Awards

Andrew Eisenberg awarded a 2024-2025 19 Washington Square North Faculty Fellowship

In collaboration with Professor Elizabeth Hoffman (FAS Dept of Music), the fellows produced a project titled “Sonic Intimacies of the Western Indian Ocean.” 

- AY 2024-2025

Clinical AI Lab secured a USD 750k Meem Foundation grant

Farah Shamout secured a three-year, USD 750,000 grant from the Meem Foundation to advance NYUAD’s Clinical AI Lab research in medical imaging and predictive diagnostics.

- May 2025

Harshana Rambukwella Awarded Research Priorities Grant

Harshana Rambukwella was fully sponsored and invited to deliver a plenary lecture at the VALS-ASLA, the Swiss Association for Applied Linguistics in Bern, Switzerland.

- February 2024

Juan Castaño Named Finalist at URIC 2025 

Research project titled "Real-Time Indoor PM2.5 Prediction: A Deep Learning and Digital Twin-Based Approach" was selected as a finalist in the 12th Undergraduate Research & Innovation Competition (URIC). Representing the Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning category, the project was presented by student Juan Diego Castaño Molina who worked on this research project under the mentorship of Prof. Borja García de Soto Garcia de Soto and Dr. Zihao Zheng for the SHORES Research Center at NYUAD. URIC took place on May 29, 2025, at Abu Dhabi University, Abu Dhabi Campus.

- _{May 2025}

Farah Ahmed: ScholarGPS's Top 0.05% in Desalination Research 

Farah Ahmed, a 2024 ScholarGPS Highly Ranked Scholar, is in the top 0.05% worldwide. She notably ranks #9 globally in Desalination (last 5 years), the sole woman in the top 10. Her work drives crucial innovation for global water scarcity and sustainability amidst climate stress.

- _{May 2025}

Roshan Philip Saji won 2nd place in ASCE’s EMI Computational Mechanics Student Paper Competition 

Civil & Urban Engineering PhD student Roshan Philip Saji took second place — and a $200 prize — in the 2025 ASCE Engineering Mechanics Institute Computational-Mechanics Student Paper Competition.

- _{May 2025}

NYUAD Ranked #2 Globally in Desalination Research 

NYUAD has been ranked #2 in the world for Desalination Research over the past five years, according to ScholarGPS. This global ranking reflects NYUAD’s growing impact in water sustainability and cutting-edge innovation, led by the groundbreaking work conducted at the NYUAD Water Research Center.

As the world faces increasing water scarcity challenges, NYUAD remains committed to driving forward transformative research and technological advancements in desalination to help secure a sustainable future.

- _{December 2024}

Hanan Mohamed wins first prize at the Additive Manufacturing the Future (AmtF) Conference 

Hanan Mohammed won first prize in the 3-minute presentation competition at the AmtF Conference for her work on Cellular Plastics for Interfacing the Gut, highlighting the challenge and reward of concise scientific communication.

- _{December 2024}

Sohmyung Ha received the Best Paper Award in the BioCAS Track at the ISCAS 2024

Sohmyung Ha is leading an innovative project focused on developing a cutting-edge wearable device  for monitoring sleep status using AI and multi-modal sensors.
- _{December 2024}

AqlCare and ARIA-AI Teams Excel at Innovation Health Challenge

The AqlCare and ARIA-AI teams achieved remarkable success in the Innovation Health Challenge organized by the Department of Health Abu Dhabi, securing first place with an AED 50,000 prize and third place with an AED 20,000 prize, respectively. These accomplishments underscore the power of collaboration in driving healthcare innovation. Special appreciation goes to the NYUAD teams, key collaborators, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society UAE for their invaluable support throughout this journey.
- _{December 2024}

The City of Vienna Dissertation Prize 2024

Prof. Shafique's PhD student from TU Wien (Austria), Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Hanif has won The City of Vienna Dissertation Prize 2024, which is an extremely competitive and prestigious award. He has been invited to Vienna to receive this award and prize money in-person in January 2025.

Dr. Hanif is currently working as a post-doc researcher at the eBRAIN Lab, under prof. Shafique's supervision on energy-efficient and robust EdgeAI systems, ML Security, and cross-layer optimizations for ML/Generative-AI.
- _{November 2024}

Congratulations Team Libra on receiving the Distinction Award at the 17th International Space Challenge!

Team LIBRA consisting of Engineering Researcher (Kawader RA) Aliyaa Alzaabi, PhD Student Brian Quartey, Undergrad Aman Assali (Class of 2024) and Mentored by Research Associate Mei ElGindi, received the Distinction Award at the recent 17th International Space Challenge (5000 participants; 150 Institutions; 40 countries). This year's theme was Living in Space.
_{- November 2024}

The S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group Platinum Certified by the NYU Office of Sustainability

The S.M.A.R.T. Construction Research Group at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) is now officially Green Workplace Certified by the NYU Office of Sustainability. This recognition highlights our commitment to enhancing sustainability in our workspace and contributing to a greener NYU.
_{- November 2024}

Dr. Alberto Marchisio Wins INNS Best Dissertation Runners-Up Award

Dr. Alberto Marchisio, a PhD graduate from TU Wien, received the 2024 INNS Best Dissertation Runners-Up Award at the IEEE World Congress on Computational Intelligence in Japan. Now a postdoctoral researcher at the eBRAIN Lab, he focuses on advanced AI, including neuromorphic computing and quantum machine learning.
- November 2024

The Annual NYUAD GradSlam Winners

2024 Grand Prize Winner - 2nd Year PhD Candidate Yusheng (Jason) Zhang for his talk "Magic Pill".

2024 Runner-Up - Postdoctoral Associate Soha Yousuf, PhD for her talk "A Drop of Blood, a Beam of Light, and AI".

2024 People's Choice - 2nd Year PhD Candidate Rawan Abu Alwan for her talk "From Ocean to Oasis: Unlocking the Potential of Desalination."
- October 2024

2nd Term Funding approved for 'CalMag ReThink Brine Challenge'

Associate Professor of Civil and Urban Engineering and WRC Co-investigator Kemal Celik's project, "CalMag ReThink Brine Challenge," awarded on 06/16/2021, has been approved for funding until 04/30/2025 under Sandooq Al Watan.

Professor Nidal Hilal, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Director of the NYUAD Water Research Center, is a Co-Principal Investigator on this project.
- September 2024

Azhar Zam and partner Amalia Suzianti secured funding from the University of Indonesia

Azhar Zam, Associate Professor of Bioengineering at NYUAD, and Amalia Suzianti, Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Indonesia, have secured funding for exchange visits and development project ideas related to prototyping optical-based medical devices. One of the possible outcomes from this collaboration will be joint publication at the Q1 journal.
- _{September 2024}

NYU Awards $2 Million in Inaugural Research Grants

In its inaugural year, the NYU Discovery Research Fund for Human Health has invested nearly $2 million across 24 projects. Yi Fang, alongside JR Rizzo from NYU Medical School, has received support for a project aimed at developing an AI-based mental and emotional support model for the visually impaired and blind. The initiative seeks to explore new AI-driven approaches to enhance mental well-being for individuals with visual impairments.
- September 2024