designate Choon Fong Shih. “As we continue to create this global institution of world-class excellence, it will be important for us to connect with such high caliber researchers in support of addressing global solutions.” KAUST Interim President Nadhmi Al-Nasr said, “KAUST intends to become a major new contributor to the global network of collaborative research. As a convener, it will enable researchers from around the globe and across all cultures to work together to solve challenging scientific and technological problems that are of the utmost importance.” “The KAUST Investigators selection panel was composed of 14 distinguished and world-renowned scientists and engineers,” remarked the chairman of the selection committee, Dr. Frank Press. He added that “members include two Nobel laureates, a winner of the Fields Medal and the King Faisal Prize, and experts who have received international recognition for their accomplishments in science and engineering.” The selection methodology for choosing Investigators was very rigorous to give full consideration to all nominations, with special focus on the merits of the leading-edge research that was proposed and the potential contributions of the exceptional group of research scientists and engineers who were nominated. The criteria for evaluation included each researcher's record of accomplishment to date and the direct relevance of the proposed research to the mission areas of KAUST, including energy and environment; materials science and engineering; biosciences; and applied mathematics and computational science. The KAUST Investigators' part of the University's Global Research Partnership (GRP) is a peer-reviewed, merit-based, competitive program to assist research in areas of science and technology that are important to Saudi Arabia, the region, and the world. The GRP is a key initiative designed to serve KAUST's developmental and long-term sustainability needs by establishing strong links between KAUST and the existing global research enterprise. To that end, KAUST launched the GRP in August 2007 as a part of its strategy to build the University's research capacity. As with other world-class non-profit research funding enterprises, the annual GRP process begins with a broad solicitation of proposals and relies on a competitive, independent peer review process to select and fund research carried out at the proposing institution on the basis of quality and relevance to KAUST's mission. Under the GRP, there are three main programs: Investigators (individual scientists), Centers (multiple investigators), and Fellows (post-doctoral researchers). KAUST is expected to announce grants recipients for Centers and Fellows in the second quarter of 2008
