Leading researchers from NYU Abu Dhabi's four academic divisions and at the NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute have propelled the University to the forefront of 21st century research in the UAE and Middle East region.
NYUAD has more than 80 faculty labs and projects, and designated Research Institute Centers — many are multidisciplinary in line with NYUAD's vision to be one of the world's great research universities that addresses complex challenges of global significance.
The mission of Advanced Materials and Building Efficiency Research Laboratory (AMBER Lab) is to tackle pressing societal issues through fundamental and practical research in innovative and new construction materials. Our research interests encompass a wide range from materials characterization, mechanical and durability assessment to building applications and development of sustainable urban infrastructure.
Keywords: Sustainable Urban Infrastructure, Green Materials, Energy Efficiency, Construction Materials
AMMLab is currently working with diverse facets of miniaturization and integration in biology, life sciences, and medicine, which includes the conception, engineering, and utilization of novel micro and nanotechnologies to manipulate, stimulate and study biological entities.
Keywords: Bioengineering, Microtechnology, Microfluidics, MEMS, Biosensors
Akkasah explores the histories and contemporary practices of photography in the Arab world from comparative perspectives: it fosters the scholarly study of these histories and practices in dialogue with other photographic cultures and traditions from around the world.
Keywords: Photography, Middle East, Arab, UAE, Vernacular
AIM Lab research interests include the conception, engineering, and utilization of novel haptic interfaces as a new media in Human-Computer Interaction.
Keywords: Haptics, Medical Simulation, Neurohaptics, Affective Haptics, Vibrotactile Stimulation
The Arab Center for the Study of Art undertakes research in the visual art and photography of Western Asia and North Africa through a variety of disciplinary approaches. The Center aims to move research and pedagogy beyond the established canons of Art History by investigating the histories and theories of art that are particular to the region from regional perspectives. It does so in collaborative dialogue with the methods and debates of a global Art History and with the widening cultural horizons in both the Humanities and the Social Sciences.
Keywords: Arab, Art, Photography, Art History, Archive
Established in 2013, the Astroparticle Physics Lab at NYU Abu Dhabi focuses on the intersection between astrophysics and particle physics.
Keywords: Dark Matter, Detector Development, Space, Cosmic Rays, Radioactivity
Baias Research Group is focused on developing methods for high-pressure NMR crystallography with the aim of characterizing polymorphism in complex crystalline materials when subjected to high pressure conditions.
The Center for Astro, Particle, and Planetary Physics at NYU Abu Dhabi is an alliance of faculty and scholars actively involved in research in astronomy, astrophysics, planetary, and particle physics. The goal of the Center will be to work toward providing answers to a series of fundamental questions related to the composition and evolution of our universe.
Keywords: Planets, Galaxies, Cosmology, Dark Matter, Astro Particles
The Initiative aims to use insights from behavioral economics to design smart and welfare-enhancing behavioral public policies that consider the specific socio-economic context in which they are embedded. A central aim is to create robust links with the local community and help build capacity in behavioral social science both at NYU Abu Dhabi as well as in the Abu Dhabi and UAE government.
Keywords: Behavioral Economics, Nudges
The Center for Cyber Security aims to establish a world class cyber security center by partnering with key local universities, industry and government agencies in order to facilitate cyber security research, education and practice in the United Arab Emirates and more generally in the GCC region.
Keywords: Security, Cyber Security, Cryptography, Hardware Security, Forensics Security, Information Security, Communication Security
The Center for Genomics and Systems Biology was established to provide a nexus for cutting-edge life sciences research in the United Arab Emirates, with world-class facilities and resources to promote innovative advances in genomics and systems biology.
Keywords: Neural Diversity, Drosophila, Patterning, Mouse, Visual System, Interneurons, Single-cell mRNA Sequencing, Mangrove, Adaptation, Population Genetics, Environment
The Center for Sea Level Change combines observations and computer models to understand past, and project future, sea-level rise.
Keywords: Sea level, Glaciers, Melting Ice, Greenland, Antarctica
The United Nations estimates over 60 percent of the population will live in urban areas by 2030. This rapid rate of urbanization is putting strain on urban systems and posing new challenges across a multitude of sectors. The Center for the Interacting Urban Networks has been established at NYU Abu Dhabi to develop fundamental research that can be translated into pragmatic ideas for increasing the livability of our cities.
