Dr. Christoph Gehring - Professor, Plant Science
Dr. Gehring’s research interest is in plant responses to environmental stimuli, the underlying molecular structures and modes of downstream signal transduction, and finally, the systemic responses at the level of transcription and translation. (Ph.D., University of London, United Kingdom)
Web site: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/christophgehring
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Dr. Samir M. Hamdan - Assistant Professor, Biosciences
Dr. Hamdan’s research combines biochemical, biophysical, and structural tools with single-molecule techniques to understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the multi-protein DNA replication machinery, the replisome, and its interplay with DNA repair and recombination. (Ph.D., Australian National University - Canberra, Australia)
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Dr. Yu Han - Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Dr. Han’s research interests are in the synthesis, characterization and applications of porous materials. His materials are important for a wide range of applications including controlled adsorption and release, separation, catalysis, drug delivery, optics, and as electrodes and biomaterials. (Ph.D., Jilin University, China)
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Dr. Kuo-Wei Huang - Assistant Professor, Chemical Science
Dr. Huang’s research centers on catalysis, including the physical organometallic chemistry of small molecule activations and functionalizations for renewable energy (water splitting) and carbon dioxide utilization. In addition, his interests include polymer chemistry with its applications, as well as OFT studies and modeling of transition metal catalysis. (Ph.D., Stanford University, United States)
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Dr. Stein Kaartvedt - Professor, Marine Science
Dr. Kaartvedt’s research interests are in marine pelagic ecology, focusing on distribution and behavior of zooplankton and fish and their predator-prey relationships. His work is based on field studies from a wide variety of habitats, with particular focus on novel ways of using submerged, stationary echo sounders for in situ studies of individuals, populations, and marine communities. (Ph.D., University of Bergen, Norway)
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Dr. Niveen M. Khashab - Assistant Professor, Chemical Science; Assistant Professor, Environmental Science and Engineering
Dr. Khashab’s interests are in programmable and controllable microscale robots comprised of nanoscale parts. She is interested in bioresponsive single-wall carbon nanotubes and nanodiamonds, total synthesis of biologically active heterocycles, and design and delivery of P-glycoprotein inhibitors. (Ph.D., University of Florida - Gainesville, United States)
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Dr. Zhiping Lai - Assistant Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Dr. Lai’s research is directed toward understanding and using porous materials such as zeolite, mesoporous silica, metal organic frameworks and their membranes, polymeric and inorganic mixed matrix membranes, membrane reactors, gas separations, hydrocarbon mixture separations waste-water treatments, recovery of industrial organic solvents, and chemical sensors. (Ph.D., University of Massachusetts - Amherst, United States)
Web site: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/zhipinglai
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Dr. James Luyten - Director, Red Sea Science and Engineering Research Center; Professor, Marine Science
Dr. Luyten’s research includes observations and models of ocean currents, physical and chemical properties on appropriate spatial and temporal scales to understand the underlying processes that control their transport and distribution, with a particular emphasis in developing an integrated understanding of coral reefs, their habitats and ecology. (Ph.D., Harvard University, United States)
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Dr. Jasmeen Merzaban - Assistant Professor, Biochemistry
Dr. Merzaban’s research interests focus on understanding and optimizing the mechanism by which immune and stem cells exit the blood circulation to “home” to specific sites within the body using biochemical, biophysical, and imaging techniques with in vivo mouse models. (Ph.D., University of British Columbia, Canada)
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Dr. Ken Minneman - Dean, Division of Chemical and Life Sciences and Engineering; Named Professor, Bioscience
Dr. Minneman’s research interests are in G protein coupled receptors mediating drug and hormone action, including their drug specificity, structure, oligomerization state, signaling properties, and interactions with intracellular scaffolding proteins. (Ph.D., University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
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Dr. Arnab Pain - Associate Professor, Bioscience
Dr. Pain’s research interests are in parasite genomics and transcriptomics, comparative genomics, host-pathogen interactions, non-protein-coding RNAs and regulation of gene expression in parasites, and genomic diversity in pathogenic and non-pathogenic microorganisms. (Ph.D., University of Cambridge, United Kingdom)
