A Scientific
Community of Different Disciplines
ABOUT US
The Mohammed bin Rashid Academy of Scientists (MBRAS) is a consortium of the UAE’s top researchers in the fields of sciences, engineering and medicine. MBRAS recognizes distinguished scientists and researchers through its membership and affiliation. MBRAS aims to establish a link between institutions and the government through supporting evidence-based policies and solutions to challenges and creating opportunities.
Membership
Membership Requirements
The Mohammed bin Rashid Academy of Scientists (MBRAS) members are currently selected according to bibliometrics and pursuant the criteria set under the UAE Scholar Index. MBRAS also has affiliates from subject matter experts and young professionals to ensure that all disciplines are covered within the Academy's work. In the future, a committee of members will recommend new members to the Board of Trustees. The term for membership is set for a period of 4 years for members, and 2 years for affiliates. Below is a list for each category and the current selection criteria.
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Awards
MBRAS awards the Mohammed bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinguishiment to notable scientists in the UAE. The Medal is the highest scientific acknowledgement in the UAE. It celebrates scholars and scientists and highlights their role in the society to present scientists as role models and source of pride for the UAE. It further aims to create an enabling environment for promoting innovation and scientific research, especially among young scientists. In addition to the medal, the winners and their family members will be eligible to receive the Golden Visa.
This award is given annually in recognition of the efforts to support research and the scientific community in the UAE. This award is given in Ramadan every year to align with this holy month. This award is very important as the winner will be a role model to other to invest in science and this will achieve the objectives of the country in supporting the field of science and technology in the UAE.
MBRAS Members
Contact
Afaf Kamal-Eldin was born 1962 in Sinnar, Sudan. She is a professor of Food Science specialized in the area of food composition and analysis with particular emphasis on bioactive components and their nutritional benefits. Prof. Afaf earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in chemistry in 1986 and 1990 from the University of Khartoum, Sudan and in 1993, she received her Ph.D. degree from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden. She has edited 6 books and published more than 200 original papers, review articles, and book chapters on the subject. Prof. Kamal-Eldin has supervised 17 PhD and 19 MSc theses. In 2009, Prof. Afaf was recognized as one of 400 leading researchers in Life Sciences in Stockholm-Uppsala (Sweden) and in 2010, she received the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Silver Medal for great achievements. Prof. Afaf was a member of the reference group of the International Program in Chemical sciences (IPICS) at Uppsala University (2003-2010) and since 2003, she is an advisor for the Food Science program at the International Foundation of Science (IFS), Stockhom, Sweden. After 20 years at SLU, professor Afaf joined the United Arab Emirates University in AlAin, UAE, in 2010. At UAEU, she served as chair for the Department of Food Science (2010-2016) and as acting Dean for the College of Food & Agriculture (2015-2016). Currently, she is focusing on research on bioactive components of camel milk and date fruits and her research group includes 6 PhD students and 5 MSc students. She is a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) since 2010 and the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS) since 2016.
Afaf Kamal-Eldin was born 1962 in Sinnar, Sudan. She is a professor of Food Science specialized in the area of food composition and analysis with particular emphasis on bioactive components and their nutritional benefits. Prof. Afaf earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in chemistry in 1986 and 1990 from the University of Khartoum, Sudan and in 1993, she received her Ph.D. degree from the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden. She has edited 6 books and published more than 200 original papers, review articles, and book chapters on the subject. Prof. Kamal-Eldin has supervised 17 PhD and 19 MSc theses. In 2009, Prof. Afaf was recognized as one of 400 leading researchers in Life Sciences in Stockholm-Uppsala (Sweden) and in 2010, she received the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences Silver Medal for great achievements. Prof. Afaf was a member of the reference group of the International Program in Chemical sciences (IPICS) at Uppsala University (2003-2010) and since 2003, she is an advisor for the Food Science program at the International Foundation of Science (IFS), Stockhom, Sweden. After 20 years at SLU, professor Afaf joined the United Arab Emirates University in AlAin, UAE, in 2010. At UAEU, she served as chair for the Department of Food Science (2010-2016) and as acting Dean for the College of Food & Agriculture (2015-2016). Currently, she is focusing on research on bioactive components of camel milk and date fruits and her research group includes 6 PhD students and 5 MSc students. She is a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) since 2010 and the Islamic World Academy of Sciences (IAS) since 2016.
After completing his PhD at Oregon State University in Chemical Engineering, Prof. Al-Marzouqi worked as a Corrosion Engineer in ADNOC Onshore previously known as Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO). He, then, joined the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the UAE University as an Assistant Professor, promoted to Associate Professor and Professor. Prof. Al-Marzouqi served as a Chairman of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering Department, an Assistant Dean for Research, Director of the University’s Emirates Center for Energy and Environment Research, and currently serving as a Vice Dean, College of Engineering.
Prof. Al-Marzouqi is specialized in the areas of membrane gas separation and gas processing. He has received external research funding for several projects including: “Removal of acid gases from natural gas using membrane contactors: Applications to ADGAS Field Conditions”. Prof. Al-Marzouqi established an active “Membrane Research Group” which he is currently leading. The current UAE University “Membrane Research Laboratory” used for membrane fabrication, characterization and testing for gas separation.
Prof. Al-Marzouqi published 70 refereed International Journal papers, two book chapters and 55 conference presentations in addition to several invited technical talks. His journal papers are cited 1823 (Google Scholar) and 1327 (Scopus: ID: 10041707400) times with H-index of 26 (Google Scholar) and 22 (Scopus). 68 of Prof. Al-Marzouqi’s 70 journal publications were resulted from his work at UAE University. Prof. Al-Marzouqi have supervised several MSc and PhD students. He and another colleague from UAE University developed two commercial gas analyzers for online measurement of carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide concentrations in gas streams which resulted in two Japanese patents and a US patent.
Prof. Al-Marzouqi reviewed several manuscripts for publications in several International Journals and proposals for possible funding including Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). He was a member of review committee for Zayed Future Energy Prize. Prof. Al-Marzouqi chaired several sessions of conferences at the regional and local levels. He supervised students on their graduation projects and participated in the Environmental Design Contest hosted by Waste-management Education and Research Consortium (WERC) in New Mexico, USA for three consecutive years and competed with about 50 teams from USA and other international teams. Prof. Al-Marzouqi initiated and chaired “Environmental Design Competition”, hosted at UAE University, for four consecutive times. The aim was for the students to tackle real environmental challenges while addressing issues including technical, legal, health, community relations and economics. Prof. Al-Marzouqi was a member of the Foundation’s Program Council for the Environment, Emirates Foundation and UAE University representative in Environmental Agency, Fujarah Renewable Energy Program, Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (DEWA) for Exhibition on Water, Energy and Environment, Technology Symposium on Water Treatment, and in The 22nd Joint GCC-Japan Environment Symposium (Saudi Arabia) and The Joint Kingdom of Bahrain-Japan Symposium (Bahrain).
Prof. Al-Marzouqi have received several awards including First 43 UAE Pioneers, Awarded by Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, 2014 and Prime Minister’s medal for innovative employee, 2019, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
Dr. Saeed Alhassan is an associate professor in the department of chemical engineering at Khalifa University. He holds BE, MSc and PhD in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt University, Colorado School of Mines and Case Western Reserve University, respectively.