Keywords: CITIES, Urban Networks , Urban Science , Sustainable Future
The primary mission of the Center for Prototype Climate Modeling is to bridge the gap between climate theory, modeling, and observation, with the goal of better understanding fundamental processes in the earth system, and improving our ability to predict future climate.
Keywords: Climate, Climate Change, Weather, Oceanography, Environment
The Center for Space Science is primarily focused on the study of the internal structure of the Sun and stars through stellar seismology and modeling. A particularly important scientific question the Center seeks to address is the role of rotating convection and large-scale flows in the generation and maintenance of magnetic fields in the Sun and stars.
Keywords: Space Science, Helioseismology, Mars, Exoplanet, Atmosphere
Instability of dynamics flows and their transition to turbulence are widespread phenomena in engineering, computer science, geophysics, biophysics, and the natural environment. Stability, Instability, and Weak Turbulence research center will develop novel enabling technology to deal with this phenomena.
Keywords: Hydrodynamic Stability, Turbulence, Population Dynamics, Singularity Formation, Couette Flow
The Communication Networks lab (ComNets) focuses on bridging the digital divide between the developed and developing regions.
Keywords: Network Science, Network Analysis, Relational Processes, Diffusion, Computational Methods
The Computational Approaches to Modeling Language (CAMeL) Lab is a research lab at New York University Abu Dhabi established in September 2014. CAMeL's mission is research and education in artificial intelligence, specifically focusing on natural language processing, computational linguistics, and data science. The main lab research areas are Arabic natural language processing, machine translation, text analytics, and dialogue systems.
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing, Computational Linguistics, Arabic, Dialects
The CSM research is focused on advancing the mechanics theory and numerical algorithms to better predict the time-dependent, nonlinear, multiscale, and fracture behavior of manmade and natural materials; including concrete, steel, polymers, ice, rock, and biomaterials.
Keywords: Computational Methods, Fracture Mechanics, Finite Elements, Multiphysics, Material Modeling
The Rhythm Project will help to better understand the similarities and differences between rhythms of different cultures and ultimately provide a deeper insight into the musical behavior of humans as a species.
Keywords: Music, Digital Humanities, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Ethnomusicology, Music Information Retrieval
The Cyber Security and Privacy Lab researches the security and privacy of current and future IT and communication systems. Specific interests include the security of wireless systems and applications, such as secure localization and jamming-resistant communication, mobile-, protocol- and system-level security as well as other aspects of privacy.
Keywords: Cyber Security, Information Security, Communication Security, Computer Security, Information/Data Privacy
The Data Science and AI Lab is interested in modeling, simulating, and analyzing social phenomena using computational methods.
Keywords: Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Computational Social Science, Graph Theory, Human-Machine Interaction
Electronic chips manufactured today exhibit a higher defect rate, fail more often during their mission-mode operation, die quicker in the field, and thanks to globalization and outsourcing, are more prone to security threats such as counterfeiting, IP piracy, and hardware trojans. Our mission is to design these electronic chips with built-in defense mechanisms.
Keywords: Hadware Security, Design for Trust, Logic Locking , Information Security, Communication Security
Dhakira works in close cooperation with scholars, heritage communities, heritage authorities, and UNESCO to address the many regional and global challenges of the relatively young discipline of heritage studies.
To increase our understanding of biology and medicine, the scientific community requires the continued development of new technologies for studying and manipulating cell physiology. The research interests of the Dore Laboratory lie at the interface of chemistry and biology, creating new tools to study complex biological systems and discover potential therapeutic targets and drug candidates.
Keywords: Chemical Biology, Medicinal Chemistry, Chemical Neuroscience, Structure-Based Drug Design, Light-Activated Biological Probes
Evolutionary Genomics Lab uses the tools and concepts of population genetics and molecular evolution to address two main questions: (1) Why do vertebrate genomes differ so much in size and structure? and (2) What are the genetic bases of adaptation to extreme environments?
Keywords: genomics, evolution, population genetics, transposable elements, adaptation
In the Middle East and North Africa, it is estimated that more than 80 percent of businesses are family-owned and run. This project brings together scholars from across the disciplines to compile, document and analyze the history of selected regional family businesses to better understand past challenges and decision-making, as well as commercial legacies.
Keywords: Family Business, Histories, MENA, MENASA
FieldLab DRC aims to strengthen research capacities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and help researchers in the Congo conduct research.
Keywords: Congo, Research, Experiments, Surveys, Governance
Despite our sophisticated brains with immense processing capacity there are strong capacity limits in what we can perceive, attend to, and remember about the world. The Fougnie Lab attempts to characterize and understand the nature of these limits.
