Awards and Successes

Nikos Karathanasopoulos Receives Joint 2026 University of Sydney–New York University Ignition Grant

Associate Professor Nikos Karathanasopoulos and Associate Professor Agisilaos Kourmatzis have received a 2026 University of Sydney–New York University Ignition Grant for their joint project, Engineering the Future of Cooling: Optimizing and Prototyping TPMS Heat Exchangers for Energy-Efficient AI Infrastructure and Advanced Thermal Systems.

This project develops the foundations to lead to a new type of heat exchanger using advanced 3D-designed materials with intricate internal structures. These designs allow heat to be removed more efficiently while using less energy and space than current cooling systems.  By integrating high-fidelity CFD with targeted experimental validation, it establishes predictive design frameworks linking architected materials to heat transfer and pressure drop over a wide range of Reynolds numbers. The work addresses critical gaps preventing large-scale adoption, enabling ultra-compact, high-efficiency heat exchangers with superior surface-area-to-volume ratios and enhanced mixing. Its impact is substantial: reducing cooling energy demands—currently up to 30–40% in data centers—while enabling higher system density and reliability across AI infrastructure, HPC, electric vehicles, and aerospace systems. Ultimately, this research unlocks scalable, additively manufacturable thermal technologies that deliver significant gains in energy efficiency, cost reduction, and sustainability across multiple high-impact industries.

- August 2026

Ahmad Bin Thaneya Receives Best Paper Award at A&WMA Conference

Assistant Professor Emerging Scholar of Civil and Urban Engineering, Ahmad Bin Thaneya, received a Best Paper Award at the Air & Waste Management Association (A&WMA) Annual Conference in June 2026. The award recognizes outstanding research presented by young professionals at the conference. Ahmad's work was selected through a competitive review process and honored during the conference's annual awards program.

– June 2026

Engineering Students Earn Top Honors at ASCE EMI Conference

Two students from Assistant Professor of Civil and Urban Engineering, Mostafa Mobasher's research group received awards at the 2026 Engineering Mechanics Institute (EMI) Conference, organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Fouad Amin earned First Place in the EMI Poromechanics Student Competition for his research on Integrated Finite Element Neural Networks (IFENN) for porous media, while Habiba Eldababy received Second Place in the EMI Inelasticity Modeling Student Paper Competition for her work on modeling composite materials. Their achievements recognize the quality and impact of research being conducted at NYU Abu Dhabi Engineering.

– June 2026

Libra Lab Paper Published in Advanced Science

LIBRA Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi has published a new paper led by Research Associate Mei ElGindi, with Shaza Karaman and Jeremy Teo, in Advanced Science (Impact Factor 14.1). The study presents a 3D lymphoid tissue model that supports stromal–immune interactions and enables antigen-specific B-cell activation and IgM secretion, with potential applications in personalized immunology research.

- January 2026

Ikigai Makerthon for Assistive Devices 

The Ikigai Makerthon for Assistive Devices highlighted the power of creativity and purpose-driven engineering at NYU Abu Dhabi. Over the course of two days, students explored real-world accessibility challenges and prototyped 3D-printed assistive tools, documenting their designs to be shared openly with the wider community. With hundredes of participants engaging in the event, this makerthon showcased how innovation, empathy, and collaboration can come together to create meaningful social change.

- November 2025

GCSP Scholar Presentations

GCSP Scholars at NYU Abu Dhabi showcased their research, study-away experiences, and community outreach projects during this year’s poster presentation event. These presentations provided a platform for scholars to learn from one another and highlight the meaningful impact of their multidisciplinary work. Two scholars, Maram Abdelfattah and Airin Haque, have been selected to represent NYUAD at the 2026 GCSP Annual Meeting in Rome, Italy, recognizing their commitment to integrating cultural awareness and societal benefit into their fields of study.

- October 2025

Progress in cardiovascular bioprinting

Dr. Sanjairaj Vijayavenkataraman, Assistant Professor of Bioengineering at NYU Abu Dhabi, published new research advancing the field of cardiovascular Bioprinting His work explores innovative 3D-printing approaches for creating functional cardiovascular tissues, contributing to global progress in regenerative medicine and future patient-specific treatment solutions.

- October 2025

Bioengineering Challenge Tackled through a Partnership between Switzerland and UAE

Jeremy Teo is co-leading a groundbreaking partnership with the AO Research Institute Davos in Switzerland. Supported by two Swiss Leading House MENA grants, their team is developing a structuring hydrogel with self-assembling peptides to tackle the bioengineering challenge of healing wounds in microgravity.

- July 2025

Soha Yousuf selected as ASLMS August 2025 Editor’s Choice

Congratulations to Soha Yousuf on being selected as August 2025 Editor’s Choice for the Lasers in Surgery and Medicine (LSM), the official journal of the American Society for Laser Medicine and Surgery, Inc. (ASLMS)

- July 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

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}

Devjoy Dev receives NYUAD’s 2025 Graduate Student Leadership Award 

Biomedical Engineering PhD graduate, Dr Devjoy Dev was honoured for three years of campus service—captaining the Dragonboat team to MENA & Euro-Cup medals and leading Graduate Student Council programmes in fairness, equal opportunity, and well-being.

- _{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