What does heritage mean in a rapidly changing world? Last week, as part of the National Day celebrations, artists who live in the UAE took to the stage at New York University Abu Dhabi to express, in poetry and song, what it means to them, under the theme "Hekayah" (The Story).
Maitha al-Memari’s grandmother could only dream of going to school and her mother had just a basic high school education. But for Miss Memari, 20, the horizon seems wide as she contemplates whether she should take up postgraduate studies after she earns a bachelors degree at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.
‘Everyone talks about the Middle East in generalities," says Catherine Coray, curator of the Arab Voices: Here/There/Then/ Now theatre festival, which ran in Abu Dhabi last week, "But theatre allows you to look at actual human stories."
Students from New York University Abu Dhabi have established an education programme in Uganda to make the subject add up for young children.
When it comes to unhealthy habits, while we’re all aware of the dangers of secondhand cigarette smoke, the matter of water pipes is still a hot topic. With this in mind, a team of researchers at NYUAD’s Public Health Research Center have carried out a study to determine the air pollution in shisha-, cigarette- and non-smoking households.
A couple of months ago, I was sitting in a café in Bangkok when a British gentleman sitting next to me asked to borrow my lighter. From my accent, he could tell I was an American, and as we talked, he asked me what I do for a living. When I told him I was a political scientist doing research in American politics, he asked — like so many people I have encountered living abroad — “how can you explain Trump?”
When bystanders become witnesses of a social norm violation, they will confront the culprit - all the more if the violation is severe. Although this appears to make sense, in fact the opposite is true. The more severe the norm violation, the more reluctant people will be to reprimand the person who committed it. Their fear of retaliation is too great.
The New York University Abu Dhabi Public Health Research Centre research discovered that shisha can pollute an entire house and those in rooms where smoking is not taking place are not safe.
"So, today is our exam," joked Indian guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya, as he prepared to present a brave culture-crossing duet with Moroccan oud player Driss El Maloumi, at NYU Abu Dhabi on Thursday (October 27).
Mention crystals and we think of hard substances – perhaps jewellery or clumps of rock – that may be attractive and brightly coloured. We certainly do not think of substances that can bend like plastic and even heal themselves when damaged. Yet a research group in Abu Dhabi has been working with crystals with these very properties.
To many, the desert may seem to be a vast and barren land where nothing more than cacti and sand dunes dot the landscape. However, to Dutch diplomat and Orientalist Paul Marcel Kurpershoek, the desert is a land filled with poetry and literature, one that harbors the "most good-natured" and "poetic" people in the world – the Bedouins.
In a pioneering research in solid-state chemistry, scientists at NYU Abu Dhabi have developed a smart crystal that can self-heal after breakage.
As Amna Almaazmi recounts the details of more than two decades spent working in educational institutions there is, she admits, a certain circularity to her progress. After a 15-year stint at Dubai’s Higher Colleges of Technology and a further two years at the Fatma College of Health Sciences, Almaazmi joined New York University Abu Dhabi in 2014 as assistant dean of students and director of campus life assessment and strategy.
A small statue of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is going to be sent into space as soon as its exhibition in Abu Dhabi ends. Wafaa Bilal, an Iraqi American artist, was commissioned by New York University - Abu Dhabi's (NYUAD) Art Gallery to create an artwork for its opening fall exhibition, Invisible Threads: Technology and its Discontents, and he came up with Canto III.
Four Yale graduates are now pursuing advanced degrees at Tsinghua University in Beijing under the umbrella of the Schwarzman Scholars program.
This time lapse photo sequence from a Nebraska corn field allows you to see and hear corn grow. It’s thought that the crackling noise is due to tiny fractures that occur as the plan stretches, breaks, and grows again. The sequence is by Douglas Cook at the Crop Biomechanics Lab at New York University Abu Dhabi and Justin McMechan and Roger Elmore at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
For the majority of people who will visit Invisible Threads: Technology and its Discontents, the new show at the Art Gallery at New York University Abu Dhabi which opens this Thursday, the Cold War will be little more than a matter of historical record; but among those who can remember the threat of mutually assured destruction, the show’s opening sculpture is likely to produce a profound and visceral response.