Since starting his academic career at Khalifa University (Petroleum Institute) in 2011, Dr. Saeed worked on developing new applications for elemental sulfur as United Arab Emirates (UAE) was gearing up to become the largest exporter of the yellow element in the world. Elemental sulfur has historically limited applications except for sulfuric acid; which is one of the most industrially used chemicals in the world. Besides that, elemental sulfur has applications in rubber and specialty chemicals. UAE’s economic growth requires energy mix of natural gas and renewables. The supply of natural gas comes predominantly from sour gas field in Abu Dhabi where hydrogen sulfide has to be converted to elemental sulfur. Thus, elemental sulfur is inevitable eventuality for energy production needs and UAE’s production of this element is set to increase in the future. Such increase will impact the market supply; which will cause drops in prices.
The approach to the above problem is to develop new applications based on elemental sulfur from both fundamental point of view and practical point of view. As for the former, the need to understand sulfur chemistry is paramount in coming with new insights into sulfur chemistry and physics that can be used as basis for applications that have not been considered before. As for the practical approach, several novel materials and composites were developed for various applications. In one of Dr. Saeed’s earlier work, elemental sulfur was directly used in fabrication of thermoplastic composites. These composites have potential applications in construction, agricultural and energy industries. Metal sulfides, both in nanoparticles form as well as in porous foams; were also fabricated and synthesized for catalytic applications. Zinc sulfides nanoparticles were used as active materials in photocatalytic production of hydrogen and environmental remedies. Molybdenum sulfide foam were used in hydrodesulphurization process with significantly better performance compared to other materials reported in the literature.
Dr. Saeed is also working on producing water from humidity using thermo-responsive materials. The approach is driven mainly by weather temperature swing between day and night. The device in development in Dr. Saeed’s laboratory is autonomous and requires virtually no maintenance as the approach is passive and depend on materials design to adsorb water vapor from atmosphere and rejecting the water in the form of liquid when temperature changes.
Dr. Saeed is first recipient of the inaugural Sheikh Mohamed Bin Rashid medal of scientific excellence (2017) and two times recipient of Sheikh Rashid Award for Scientific Achievement (2008, 2012). Dr. Saeed has 84 journal articles, 2 book chapters, 5 patents, 6 patent applications, 18 invited lectures and more than 82 conference papers. Dr Saeed advise(d) 18 mater and PhD students and participate(d) in 19 projects as principal investigator and co-investigator.
Raed Hashaikeh is a Professor at the Mechanical Engineering Program, New York University-Abu Dhabi. He received his MSc and PhD in Materials Engineering from McGill University in 2000, and 2005, respectively. In 2008, He joined the Mechanical and Materials Engineering Department at Masdar Institute as an Assistant Professor and went through the ranks to become a Full Professor. Between 2017 and 2019, he was a Professor at the Chemical Engineering Department, Khalifa University. Before joining the Masdar Institute, he spent two years at FPInnovations-Paprican division, Canada, as a scientist (Awarded the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Industrial Research and Development Fellow). He was also a visiting scholar at MIT for one year between 2008 and 2009.
His research falls in the area of advanced materials development that addresses challenges in water and energy storage technologies. His work involves process development to generate functional nanostructures with particular emphasis on nanofibrous materials for membrane fabrication. Dr. Hashaikeh’s research group robust understanding of nanofibers and their performance/microstructure relationship has been recruited by local and international industry demonstrated through the externally funded projects obtained. In 2013 he received the award of excellence in research from the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology. He currently serves on the editorial board of Desalination and the international journal of water process engineering. His publications include 94 peer-reviewed journal papers, 4 US patents and several patent applications.
Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department at Khalifa University of Science and Technology and Adjunct Professor at the ECE Department, University of Waterloo, Canada. He joined KU on September 2016 as a full professor and appointed as the Director of the Advanced Power and Energy Center (APEC) on July 2018. Received his BSc and MSc from Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt in 1986 and 1990, respectively. Received his PhD from the University of Waterloo in 1998 and joined the ECE department at Waterloo in 2000 as an assistant professor, until he becomes Full Professor in 2010. He was the director of the Power MEng program at the University of Waterloo from 2010 until 2015. An Internationally recognized expert in the area of sustainable energy integration and smart distribution systems. His main research focus is on Distribution System Operation and Control, smart/micro grids, renewable integration, power quality, protection systems and cyber-physical security of power grids. Author of more than 420 top tier international journals and conferences publications with 3 US patents. Graduated 26 PhD and 20 Master students as well as supervised over 20 Postdoctoral fellows and visiting professors. Keynote and invited speaker in numerous international venues in Canada, USA, Chile, Morocco, Egypt and UAE. Raised over $13M in research funds from different federal, provincial and industrial entities internationally and nationally. Two-time recipient of the prestigious Canada Research Chair Award in Energy systems (2009-2014) and in Smart Distribution Systems (2014-2018), respectively. Recipient of the Early Research Award from the government of Ontario, Canada, 2007. Recipient of several awards from University of Waterloo; outstanding performance 2015, merit award 2012, research excellence 2009, Jim Field teaching award 2006 and best engineering professor in 2015. Internationally recognized expert in smart/micro grids with Scopus H-index of 52 and over 11,586 citations (Google Scholar citations 16,680 and H-Index 62). Dr. El-Saadany is an Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, IEEE Transactions on Power Systems and IEEE PES Engineering Letters. Dr. El-Saadany is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.
Dr. El-Saadany is a Fellow IEEE member for his contributions in distributed generation planning, operation and control.
Dr. El-Saadany is one of the 20 scientist receiving the UAE long-term visa for scientific excellence. He is a member of MBR Academy of Scientist and is the Chair of the Engineering Advisory Board for MBRAS.
Dr. Ahmed Al-Durra received his BSc, MSc, and PhD in ECE from Ohio State University in 2005, 2007, and 2010, respectively (with Summa Cum laude in all three degrees). He was granted a full scholarship from the Distinguished Student Scholarship of the Presidential Office to study the bachelors in the USA as one of the top 20 UAE high-school achievers in 2000. In 2005, he obtained the International Engineering Consortium Award for the top graduating student in Electrical & Computer Engineering Department, Ohio State University. He joined the Electrical Engineering Department at the Petroleum Institute (PI), UAE, as an Assistant Professor in 2010; he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2015. In 2014, he obtained the PI Research & Scholarship Award for Junior Faculty, and he was elevated to the grade of IEEE Senior Member. Currently, he is an Associate Professor at the Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Department, Khalifa University of Science & Technology, UAE. His research interests are applications of control and estimation theory on power systems stability, micro and smart grids, renewable energy systems and integration, and process control. His ongoing efforts on renewable energy system areas focus on nonlinear control designs, real-time simulation, controller parameter optimization, as well as power and control hardware-in-the-loop testing. Furthermore, he has carried out extensive research in the power system optimization area. Recently, Dr. Al-Durra has been working on challenges, and research opportunities in the area of Transportation and Electrification. He has established an advance Hardware-In-The-Loop platform to study HEV Energy Management and system-level control strategies in addition to topics relevant to EV Smart Charging.
Dr. Al-Durra has accomplished and has been working on several research projects at international and national levels (exceeds 6M USD). He has been an active member of the Petroleum Institute Research Center and participated heavily in the initiation of ADNOC Research & Innovative Center (ADRIC) as the Research Coordinator for Downstream Activities. He is the founder and head of the Energy Systems, Control & Optimization Lab at ADRIC and Industry Engagement Theme lead for the Advanced Power & Energy Center. He has one US patent, one edited book, 12 book chapters, and over 170 scientific articles in top-tier journals (mostly Q1-Journals) and refereed international conference proceedings. He has supervised/co-supervised over 25 PhD/Master students. He is an Editor for IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy and IEEE Power Engineering Letters, and Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications and Frontiers in Energy Research – Smart Grids. He has served on technical program committees as well as organized and session chaired sessions in several international conferences (SPIES 2020, GreenTech 2020, IEEE IAS-AM 2019, SPIES 2019, IEEE IAS-AM 2018, ACEEE 2018, ICSEE 2018, IECON 2015, ASCC 2015). He has been invited for Speeches by several Governmental, Industrial, and Academic entities and presented in over 15 conferences, workshops, seminars, and forums. He was awarded the UAE Pioneers Award – UAE Scientists (2018), and he is the winner of the prestigious Khalifa Award for Education - Distinguished University Professor in Scientific Research (2018-2019).
