Where does KAUST to start?

There is a sea that blows from the west (of KAUST). And the same sea also distributes its water, fish, shells, blueness and mangroves between south and north, and it runs from underneath like rivers when it passes in the middle.

On the east of KAUST, there are mountains of Makkah overlooking it with splendor, light and holiness, and that split through goodness and abundance, with reflecting the depth of purity and light that shines there since 1,400 years ago, expanding all over my country.

And when you are in KAUST, you cannot choose a beginning or an end while trying to monitor a diary or a tour that you will carry out as it is all only the beginning and never an end, such as a dialogue or open debate that aspires to a final argument... Nevertheless, the research matter will remain endless and elongated without a conclusion, just like a passion for knowledge that cannot reach its last word!

I am now in the heart of KAUST or in her umbilical cord, to be more precise, as I write these lines from Discovery Square, focusing on the moment of her birth where I can clearly see how King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) came into being with identifying its roles, identity, and aspirations for that luminous era in our cognitive Islamic history. This is quite simply because of its mission, whether through its continuous research or considering its location with the presence of everything including its academic centers, halls, laboratories, technologies, and intellectuals. I see that KAUST would continue the march of science and discovery with the objective of inspiring the new generation to look through the old eyes and look at diverse bonds of discovery and joining the march of humanity in its progress and innovations that illuminate the way forward toward a more beautiful future.

Many believe that the work was stopped in KAUST and that what is going on there is similar to what happened to some other institutions where everyone is staying in his or her home and there is no work other than meetings via Zoom as well as just talk and Tik Tok.

But I would like to draw their attention to Sunday’s page 11 of Okaz newspaper — a full page dedicated to KAUST’s work on developing rapid diagnostic methods for disease/epidemic/disaster... to see with their own eyes an image that Okaz had shared on seven columns showing that researchers and scientists in KAUST had not run away from their responsibility but rather they are spending their time in laboratories in discovering “how to heal a disease”!...

The investigative report published by Okaz reveals how KAUST, with its meticulous research, confronts coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Ever since the outbreak of the epidemic, KAUST President Dr. Tony Chan, in coordination with Dr. Donal Bradley, Vice-President of KAUST Research, and Professor Pierre Majestretti, Dean of the Department of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering at KAUST, issued a directive to harness the capabilities of KAUST researchers and scientists to help tackle the pandemic. A group, comprising members of academic faculty and students at KAUST, called “Rapid Research Response Team (R3T),” has been constituted to cooperate with health care professionals in the Kingdom, and to support them to help combat the spread of coronavirus.

I think that these words confirm that KAUST has an extensive scientific research aspect, which is shared now publicly, leaving the haters the task of marketing words with an unpleasant smell. Unconcerned with big and small grudges of some, and dedicating their time on their research, knowledge and innovations with ignoring all fabricated propagandas, as if they are confidently saying: Coronavirus researches are continuing ... and whatever else is lies and gossip!