As the executive artistic director of New York University Abu Dhabi’s (NYUAD) Arts Center, Bill Bragin is one of the most influential movers and shakers on the UAE capital’s cultural landscape.
“We are all from the highest to the lowest slaves of one master, Pearl,” such were the words of Mohammed bin Thani, ruler of Doha in 1863 (Carter, 2005). Present in the Gulf for 7,000 years, pearling became the region’s central industry in the late 18th-early 20th century. It deeply impacted the social structure and economic relations with both East and West.
Nada Albedwawi dreams of one day swimming on a relay team but she knows that can only happen if enough other Emirati women take the plunge.
New York University Abu Dhabi researcher Dr Emily Howells wants to understand how these beautiful but delicate organisms respond to heat. And the results of her work could indicate how corals will react if, as expected, temperatures rise several degrees Celsius over the coming century.
Emirati swimmer Nada Al Bedwawi says there is no greater honour in the world for an athlete as she prepares to lead the UAE into the Maracana stadium at the 2016 Rio Olympics opening ceremony.
An Emirati filmmaker is hoping to offer a different perspective on the popular culture of high-end licence number plates among Emiratis in the UAE.
As the director of public affairs at New York University Abu Dhabi, Kate Chandler is always keen to spread the word about any groundbreaking research carried out at the Saadiyat Island campus.
I spent last January teaching somewhere unexpected: at New York University’s campus in Abu Dhabi, established six years ago. And this class was different from any other in which I’ve been involved.
Three students at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have developed an innovative water filtering system that has the potential to save countless lives around the world.
The evolution of New York University confirms a simple truth about the development of institutions of higher education. It takes time for a research environment to mature. We have set the mark of academic excellence high with the opening of New York University Abu Dhabi, the Paris-Sorbonne University Abu Dhabi and the continuing success of Zayed University and UAE University.
There are just two weeks remaining for final submissions to the Abu Dhabi Through Your Eyes competition (ADTYE). Judges include artist, poet, and photojournalist Alia Al Shamsi, professor of photography at NYU Abu Dhabi Tarek Al Ghoussein, co-director of “Gulf Photo Plus” Mohammed Somji, award-winning visual journalist Brian Kerrigan, and Lamya Gargash, an Emirati photographer with a Master’s Degree in Communications Design.
New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has hosted a series of iftar meals for more than 1,000 people. Members of the community, including staff, faculty and their families, were encouraged to celebrate the generosity and blessings of the holy month.
When each of us learnt to write, we may have had a little help from a schoolteacher or a parent holding our hand as we scrawled our first letters. Now, computers, instead of humans, can be drafted in to assist people who have difficulty with writing.
A 20-year-old economics and theatre graduate has become the first Emirati from New York University Abu Dhabi to receive the coveted Fulbright scholarship to study in the US.
New York University Abu Dhabi’s graduating class were praised on Monday for embracing “an attitude of tolerance and openness" by choosing to pursue and complete their studies in the UAE capital. That was the message from Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the United States, who delivered the keynote address at the school’s third graduation ceremony.
Hamel Al Qubaisi is gaining as much knowledge about the world as he is about political science, his chosen area of study. The 22-year-old Emirati from Abu Dhabi has spent the past few years studying in Abu Dhabi, Washington and London. He graduated from NYU Abu Dhabi last year, one of two students from his class to be named a Rhodes Scholar – a postgraduate award for outstanding international students to study at Oxford.
Travel across the UAE these days has been greatly eased thanks to the construction of world-class highways that connect the country, but for the first such highway built from Dubai to Ras Al Khaimah in the 1960s, the story was anything but simple.