Dr. Wesley Cantwell is the Director of the Aerospace Research and Innovation Center (ARIC), the Associate Dean for Research and a Professor in Aerospace Engineering at Khalifa University. He received his BSC in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the University of Southampton and MSc and PhD degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Imperial College, UK. He then worked as a Research Scientist in the Department of Materials at the Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne for nine years and as a Lecturer/Reader/Professor at the University of Liverpool for eighteen years. During this time he directed a research team focusing on the impact behavior of lightweight structures. He joined Khalifa University in 2012 to direct the Aerospace Research and Innovation Center (ARIC). This research center is a joint effort between Khalifa University and Mubadala and supports the manufacturing operations at Strata, an aerostructures company located at Al Ain. Phase I of the ARIC initiative focused largely on manufacturing and automation in the aerospace industry. Phase II will expand on these initiative and include topics such as additive manufacturing and digital technologies.
Wesley Cantwell’s research interests are in composite materials, additive manufacturing, the impact response of structures and smart materials. He has published more than 230 published journal papers on these topics. He has presented a number of keynote addresses at leading international conferences since joining ARIC, including at the 2014 European Conference on Composite Materials and the 2017 International Conference on Composite Structures. He currently works with a number of international partners on this topic, including the University of Cape Town, Tokyo University of Science and Tongji University.
Dr Gulfaraz Khan is currently Professor of Viral Pathology and Chair of the Department of Medical Microbiology & Immunology, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University (UAEU). Dr Khan was brought up in UK and received his undergraduate and postgraduate training in London (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and St Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College). He did his postdoctoral training in the Laboratory of the late Prof David Thorley-Lawson at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, USA. He returned to UK as a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Prof Ruth Jarrett at LRF Virus Centre, University of Glasgow, UK. He subsequently held faculty positions in universities in UK before moving to UAE University, initially as Associate Professor and later as Professor and Chair of the department.
Dr Khan’s primary research interest is in tumour virology, in particular, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and its associated diseases. Current research projects in his laboratory focus on three areas: (1) Investigating the role of EBV in the pathogenesis multiple sclerosis, (2) Mechanisms underlying EBV induced malignancies, (3) Understanding the role of EBV-encoded small RNAs in biology and pathogenesis of EBV-associated disease. His secondary interest is in emerging viral infections and public health. He is one of the collaborators on the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study. He has over 85 publications, many in high impact journals such Cancer Cell, Lancet, JAMA Oncology, Immunity, Brain, Oncogene, J Exp Med, J Gen Virol, Scientific Reports and J Pathol. His publication statistics (as of Oct 2019) are: total citations 13,550; h-index 33, i10-index 45. Dr Khan has received more than 15 competitive grants with a total value of over 4 million AED to support his research.
He is actively involved in teaching and training undergraduate medical and postgraduate students. He has received several awards for his research and teaching, including the College of Medicine (UAEU) Award in Teaching (2013 & 2017), the College of Medicine (UAEU) Award for Research (2017), the UAE University Award for Excellence in Scholarship (2017), and Travel Award from the European Society of Clinical Virology (2015). He is a member of the editorial board of several international journals, including, Virology Journal and PLoS One.
Dr. Ahmed Al Shoaibi is currently an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and the Senior Vice President of Academic and Student Services at Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi. He obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Colorado School of Mines in 2008.
As SVP of Academic and Student Services, Dr. Al Shoaibi leads a variety of initiatives to promote successful learning outcomes for students and improved student retention. He leads the identification and recruitment of high quality high school students, supports their transition into university and works collaboratively with faculty, librarians, staff and administrators in initiative and policy implementation designed to promote student success in and out of the classroom. Additionally, Dr. Al Shoaibi promotes the support of faculty and staff to enhance teaching and learning so that students develop the skills, knowledge and attitudes to become successful 21st Century engineers.
Dr. Al Shoaibi has a broad range of research interests with one common thread connecting these areas, which is the innovative use of green, environmentally-friendly technologies to increase energy efficiency. His research group has established a laboratory facility to carry out experimental studies in areas related to environmental and energy engineering. The laboratory research activities focus primarily on energy extraction from unconventional materials and porous material development for gas processing applications. The research facility serves both academic and industrial projects related to the field of environmental and energy engineering.
Professor Alawi Alsheikh-Ali is a Consultant Cardiologist and Cardiac Electrophysiologist and is the Founding Dean of the College of Medicine and a Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Mohammed Bin Rashid University of Medicine and Health Sciences, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He is a member of the Emirates Scientists Council, which is an advisory body to the UAE Cabinet, and is a member of the Dubai Future Councils. He is a Past President of the Emirates Cardiac Society and a member of the Board of Directors of the Gulf Heart Association and a Founding Board Member of the Gulf Heart Rhythm Society.
Professor Alsheikh-Ali holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a Master of Science in Applied Anatomy and Physiology from Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Tufts University (Boston, MA, USA) where he also earned a Master of Science in Clinical Research. He completed his residency in Internal Medicine and Fellowships in Cardiology and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, and is American-board certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Disease and Clinical Cardiac Electrophysiology.
His research focuses on clinical electrophysiology and device therapies, preventive cardiology, and epidemiology of cardiovascular disease in the developing world. He is a member of steering committees of several regional multinational prospective disease-based registries of acute coronary syndrome, atrial fibrillation, and heart failure, and is the co-Principal Investigator of the Gulf ICD Registry and the Dubai Shopping for Risk Factor Study (DISCOVERY). His research has led to more than 150 peer-reviewed publications to date in indexed journals including the Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, Circulation, and Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Ali Al Mansouri is Professor of Chemical Engineering at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi. He holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering with highest distinction from Florida Institute of Technology, PhD in Chemical Engineering in the area of Process Systems Engineering from Imperial College London, and Executive MBA from London Business School. His specific research interests are in computer-aided modelling, optimization and simulation with applications to energy system design, sustainable operations and supply chain management. He has published over 70 journal articles (of which one appeared in the Science magazine), co-authored 6 book chapters, and presented more than 40 conference papers in local and international conferences or workshops. He was the principal investigators of more than 10 projects, which were sponsored by industry and academia. He is currently a research theme lead at KU Innovation Center on CO2 and H2 (RICH) and was a member of the Center founding team. He has supervised over 20 graduate students in the field of Process Systems Engineering and his graduate students all obtain good jobs in the chemical process industry and in academia. He has received 10 awards due to the impact of his research in the scientific community, including the Mohammed Bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Excellence in 2019.
