Dr. Khaled saoud obtained his BS from Yarmouk University and his Master’s degree in applied physics from Virginia Commonwealth University. He then completed his PhD in 2005 in chemical physics at the chemistry and Physics departments, Virginia Commonwealth University working on developing nanomaterials for different applications such as catalysis. He held many industrial positions at major American companies such as Philip Morris USA, Intel Corporation, and Nova Measuring Instruments Inc. He has recently initiated a research program in nanocatalysis, nanotextile and nanomaterials for the construction and development of new catalytic membranes for energy, water treatment, and environmental applications.
He has been working in the field of nanotechnology since 1998. He published over 20 research papers in the field of nanotechnology and holds two US patents. He holds many industrial positions in American companies. He participated in many conferences and holds for using nanomaterials in different applications. Recently, he was invited by Arab League as an expert to start the nanotechnology initiative in the Arab world.
Dr. Daniel Choi received his BSc in Metallurgical Engineering from the Seoul National University (South Korea) and his PhD in Electrical Engineering from UCLA. Dr. Choi worked as a staff member for three years at the Aerospace Corporation in California, which supports the US Air Force, where developed high-resolution Focused Ion Beam (FIB) Lithography techniques, high-transconductance/low-noise nanometer-scale MOSFET and GaN high-speed electronic devices. He later joined the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)/NASA in 1999 as a task manager, leading a number of space-related projects for nine years. He also has worked on the development of high sensitivity gas sensors, MEMS-gyroscopes, and novel microfluidic ion mobility chromatograph for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) project. He served as the committee for NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
Prior to joining the Masdar Institute, Dr. Choi was an associate professor of the Materials Science and Engineering (MSE) program for 2007-2013 at University of Idaho (USA), where he developed technologies in the area of energy storage, 3D-nanoelectronics and bio-applications (cancer treatments and smart drug delivery). His leadership at the University of Idaho included serving as the MSE program coordinator to design/improve the programs to meet the requirements of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) criteria, an academic advisor of the Tau Beta Pi University of Idaho chapter, and being the director of the University Nanofabrication Cleanroom Facility.
Currently, Dr. Choi is an associate professor of the Materials Science and Engineering program in the Masdar Institute.
Prior to joining the Masdar Institute faculty, Dr. Matteo Chiesa was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he investigated the properties of nano-engineered insulating material that may play a key role in addressing the technological challenges faced by the oil industry in enhancing oil recovery while minimizing its environmental impact. This research was performed in close collaboration with the R&D department at Aibel (former ABB Offshore System) for which he previously served as a technical advisor. He was also employed at SINTEF Petroleum and Energy, one of the largest European research institutions.
Dr Taleb Ibrahim earned a PhD in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University, Alabama, USA. He has taught and worked on research in chemical engineering and chemistry departments for more than 18 years at universities such as Auburn University and Tuskegee University, USA.
His areas of research and teaching interest are interfacial phenomena/surface, colloidal science, materials science, corrosion, separation processes and thermodynamics. In his research, emphasis is placed on problems that are related but not limited to polymers, composite materials, pharmaceutical products, environmental issues and corrosion. He has published over 50 journal and conference papers and organized/co-chair several conferences.
Osman M. Bakr holds a B.Sc. in Materials Science and Engineering from MIT (2003) as well as a M.S. and Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Harvard University (2009). He is currently an Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, SABIC Presidential Career Development Chair, at KAUST, Saudi Arabia. His research group focuses on the study of hybrid organic-inorganic nanoparticles and materials; particularly advancing their synthesis and self-assembly for applications in solar energy and optoelectronics.
Dr. Fatma Taher's research interests are in the areas of signal and image processing, medical image analysis, specifically in the detection of cancerous cells, multimedia and watermarking detection. She received her PhD from Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research, UAE, in 2014. She is the first UAE local to graduate with a PhD in Engineering from a university in the UAE, and Khalifa University is considered the first university in the UAE to grant PhD degrees in computer engineering. Dr. Fatma Taher has published more than 13 papers international journals and conferences. She has served as a member of the technical program committees of many international conferences, such as IEEE ICECS 2013, ICTIST 2011. Dr. Fatma is the Vice Chair of IEEE Women in Engineering Society in the UAE. Dr. Fatma has received many awards such as: Prize for the best PhD Excellence Award at Khalifa University’s Annual Leadership Day, 12th February 2012. Best Paper Award at the BCS International IT Conference Towards 21st Century Innovations, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 31st March-1st April 2013. Best Paper Award and First Prize in the PhD Forum at the 20th IEEE International Conference on Electronics, Circuits, and Systems (ICECS), PhD Forum, Dec. 8-11, 2013.