Yousef Al Otaiba, the UAE ambassador to the United States, will deliver the keynote remarks at NYU Abu Dhabi’s third graduation ceremony.
Annual hackathon won by students who used crowdsourcing as an inspiration to create app that offers affordable translations of texts and increases employment in Arab world.
In September last year, US president Barack Obama awarded Monk the National Medal of Arts in recognition of her five-decade career, which will be celebrated during an anniversary retrospective performed over three concerts at New York University Abu Dhabi next week. The show was conceived during an artistic residency at New York’s Carnegie Hall last year.
There are few people in the world more qualified to tell the story of funk than Pee Wee Ellis and Fred Wesley. Collectively, they racked up eight years leading James Brown’s seminal bands in the form’s transformative period between 1965 and 1975.
The myriad ways in which Shakespeare’s plays filter into our individual and collective consciousness are one reason why Shakespeare is still performed around the world exactly 400 years after his death. But, as she explains in her lecture at New York University Abu Dhabi, Litvin is more interested in the power of what she calls the “global kaleidoscope"; that is to say how a distinctive Arab tradition has sprung up in response to particular adaptations of Shakespeare.
It is immediately palpable that there is something tremendously aged about this exhibition. Most of the pieces look like relics of a bygone era: Antiquated, fragmented, and in ruin, they appear like archaeological remains ready to tell of a forgotten past. Something even seems to have burned through The Sleepwalker, 2014, the first of Diana Al-Hadid’s works here. Perhaps the flames of history have licked across this piece set into the wall—a provocative welcome that sets an eerie mood of demise.
Embracing Islam at the young age of 15, American Muslim Yahya John Scaccia is hoping to become the true face of those who embrace Islam, removing perceived misconceptions that often associate them as future radicals. Scaccia told his story as part of New York University’s (NYUAD) second annual TEDx event held on Sunday, which also saw eight other speakers share their stories of hardship, hope, and inspiration.
I’m sitting in the campus restaurant at New York University Abu Dhabi, dining with the all-star team behind Funk: Evolution of a Revolution, a multimedia concert celebrating 50 years of the grooviest genre of music. It will have its world premiere at the university’s Arts Center on Saturday.
Losing three relatives to cancer has inspired Farah Shamout to apply her engineering skills to medicine. As a computer-engineering student at New York University Abu Dhabi, the Jordanian is contributing to research that could change the future of treating cancer and other diseases.
If the weather is too cold, there will be no show. That was just one of the conditions imposed on New York University Abu Dhabi when it approached Taiwanese choreographer Huang Yi to perform as part of its inaugural Arts Center season.
For students seeking to nurture a particular creative talent or passion, arts-focused degrees may be a good start. From graphic design to television and film, arts-focused grads – including those from other countries in the region – are finding original and innovative ways to use their Arab region university degrees in a range of fields.
Syrian-American artist Diana Al-Hadid invites Laura van Straaten on a whirlwind tour of her Brooklyn studio in anticipation of her first solo show in the Middle East.
A professor at New York University of Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) is hoping that his four-year research project on young American Muslims in the post-9/11 era, which he is in the process of getting published, can offer valuable insights about the community.
Arfa Rehman is a master’s student in sociology at Oxford University. Originally from India, she is a resident of Saudi Arabia, a graduate of New York University Abu Dhabi, and a former Rhodes Scholar. After winning the logo competition for our new series on youth-led initiatives, Millennial Gulf, AGSIW interviewed Rehman to discuss her interests, her design philosophy, the concept behind her logo and header, and her views on Gulf, or Khaleeji, youth and the diversity of the region.
Scientists have successfully synthesized molecular knots and links that could help in understanding biological processes and in detecting environmental pollutants. The international team, including researchers from New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), used negatively charged atoms — anions — as templates to synthesize three types of molecular knots and links in solution.