Professor Sehamuddin Galadari is currently Research Professor of Biology at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), Emeritus Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Cell Biology at College of Medicine and Health Sciences UAE University, Senior Lecturer at Harvard Medical School, Boston USA, and a Visiting Professor at Oxford University in the UK. He is also the Senior Advisor at the Harvard Medical School Centre for Global Health Delivery-Dubai. Prior to joining NYUAD, during a career spanning more than 26 years, Prof. Sehamuddin was the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate Studies at UAE University, and before that Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the College of Medicine and Health Sciences, UAE University. Prof. Sehamuddin earned his PhD in Biochemistry in 1991 from Imperial College, London, UK and his BSc. with honours in 1987 from University of Southampton, UK. Prof. Sehamuddin is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology (FRSB) and the Royal Society of Public Health (FRSPH). He joined the College of Medicine and Health Sciences at the UAE University as a faculty member in 1991 and helped in building the Department of Biochemistry. He has contributed significantly to the development of the College of Medicine and Health Sciences in Research and Education, and established the Cell Signalling Laboratory.
Prof. Sehamuddin serves on many prominent committees and boards:
• Member of the Board of Trustees, Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research (Boston, USA);
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee, Dubai Harvard Foundation for Medical Research (Boston, USA);
• Chairman, Medical Research Grant Committee, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences;
• Member of the Scientific Committee, Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Medical Sciences;
• Member of the Board of Directors, Dubai Healthcare City Authority; and the Al Jalila Foundation for Medical Education and Research
• Chairman, Scientific Advisory Committee of the Al Jalila Foundation for Medical Education and Research
• Member of the Global Future Council on Biotechnologies, World Economic Forum.
• Previously, Prof. Sehamuddin was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Hamdan Bin Mohammed College of Dental Medicine, and served as the Science & Technology Advisor to the Emirates Foundation.
His research interest revolves around Apoptosis, Autophagy and Cancer Biology, and he has published over 60 manuscripts in international peer reviewed journals, and has supervised a number of PhD students and post-doctoral fellows. He has contributed significantly to biomedical research in the UAE.
Prof. Sehamuddin has been a Visiting Professor to many well-known institutions such as Imperial College (UK), University of Glasgow (UK), Duke University Medical Centre (USA), Medical University of South Carolina (USA) and POSTECH (South Korea). He is a reviewer and has served on the editorial board of a number of biomedical journals.
Dr. Panče Naumov is a tenured faculty of New York University’s campus in the United Arab Emirates (NYUAD). A native of Macedonia, he acquired his PhD in chemistry and materials science from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2004. Before joining NYU, he was affiliated with the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan, and also as a faculty with Osaka University and Kyoto University. Since 2018 he is also affiliated with Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute.
The main research directions in the Naumov research group are in the domain of materials science, and can be delineated as smart materials, nanotechnology, emissive materials, crystallography, and petroleomics (oil research). According to national statistics, the Naumov Research Group is the leading team with regards to quantity and quality of chemistry research in the UAE, with research output that according to Nature Index (in % fractional count) accounted for 63.3% in 2015, 70.5% in 2016, 42.6% in 2017 and 37.3% in 2018 of the UAE chemistry publications. In 2018 alone, his team has published 22 publications in international journals. As of August 2019, Dr. Naumov authored a total of 214 research articles that have been cited more than 4,370 times, with an h-index of 35 and average citations per paper of 20.4. The overall publication list includes articles in the Journal of the American Chemical Society – IF 14.7 (21 publications), Angewandte Chemie – IF 12.3 (12 publications), Nature Chemistry – IF 23.2 (3 publications), Nature Communications – IF 11.9, Advanced Materials – IF 25.9, Chemical Communications – IF 6.2, Chemical Science – IF 9.6, Advanced Functional Materials – IF 15.6. Many of his publications have been highlighted on journal covers. He has presented over 315 times at various conference meetings, of which 58 were invited lectures. He has also given 82 invited seminars at various institutions. He authored four book chapters and two laboratory manuals.
Professor Andrea Macciò is interested in understanding the nature and origin of the mysterious dark components of our cosmos: dark energy and dark matter, which account for 95 per cent of the total energy/matter budget of the universe. In order to achieve this goal, he studies the formation and evolution of galaxies in such a dark universe via large computer numerical simulations.
Professor Macciò's interests include the effect of dark energy on structure formation, the properties of dark matter halos, and the distribution of dark matter within galaxies, the formation of massive galaxies and their super massive black holes.
Professor Macciò graduated in Physics at the University of Milano and then he obtained a PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Milano-Bicocca. As a postdoctoral fellow, he first worked at the University of Zurich and then at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Heidelberg. Starting from September 2010, he obtained a Group Leader (W2 professor) position from the President of the Max Planck Society and led for five years the "Galaxy Formation in a Dark Universe" group at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg.
Professor Macciò joined NYUAD in 2015 as Associate Professor of Physics. Since 2019 he is the Director of the Center for Astro, Particle and Planetary Science.
At NYUAD he and his group of researchers will continue to explore how galaxies form and evolve during cosmic times in a dark universe.
Ernesto Damiani is the Senior Director of Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Systems Institute, Khalifa University, leader of the Big Data area at Etisalat British Telecom Innovation Center, and Full Professor at Università degli Studi di Milano, where he leads the SESAR Lab. Ernesto Damiani’s work has more than 15,500 citations on Google Scholar and more than 6,100 citations on Scopus, with an h-index of 34. His areas of interest include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data Analytics, Edge/Cloud security and performance, and cyber-physical systems. Ernesto has been a recipient of the Stephen Yau Award from the Service Society, of the Outstanding contributions Award from IFIP TC2, of the Chester-Sall Award from IEEE IES, and of a doctorate honoris causa from INSA – Lyon (France) for his contribution to Big Data teaching and research
Dr. Fadi Aloul is a Professor & Department Head of Computer Science & Engineering and the Director of the HP Institute at the American University of Sharjah (AUS), UAE. He holds a PhD and MS degrees in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, respectively, and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering summa cum laude from Lawrence Technological University, Michigan, USA. His research and industrial interests are in Cyber Security, Mobile Applications, Innovative Education, and Design Optimization. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and the founder of several cyber security awareness initiatives in UAE including UAE’s Cyber Academy.
Dr. Aloul received a number of prestigious awards including being the only recipient from the Middle East to receive the Global Engineering Deans Council (GEDC) Airbus Engineering Diversity Award in addition to the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa, UAE’s President, Award for Higher Education, the Sheikh Rashid's Award for Outstanding Scientific Achievement, the Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Young Arab Researchers, the AUS Excellence in Teaching Award and the Semiconductor Research Corporation Fellowship. He has 125+ publications (available at http://www.aloul.net) and 1 US patent. He is a regular invited speaker and panellist across a number of international conferences related to Cyber Security, Technology, Innovation and Education.
Fawzi Banat is a Professor of Chemical Engineering at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from McGill University (Canada) in 1995. He is an expert on separation processes (membrane, electromagnetic, electroosmosis, emerging processes) and water treatment (desalination by membrane distillation and reverse osmosis, refinery wastewater treatment). He has contributed a substantial number of articles (over 200) on the subject of membrane separations, capacitive deionization, electromagnetic separation, and adsorption to various international refereed journals with an H-index 44 on Google and 33 on Scopus databases, respectively. He has published 4 international patents and filed others. He has delivered over 100 oral presentations at national and international conferences. He has participated (PI/co-PI) in various national and international projects funded by different institutions (European Union, Gas Research Center/ADNOC, Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC), The Petroleum Institute, Khalifa University).
He has supervised the thesis work of over 40 graduate students (MSc & PhD) and several research studies of postdocs and lab engineers in his research group. He has served as a member or Chairman in many professional committees and scientific advisory boards. He is a member of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE), the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM), and the Canadian Society for Chemical Engineering (CSChE). He established the Water Management lab at the ADRIC research center under Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC). He is a reviewer in many international journals. He is the recipient of several prestigious research awards including the Khalifa Award for Education/Distinguished University Professor in the Field of Scientific Research (2014). He has held several administrative positions at different universities including Department Chair, Dean of Research, Dean of Graduate Studies and Acting Dean of Natural Resources Engineering.
