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​Hydrogen-powered cars and recycling CO₂ are just two of the myriad of applications that could spring from catalysts based on a new ligand platform.
When Kuo-Wei Huang and his group made a seemingly simple chemical modification to a pincer catalyst system, they did not observe the anticipated modest alteration to the catalyst’s reactivity. Instead, they discovered totally distinct catalytic behaviors.

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​From plastic wrap to car tires, we demand a lot from our plastics—elasticity, strength, flexibility and recyclability. The ability to manipulate these qualities has made plastics into a diverse and almost ubiquitous material. The omnipresence of plastics, however, has grave implications for the environment and especially for the world's oceans. The United Nations Environment Programme predicts that by 2050, there will be as much plastic in the ocean as there are fish.

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Congratulations to Associate Professor Osman Bakr who recently won the King Prize for his ground-breaking work on hybrid perovskite materials for solar cell applications.

Professor Bakr received the award for his outstanding contributions to science and technology.

The Prize, honoring inventors and gifted scientists and technologists, was established by Ministerial Decree and administered by KACST to contribute to the development of science and technology and research outcomes in support of the transition to a knowledge based society in the Kingdom and to encourage and appreciate distinguished inventors and the gifted in the fields of science, technology and innovation. The prize also seeks to develop a spirit of creativity, innovation, and invention in Saudi Arabia, and to motivate talent and advanced ability.

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​Ultrafast video capture of droplet cloud formation should help minimize the risk of gas-leak explosions.

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​Professor Nikos Hadjichristidis, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Science, has been invited to give the Second Sivaran Endowment Lecture.

Organized by The Society for Polymer Science, India, his talk entitled:

C1 and C3 Polymerizations: Ways to Unprecedented Structures

will be given today at 10:45am at the MACRO-2018 Conference in the C.V.Raman Auditorium, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune.

Dr. Sivaram is a polymer chemist, mentor and science manager of distinction. Dr. Sivaram endowment lecture has been instituted by his large family of students, associates, colleagues, mentors and well-wishers from across the world, both from academia and industry. The main objective of this lecture is to popularize polymer science and technology in the country and to inspire young researchers working in the area of chemistry, in general, and polymer science, in particular. The lecture shall be held once in two years during the biannual MACRO conferences held under the auspices of The Society for Polymer Science, India (SPSI). The Lecturer will be encouraged to visit educational institutions in India to interact with young students and inspire them. The Society will strive to invite distinguished scholars from India and abroad to deliver the endowment lecture. His former students and associates, believe that this is the most fitting way to acknowledge the values that Dr. Sivaram has instilled in them, namely pursuit of excellence in scientific research and education, maintaining the high standards of professional integrity and service to the scientific community.

The First Endowment Lecture in 2017 was given by Professor M. Sawamoto, Kyoto University, Japan.

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​Congratulations to Professor Husam Alshareef who has won the 2018 Kuwait Prize in the field of Clean and Sustainable Energy Technologies, in recognition of his distinguished scientific contributions in the area of energy storage.  In recommending professor Alshareef for the Kuwait prize, the selection committee noted that:

"Professor Husam Alshareef is an internationally recognized expert in the field of energy storage known for his innovative research in developing materials for energy storage devices such as batteries and supercapacitors"

In receiving this award, Professor Husam Alshareef joins a select group of 120 distinguished Arab Scientists and scholars who have been awarded the Kuwait prize since it its establishment in 1979.

"I thank the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences for this award.  I am especially happy because this prize recognizes our scientific contributions based on work done entirely at  KAUST",  said Professor Alshareef.

Professor Alshareef's recent work in energy storage includes development of sodium and zinc ion batteries, aqueous batteries, electrochemical supercapacitors, microbatteries, and microsupercapacitors.  His group has been developing layered electrode materials  by chemical synthesis, laser and plasma-based synthesis, and atomic layer deposition  "I encourage my students and post-docs to be independent thinkers and to combine their material synthesis skills with practical devices," said Alshareef.

Established in 1979 by the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), the Kuwait Prize recognizes the achievements of Arab scholars and researchers living anywhere in  the world in various fields of knowledge. Prizes are awarded each year on selected topics in the fields of Basic Science, Applied Sciences, Economics and Social Science, Arts and Literature, and Arabic and Islamic Scientific Heritage.

Recognizing the importance of celebrating scientific achievements by awarding researchers and academics for their contributions, KFAS launched these awards as part of its mission to motivate and support human capabilities, recognize life-achievements and encourage Arab researchers to sustain their efforts in producing high-quality research.

The announcements came after the endorsement of His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Emir of the State of Kuwait and Chairman of the KFAS Board of Directors, of the decisions of the board, based on recommendations forwarded by the Prize Council and the reports of the evaluation and selection panels.

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The Fall Meeting of the AGU is the largest earth and space science meeting in the world. The meeting this year serves as the launch of AGU's centennial and more than 24,000 attendees from 113 countries are expected to attend.

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​The potential of glycerol waste from biodiesel production to be simply converted into a clean-burning sustainable fuel is being explored by scientists at KAUST's Clean Combustion Research Center.

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