Student Thesis Spotlight: Yasser Albarakat

05/31/2017

Yasser Albarakat, a senior KGSP student at the University of Colorado Boulder, recently completed his thesis and defended his dissertation on ‘Two-Photon Polymerization of Soft Matter Composites’. His thesis summarizes the results of one-and-a-half years of research under the supervision of Ivan Smalyukh, Associate Professor of Physics. Yasser joined the Smalyukh Group in Fall 2015 and received a research grant from the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) at the University of Colorado Boulder during the summer of his junior year.

Within his thesis, Yasser explains that, "Composite materials, as common as concrete, have been widely used and extensively engineered due to their capability of combining constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties, generating new materials with novel and more desirable properties. With two-photon photo-polymerization, it is possible to design and produce composite materials with three-dimensional control and sub-micron precision, thanks to the highly localized nonlinear process of polymerization.”

Yasser’s thesis has been published on the University of Colorado Boulder Scholar’s website. To read more about his research findings, please visit: http://scholar.colorado.edu/honr_theses/1276/

Yasser received the Summa Cum Laude award, the highest honors designation, for his academic and research excellence. Yasser graduated with honors at the University of Colorado Boulder this May and will travel to KAUST later this summer to begin his master’s degree in Electrical Engineering.

Yasser presenting his research at a Poster Fair at the University of Colorado Boulder

Yasser defending his honor’s thesis

STUDENT PROFILE

KGSP students represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s future scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and thought-leaders. As both individuals and as a community, they reflect the KAUST mission of driving scientific discovery through excellence in education and cutting-edge research, and share a commitment to fostering innovation, economic development, and social prosperity throughout the Kingdom and the world.

ADMISSIONS REQUIREMENTS

Selection to the KGSP is extremely competitive, and currently by invitation only. Successful applicants are Saudi Arabian students in their final year of high school who demonstrate impressive academic credentials within STEM fields, meaningful extra-curricular achievements, and who share the KAUST ethos of continuous discovery. Learn more here.

KGSP ADMINISTRATION

The KGSP is administered by KAUST Academy under the leadership of Dr. Sultan Al-Barakati. KAUST Academy is mandated by KAUST to support the acceleration of Saudi Arabia's knowledge-based economy by providing world class training programs in emerging technologies aligned with Vision 2030. KAUST Academy crafts these unique learning interventions by exporting the intellectual DNA acquired by KAUST for the benefit of the entire Kingdom.