wellins, Clark Tracey, David Newton, Dave O'Higgins, Don Weller, Gene Calderazzo, Gareth Lockrane, Gilad Atzmon, Henry Lowther, Iain Ballamy, Ivo Neame, Jean Toussaint, Jim Mullen, Jim Hart, Kit Downes, Mark Nightingale, Pete King, Tommy Whittle, Steve Waterman, Vasilis Xenopoulos. Mr. Ridley plays bass in all of Mike Garrick’s many ensembles, including the 'Lyric Ensemble' with Nette Robinson and Tony Woods, The Michael Garrick Jazz Orchestra, and the 'MJQ Celebration', featuring Jim Hart and Steve Brown. He has also recorded and toured extensively with Darius Brubeck, son of jazz uber-legend Dave Brubeck. He has enjoyed success in other musical spheres, forging long-lasting musical partnerships with virtuoso oud player Attab Haddad, and BBC award-winning folk songsmith Sam Carter. He recently recorded his debut album as a leader, showcasing his unique compositional style. Featured on the cd are John Turville on piano, George Hart on drums, with special guests Jason Yarde on saxophone, Attab Haddad on oud, and Vasilis Sirikis on percussion. He is a founding member of the SE London Jazz Collective, a new community of musicians in South East London hosting innovative, improvised live music.

I am a System Analyst in Computational and modelling Department at SABIC-CRI Center at KAUST.

He is a professor at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces. He is author of over 900 publications, two books and inventor or co-inventor of over 50 patents. His work has been cited over 88’000 times (h-index 138) making him one of the 10 most highly cited chemists in the world.

Mike received a Zoology degree from the University of Arkansas in 2001. He then attended James Cook University in Australia to pursue graduate studies in coral reef ecology, specializing in life history and ecology of butterflyfishes. He was awarded the PhD in 2007. Mike accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, where he focused on larval connectivity in coral reef fishes. During his time in Woods Hole, Mike began working in the Red Sea in 2008 in partnership with a new university in Saudi Arabia - the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). Mike joined KAUST in July 2009 as a founding faculty member in the Red Sea Research Center. Mike has authored more than 250 peer-reviewed articles and 8 book chapters, and he has co-edited two books. His research focuses on advancing general understanding of Red Sea coral reefs and more broadly making contributions to movement ecology, which is a critical aspect of developing conservation plans in the marine environment. He is particularly interested in connectivity questions ranging from larval dispersal to large distance migrations of adult fishes.

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serves as the CEO of Jarir Investment and Chairman of Jarir Group, which comprises of Jarir Bookstore, Jarir Marketing, Jarir Furniture, Jarir Real Estate, Kite Arabia Ltd., Imtiaz Al Arabia and various other associate companies. Mr. Alagil conceptualized and co-started Jarir Marketing and Jarir Bookstore chains, developing them into leading wholesalers and retailers in Saudi Arabia for stationery, school supplies, office machines, computer supplies, books, arts and engineering items. Jarir Marketing Company is listed in Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) with a market capitalization of more than USD 2.4 billion, presently. Since 1990 Mr. Alagil has been focusing, through Jarir Investment which is a family office, on private investing both as a direct principal and with various known institutional partnerships. Jarir Investment have been investing worldwide in Long Only Funds, Private Equity, Real Estate and also guiding families second generation through family constitution, career planning and legal structuring. Mr. Alagil is a Board member of various public companies and large family business groups in Saudi Arabia namely Saudi Arabian Investment Company “Saudi Sanabil”, Tawuniya Insurance Co. etc. Recently, Mr. Alagil became a member of Duke University Middle East Regional Advisory Board, Dubai, UAE Mr. Alagil also served as a Board member of MBC TV’s, he was also member of Board of Al Faisaliah Group, Trustees of Centennial Fund (Micro – Business Fund), Gifted Foundation in Saudi Arabia and was Chairman of the Executive Committee for Family Business Council in Saudi Arabia. Mr. Alagil speaks at various conferences in GCC countries mostly about Family in Business, Family Policy, Private Equity Conference, Family Business Governance etc. He has been a Guest Lecturer on a Retail course at the Institute of Public Administration (IPA) in Riyadh. Mr. Alagil earned a Masters of Eng. from University of California, Berkley in 1975 and a B.S. in Engineering from KFUPM in 1974. In addition, Mr. Alagil completed the OPM program at Harvard University in 1987.

Muhammad Al-Jahsh is a graduate of the Al-Azhar University. He has extensive experience in teaching Arabic as a second Language. Mr. Muhammad has been giving the Arabic Course for beginners every year since the beginning of WEP. He is a well-known teacher for learners of Arabic as a second language in previous schools in USA, UAE and Egypt.