Prof. Arafat is the director of the Center for Membrane and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT) and professor of chemical engineering at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi, UAE, where he is working since 2010. His current research interest is in membrane-based desalination, with focus on third-generation desalination technologies such as membrane distillation (MD) and the development of novel membranes for water applications. He initiated a research trend on sustainable desalination, which integrates multiple multidisciplinary tools to enhance the prospects of deploying desalination, with the aim of achieving water and food security. The concepts behind this trend are captured in his book: Desalination Sustainability: A Technical, Socioeconomic and Environmental Approach. Prof. Arafat received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the Univ. of Cincinnati (Ohio, USA) in 2000 and a BSc in Chem. Eng. From the Univ. of Jordan in 1996. From 2000 to 2003, he worked at Argonne National Laboratory (Illinois, USA) as a postdoc then as a research scientist, developing processes for nuclear waste treatment at the United States Department of Energy (DOE) sites. Between 2003 and 2010, he was a faculty member of the Chem. Eng. Dept. at An-Najah University (Palestinian Territory). Between 2009 and 2012, he served as an adjunct associate professor of the Biological Eng. Dept. at Utah State Univ. (Utah, USA) and in 2010, he joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Massachusetts, USA) as a visiting professor for six months. He is a recipient of prestigious research fellowships by the US National Academy of Science (USA), the Open Society Foundation (USA) and DAAD (Germany). Through his career thus far, he supervised more than 30 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students and received 23 research grants, exceeding $13 Million. His research was published in 230 book chapters, journal papers and conference presentations, in addition to two US patents and 50+ keynote and invited talks worldwide. Among other honors, Prof. Arafat received the Khalifa Award for Education, presented by the President of UAE, the Mohammad Bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Excellence, presented by the Prime Minister of UAE, the United States Department of Energy Secretarial Honor Award, the Mondialogo Engineering Award by Daimler AG and UNESCO, and the Univ. of Cincinnati Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship.
Dr. Hatem Zeineldin received his Bachelor and Master degree in Electrical Power and Machines from Cairo University in 1999, and 2002, respectively. He obtained his Phd degree in 2006 from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at University of Waterloo. In 2006, he joined Smith and Andersen Electrical Inc. as an electrical engineer where he was involved in several projects related to distributed generation. During that period of time Dr. Zeineldin was also hired as a research consultant for a research project that was funded by Natural Resources Canada that focused on protection planning with renewable energy sources. In 2007, Dr. Zeineldin worked as a visiting professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where he focused on developing new methods for islanding detection of renewable energy sources.
In 2007, Dr. Zeineldin joined Masdar Institute and served as the Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Dr. Zeineldin is currently a Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Khalifa University and served as the Senior Director of Masdar Institute at Khalifa University. Dr. Zeineldin has over 75 journal papers and is currently an associate editor of the IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion and IEEE Transactions on Smart Grids. Dr. Zeineldin’s main research interests include distribution system protection, islanding detection, micro-grids and smart grid design.
Lihadh Al-Gazali is a professor of Clinical Genetics and Paediatrics at the UAE University, College of Medicine and Health Sciences. She obtained her MBCHB from Baghdad University and was trained in Paediatrics and then Genetics in the UK (Edinburgh & Leeds) joining the UAEU in 1990. Professor Al-Gazali is a Fellow of Royal College of Physician and Royal College of Paediatrics & Child Health, UK. Al-Gazali is an internationally renowned clinician and a leading figure in the area of clinical genetic and dysmorphology. She has made important contributions in the area of Clinical and Molecular Genetics, providing a significant amount of information regarding genetic disorders particularly those specific to the UAE and the Arab world in general. The overall aim of Prof. Al-Gazali’s research is to elucidate the clinical and molecular basis of human genetic conditions relevant to Emiratis and other Arab and Middle Eastern populations. In addition to the scientific merits of this research, the findings could be utilized for the development of novel therapies for some of these incurable conditions. Furthermore, discovering disease genes and mutations underlying these conditions are likely to have immediate translatable benefits to patients, their families and health providers in the form of accurate diagnostic tools that are essential for the development of effective prevention strategies. She is one of the first scientists in the world to identify the recessive genes that cause more than 40 inherited disorders among Arab populations and is the first clinician to describe the phenotypes (disease characteristics) of genetic disorders in the UAE, and introduce services to diagnose accurately and manage these disorders. Prof. Lihadh Al-Gazali has published over 260 research articles and expert reviews (>200 of them while at UAEU) in leading international refereed high impact journals including publications in Cell, Science, Nature Genetics, American Journal of Human Genetics, Neuron, Human Molecular Genetics, Human Mutation, Genome Research, Clinical Genetics and many others. Significantly, her publications have attracted over 12,161 Citations (>5000 citations since 2013) and she has a current Google Scholar hindex of 56. Prof. Al-Gazali has established several active research collaborations with leading scientists at international, local and regional institutions including collaborations with Prof. Christopher A. Walsh (Harvard Medical School, USA), Prof. Joseph Gleeson (University of California, San Diego), Prof. Geoffrey Woods (University of Cambridge) and many others around the world. Since joining UAEU in 1991, Prof. Al-Gazali has been proactive in writing grant applications and applying for internal and external funding to support her research. In total, she secured over 15 Million Dirhams including over 10 grants as a principal investigator in the last seven years. Prof. Al-Gazali is well respected locally and internationally in her field and she has, therefore, received several awards, been invited to speak and present at many international scientific meetings, selected to be on the editorial boards of several international prestigious scientific journals and acted as an expert reviewer for many biomedical journals, charities and funding agencies as summarized here with selected examples:
Women in Science L’Oreal-UNESCO Award, 2008 Laureate for Africa & Arab States. Awarded annually to five women, one from each continent, who have made an important contribution to science. She was invited to the Elysee to meet with the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In 2011, she was invited, together with other eminent scientists including previous Nobel Prize laureates, to be a judge of the L’Oreal-UNECO8 awards. Profiled in the prestigious Lancet medical journal for her achievements in clinical genetics and dysmorphology, 2006. Sheikh Hamdan Award for Medical Sciences, 2008, (Distinguished Medical Personality) Alpha-Omega-Alpha Honour Medical Society in the USA, Honorary Member, 2008 Takreem Awards, 2014 Laureate for the Scientific and Technological Achievement Award, (Conferred on distinguished Arab achievers in Science and Technology who contributed to the development of societies around the globe). Abu Dhabi Award for service and research in Clinical Genetics in the UAE, 2015 (highest honour in the country) Brand Ambassador, United Arab Emirates University, 2018 Mohd Bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction
Al-Gazali is also active in other scientific activities locally and internationally. She is a founding member and executive committee member of the Center for Arab Genomic Studies and sits on several international committees, examples include: EU-GCC STI programme for cooperation in science, technology and innovation, the Scientific Board of the International Basic Sciences Programme of UNESCO, and several editorial boards of international scientific journals.
