​2021's highly cited researchers from KAUST are:

Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division

Carlos Duarte
Distinguished Professor - Red Sea Research Center (RSRC) and Computational Bioscience Research Center

Carlos Duarte is a global leader in biological oceanography and marine ecology, with pioneer research encompassing versatile fields, including blue carbon ecosystems, a term he coined. His article "Plumbing the global carbon cycle: Integrating inland waters into the terrestrial carbon budget" was cited 2,233 times. He has been recognized among Highly Cited Scientists in all assessments and, in 2022, in two fields: Environment and Ecology and Plant and Animal Science.

Dr. Matthew F. McCabe
Professor of Remote Sensing and Water Security, Director of Climate and Livability Initiative

Professor McCabe's research focuses on issues related to water and food security, climate change impacts, precision agriculture, water resources monitoring and modeling, and the novel use of technologies for enhanced Earth system observation. Prof McCabe is leading KAUST's Climate and Livability Initiative, which has a mission to advance science-driven multi-disciplinary climate research that will create insights and solutions for climate impacts, adapt and mitigation strategies. The CLI aims to support decision-making at the highest levels, act as a bridge between science and policy, and help educate the next generation of scientists and engineers to deliver sustainable solutions. Professor McCabe has now been on the Highly Cited list three times.

Dr. Mark Tester
Professor of Plant Science
Associate Director, Center for Desert Agriculture
Co-founder and CSO, Red Sea Farms LLC

Mark Tester brings expertise in molecular genetics for growing plants in sub-optimal conditions, such as high saline water and high-temperature conditions, and delivering environmentally and economically sustainable crops using desert greenhouse technologies. He also serves as the associate director of the Center for Desert Agriculture (CDA) and is co-founder of Red Sea Farms. Professor Tester has been cited over 40,000 times, including over 5,000 times last year. He has made the list for the past four years.

Computer, Electrical and Mathematical Sciences and Engineering Division

Dr. Mohamed-Slim Alouini
Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Mohamed-Slim Alouini's research is in the modeling, design, and performance evaluation of wireless communications systems and networks, with a current focus on developing new generations of aerial and space networks that provide connectivity to rural, remote, and disaster areas. Professor Alouini has been on the highly cited list five times now.

Dr. Håvard Rue
Professor of Statistics

Rue's research is in computational Bayesian statistics and Bayesian methodology such as priors, sensitivity and robustness, with contributing expertise to the R-INLA project, which aims to provide a practical tool for the approximate Bayesian analysis of latent Gaussian models, often at extreme data scales. This is the third time Professor Rue has been featured on the highly cited researchers list.

Physical Science and Engineering Division

Dr. Husam N. Alshareef
Professor of Material Science and Engineering

Alshareef's research interests are in developing nanoscale materials for energy storage, electronics, and sensors. His current projects include mobile ion batteries, electrochemical capacitors, wearable electronics, and sensors. He has been included the list three times.

Dr. Osman Bakr
Professor of Material Science and Engineering

M. Bakr is Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at KAUST. His research group works on the design and self-assembly of hybrid and inorganic materials to generate breakthrough applications in solar energy harvesting, photonics, and optoelectronic devices. His group has been at the forefront of the synthesis, property elucidation, and applications of two major classes of materials: metal halide perovskites and atomically precise metal nanoclusters.

Times Higher Education named Bakr one of the ten leading university researchers worldwide in the field of perovskite solar cells (2018) and Clarivate designated Bakr as a Highly Cited Researcher three times (2019, 2020, and 2021).

Dr. Stefaan De Wolf
Associate Professor of Material Science and Engineering, Interim Associate Director, KAUST Solar Center

De Wolf received his Ph.D. degree in 2005 from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, during which time he was also affiliated with IMEC. From 2005 to 2008, he was a researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Japan. In 2008, he joined Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, as a team leader working on high-efficiency solar cells. Since September 2016 he has been an associate professor at KAUST in Saudi Arabia, focusing on high-efficiency silicon and perovskite solar cells and their combinations in perovskite/silicon tandem solar cells. This is Professor De Wolf's third time on the list.

Dr. Mohamed Eddaoudi
Distinguished Professor of Chemical Science

Eddaoudi's research explores new strategies for the design and synthesis of functional solid-state materials from molecular building blocks, and advancing understanding of the structure-property relationship of materials. He is also director of the Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Center (AMPMC).

Dr. Jorge Gascon
Professor of Chemical Engineering, Director of the KAUST Catalysis Center, Lead of the KAUST Circular Carbon Initiative

Jorge Gascon's research interests are at the intersection of chemical engineering and materials science, including the development and demonstration of sustainable catalytic technologies for the production of chemicals, energy carriers and new environmental applications. He is also the Director of the KAUST Catalysis Center (KCC) and the Lead of the KAUST Circular Carbon Initiative. This is the fourth time Professor Gascon has made the list.

Dr. Iain McCulloch
Professor of Chemical Science, now Adjunct Professor

McCulloch's research interests are in the design and synthesis of semiconducting small molecules and polymers for use in organic electronic devices. He was the Director of the KAUST Solar Center but is now an Adjunct Professor.

Dr. Omar F. Mohammed
Associate Professor of Chemical Science

Mohammed's research explores the fundamentals of carrier dynamics in solar cell systems, including semiconductor quantum dots, polymers and perovskite solar cells using cutting-edge nanotechnology, ultrafast laser spectroscopy, and four-dimensional electron imaging.

Dr. Yu Han
Professor of Chemical Science

Han's research interests include the synthesis of nanoporous and nanostructured materials, the resolution of their complicated structures, and the development of novel applications for these materials in catalysis, separation, adsorption, sensing and lasers. He has been featured on the list three times.

Thomas D Anthopoulos
Professor, Material Science and Engineering

Anthopoulos' research interests are centered on understanding the properties of materials and applying this fundamental understanding to develop improved materials and devices for a wide range of applications in energy harvesting and generation, electronics, displays, lighting and sensors. He is also interested in innovative manufacturing technologies for large-area nano-electronics where the device, and ultimately system level performance, is determined by the device's physical dimensions rather than strictly by the active material(s) employed.

Xiaopeng Zheng
Postdoctoral Fellow of Materials Science and Engineering, now at NREL

Xiaopeng Zheng is a postdoctoral researcher in the Chemistry and Nanoscience Center at NREL. His research focuses on perovskite photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes for clean-energy harvesting and displays. He received his doctorate in materials science and engineering from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, where he was a postdoctoral fellow before joining NREL.