King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have signed a cooperative agreement that will promote educational and research exchanges as well as a contract that will fund UCLA research in nanoelectronics and clean energy. KACST is Saudi Arabia's national science agency and its national laboratories. A $3.2 million contract over three years will fund UCLA research work in three areas: nanostructures for high-efficiency solar cells; patterned nanostructures for integrated active optoelectronics on silicon; and carbon nanotube circuits. The agreements were made official at a signing ceremony, held Aug. 11, at UCLA's Boelter Hall. Prince Turki Bin Saud Bin Muhammad Al-Saud, the organization's vice president for research institutes, and UCLA Engineering Dean Vijay K. Dhir participated in the signing ceremony. The Western Institute of Nanoelectronics, a research center based at UCLA Engineering, will lead the research. “We foresee a fruitful cooperation lasting many years that includes research in emerging nanotechnology areas to benefit both the Kingdom and the US economies, while training the next generation of science and engineering professionals,” said Kang L. Wang, WIN's director and the Raytheon Professor of Electrical Engineering at UCLA. “Through this new cooperative agreement, we are looking forward to working with KACST researchers on current challenges in clean energy and in nanoeletronics,” Dhir said. “UCLA Engineering has some of the very best researchers in the world in these areas, and this support will certainly help turn innovative ideas into technologies that will have great societal benefits,” he added.