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Nina V. Fedoroff received her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the Rockefeller University, and has served on the faculties of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, the Johns Hopkins University and the Pennsylvania State University, where she was the Director of the Biotechnology Institute and the founding Director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences. She is the Willaman Professor of the Life Sciences and an Evan Pugh Professor at Penn State, as well as a member of the External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute and Distinguished Visiting Professor of the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia. Fedoroff has published two books and more than 130 papers in scientific journals. Among her awards is a 2006 National Medal of Science, the highest honor awarded to US scientists. She is also a member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Fedoroff served as the Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State and to the Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2007 to 2010. She is President-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Dr. Niveen M. Khashab is an Assistant Professor of Chemical Science and Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at KAUST. She assumed her duties in June 2009.undefinedundefinedDuring her doctoral studies at University of Florida in Gainesville in the United States, Dr. Khashab trained in heterocyclic and medicinal chemistry in the laboratory of Professor Alan R. Katritzky. Her graduate work alone resulted in 45 articles, invited talks and conference proceedings. Moreover, she was the first chemist to report a bezotriazole coupling reagent for microwave-assisted solid phase peptide synthesis (SPPS). Dr. Khashab helped in organizing the IUPAC Florida Heterocyclic Conferences (Flohet) for five consecutive years. Through her graduate career at Florida, Dr. Khashab was awarded the Crow Award for Organic Chemistry Creativity in 2005 and The Teaching Effectiveness award in 2004.undefinedundefinedDuring her postdoctoral studies at University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA) and then at Northwestern University, Dr. Khashab continued her training in Sir Fraser Stoddart’s laboratory, where she worked on designing and making biocompatible mechanized silica nanoparticles for the specific delivery of antitumor drugs to breast cancer tissues. Dr. Khashab’s interests are in programmable microscale robots comprised of nanoscale parts fabricated to nanometer precision. She believes that the ability to direct events in a controlled fashion at the cellular level is the key that will unlock the indefinite extension of human health and the expansion of human abilities.undefinedundefinedIn addition to 27 papers, talks, and conference proceedings during her postdoctoral work, Dr. Khashab co-authored a patent filed at UCLA for controlled drug delivery. She also authored a chapter about Triazol-4-Amine for the Encylopedia of Reagents for Organic Synthesis (EROS), Wiley 2010.undefinedundefinedDr. Khashab began her training as a chemist at the American University of Beirut (AUB), where she graduated in June 2002. Under the supervision of Dr. M. J. Haddadin, she worked on developing new pericyclic reaction and the synthesis of caged complexes as enzyme mimics. She joined the chemistry program at the University of Florida and graduated in 2006 with a doctorate in organic chemistry and a minor in medicinal chemistry.

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Dr. Prince Xavier is a computational chemist/scientist in molecular chemistry with more than 24 years of research experience in academia and in industry. His research interests are in the areas of computational chemistry, theoretical organic chemistry, cheminformatics, bioinformatics, chemogenomics and molecular modeling. Dr. Xavier makes use of computational methods and models for the design of novel materials/catalysts, thermodynamic and kinetic profiling of organic and polymerization reactions, understanding the catalytic behaviour of enzymes and in designing/optimizing new molecules that could lead to medicines/therapeutic agents (computer-aided drug design), by the application of molecular mechanics, density functional theory (DFT), ab initio quantum mechanical and semi-empirical quantum mechanical methods. Dr. Xavier hails from Cochin, India. Read more about him at his LinkedIn profile: http://linkedin.com/in/cochinprince Favorite Quote: When you worry and hurry through your day, it is like an unopened gift... thrown away... Life is not a race, do take it slower... hear the music... before the song is over!

Lithuania - VU Austria - PLUS Germany - MPIMG Switzerland - SIAF Sweden - KUH Japan - RIKEN Australia - FMC Singapore - IMCB Hong Kong - HKUST Saudi Arabia - KAUST

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Saber Feki received his PhD in computer science at the University of Houston in 2010. His research interests are in high performance computing, automatic performance tuning and parallel programming models. In 2011, he joined the oil and gas giant TOTAL as an HPC Research Scientist and he currently holds the position of computational scientist at the KAUST Supercomputing Laboratory. His latest activities are focused on accelerating seismic imaging and electromagnetics applications using OpenACC.

