The Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) recognized 15 KAUST postdoctoral fellows for their excellence and innovation in research at the fourth SABIC Postdoctoral Fellowship Awards held at the University on December 10.

The awards highlight SABIC’s commitment to KAUST’s research efforts, and in particular the University’s focus on areas that are of high importance to SABIC’s long-term research strategies, including nanomaterials, novel polymer synthesis, catalysis and computational modeling.

This year’s winners were: Drs. Shawkat Aly, Riya Bose, Salim Bougouffa, Robin Chrystie, Raju Dey, Ester Buchaca Domingo, Laura Falivene, Iurii Ivanov, Mohammed Zahed Mustafa Khan, Narendra Kurra, Peng Li, Galina Printsypar, Altanbadralt Sharkhuu, Yifei Shi, and Ali Thabet.

At the ceremony, SABIC Executive Vice President of Technology & Innovation Dr. Ernesto Occhiello stated, “SABIC is committed to a long-term successful association with KAUST. With innovation lying at the heart of SABIC’s 2015 strategy, we continue to plan for increased collaboration with KAUST to develop technologies that not only drive our competitiveness, but yield significant societal benefits as well.”

KAUST President Jean-Lou Chameau noted that through joint research work, the “SABIC-KAUST collaboration continues to deepen and foster breakthrough innovation in several research areas critical to both the company as well as [the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia]. We are proud to join together with SABIC to continue leading a successful industry-academia collaboration within the Kingdom.”