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Khalifa University of Science and Technology Celebrates UAE Flag Day

Khalifa University of Science and Technology celebrated United Arab Emirates’ Flag Day today with an assembly for students faculty and staff. Attendees recited the UAE’s National Anthem and the pledge of allegiance while raising the UAE’s flag.

Dr. Arif Sultan Al Hammadi Khalifa University of Science and Technology’s Interim Executive Vice President said: “The UAE flag is embedded in the hearts of all Emiratis. It is a symbol of the UAE that reminds us that we are united under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and it motivates our students to become scientists researchers and innovators and future leaders of industry and contribute to the UAE’s prosperity. Our flag is a symbol of the union of our beloved Emirates. It encourages us to work hard study and do everything we can to raise the name of the United Arab Emirates inspired by our wise leadership’s vision.”

Download Official KU Press Release – English

للمشاھدة والتنزیل باللغة العربیة

 

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14th Annual Ankabut Users Meeting at Khalifa University to Focus on Educational Technology and Cloud Services

Ankabut The UAE Advanced National Research and Education Network an initiative of Khalifa University of Science and Technology will hold its 14th annual users meeting at the Khalifa University main campus on 22 November 2017

To be held under the theme ‘We Edu-Cloud’ this year’s event will include the signing of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) and the official launch of the re-designed Ankabut website as well as the new Data Center. The agenda will include two panel discussions and 11 breakout sessions focusing on educational technology in general and the role of cloud in particular. The panel discussions are titled ‘Impact of Cloud on Future of IT Organizations’ and ‘Artificial Intelligence: Practice & Implications for Education’.

The Ankabut users meeting aims to share knowledge and experience in the latest educational technologies and inspire educators to seek even more innovations. It will also review Ankabut’s achievements and showcase its current and future projects.

The one-day conference primarily targets the UAE higher education community and over 100 organizations including over 50 different post-secondary institutions. As a gathering of multiple groups who share a common interest in educational technology the event is also expected to be attended by senior officials from some government entities as well as private sector corporations. A total of 500 participants are expected to attend the open one-day meeting.

Dr Arif Sultam Al Hammadi Interim Executive Vice-President Khalifa University of Science and Technology said: “Today’s ecosystem requires all-round innovation in education technology that will suitably support learning and development of skills among students. This is why we are honored to support Ankabut that continues to organize various initiatives towards assisting human development. We hope the upcoming users meeting will provide stakeholders in the education research and technology sectors with the right platform for knowledge sharing for the benefit of the community in general.”

Mr. Fahem Al Nuaimi Ankabut CEO said: “We are delighted to host the 14th annual users meeting towards creating the perfect conditions that enable the right platforms to support innovation and knowledge development. We hope the gathering of such a large number of professionals and industry leaders will result in sharing of expertise and help participants to benefit from one another in education technology.”

Managed by Khalifa University the Ankabut project is jointly funded by the TRA through the ICT Fund. It offers academic institutions connectivity to other education networks around the world. It also connects schools and public institutions together across the UAE. It cooperates on a national GCC regional and international level representing the UAE in conferences exhibitions and forums.

ENDS

About Ankabut

Ankabut is the United Arab Emirates’ Advanced National Research and Education Network (NREN) offering academic institutions connectivity to other education networks around the world. In addition to connecting universities Ankabut can connect schools and public institutions together across the UAE with an effective cost model. Ankabut also co-operates on a national GCC regional and international arena representing the UAE in conferences exhibitions and forums. Ankabut aims to offer professional and innovative IT services with a focus on the research and educational sector. Services includes Cloud Connectivity IT infrastructure manage service and professional services such as IT Consultancy Project Management Licenses Training and Development.

Ankabut interconnects more than 80 tenants with a 10G backbone and 1G access links.  It enables a closed community network that allows the transfer of real-time services such as voice and video communication time-critical services such as grid computing interconnect (cloud computing) public internet services web hosting (C panel) co- locating Edu- roam High Performance Computing (HPC) Learning Management System (LMS) Virtual Desktop Interface (VDI) Mozoon system and Sierra Library Management System.

Ankabut supports initiatives in the e-learning environment library content and distribution systems and research collaboration.  Ankabut believes that identifying these initiatives and offering network processing and storage support is the best way to develop a collective collaborative approach to research and education.