Keywords: Memory, Attention, Visual, Working, Capacity
Cell Death Signaling Laboratory
This research group focuses on unraveling the mechanisms that control different modes of programmed cell death with special emphasis on its clinical relevance to anticancer therapeutics.
Keywords: Cancer, Cell Death, Cell Signaling, Tumor Suppression, Anticancer Drug
NYU Abu Dhabi's Galaxy Formation Group uses state of the art numerical cosmological simulations to study galaxy formation and evolution during cosmic times with the aim to use the visible part of the Universe to unveil its dark side.
Keywords: Galaxies, Cosmology, Numerical Simulations, Astrophysics, Universe
Keywords: Galaxies, Cosmology, Numerical Simulations, Astrophysics, Universe
The Genetic Heritage Group is a collaborative research group dedicated to studying human heritage using genomics. For all projects in the lab, we conduct field expeditions and analyze our own data both in collaboration with local researchers. Using a loose definition of heritage as the attributes signifying a human population or a society that are inherited from previous generations, we categorize human heritage under four broad umbrellas: genomic, microbial, cultural, and natural.
Keywords: Population Genetics, Human Adaptations, Microbiome, Gut Microbiome, Indigenous People
Global Asia is an interdisciplinary network of faculty working on Asia in the broadest sense.
Global TIES designs, evaluates, and advises on programs and policies to improve the lives of children and youth in the most vulnerable regions across the globe.
The goal of the Human Data Interaction Lab (HuDa) is to research methods at the intersection of data management, data science, and interactive systems to enable the derivation of insights from data and to support data-driven decision-making.
The NYUAD Institute has embarked on a multi-year research fellowship program in the Humanities. This program aims to help create an energetic, multi-faceted research environment for the Humanities and the study of the Arab world at NYUAD's campus.
Keywords: Humanities, Arab World, Heritage Studies, Anthropology, History
We are interested in studying the role genetic and environmental factors play in shaping health-related phenotypes and how interactions between these effects trigger disease and modulate its outcome.
Keywords: genomics, genetics, public health, environment, human genetics
Ideas of India seeks to further the study of modern Indian political thought by drawing attention to the vibrant public sphere that took shape in the century prior to independence.
The identity and politics workgroup is multidisciplinary and open a forum where researchers from fields in the social and natural sciences as well as humanities meet to discuss ongoing work and its significance for how we think of who people are at different scales - from the cellular to the complex society level.
The Integrated BioElectronics Lab aims at advancing the engineering and applications of silicon integrated technology interfacing with biology in a variety of forms ranging from implantable biomedical devices to unobtrusive wearable sensors.
Keywords: integrated circuits, biomedical sensors, neural interface, wireless power transmission, implantable, wearable
The lab uses Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations, one of the powerful
theoretical approaches to study the structure, molecular interactions,
and resulted dynamics in a unified framework.
The Ramadi Lab for Advanced Neuroengineering and Translational Medicine develops innovative approaches for the modulation of neural activity throughout the body. We combine mechanical, electrical, materials, and bio-engineering toolkits towards designing minimally invasive technologies for neuromodulation. Our goal is to develop novel therapies for neurologic, metabolic, and immune disorders.
Keywords: Neuroengineering, Translational Medicine, Medical Devices, Drug Delivery
Deciphering the role of mechanical factors on immune cells through basic research, to unveil new insights into immune homeostasis and dysregulation for innovative translational applications. Our team achieve this overall goal through the use of model systems that integrates Immuno-mechanobiology, Microenvironment Mimicry, and Video-omics.
Keywords: Mechanobiology, Biomaterials, Quantitative Biology, Immunology, Bioengineering
Our research aims to explore fundamental questions on evolution, phenotype-genotype relations, and metabolism of algae.
Laboratory of Applied Nonlinear Dynamics (L.A.N.D.) focuses on understanding various nonlinear phenomena and applying this understanding to resolve issues related to power generation, manufacturing, microelectromechanical systems, and origami structures.
The Laboratory of Cell and Molecular Biology is primarily interested in how the genome is organized and maintained in the eukaryotic cell nucleus.
Our research focuses on bridging the worlds of science and film by challenging and expanding the role of science in the current cultural discourse.
Patients suffering from depression are known to exhibits aberrations in circadian rhythms and sleep/wake cycle. The increase in reported cases of global depression is thought, in part, to be due to the modern a lifestyle where an increasing number of people are exposed to situations that may affect circadian and sleep/wake rhythms such as extended nighttime exposure to bright lights and prolonged shift work.