As part of its drive to build a knowledge-based economy, the federal Cabinet has set out an ambitious plan to create “one of the most innovative nations in the world" by 2021. Among the strategies for delivering this future are plans to launch “national training and education programmes on innovation". For educators, this is an incredible opportunity and a great challenge.
Since the violent repression of student protests in Tiananmen Square 27 years ago, the world has watched Chinese protests with fascination.
"Some four decades after its founding, the recent government reforms included the placement of eight women to the federal cabinet of 29 ministers, including the 22-year-old Minister of Youth Shamma al-Mazrui, who holds degrees from Oxford University and New York University Abu Dhabi. Having a youth minister who can actually relate to young people in a world in which one of the great challenges is millennials’ distrust of institutions is in itself a bold and long-overdue step that other countries would do well to emulate."
China's top students have increasingly been applying for niche liberal arts colleges instead of Ivy League schools as they have become more aware of their interests and needs. Among them is 17-year-old He Qixiao, who studied at Chongqing Foreign Language School. In early February he received a full four-year scholarship from New York University Abu Dhabi worth more than $300,000.
Abu Dhabi is hosting the next installment of the Imagine Science Film Festival, the region’s second such event in which science and its implications are discussed and communicated through film.
NYU-Abu Dhabi's Class of 2015 graduates are already making their mark on the world in a diverse range of fields, according to a new report on the group's six months after graduation. The class – which came from 53 countries – now includes a UAE Rhodes Scholar studying at Oxford, an accomplished composer in Mexico City, and a water engineer with a global consulting firm in Abu Dhabi, among others.
A student at New York University Abu Dhabi has launched a website that attempts to help people understand art from around the world.
CNN's Becky Anderson speaks to Adam Ramey, of NYU Abu Dhabi, for a global look at the 2016 U.S. elections.
Five university students from New York University Abu Dhabi bagged the Dh1 million prize money during the third edition of the Best m-Government Service Award on the closing day of the World Government Summit in Dubai on Wednesday.
The newly appointed Minister of State for Youth Affairs is 22-year-old Shamma Al Mazrui, who is highly educated and holds degrees from Oxford University and New York University Abu Dhabi.
Matt Karau is a research associate at NYU Abu Dhabi and the project’s chief engineer. His team’s work typifies this fresh approach to the potential of drones as a force for good. “We looked at existing applications which were either premature, flying dangerously close to humans, or would only exist to help governments punish people more efficiently. So we focused on conservation,” he says.
Travel through time for a one-night only visit to Andy Warhol’s studio The Factory, which will embody the artistic spirit of 1970s New York, for the first in a series of Art History Time Machine parties at NYU Abu Dhabi Art Gallery.
Rodger Iradukunda, 22, born in Rwanda, made it to Zambia as a refugee when he was just one year old, with his family escaping the 1994 genocide, when the Hutu majority killed one million Tutsi and Hutus minority, now he is a scholarship student at the New York University.
This January, I taught a three-week course to undergraduates at NYU Abu Dhabi where student teams have focused on a startup idea. These ideas all integrate technology and were focused on creating large-scale impact.
Sana Odeh of the Arab Women in Computing at New York University in Abu Dhabi, who will be the judge at the second Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) hackathon, said, “We aim to support and encourage consistency in the involvement and status of Arab women in computing from the various computing/technology sectors which include academia, industry and entrepreneurship, as well as provide them with opportunities to achieve their career goals and aspirations at large.”
The world of music – my journalistic “patch” – is enjoying a veritable heyday. An enormous round of applause needs to go to The Arts Centre at New York University Abu Dhabi, which has made me grin like a baby on numerous occasions by bringing an incredible array of performance artists to the capital as part of its inaugural programme, from jazz (Rudresh Mahanthappa) to world music (Les Ambassadeurs), as well as dance (Ragamala Dance), theatre (Theatre Mitu’s Hamlet/Ur-Hamlet) and more.