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Dr. Ingo Pinnau – Director, Membranes Research Center; Named Professor, Chemical Engineering
Dr. Pinnau’s research focuses on synthesis of high-performance polymers, development of high-performance membranes for gas and liquid separations, hybrid organic/inorganic membranes, nanostructured microporous polymer membranes, thin-film technology, and membrane modifications (surface coatings/fouling resistance). (Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, United States)
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Dr. Timothy Ravasi - Associate Professor, Biology
Dr. Ravasi is working to develop computational models of biological signaling, transcription regulatory networks, and regulatory pathways, to integrate, model, and visualize the enormous amount of data derived from modern biological experiments. He also uses a metagenomic approach to explore microbial biodiversity in the Red Sea to discover useful microbial bioactive molecules. (Ph.D., University of Milan, Italy)
Web site: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/timothyravasi
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Dr. Pascal Saikaly - Assistant Professor, Environmental Science and Engineering
Dr. Saikaly’s research focuses on the microbial ecology of wastewater treatment, microbial fuel cells, and membrane bioreactors. (Ph.D., University of Cincinnati, United States)
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Dr. Ulrich Stingl - Assistant Professor, Marine Science
Dr. Stingl focuses on combining novel cultivation techniques with modern cultivation-independent techniques like genomics and proteomics to elucidate the physiology and ecotype speciation of different members of microbial communities in the Red Sea. He is also interested in symbiotic systems with eukaryotic hosts and microbial symbionts, like termite guts and corals. (Ph.D., University of Konstanz, Germany)
Web site: http://ulistingl.googlepages.com
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Kazuhiro Takanabe - Assistant Professor, Chemical Science
Dr. Takanabe’s research interests include generation of completely renewable hydrogen from photocatalytic water splitting. Development of solid catalysts in the form of novel classes of oxides, (oxy)nitrides and (oxy)sulfides, as well as controlled surface modification with active metal centers, will lead to unprecedented rates and selectivity for various (photo)catalytic process. (Ph.D., Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
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Dr. Christian Voolstra - Assistant Professor, Marine Science
Dr. Voolstra’s research interests are evolutionary genomics and systems biology of coral reefs. He focuses on adaptive evolution and coral-specific genes in mechanisms of bleaching and stress, the machinery of mutualism between corals and algae, and the role of prokaryotes in these processes. (Ph.D., University of Cologne, Germany)
Web site: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/christianvoolstra
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Dr. Peng Wang - Assistant Professor, Environmental Sciences and Engineering
Dr. Wang’s research interests are in environmental nanotechnology, particularly design, synthesis and application of novel nanomaterials for environmental remediation and in developing point of care nanosensors for contaminant detection. He is also seeking new ways to immobilize enzymes, bacteria, or cells for contaminant degradation and environmental detection. (Ph.D., University of California - Santa Barbara, United States)
Web site: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/pengwang
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Dr. Liming Xiong - Associate Professor, Plant Science
Dr. Xiong’s research interests are in the mechanisms of plant response and adaptation to adverse environmental conditions, such as drought and extreme temperatures, and the development of stress-resistant crop plants. (Ph.D., University of Arizona, United States; D.Sc.,Chinese Academy of Sciences, China)
Web site: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/limingxiong
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Dr. Jun Yu - Professor, Bioscience
Dr. Yu’s research interests are in genome sequencing, assembly and annotation, genome analysis, transcriptomics, epigenetics, single nucleotide polymorphism discovery and analysis, phenotypic plasticity, genome sequence and structure evolution, network analysis, and systems biology. (Ph.D., New York University, United States)
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Dr. Jian-Kang Zhu - Director, Plant Stress Genomic and Technology Research Center; Named Professor, Molecular Biology and Plant Physiology
Dr. Zhu is interested in the molecular mechanisms underlying plant responses to harsh environments such as soil salinity, drought and cold temperatures. He is also interested in the mechanisms of gene silencing and in the role of epigenetic gene regulation in stress adaptation. (Ph.D., Purdue University, United States)
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Staff

Ms. Leigh Kilpert, Graduate Program Coordinator
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Ms. Ann Macaulay, Executive Secretary
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