Keywords: Neuroscience, Stress, Mood Disorders, Circadian Rhythms, Sleep-Wake Cycle
Language is a complex mental faculty, recruiting and integrating several interacting representational and computational architectures in the mind. We investigate the nature of the cognitive and neural architecture that supports the human language system and how it interfaces with other cognitive faculties.
The Library of Arabic Literature offers Arabic editions and English translations of significant works of Arabic literature, with an emphasis on the 7th to 19th centuries.
Keywords: Drug Delivery Strategies, Amyloid Diseases, Cancer Therapeutics
Our research uses the Arabian Gulf as a natural laboratory to study coral reef ecology in extreme environments and to understand how these may serve as a model for the possible impacts of future climate change on reefs elsewhere.
Keywords: marine biology, coral reef, mangrove, fishes, coastal management
Research in the Amin Lab is focused on studying how seawater organisms interact with each other and how these interactions influence their ecosystem, from coral health to algal blooms to bioprospecting.
Keywords: Marine Microbial Ecology, Environmental Microbiology, Coral Ecology, Drug Discovery
Our research areas include liquid biopsy on microfluidic biochips and high throughput drug screening using whole model organisms such C. elegans.
The Modern Microprocessors Architectures (MoMA) Lab focuses on the security and privacy of modern high-performance and embedded microprocessors. Research topics include privacy-preserving architectures, encrypted computation, industrial control systems security, and hardware security.
Keywords: Cybersecurity, Privacy, Homomorphic Encryption, Industrial Control Systems, Hardware Security
The lab serves as an intellectual hub for faculty, researchers, and students from both the New York and Abu Dhabi campuses to study and address the key challenges in multimedia and visual data processing.
Keywords: Computer Vision, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Multimedia, Visual Computing
Research activities headed by Rino Esposito focus on the application of high resolution NMR methods to proteins.
Our research is focused on the development of supercritical CO2-based processes to create nanoscale building blocks and their self-assembly into novel materials.
We focus on problems or questions in the realm of information, communication, and electronic systems.
Blending theory with experiments, we focus on the behavior of networks with particular emphasis on synthetic biology applications.
Keywords: synthetic biology, networks, control and dynamical systems, quantitative biology, complex systems
The NEUROSCIENCE OF LANGUAGE LAB (NeLLab) brings together complementary research programs in the cognitive neuroscience of language. We aim to integrate linguistics and neurobiology in an effort to uncover the neural bases of language comprehension and production. Our interdisciplinary research group addresses this complex problem starting from the processing of sounds and words all the way to combinatory sentence interpretation. Our team members are among the pioneers of the field on both a theoretical and an experimental level. Research is conducted at the KIT/NYU MEG Joint Research Lab at NYU, and at its sister facility at NYU Abu Dhabi.
Keywords: Language, Brain, Linguistics, Neuroscience, Magnetoencephalography
The general research goal of the lab is to understand how the human brain perceives the visual world, and how such processes are influenced by experience and learning.
The main question driving work in the lab is how the brain constructs our subjective experience of the world as we actively engage with our surroundings. A basic challenge for the brain is to parse continuous and dynamic sensory input into discrete and stable percepts, in order to guide cognition and action.
Keywords: Cognitive Neuroscience, Perception, Time Perception, Eye movements
We are working to develop novel photonic/optoelectronic components for next-generation optical and data communication networks.
Keywords: Photonics Integrated Circuits, Silicon Photonics, Optoelectronics, Cybersecurity, Opto-MEMS
The center addresses critical topics for Abu Dhabi in public health science, including diabetes and obesity.
This project presents numerical information about the Middle East in the past including data on population, imports, exports, the cost of travelling and shipping goods overland and across the oceans, and more.
This research group explores the causal mechanisms and processes involved in migrant labor recruitment, particularly in migrant-sending countries.
This research group of social scientists has breadth in terms of substantive areas, ranging from neighborhood segregation to boundary conditions of diffusion, to trust and betrayal, to firm networks.
We live in a three-dimensional world, but each of our eyes only receives a two-dimensional image. How does our brain combine these images? Research in our laboratory focuses on the neural mechanisms underlying visual perception, with an emphasis on motion and depth perception. Signals from the two eyes need to be combined in visual cortex in order to inform us of the position and movement of objects. The study of motion and depth perception helps uncover the function and underlying architecture of the brain's visual system and provides us with a model by which to understand visual processing in general. To do so we use complementary behavioral, neuroimaging and computational approaches. Our research improves the understanding and treatment of visual impairments with a cortical basis, such as amblyopia (lazy eye) and motion blindness, ultimately leading to the recovery of lost visual function.