Ali Elkamel is a Professor of Chemical Engineering. He is also cross-appointed in Systems Design Engineering. Prof. Elkamel holds a BSc in Chemical Engineering and BSc in Mathematics from Colorado School of Mines, MSc in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and PhD in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University – West Lafayette, Indiana. His specific research interests are in computer-aided modelling, optimization and simulation with applications to energy production planning, carbon management, sustainable operations and product design. Professor Elkamel is currently focusing on research projects related to energy systems, integration of renewable energy in process operations and energy production systems, and the utilization of data analytics (Digitalization), machine learning, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to improve process and enterprise-wide efficiency and profitability. Prof. Elkamel activities include teaching graduate and undergraduate courses, supervising post doctorate and research associates, advising graduate/undergraduate students and participation in both university and professional societal activities. Professor Elkamel is also engaged in initiating and leading academic and industrial teams, establishing international and regional research collaboration programs with industrial partners, national laboratories and international research institutes.
Prof. Elkamel supervised over 90 graduate students (of which 35 are PhDs) and more than 30 post-doctoral fellows/research associates and his trainees all obtain good jobs in the chemical process industry and in academia. He has been funded for several research projects from government and industry. Among his accomplishments are the Research Excellence Award, the Excellence in Graduate Supervision Award, the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Best teacher award, and the IEOM (Industrial engineering and Operations Management) Outstanding Service and Distinguished Educator Award. He has more than 315 journal articles, 150 proceedings, and 39 book chapters, and has been an invited speaker on numerous occasions at academic institutions throughout the world and at national and international conferences. He is also a co-author of four books; two recent books were published by Wiley and entitled Planning of Refinery and Petrochemical Operations and Environmentally Conscious Fossil Energy Production.
Dr. Ali Diabat received his B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Jordan University of Science and Technology, Jordan in 1999, M.Sc. degree in Operations Research from North Carolina State University, USA in 2003, and his Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University, USA in 2008. In June 2008, he joined Masdar Institute of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi as an Assistant Professor of Engineering Systems and Management, and due to his exceptional performance he was promoted to Associate Professor in June 2012, and to Full Professor in June 2016. Right after completing nine years at Masdar Institute, he joined New York University Abu Dhabi as a Global Network Professor of Civil and Urban Engineering. Dr. Diabat’s research focuses on different applications of optimization and operations research: in particular, logistics and supply chain management, healthcare management, and production planning. Dr. Diabat has published over 100 research journal papers and over 30 conference papers in leading journals and international conference proceedings. Many of his publications are co-authored with his own graduate students and in many cases with national and international collaborators. Dr. Diabat’s research has received about 5 million dollars of grant funding from different industries and collaborative proposals with academic institutions. His industry experience includes working in the oil shipping industry in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. After that, he held a position as business analyst at United Airlines, and two positions as an operations research analyst in the banking and beverages industries, all in the United States. Dr. Diabat has received several excellence in teaching awards, including an Outstanding Graduate Instructor Award and an Excellence in Teaching Award from Purdue University, in 2004 and 2006, respectively. Dr. Diabat was the recipient of the 2012 Excellence in Teaching Award from Masdar Institute, an achievement of special significance as it was the first award of its kind offered at the Institute. In 2014, he also received the Best Faculty Research Award from the Department of Engineering Systems and Management at Masdar Institute. Dr. Diabat currently serves as an Associate Editor of the SME Journal of Manufacturing Systems (JMS) and as an Area Editor of the Journal of Computers and Industrial Engineering (C&IE), two of the leading journals in the field of Industrial Engineering published by Elsevier. He is a member of Mohammed Bin Rashid Academy of Scientists (MBRAS), a platform for the science community within the UAE that includes a selection of scientists and experts foreseeing the future of developments in the field of science and technology.
Dr. Khadkikar is currently a Professor at Khalifa University of Science and Technology, Abu Dhabi, UAE. He received his M. Tech. degree in Power Electronics, Electrical Machines and Drives from the Indian Institute of Technology (IITD), New Delhi, India, in 2002 and PhD in Electrical Engineering from the École de Technologie Supérieure (E.T.S.), Montréal, QC, Canada, in 2008. He joined Masdar Institute (now part of Khalifa University) as Assistant Professor in April 2010. From April 2010 to December 2010, he was a Visiting Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA, USA. From December 2008 to March 2010, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow with the University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
Dr. Khadkikar’s research interests includes applications of Power Electronics in Distribution Systems and Renewable Energy Resources, Power Quality Enhancement, Active Power Filters, Solid State Transformers, Microgrids, and Electric Vehicles. He is currently an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics and IET Power Electronics Journal. He received best paper award from Power Electronics Technical Committee at IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Annual Conference (IECON-2013), Vienna, November-2013 for the paper: “Sant A, Khadkikar V, Xiao W, Zeineldin H and Al-Hinai A, “Adaptive Control of Grid Connected Photovoltaic Inverter for Maximum VA Utilization”. During his PhD studies, he received Exemption of School Fees from the Ministry of Education of Quebec, Canada for three semesters between 2014 and 2015. He was also a recipient of national level scholarship for graduate studies provided by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India (July 2001 – Dec 2002).
Dr. Khadkikar’s recent important research work is summarized below.
• Kanjiya P., Ambati B. and Khadkikar V., “Fault-tolerant wind energy conversion system, US Patent, US9,425,726 B2, 2016.
To improve the reliability of the power system with large-scale wind power integration, different countries have specified fault ride-through (FRT) requirements for wind turbine (WT) in their respective grid codes. In this patent, we have developed a new fault tolerant DFIG configuration with minimum additional components for seamless operation during grid faults. It does not require output filter, series injection transformer and bypass switches.
Alobaidli K and Khadkikar V, “A New Ultracapacitor State of Charge Control Concept to Enhance Battery Lifespan of Dual Storage Electric Vehicles”, IEEE Trans on Vehicular Technology, vol. 67, no. 11, pp. 10470-10481, Nov. 2018.
The Electric Vehicle (EV) battery life is generally affected by both ambient and operating temperatures, charging/discharging cycles, large swing in state of charge (SOC), and sudden bulk power exchange. Use of ultracapacitors (UCs) along with the battery is gaining interest to enhance the battery life of EV. In the above journal paper, we have developed a new concept to manage the state of charge (SOC) of UC. It uses the vehicle velocity at acceleration and correlates it with the amount of energy that UC should support. A two-stage artificial neural network-based strategy is developed, and its applicability is demonstrated experimentally.
Lakmal Seneviratne is Professor of Mechanical Engineering and the founding Director of the Khalifa University Centre for Autonomous Robotic Systems at Khalifa University, UAE. He is also the Technical Director of the Mohammed Bin Zayed International Robotics Challenge (MBZIRC). Prior to joining Khalifa University he was Professor of Mechatronics, the founding Director of the Centre for Robotics Research and the Head of the Division of Engineering, at King’s College London. His main research interests are centred on robotics and automation, with particular emphasis on increasing the autonomy of robotic systems interacting with complex dynamic environments. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed publications on these topics. He is a member of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academy of Scientists in the UAE.
Dr. AlNashef is a professor at the department of chemical engineering/Khalifa University of Science and Technology (KU), Abu Dhabi, Unites Arab Emirates.
Dr. AlNashef joined King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (KSU), after obtaining his Ph. D. from the University of South Carolina, USA in 2004. At KSU, AlNashef taught several undergraduate and graduate courses. In addition, he participated in many committees at the departmental, college, and university levels, e.g. ABET accreditation, Safety, and Risk Management committees. AlNashef lead a local and international research groups. Moreover, AlNashef supervised MSc and PhD students. In 2011, AlNashef was promoted to associate professor. In June 2014, Dr. AlNashef moved to Abu Dhabi (UAE) where he was employed as an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering at Masdar Institute (MI). At MI, AlNashef participated in modifying the foundation courses that were mandatory for students that did not fulfil the requirements for admission. In addition, AlNashef lead the committee for the accreditation of chemical engineering MSc program. In 2017, Masdar Institute became part of Khalifa University of Science and Technology. After the merger AlNashef taught both undergraduate and graduate courses. In addition, he is a member of the undergraduate curriculum committee at the department of chemical engineering.