A member of the European Cultural Parliament and Cultural Diplomacy Consultant at Arts Global, violinist Sabina Rakcheyeva is the first-ever Azerbaijani to be accepted into the prestigious Juilliard School in New York. She has appeared as a soloist with orchestras in Azerbaijan, Europe and the United States, performed in more than forty countries and was featured on BBC, CNN, Voice of America Radio and U.S. Government Television. Born in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the crossroads of East and West, Sabina is passionate about the fusion of Eastern and Western music and has performed her improvisations on traditional Azerbaijan folk music, the Mugham, to great critical acclaim. An advocate of orchestras, Ms. Rakcheyeva was a concertmaster of the International Youth Chamber Orchestra in Germany. She is a founding member of UBS Verbier Orchestra, where she has played under such renowned conductors as James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Yuri Temirkanov, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Kent Nagano, touring all over Europe, North and South Americas, and Asia. Fascinated by cross-cultural collaborations, Sabina has taken part in projects with dancers, poets, painters and architects. In 2008 she created a project "BACH to BAKU" which brought together music improvisation and live painting. It was first introduced in London and later, in Azerbaijan, and was broadcast on National TV stations. Sabina began studying violin at the age of six. She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Azerbaijan State Music College (1994), and completed her Master’s Program at the Juilliard School in New York in 2002. She is a founder of Sabina Rakcheyeva Ensemble that creates its unique voice through improvisations and takes its influences from the musical traditions of the East and West. In March 2011, Sabina’s first album of her own compositions and improvisations ‘UnVeiled’ was released in London to great critical acclaim. A strong believer that “art can change the world,” Sabina addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on behalf of the Music Youth, performed at the Bundestag, the House of Lords, the Austrian Ministry of International Affairs, at Wilton Park, and was a guest speaker at the Cultural Diplomacy Symposium at the University of Southern California. Sabina lives in London where, apart from performing, she is a member of the Advisory Board (Arts & Culture) at the European Azerbaijan Society and has recently been awarded a PhD in Music and Cultural Diplomacy from School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London.

Dr Sajid Ahmed received the M. Sc in Communication Engineering from the University of Manchester, Institute of Science and Technology, UK in 2002 and PhD in Digital Signal Processing at the King’s College London and Cardiff University, UK in 2005. Presently, he is working as a Research Scientist in the Computer, Electrical, and Mathematical Science and Engineering (CEMSE) Division of KAUST. He has been a Research Fellow at the Queen's University Belfast, UK and University of Edinburgh, UK. His graduate and postdoctoral research has focused on the areas of array signal processing with applications to communications and radar. He is a Senior member of IEEE and a recipient of contribution award from the University of Edinburgh/Defense, Science, and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) of the Ministry of Defence, UK, for his exceptional research in the field of MIMO radar.

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General Director of Culture and Media and the official speaker for the City of Jeddah

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Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel Chairman of the Board of Directors - Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The Saudi Council of Chambers of Commerce, GCC’s Union of Chambers of Commerce & Industry, & The General Council for Islamic Bank and Financial Institutions Over the last 40 years, Sheikh Saleh A. Kamel (Sheikh Kamel), ranked 9th regionally and 164th internationally in the Arab Billionaires List for 2009 with a wealth of $3.5 billion, has built an empire on the back of his close relationship with the Saudi government, and his company, Al Baraka Banking Group, now incorporates investments of billions of dollars across 40 countries. Sheikh Kamel is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of The General Council for Islamic Bank and Financial Institutions, Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, The Saudi Council of Chambers of Commerce, GCC’s Union of Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Dallah Albaraka Group, and the President of the Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as many other organizations. In addition, Sheikh Kamel retains active memberships in a host of social and educational organizations in several Arab countries as well as the U.K., Germany, Switzerland and the USA. He has delivered a number of papers and lectures on Islamic economics, finance, banking regulation, development and social philosophy Sheikh Kamel has also established the Islamic economic research centers in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and has donated a tower to the King Saud University Endowment Program. Among others, Sheikh Kamel is a Board Member of the Supreme Committee for King Saud University Endowment Program and has sponsored more than four research chairs in several Saudi’s universities and the Yarmouk University in Jordan.

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Head of the Genographic Project (DNA analysis to help answer fundamental questions about human migration from ancient history).

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Professor, Environmental Science and Engineering

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Wendy Williams Keyes grew up in Greater Boston and graduated with a degree in viola performance from the New England Conservatory of Music. She has taught violin and viola and performed with the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Arietta String Trio, the Virginia Symphony, and most recently as principal violist with the Park Avenue Chamber Symphony (of New York City). Her proficiency with regional genres has been developed through Simon Shaheen’s annual Arabic Music Retreat. Wendy’s viola is made by Luis and Clark, a Boston-based firm specializing in carbon fiber string instruments.

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Zahi Hawass is a world-reknowned Egyptian archaeologist. He served as Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Director of Excavations at Giza, Saqqara and the Bahariya Oasis. Dr. Hawass is responsible for many exciting recent discoveries, including the Tombs of the Pyramid Builders at Giza, the satellite pyramid of Khufu, the Valley of the Golden Mummies, the tombs of the governor of Bahariya in the town of El-Bawiti, the tomb of the physician Qar, and the rediscovery of the “headless pyramid” at Saqqara around the pyramid of Teti. He led an Egyptian team in the examination of the mystery of King Tut’s mummy through the use of a CT-scan. He has carried out a major conservation project on the Great Sphinx and developed site management plans for a number of important sites, including the Unfinished Obelisk Quarry in Aswan and the temples of Kom Ombo, Edfu and Dendera. Currently, he is completing site management plans for the West Bank of Luxor, Giza, and Saqqara. Dr. Hawass has lectured on these discoveries all over the world in front of large audiences, including kings, queens, the general public, and media.Over the course of his long career, Dr. Hawass has received numerous awards and honors. Website:http://www.drhawass.com/