King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST; ) is a private research university located in Thuwal, Saudi Arabia. Founded in 2009, the university provides research and graduate training programs in English as the official language of instruction. It is named after King Abdullah bin Abdulalziz, the ruler of Saudi Arabia from 2005 until 2015. KAUST is the first mixed-gender university campus in Saudi Arabia. In 2013, the university was among the 500 fastest growing research and citation records in the world. In the 2016 Nature Index Rising Stars, the university ranked 19th in the world of the fastest rising universities for high quality research output. In 2019 KAUST is ranked 8th fastest rising young universities (aged 50 and under) for their research output since 2015, as measured by fractional count (FC). History In 2006, Ali Al-Naimi chaired a Saudi Aramco team to undertake the building and planning of the academics. Nadhmi Al-Nasr was chosen to lead the project. They employed the Washington Advisory Group's Frank H. T. Rhodes and Frank Press to design the academic structure, SRI International to develop the four research institutes, and the architectural firm of HOK for the campus master plan, which included wind towers and solar panels. The location of the campus at Thuwal included 16.4 sq km on land and 19.6 sq km of marine sanctuary offshore. Ground breaking took place in Oct. 2007, and 178 scholarships were awarded in Jan. 2008. KAUST officially opened on September 23, 2009, at an inauguration ceremony, where King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud gave a speech where he stated that places like the university that "embrace all people are the first line of defence against extremists". The university initially received a $10 billion endowment. Upon opening, the university admitted 400 students from over 60 countries and 70 faculty. The campus is home to Shaheen, Asia's fastest supercomputer at the time of its commissioning. in September 2018, KAUST signed a 5-year R&D partnership agreement with McLaren. Campus Description The university's core campus, located on the Red Sea at Thuwal, is sited on more than , encompassing a marine sanctuary, museum, and research facility. KAUST is the first mixed-gender university campus in Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities hope the mixed-gender center will help modernize the Kingdom's deeply conservative society. The religious police do not operate on-site. Women are allowed to mix freely with men and they are not required to wear veils in the coeducational classes. KAUST was Saudi Arabia's first LEED certified project and is the world's largest LEED Platinum campus. Designed by international architecture firm Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum, it was also chosen by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE) as one of the 2010 Top Ten Green Projects. The university library received the 2011 AIA/ALA Library Building Award for accomplishments in library architecture. Research KAUST organizes its research teams across three academic disciplines, 12 research centers and individual faculty labs. KAUST focuses its research around the areas of food and health,