Abu Dhabi, UAE: The NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Research Institute has announced the establishment of four new research centers – the Arabian Center for Climate and Environmental ScienceS (ACCESS), the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), the Center for Smart Engineering Materials (CSEM), and the Center for Quantum and Topological Systems – which will support global efforts to provide solutions to the world’s most pressing issues.

Provost of NYU Abu Dhabi Arlie Peters commented: “As a global liberal arts and research university in and of Abu Dhabi, the drive to address global challenges serves as the guiding force in our mission to be a hub of development, innovation, engagement, and positive change for the UAE, the region, and the world. We follow a multidisciplinary approach to the discovery of new knowledge, and the establishment of four new research centers is a meaningful addition to our existing efforts  to contribute to the development of a diversified knowledge economy and society in Abu Dhabi, help to advance NYU’s global mission, and carve a new model for higher-education for the betterment of humanity. We are extremely proud of our scholars and students who remain dedicated to driving discoveries that are making a positive change to the world.”

Managing Director of The Research Institute Sehamuddin Galadari said: “As a world-class hub for cutting-edge research, we are very proud to be adding these four new centers to our Research Institute, all of which will address various and critical areas of research. We are committed to contributing to the UAE’s vision of becoming a knowledge-based economy through science and innovation, and we are confident that the addition of the centers will help fulfill this goal even further.”

The Center for Quantum and Topological Systems

The Center for Quantum and Topological Systems serves as a nucleation point for cross-disciplinary expertise in theory and application of Quantum Topological Systems in general, with an emphasis towards the unifying goal of robust Quantum Computation in particular – combining all questions from theoretical foundations (quantum error-correction) over hardware (topological quantum materials and novel quantum chips), architecture (parameterized quantum circuits) and software (quantum programming languages and hardware-aware software optimizations) to applications (quantum machine learning and quantum cryptography).

The Center is led by Principal Investigator Hisham Sati along with Co-Principal investigators Muhammad Shafique, Saurabh Ray, Farah Shamout, Tuka Alhanai, Tim Byrnes, and Pilkyung Moon.

The Arabian Center for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ACCESS)

The Arabian Center for Climate and Environmental ScienceS (ACCESS) is a leading research center on the climate and the environment of the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf region. It intends to bring the scientific research on local and regional climate change and environment up to speed with the rapid development of the societies and economies that dwell in the region. To this end, the Center is building observational and modeling capacity in the marine and atmospheric sector, integrating the multidisciplinary competencies present within NYUAD and the NYU Global Network. The Center collaborates with UAE government agencies and public stakeholders, and its scientists are part of the Climate Change Research Network (CCRN). At the same time, the Center focuses on basic scientific research (e.g., on rainfall, coral reefs, plankton dynamics, urban environments, instrument development, etc.), which is locally motivated but has global implications.

ACCESS is led by Principal Investigator  Francesco Paparella along with Co-Principal Investigators  Shady Amin, John Burt, Monica Menendez, Olivier Pauluis, Farah Shamout, Anthony Tzes, and Shafer Smith.

Center for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR)

Faculty from electrical and computer engineering, psychology, and computer science from NYUAD and NYU New York (NYUNY) established CAIR to conduct fundamental research and develop applications in AI and robotics. Its research areas include the processing and fusion of data from sensors to perceive the surroundings of the robot and intention of moving objects, path planning and navigation in unknown environments, coordination of multi-agent systems formed by groups of robots, brain-machine interfaces, autonomous decision making, and robotic safety and resiliency.

CAIR is led by Principal Investigator Anthony Tzes along with Co-Principal Investigators Farshad Khorrami and Yann LeCun.

Center for Smart Engineering Materials (CSEM)

The Center for Smart Engineering Materials (CSEM) provides an institutional research platform and organizational framework for active collaboration between science and engineering faculty, researchers, and students working in materials science. The Center’s faculty and researchers design, prepare and implement smart materials and devices relevant to the key sectors of the UAE’s economy. By using an integrated, multidisciplinary, and synergistic approach in a pipeline research, characterization, optimization, and implementation, the faculty and researchers  of CSEM aim to provide smart and sustainable solutions to the requirement for smart devices for sensing and diagnostics in the oil/gas and civil engineering sectors, and to become leaders in delivering innovative technologies to the MENA region and internationally.

CSEM is led by the Principal Investigators Panče Naumov and Mohammed Daqaq along with the Co-Principal Investigators Kemal Celik, Mahmoud Rasras, Jamie Whelan, and Serdal Kirmizialtin.

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About the NYUAD Research Institute

The NYUAD Research Institute is a world-class hub of cutting-edge and innovative research, scholarship, and cultural activity. It supports centers that address questions of global significance and local relevance and allows leading faculty members from across the disciplines to carry out creative scholarship and high-level research on a range of complex issues with depth, scale, and longevity that otherwise would not be possible.

About NYU Abu Dhabi 

 NYU Abu Dhabi is the first comprehensive liberal arts and science campus in the Middle East to be operated abroad by a major American research university. NYU Abu Dhabi has integrated a highly selective liberal arts, engineering and science curriculum with a world center for advanced research and scholarship enabling its students to succeed in an increasingly interdependent world and advance cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. NYU Abu Dhabi’s high-achieving students have come from 115 nations and speak over 115 languages. Together, NYU's campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, and Shanghai form the backbone of a unique global university, giving faculty and students opportunities to experience varied learning environments and immersion in other cultures at one or more of the numerous study-abroad sites NYU maintains on six continents.