About Khalifa University of Science and Technology

The Khalifa University of Science and Technology merges the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research and the Petroleum Institute into one world-class research-intensive institution producing world leaders and critical thinkers in applied science and engineering. The Khalifa University of Science and Technology endeavors to be a catalyst to the growth of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s rapidly developing knowledge economy as an education destination of choice and a global leader among research intensive universities.

Download Official KU Press Release – English

للمشاھدة والتنزیل باللغة العربیة

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KU Professor Among Top 1% of Cited Researchers in Engineering Worldwide

Dr. Eiyad Abu-Nada has published more than 80 journal papers and averaged 47.71 citations per publication according to Clarivate Analytics – a leading online resource for scientific publications

Khalifa University Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Dr. Eiyad Abu-Nada, is rated among the top 1% of researchers worldwide for citations of published research in the field of Engineering between 2006 and 2016 – a great achievement in the scientific community. During his academic career, Dr. Abu-Nada has published more than 80 journal papers and averaged 47.71 citations per publication as listed on Clarivate Analytics – a leading online resource for scientific publications. Most of his published journal papers appeared in the top prestigious Q1 journals in the Web of Science database. Dr. Abu-Nada has also published numerous conference papers in international conferences.

“I have always been driven by my work to discover something new, it excites me. Now I feel more enthusiastic to continue doing great work,” Dr. Abu-Nada remarked. “I remain humbled by how little we understand, and how much more there is to know. I try to impart that curiosity on my students each semester, hoping that they can one day contribute to science, and explore something new. That would make me proud.”

Besides quietly digging away at the complexity of nature in search of its secrets, Dr. Abu-Nada has also been teaching Mechanical Engineering at KU since 2013. Though primarily devoted to the study of heat transfer and fluid dynamics at the nanoscale – the investigation of the properties and interaction of fluids with particles – his published papers span various sciences, such as thermal sciences, energy, biophysics, and microfluidics.

After earning his BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering from Jordan, Dr. Abu-Nada moved to the states and completed his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from New Mexico State University in 2001. He began establishing the groundwork for his research which gained him momentum and valuable experience. In 2010, Dr. Abu-Nada received a fellowship at the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Also, he received other significant awards at the regional level such as the Abdul-Hameed Shoman Award in Jordan and the Arab Fund award from Kuwait.

“I was able to work with great researchers and very professional people. I learned from, and was motivated by their fundamental understanding of the underlying physics of engineering problems and inspired by their scientific ethics. Collaboration is key to expanding one’s understanding and learning new things,” said Dr. Abu-Nada as he reflected on his early career. “I was put onto a narrow research track that remains a focal point of my research. More importantly, I was exposed to rigorous scientific exploration and science for the sake of science: not chasing dreams, but rather, chasing the truth.”

Dr. Abu-Nada’s specialized research focus has won him over 4,000 citations on Web of Science – an online resource for scientific publications – and an h-index of 27. A researcher’s h-index is a measurement of the productivity and impact of their research.

Dr. Abu-Nada’s research has steadily pushed the limits of our collective knowledge on topics like heat transfer enhancement using nanofluids, dissipative particle dynamics and convective heat transfer, carving out a niche for himself. Among his most cited published papers is the “Numerical study of natural convection in partially heated rectangular enclosures filled with nanofluids.” In it, Dr. Abu-Nada describes the factors that impact heat transfer in base fluids through using different fluids and nanoparticles. Besides cataloguing results from different variables, the study is considered unique because he and his team laid the groundwork for mathematical modeling of heat transfer at the nanoscale.

Dr. Abu-Nada spent considerable efforts in pushing the limits of dissipative particle dynamics (DPD), a technique used for simulating the interactions of fluids and particles in order to better understand and improve energy transfer in thermal fluid systems. DPD has potential applications in emerging energy technologies, such as solar energy and steam power plants, where efficiencies and improvements are key elements in enhancing performance.

“DPD is my passion. I am keen to get back into the type of work I was doing early in my career with the experience and understanding I now have,” Dr. Abu-Nada commented about his future plans. “I began my career with biofluids and its study has always held a special place in my heart. I want to apply the tools I have acquired throughout my career to the study of blood flow, its physical properties, and red blood cell aggregation. I’m also interested in collaborating on research that examines renewable energies more closely.”