Keywords: Visual perception, Neuroimaging, Perceptual Disorders, Virtual Reality, Sensory Processing
ustainable and resilient construction
Modularization and lean construction
Artificial intelligence
Robotic systems and automation
Technology integration and information modeling
Despite the remarkable regenerative capacity of the liver, it is not always able to undergo efficient repair. Thus, diseases of the liver are common and a long-term goal of our research is to identify targets to treat them. We use zebrafish as a model system to accomplish these goals.
In response to the severe dearth of graded reader fiction in Arabic and the absence of any scale of simplification, the main objective of the project is to create a standard for the simplification of modern fiction in Arabic to school-age learners and to use this standard to simplify a number of Arabic fiction masterpieces.
The Naumov research group is the leading team with regards to chemistry research in the UAE, with research output that, according to the Nature Index, accounts for an impressive 63 percent in 2015 and 67 percent in 2016 of the total chemistry publications from groups within the country, both in the fractional count and weighted fractional count.
Keywords: Materials, Nanotechnology, Chemistry, Engineering, Physics
The Social Science Experimental Laboratory (SSEL) at NYU Abu Dhabi is an interdisciplinary center where experimental research in the social sciences is conducted. Our aim is to create mutually beneficial relationships with local universities, organizations, and the wider community by offering their members a useful opportunity to participate in social science research activities.
Keywords: Experiments, Economics Research , Social Science, Research in Abu Dhabi, Research Participation
Carlos Guedes, associate arts professor, takes his classes to Sir Bani Yas Island to record free-roaming animals and birds. The recordings are then uploaded onto an interactive website.
The Sport and Wellness Science Lab offers a platform for multi-disciplinary research projects that integrate cutting edge technologies (e.g., MRI) to explore exercise-induced effects on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of students and the general population.
Our primary focus is the neurobiological basis of working memory, which is the process that allows us to actively hold onto information over brief periods.
We study enzyme structure and functions to characterize a disease mechanism or biology function using X-ray crystallography and a variety of different biophysical and biochemical techniques.
Our research includes all aspects of planning and management of surface transportation infrastructure.
The Healy lab started in 2019 with the goal of developing an automated assembly line synthesis of bioactive polyketides and related natural products. Our mission is to harness the tools of bioinformatics, automated synthesis and high-throughput screening to streamline the process from natural product gene cluster to preclinical drug candidate.
Keywords: Chemical Biology, Natural Product Synthesis, Automated Synthesis, Drug Discovery
3D Printing and Bioprinting for tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, drug testing, and medical devices
Keywords: 3D Printing, Bioprinting, Additive Manufacturing, Stem Cells, Biomaterials
Our group uses concepts of molecular/ionic recognition coupled to self-assembly for the fabrication of multi-functional materials.
Our research includes all aspects of the planning and management of surface transportation infrastructure.
Keywords: Transportation Infrastructure, Planning, Management, Optimization, Econometrics
The Volcic Lab studies the mechanisms underlying multisensory perception and motor behavior to understand how sensory information is used to guide our actions and how our interactions with the surrounding environment shape our perception.
Keywords: Perception, Vision, Haptics, Motor Control, Sensorimotor Integration
The Water Research Center (NYUAD-WRC) aims to promote innovative research in water desalination, wastewater treatment, environmental policy, and social issues. The center serves as an interdisciplinary innovation hub for water research where scientific knowledge is transformed into practical solutions.
Keywords: Water Treatment, Desalination, Sustainability
Working Group in African Political Economy is an international forum for academic researchers who combine deep field research experience in Africa with training in political economy methods.
Keywords: Africa, Economics, Politics, Experiments, Development
NYUAD eARThumanities Research Initiative is emphasizing the significance of the arts in this wider conversation, while also drawing on the social sciences and the physical sciences and engineering to foster interdisciplinary dialogue. The Near East and Northern and Eastern Africa are seriously under-researched in major aspects of their human and environmental relations. The research and study of their past and present challenges is of crucial importance as we move forward into a period of increased demographic pressure and global climate change.
Keywords: Environment , Sustainability, Interdisciplinary, Himalaya, Urban Environments