AlNashef is very active in research related to green engineering and sustainability, especially the use of green solvents, e.g. ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents in different engineering applications that include: Desulfurization and denitrification of fuels, separation of aromatics, CO2 capture, wastewater treatment, and water pretreatment for desalination. AlNashef established collaboration with the University of Malaya, KL, Malaysia, where he participated in the establishment of a laboratory for the use of green solvent in many engineering applications. This lab was part of University of Malaya (UM) center of ionic liquids. As a result of the collaboration AlNashef was a co- advisor for five Ph. D. students.
Dr. Nashef co-authored more than 100 peer-reviewed journal publications. In addition, he received 6 patents from US, 3 patents from EU, and three patents from Malaysian Patent Offices. He is also a recipient of several prestigious awards including King Abdullah Award for best invention in 2013.
Dr. Ali Al-Marzouqi obtained his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Oregon State University, USA, in 1997. He worked as an Instructor in the Chemical Engineering Department of Oregon State University for three years and then joined the Chemical and Petroleum Engineering Department of UAE University in September 2000. He was promoted to the rank of Associate Professor in 2007 and to the rank of Professor in 2017. Dr. Al-Marzouqi has served as the Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies in the College of Engineering for 12 years until he was appointed as the Vice Dean of the College of Graduate Studies in 2017, Acting Dean in 2018 and Dean of the College of Graduate Studies in 2019. His research focuses on CO2 capture, brine management, conversion of biomass to high value chemicals, the use of supercritical fluid technology in food and pharmaceutical applications, and biodiesel production. Dr. Al-Marzouqi has published over 110 journal and conference papers and achieved three granted patents.
Francesco Arneodo is an experimental physicist, his main interest is subatomic particle detection, with applications in astrophysics, particle physics and cultural heritage.
He did his Master's in Physics at the University of Torino, Italy, and obtained his Ph.D. degree from the University of Rome La Sapienza, after three years of experimental work on cosmic rays and gamma-ray astronomy at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy.
In 2011, being interested also in socio-economic aspects of science, he obtained an MBA degree from the University of Warwick (UK).
From 1997 to 2013, he worked at the LNGS, first on liquid argon detectors for neutrino physics, and later on liquid xenon technology for the search of Dark Matter.
In 2013 he moved to New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) as visiting faculty. He was tenured as associate professor one year later, and became Professor of Physics in September 2019. He has been chair of the NYUAD Physics Program from 2014 to 2016, and since September 2016 he took the role of Associate Dean of Science. He is part of the Faculty Council of the Gran Sasso Science Institute, a doctoral school in L’Aquila, Italy (that he contributed to create).
At NYUAD he established an astro-particle experimental group. One of the main activities of the group is the participation in the XENON programme, an international collaboration that, as of 2019, spans across 11 countries with more than 150 scientists. Between 2004-2018, the XENON Collaboration built and operated three liquid xenon detectors. At the time of their respective operation, each detector was the world’s most sensitive in the search for WIMP-like dark matter, a well established model of dark matter particles.
His group is also involved in the development of gamma-ray detectors for mini satellites, for the study of Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs). Emirati students involved in this activity have won, in 2018, the UAE MiniSat challenge, and were awarded with 100,000 USD for the construction of a scientific payload to be launched in orbit in 2020.
Another line of research concerns the application of particle and nuclear physics techniques for cultural heritage studies, in particular using X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) as a non destructive tool for the analysis of surfaces of artefacts of artistic or cultural heritage interest.
His teaching at NYUAD comprises courses like Advanced Physics Laboratory, Mechanics, Foundations of Sciences, Atom and Energy, Particle Physics.
Prof. Arneodo has several active collaborations with institutions in the UAE and abroad, such as the the UAE Space Agency, the Mohammed Bib Rashid Space Center, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the Italian Space Agency, the Italian Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), and CERN.
He is co-author of more than 130 publications in international, peer-reviewed journals.
Professor David Holland graduated from Memorial University of Newfoundland with a B.Sc. in Physics and a B.A. in Mathematics in 1985. His graduate studies included a M.Sc. in Physical Oceanography in 1987 and a Ph.D. in Atmosphere-Ocean Science from McGill University in 1993. Since 1998 he has been a faculty member of the Courant Institute of Mathematical Science at New York University (NYU), becoming a full professor in 2008.
His research focuses on understanding mechanisms by which significant sea level change could arise from the great ice sheets, Greenland and Antarctica, over the coming decades. He applies advanced applied mathematical techniques to data collected in remote environments. A veteran of 10 years of Greenland and Antarctic field expeditions, Professor Holland continues to spend summers collecting vital information about the state of the glaciers in those regions. This data analysis is used in improving computer modeling of the interaction of the great ice sheets with warming global ocean waters leading to more robust projections of global sea level change.
He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles on polar environmental science. He was awarded an NSF Career Award in 2000. He served as Director of the Center for Atmosphere-Ocean Science in the Courant Institute during 2008-2013 and since 2013 he has become the Director of the Center for Sea Level Change at NYU New York and Abu Dhabi.
Professor Abu Al-Rub is currently the Acting Chair of Aerospace Engineering Department, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Director of Advanced Digital & Additive Manufacturing Center at Khalifa University of Science and Technology. He was the Department Head of Mechanical and Materials Engineering at Masdar Institute. He has been a Professor at Texas A&M University. Currently, he is also an Adjunct Professor at the US Air Force Institute of Technology of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University, and his MSc and BSc from Jordan University of Science and Technology. Before joining Texas A&M University, he was a Professor at Louisiana State University and at Catholic University of America.
Professor Abu Al-Rub primary research field of interest is on the development of macro/micro/nano-mechanics-based constitutive models and computational tools that can be used effectively in guiding the design of advanced materials and structural systems. He is particularly active in employing digital design, additive manufacturing, and 3D printing for creating multifunctional architected materials and composites for various engineering applications and industries (e.g., Aerospace, Defense, Automotive). Professor Abu Al-Rub has published one book and over 300 publications in archival journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He has served as the principle/co-principal investigator of more than 30 projects sponsored by various state, federal, and international agencies; he is responsible for more than $30Million. In 2007, he has been selected among nine leading scientists in the US by National Science Foundation and Department of Energy to design new grades of advanced high strength steels for the auto industry. He is one of the members of the US National Science Foundation “International Institute for Multifunctional Materials for Energy Conversion.”
Professor Abu Al-Rub is a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), Society of Engineering Science (SES), U.S. Association for Computational Mechanics, ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute, and the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). He has twice been recognized by The Texas A&M University System with its Student-Led Teaching Excellence Award, in 2009 and 2011. In 2010 he received the Truman R. Jones Excellence in Graduate Teaching Award and the Tenneco Oil Exploration & Production Award for Meritorious Teaching of Engineering Award from the Dwight Look College of Engineering at Texas A&M University. He is also the recipient of the 2005 Achievement Award for the outstanding teaching at Louisiana State University. In 2011, he received the Beer & Johnston Outstanding New Mechanics Educator Award from the American Society for Engineering Education. He received ADNOC Oil & Gas Year's 2016 Partnership of The Year Award. He has been recognized several times for his work on multi-scale computational mechanics. Professor Abu Al-Rub has been selected among the Scholar Google 100 Most Cited Authors in Civil Engineering. He is on the editorial board of several journals in the area of multi-scale computational mechanics.
