A Year of Discovery and Knowledge Generation

NYU Abu Dhabi is advancing knowledge generation in almost every field, here are some highlights from the last year.

Over the last year NYU Abu Dhabi has made significant discoveries and contributed important knowledge to our rapidly changing world. From the discovery of new species to documenting art history, researchers at NYUAD are investigating the future of our planet and taking a multidisciplinary approach to solving some of humanity's greatest challenges.

 

Researchers Uncover Groundbreaking Insights into the Evolution of Color Patterns in Frogs and Toads

A team of researchers from NYUAD has discovered new insights into the evolution of color patterns in frogs and toads. Animal color patterns can help them camouflage with their surroundings and avoid detection from preys or predators. Many frogs and toads have a light stripe along their back, which, when observed from above, creates the optical illusion that the animal is split in two halves and confuses visually-oriented predators.

Curating Khaleeji Modern Art

The Khaleej Modern: Pioneers and Collectives in the Arabian Peninsula exhibition set the tone for a much-needed narrative on what it means to be a contemporary artist in the Arabian Gulf over the last century, and challenges colonial misconceptions tethering the emergence of modern art to Western influence.As The NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery’s fall show, the landmark exhibition explored the emergence of modern art in the Arabian Gulf in the beginning of the early 20th century, through 57 works loaned from across the region.

NYUAD Participates in James Webb Space Telescope’s First Detection of Carbon Dioxide in Exoplanet Atmosphere

 

Exoplanet WASP-39 b and Its Star (Illustration). Credits - NASA, ESA, CSA, and L. Hustak (STScI)

Jasmina Blecic, a scientist from the Center for Astro, Particle and Planetary Physics (CAP3) at NYUAD, is a member of the James Webb Space Telescope Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science team, whose joint efforts led to the first unequivocal detection of carbon dioxide in a planetary atmosphere outside our solar system. 

Reimagining Traffic in Urban Environments


NYU Abu Dhabi researchers published one of the most comprehensive reviews on how traffic flows in cities using data from 2.3 billion vehicle observations in 25 different cities. To create improved systems for traffic modeling and management, a team of NYUAD researchers have published a review of previously proposed traffic models using a global data set to compare their accuracy. 

NYU Abu Dhabi Launched Four New Research Centers

The NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Research Institute 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.