Dr. Abu-Nada advises students and aspiring researchers: “Participate in conferences where you can interact with experts, visit big labs, and be inspired. Aim high, have high standards, have a plan to only target the big journals for your publications. If you get turned down, take their feedback, revise, and resubmit. Collaborate and interact with peers and colleagues, give and take input and criticism. Learn from others’ experiences and work.”

“I am very grateful for the support I have received from family, friends, and my teachers, those who inspired me and those who mentored me. Khalifa University has been instrumental in my research, providing me access to the cutting edge tools I need, helping me to attend conferences, and supporting the researchers with funding and initiatives. I also want to say thank you to my peers, Professors, the Department Chair, Deans, Provost, and University Leadership for their support.”

Zaman Khan
News and Features Writer
24 July 2019

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Simulated Aircraft Impact Analysis on Nuclear Power Plants to Global Body of Research

Fatema Almuhairi, Msc in Mechanical Engineering, dispels fear of radioactive material release in the event of an airplane crash at a nuclear power plant with simulated impact analysis of APR1400 reactor containment building.

The nuclear power industry has been developing and improving reactor technology for more than five decades and from day one, there has been a serious focus on the potential hazards of operating nuclear reactors. As with all other industries, the design and operation of nuclear power plants aims to minimize the likelihood of accidents, and avoid major human consequences should they occur. Evidence shows that nuclear power is a safe means of generating electricity with the risk of accidents in the plants themselves low and declining. The Federal Authority for Nuclear Regulation (FANR) plays an essential role in ensuring that the UAE’s nuclear reactors are safe, secure and reliable. And now, so too will research from KU postgraduate student Fatema Obaid Ali Almuhairi, whose thesis focuses on impact analyses on nuclear buildings from aircraft.

Almuhairi’s research, titled Aircraft Impact Analysis for APR1400 Reactor Containment Building, will complement the safety design features of the APR1400 nuclear reactor, a design developed by the Korean nuclear industry under the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO). The Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the UAE will comprise four APR1400 nuclear reactors with the first scheduled to become operational by 2020.

Attacks on nuclear power plants have been feared since the first nuclear power plant went live in 1954 in Obninsk, Russia. The lack of such attacks is largely due to the fact that many government agencies have developed standards for impeccably tough nuclear reactor walls to keep radiation in and terrorists out.

“Aircraft impact on nuclear power plant structures is an issue of global concern, since the consequences of such an impact can be severe and may lead to the release of radioactive material into the environment,” explained Almuhairi. “The reactor containment buildings (RCBs) are the last barrier of protection in a nuclear power plant, where it protects the plant from external incidents, prevents the release of radioactive materials during normal operation or accidents, and provides a radiation shield.”

A containment building is a reinforced structure enclosing a nuclear reactor, designed to contain the escape of radioactivity. As the fourth and final barrier to radioactive release, the containment plays a critical role in the most severe nuclear reactor accidents. RCBs in the United States are subjected to mandatory testing for a nuclear plant to earn its operating license. In Europe, the European Nuclear Safety Regulators Group ensures plants in the EU conform to standards. While in the UAE, FANR provide regulation to ensure that RCBs are built to withstand extreme conditions.

The stringent requirements imposed on a nuclear plant consider the effect of impact from a large commercial aircraft. The external walls of the RCBs, which house critical safety-related equipment and fuels, must stand up to impact without perforating or rupturing.

The APR1400 RCB is a pre-stressed concrete containment vessel (PCCV) surrounded by an auxiliary building, which houses additional safety-related equipment and other systems. The RCBs’ characteristic dome shape and unique material properties make them robust structures. RCBs comprise pre-stressed tendons, reinforced steel, and liner plates alongside the concrete outer shell.

Testing containment buildings is nothing new. In 1988, Sandia National Laboratories conducted a strength test on a large concrete block by slamming a fully loaded F-4 Phantom jet directly at it to investigate the survivability of a nuclear power plant in the event of an attack. The jet disintegrated upon impact while the concrete block remained relatively unscathed. The 482mph impact left only a 64mm deep gouge in the 3.66m wide block from an impact force of over 700 G. Subsequent studies concluded that commercial airliners did not pose a danger.

“Compared to previous studies in this field, this work goes a step further by analyzing the effect of aging on the impact response of an APR1400 RCB,” said Almuhairi. “With aging, the RCB’s materials degrade, and as a result, the load-bearing capacity could be compromised. In the event of an aircraft impact on an aged RCB, the structural integrity might be lost.”

