08 June, 2017
KAUST Ph.D. students (left to right) Dalal Alezi, Yevhen Fatieiev and Samah Mohamed will travel to Lindau, Germany, for the annual Nobel Lindau meeting. Photos by Ginger Lisanti.
Dalal Alezi, Samah Mohamed and Yevhen Fatieiev, three KAUST doctoral students, have been chosen to attend the 67th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting, which will be held from June 25 to 30 in Lindau, Germany.
The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings have taken place annually since 1951, bringing outstanding young scientists together to meet a collection of Nobel laureates and esteemed academics for a week of activities. This year, over 400 young scientists under the age of 35 who perform research in the field of chemistry are slated to attend.
All three of the students have been chosen from the University's Physical Science and Engineering Division, as this year's meeting is dedicated to the field of chemistry.
Dalal Alezi is a Saudi Ph.D. student supervised by Moh amed Eddaoudi , Director of the KAUST Advanced Membranes and Porous Materials Research Center and Distinguished Professor of chemical science. Alezi's research activities focus on the design and synthesis of novel metal-organic materials and the exploration of their properties in a wide range of applications, such as gas separation and storage, catalysis and drug delivery.
"It's a great honor to be nominated to go and spend time with all these Nobel laureates—to go, to exchange ideas, to spend time and to become part of the network," said Alezi.
Samah Mohamed is a third-year Ph.D. student in the University's Clean Combustion Research Center. Her research centers around the development of chemical kinetic models of different fuels to accurately predict combustion properties and behavior. Under the supervision of Associate Professor Ma ni Sarathy, Mohamed uses different software and quantum chemistry calculations to estimate thermodynamic data and reaction rate rules.
"The idea itself is quite overwhelming. We'll have the chance to sit in the same room and hear from the laureates about how they accomplished the work that made them famous," said Mohamed.
Yevhen Fatieiev is a fourth-year doctoral student in the KAUST Smart Hybrid Materials lab under the supervision of Associate Professor Niveen Khashab. Fatieiev's research focuses on three main areas: magnetic nanoparticles for controlled release and delivery; nanoparticle surface modification for bioimaging in living cells; and biodegradable silica nanoparticles.
"I didn't expect this invitation. I was appointed by my advisor and it was a complete surprise—a great surprise," said Fatieiev.
"Three Nobel laureates I know of in supramolecular chemistry will be there, and this is something we are doing in our lab, so that's quite exciting," Fatieiev added.
- By Nich olas Demille , KAUST News