Prof. Linda Zou joined Khalifa University of Science and Technology as a full professor in October 2014. Her research interests include the application of nanotechnology and membrane science to the development of low energy and high efficiency novel desalination and water purification solutions. Dr Zou’s research outcomes have been published in more than 150 journal articles and conference presentations, which are frequently cited (h-index 49, citation 8200+, Google Scholar 2019). She is the chief investigator of many frontier research projects sponsored by the Australian Research Council and the Center of Excellence in Desalination Australia. At Khalifa University, Dr. Zou leads a ground-breaking research project using nanotechnology to develop cloud seeding materials, which was awarded by the inaugural UAE Research Program on Rain Enhancement Science for 2016-2018. She is also the recipient of the UK-Gulf Institutional Links 2016 grants awarded by British Council for 2017-2019. Additionally, she is currently working on two desalination membrane projects funded by Abu Dhabi Education Council, and a collaborative program with the University of Manchester. She is also involved in the Masdar Renewable Energy Desalination Program, and leads a novel desalination research project on capacitive deionization in partnership with Veolia. Dr. Zou is a research-focused faculty member, provides both undergraduate and graduate level teaching and advises several PhD and Master’s students at Khalifa University. Dr Linda Zou’s research progress and findings have been reported in featured articles multiple times by leading international nanotechnology portal NANOWERK, as well as by a number of international and local newspapers include: New York Times, Reuters, The Nationals and Gulf News. In January 2019, Dr Zou has been listed among the 7 finalists of The Mohammed Bin Rashid Medal for Scientific Distinction in UAE, and received Golden VISA which is awarded by UAE government to the distinguished scientists in the country.
Personal Details/Academic Background
Professor Qutayba Hamid is a distinguished scientist in Respiratory Medicine and a researcher in Asthma; he is currently the Vice Chancellor for Medical and Health Sciences and the Dean of the College of Medicine in the University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.
Prof. Qutayba was born in Mosul, Iraq. He graduated from the College of Medicine, Mosul University and was trained at the University Hospital in Mosul before travelling to the UK to continue his studies at the Imperial College of London. He served as a lecturer at the National Heart and Lung Institute in London and as a researcher on asthma and allergies.
Research and Achievements:
Professor Qutayba moved to McGill University in Canada in 1993 where he was appointed as an associate professor and then as a professor of Respiratory diseases. He joined the MeakinsChristie institute as a researcher and then as a Director till 2016. He held the prestigious James McGill Chair and clinical Strauss Chair in Respiratory Medicine. Recently, he was elected as a fellow of the prestigious Royal Society to become one of the few in his field to join the society. He is also a member of the Royal College of Internal Medicine in the United Kingdom, a member of the Royal College of Internal Medicine in Canada, and a visiting professor at several international universities.
Professor Qutayba’s research interest is mainly focused on asthma. He has published over 500 research papers in prominent international journals, making him one of the top researchers ever to publish on Asthma, and has led to changing the concept of asthma and to the discovery of new drugs that are currently used to treat it. He has additionally contributed to the publishing of textbook chapters on Respiratory diseases.
His lab in Montreal was an important training ground for respiratory professionals, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from all over the world. Being an expert in the field of allergy, asthma and lung diseases, Professor Hamid has been elected to be a member of numerous scientific advisory boards associations and societies.
Awards and recognition:
For his outstanding research accomplishments, Professor Hamid has received many notable Awards, among which include the best clinical researcher in Canada, the distinguished Scientist Award from the American Respiratory Association in Clinical medicine, medical education and research, a Fellow of the Royal Society. He was also honoured by several countries including Japan, the United States, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. In 2014, he was awarded by H.H Sheikh Sultan Al Qassimi, Ruler of Sharjah, President of Sharjah University.
In recognition of his achievements and contributions to the medical field, Professor Qutayba is awarded the Hamdan Award for honouring Distinguished Personalities from the Arab World for the 2017-2018 term
Dr. Lourdes F. Vega holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Seville, Spain (1992) in collaboration with the Chemical Engineering Department of the University of Southern California, USA. She is currently the Joint Chair Professor of the Gas Research Center at Khalifa University (Sas Al Nakhl campus). She has developed her career between academia and industry, with academic positions in the USA (University of Southern California, Cornell University), Spain (University of Sevilla, Universitat Rovira I Virgili, National Research Council of Spain) and the UAE. She has also been an Invited Visiting Professor at several universities in Europe and America. In the industrial sector she has been the General Director of MATGAS (public-private research center), Technology Director of Air Products and Chemicals, Founder and CEO of AlyaTech and Independent Member of the Board of Directors of ERCROS, SA. She is an Elected Corresponding Member of the Academy of Mathematics, Physical- Chemistry and Natural Sciences of Granada (Spain) since 2017. Professor Vega’s scientific work has been directed towards the combination of fundamental and applied research focused on sustainable processes and products. Recent work includes materials for different applications (new refrigerants, catalytic and adsorbent materials, water treatment, removal of contaminants and CO2 capture and utilization). She is sole author of one book, co-author of 5 books, 170+ papers in referred journals (5200+ citations, h-index: 39 – google scholar) and 5 industrial patents under exploitation. She has participated in several competitive and industrial projects, leading 40+ of them, supervised 20+ Master’s theses, 11 Ph.D. students and 20 postdoctoral researchers. She serves as an editorial board member in three journals. She is also serves a member of several scientific boards in companies and research institutes as well as international conference committees. Her work has been internationally recognized with different research and teaching awards.
Professor Nidal Hilal received his bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering in 1981 followed by a master’s degree in advanced chemical engineering from Swansea University in the United Kingdom in 1986. He received his PhD degree from Swansea University in 1988, where he later founded the internationally recognized Centre for Water Advanced Technologies and Environmental Research (CWATER)*. He is a chartered engineer (CEng) in the UK, a registered European Engineer (Euro Ing) and is an elected fellow of both the Institution of Chemical Engineers (FIChemE) and the Learned Society of Wales (FLSW).
He is currently a Global Network Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at New York University and is the Director of New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Water research Center. His research interests lie broadly in the identification of innovative and cost-effective solutions within the fields of nano-water, membrane technology, and water treatment including desalination, colloid engineering and the nano-engineering applications of AFM. His internationally recognized research has led to the use of AFM in the development of new membranes with optimized properties for difficult separations.
He is internationally recognized, as indicated by google scholar**, as one of the world leaders in Desalination especially in Membrane Separation, Membrane Distillation and Reverse Osmosis. He has published 7 handbooks, 56 invited book chapters and around 500 articles in refereed scientific literature. His research has produced several breakthrough innovations, including: development novel technology to show distinct pores in nanofiltration membranes, development of Molecularly imprinted membranes, development of novel membranes, the use of AFM in the development of new membranes with optimized properties for difficult separations, smallest AFM colloid probe reported in the literature, first AFM coated colloid probe technique, first AFM cell probe technique, first direct measurements of the interaction of single live cells with surfaces, first use of the atomic force microscope in meso-scale cavitation studies.
He has chaired and delivered lectures at numerous international conferences. In 2005 he was awarded Doctor of Science (DSc) from the University of Wales in the United Kingdom in recognition of an outstanding international research contribution in the field of Membrane Science and Water Process Engineering including Desalination. He was also awarded the Kuwait Prize for applied science “Water resources development” in 2005.
Professor Hilal is the Editor-in-Chief for the international journal Desalination. He sits on the editorial boards of several international journals, is an advisory board member of several multinational organizations and has served on/consulted for industry, government departments, research councils and universities on an international basis.