Three degradation mechanisms were considered in modeling the aging of the containment: liner corrosion, rebar corrosion, and pre-stress loss of tendons.

“The impact an Airbus A320 would have on the RCB for the APR1400 was investigated using finite element analysis,” said Almuhairi. “A new modeling approach was developed to determine the impact pressure of the aircraft, taking into account the change of the aircraft’s cross section during crushing and dividing the impact into three stages.

“We found that the unaged RCB is able to withstand the impact load of an Airbus A320 aircraft without liner or rebar failure for impact velocities as great as 300 m/s,” explained Almuhairi. “While aging the RCB caused the plastic liner and rebar strains to increase, the structural integrity of the RCB was maintained for most cases. Full penetration of the RCB was reported only for the unlikely event of an A320 impacting a highly degraded RCB (where all degradation mechanisms were applied simultaneously) at a velocity of 300m/s, a scenario that is judged very unlikely to occur during the design life of 60 years.”

Results from studies by the Electric Power Research Institute support Almuhairi’s findings: penetrating even weak reinforced concrete requires multiple hits by high speed artillery shells or specially-designed ‘bunker busting’ artillery—both of which are well beyond what intentional human damage methods are likely to cause. Nuclear reactors are more resistant to attacks from large aircraft than virtually any other civil installations, according to the World Nuclear Association, and Almuhairi’s research contributes to this growing body of evidence while providing peace of mind in case of nefarious intent.

Jade Sterling
News and Feature Writer
16 September 2019

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Faisal Al Madani Tutors Khalifa University Alumni on Emotional Intelligence

Khalifa University’s alumni relations office welcomed Faisal Al Madani for the latest talk in the Alumni Speakers Series. 

Mr. Al Madani who heads up Etisalat’s Customer Service Division for the Abu Dhabi region spoke eloquently about the importance of emotional intelligence in the modern workplace. 

Mr. Al Madani studied his Bachelor’s degree at Khalifa University and also holds a Masters in Quality Management from the University of Wollongong Dubai. He is a certified Internal /External Quality Auditor a certified “Train The Trainer” and has attended more than 50 Management courses as well as being certified in “Mind Mapping” by Tony Bozan. 

His talk focused on emotional intelligence which refers to a person’s ability to monitor their own and other’s emotions as well as the ways in which they can use emotional information to guide thinking and behavior.  The interactive lecture highlighted the importance of EQ or a person’s Emotional Quotient in being successful. “More and more companies are realizing that EQ is more important than IQ ” he said. “Our ability to get along well with our co-workers is the most important thing.”

Khalifa University’s Alumni Speakers Series aims to help existing students benefit from the experience and knowledge of Khalifa University alumni inspiring them to get ahead in their chosen fields and enabling them to receive a more multidisciplinary education. The speeches/presentations cover areas such as technology management leadership and other topics. Keep an eye on our events page for information about our upcoming speaker’s events. 

 

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Khalifa University Hosts 4th KAIST-KU Research Symposium

Symposium explored research connected with nuclear energy industry as well as other areas of interest to the UAE

Khalifa University announced today that it recently held the 4th KAIST-KU Research Symposium at its Abu Dhabi campus on December 8th-9th 2013. The Symposium is the result of Khalifa University’s and the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology’s (KAIST) desire to foster research collaboration between the two institutions.The Symposium was opened by Dr. Tod Laursen Khalifa University President and Dean Soon Chang Professor of Nuclear Engineering in the Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering (NQe) at KAIST and Dean of the KAIST-Khalifa Institute (KKI). It was attended by over 40 faculty and graduate students from both Khalifa University and KAIST.

The symposium discussed areas of interest to the UAE such as novel drug targets and drug delivery systems for diabetes intelligent multi-sensor surveillance systems for care of the elderly and persistent surveillance of critical infrastructure using multiple unmanned aerial vehicles. Issues related to the nuclear energy industry were also addressed including research being done on safety issues health and safety monitoring and improving the quality of data collected.

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Khalifa University Faculty Publish Paper in Advanced Materials

Two members of Khalifa University’s (KU) faculty recently published an article in the journal Advanced Materials which focuses on topics in chemistry physics nanotechnology ceramics metallurgy and biomaterials.

Their research focuses on making new synthetic materials by mimicking materials found in nature.

Professor Kin Liao who published the paper with his colleague Dr. Yuanqing Li said “We thought that perhaps new ideas for making materials could be borrowed from the ingenuity of nature.   In nature there are smart ways to create materials with exceptional properties to serve the survival of their host organisms.  Materials such as teeth bone and nacre (a composite material that makes up the outer coating of pearls) are composed of complex materials made of very tiny components only nanometers in size.

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Khalifa University Wraps Up Their Summer School for Grade 9 to 12 Students.

Activities included lectures given by Khalifa University faculty members as well as informal discussions on research activities by students and their mentors and interesting scientific experiments in Physics and Chemistry plus educational documentaries   guided tours of the Discovery Center and an introduction to computer programs such as (Adobe Flash Adobe Photoshop and Weebly).

 

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Biotechnology Center Interns Analyze Thyroid Disease in Emiratis

Dozens of students, professors and guests attended the “End of Summer Internship Program 2019” at Khalifa University’s Main Campus on Thursday, 1 August, 2019, to celebrate the culmination of eight weeks of hard work. The event was a fitting end to KU’s Center for Biotechnology (BTC) Summer Internship Program, which included eleven undergraduate student interns from Khalifa University, the University of Sharjah, New York University, American University of Ras Al-Khaimah, Monash University in Malaysia, and the School of Industrial Biology in France.

Now in its fourth year, the BTC Summer Internship Program offers undergraduate students interested in biotechnology a hands-on learning experience to develop high-quality skills and knowledge needed for working in a molecular genetic laboratory.

Directed by Dr. Habiba Alsafar, Associate Professor of Genetics and Molecular Biology, the BTC undertakes research that increases the understanding of the risk factors that affect major chronic diseases of the UAE population, in particular diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. The focus of this year’s internship was a project titled “Genotype and allele frequencies at two variants in two genes (VAV3 and BRAF) associated with Thyroid cancer among UAE population.”

A first-of-its-kind study conducted in an Arab ethnic group, the main objective was to evaluate the genes VAV3 and BRAF in an Emirati population to determine the frequencies of different VAV3 and BRAF genes – which are highly associated with Thyroid cancer in different ethnic groups –  and their relevant genotypes.

“I really enjoyed this experience because, as an international student, I had the opportunity to meet and interact with students and professors from different backgrounds and cultures,” shared Fahad Abbasse, a graduate student pursuing a degree in industrial biology from the Ecole de Biologie Industrielle in France. “Everyone was really friendly and they gave me a warm welcome to the center. Working with state-of-the-art technology in the lab was really rewarding, and made our lab work more enjoyable.”

The BTC interns isolated genomic DNA from saliva samples of 1,000 healthy Emiratis, representing different geographical regions. They then used a sophisticated genotyping process known as “RT-qPCR TaqMan assay” to analyze the allele frequency of two variants in the two different genes VAV3 and BRAF.

The students found that the two variants showed some similarities with the Caucasian population but were different when compared to African and Asian populations.

KU biomedical engineering undergraduate student Dana AlTamimi also enjoyed the experience. She said: “The Biotechnology center internship was one of the best things I ever did. We were exposed to different procedures in the field of research. The internship was very interesting and helpful for my future studies and career.”

Thyroid cancer is a cancer of the gland in front of the neck that normally produces the thyroid hormone, which is important to the normal regulation of the metabolism of the body. Thyroid cancer is the second most common cancer among women in the UAE, accounting for approximately ten percent of all cancers among females. Regionally, thyroid cancer is also the fifth most common cancer in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

A better understanding of genetic polymorphisms, which is when multiple forms of a single gene exists in an individual or group, may contribute to a more accurate identification of avoidable risks associated with thyroid cancer, and to developing tailor-made preventative measures.

Throughout the eight-week internship, students conducted literature reviews using scientific public domain search engine for articles such as, PubMEd, Web of Science, and Scopus; attended a workshop on reference style using Endnote software; analyzed data using a specialized software program called “R Software;” and finally, presented their scientific findings as an oral presentation and a poster at the “End of Summer Internship Program 2019” event, which was held at KU’s Main Campus on Thursday, 1 August.

Erica Solomon
Senior Editor
15 August 2019