I’m in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia for the inauguration ceremony of KAUST, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. This is a 30-square kilometer state-of-the-art research institution with faculty and students from all over the world. For the next couple of days I’ll be getting some behind-the-scenes access to technology in use here, both for education and research, as well as the tools used to bring this place together.
KAUST was brought about, rather obviously, by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Says the king:
It is my desire that this new University becomes one of the world’s great institutions of research; that it educates and trains the future generations of scientists, engineers and technologists; and that it fosters, on the basis of merit and excellence, collaboration, and cooperation with other great research universities and the private sector.
The university, as the name implies, is science-focused. It offers degrees in nine fields of study:
- Applied Mathematics and Computational Science
- Bioscience
- Chemical and Biological Engineering
- Computer Science
- Earth Science and Engineering
- Electrical Engineering
- Environmental Science and Engineering
- Materials Science and Engineering
- Mechanical Engineering
As a well-funded, brand-new university, there’s a lot of top-notch tech here. From a nanofabriacation lab with a Level 100 clean room (no more than 100 particles per square foot), to a room filled with ten Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectrometers, to Shaheen, the fastest supercomputer in the Middle East, the facilities at KAUST are a researcher’s dream.
I plan to dig into more, but here’s two quick overviews of things I found remarkably impressive: Shaheen, and the CORNEA immersive virtual reality facility.
Shaheen
Shaheen, currently the 14th largest super computer in the world, is comprised of 16 IBM BlueGene/P racks, offering 220 teraflops in its current configuration. The plan is to raise that to a petaflop by 2011. That’s a huge performance jump in just two years. It has more than 65,000 processors. It’s also the largest system that the U.S. Department of Commerce has ever permitted to be exported, and as you might expect Uncle Sam places some usage restrictions on it. Right now, Shaheen draws 1.2 megawatts of power, and has an enormous cooling requirement.
The room in which Shaheen lives is pretty bland, and doesn’t make for very good photography. But here’s a photo, nonetheless:
We weren’t permitted inside because it’s operated inside a clean room environment. Aside from the fact that KAUST has been a construction site until just recently, there’s also serious concern about the effects of salt from the Red Sea coming into the room, so the project coordinators are playing it safe by restricting access and strictly controlling the environment.
CORNEA
CORNEA is a CAVE system that projects images onto all four walls, the ceiling, and the floor of a room in order to create a truly immersive virtual environment. Users within the room wear active stereoscopic glasses to produce a 3D effect. CAVEs aren’t particularly new, though they are still super cool.
Two things set KAUST’s CAVE apart from all the rest. First, it has the world’s highest resolution at 100 million pixels, and second, it has a phenomenal audio system inside the room. Speakers placed in the room pick up sounds and project them back in any of a number of programmable acoustic configurations. So if you’re walking through a visualization of an actual cave, your voice will echo and reverberate. This is actually amazingly hard to describe in text, and even harder to capture on video. Here’s a quick video I took while inside CORNEA:
When the audio is on, you really do feel like you’re in a larger space. Then when the audio is muted, you feel like you’re in any other room in the world. It’s very impressive what a dramatic effect sound has on our sense of sight.
If you guys have any techie questions for the KAUST staff or faculty, leave ‘em in the comments and I’ll do my best to get them answered!
You people are amazing. I seems to me you are ready to suck any cock on Earth, provided that a prick has a pocket full of money.
you kiss your mother with that mouth?
so true.
Totally agree with you Alex, now suddenly TC has lost its moral code of conduct, if Taliban tomorrow has a trillion dollars TC will go and work for them too.
Shame on you hypocrites.
When it comes to Saudi all moral code is off, Its a feudal psychotic monarch which:-
1. Does not have equal right for women.
2. No democracy. People can’t vote.
3. It tortures gay people and hangs them.
4. Death penalty for petty crimes.
5. Stoning and caning of women in streets.
6. No laws against Kings and monarch families, they can kill someone and no law could be applied to them.
7. Immigrants have no rights after certain years as they do in USA.
8. 12 911 Hijackers were from Saudi Arab
9. They fund most of the terror organization in Asia.
10. They control half of the oil wealth and still control prices like gangster having no disregard for the world economy.
11. No nightlife, no freedom of speech, no partying, no respect, just few dollars more.
What is wrong with you people, can’t you sacrifice few bucks for standing up to what is the right thing to do.
#8 correction: 15 of 19 terrorists on 9-11 were Saudi
The King made a lot of dough off our backs last year with oil prices at $147. He can spend it all on shiny machines and glittery buildings, but what he can never buy is a soul.
All these nano tech equipment he’s buying today will be obsolete in 5 years.
So all I will say, let the king shove his “university” where the sun don’t shine. Money can buy you a degree but will never buy an education.
what are you saying !!!!
i lived in saudi arabia for almost 30 years!!!
and most of what you saying is tottaly WRONG!!!!
You guys are easy to believe what media saying !! and you dont know all that is wrong !!
you will believe what im saying if you go there :) .
I would like to go there but I am openly gay and prefer not to be stoned to death. Thanks anyway for the invite.
Sunil: With due respect, all those things which you have numerated can be brought to a society following two ways:
One is, which the developed world have tested in Iraq and Afghanistan and the other one is by educating the common man. By strengthening the common man. Although maybe it will take 100 years but start today tomorrow one day will be minus.
So in my humble opinion if a modern University is coming up in a country with which you have so many issues then you should appreciate the fact that it will be a source of local knowledge.
For example read the history of Bahrain, Qatar, UAE …….
Khan…I understand what you are trying say…
My problem is the agenda behind it…why name it king abuldulla university if it is world class..why not name it after the place like MIT, Cambridge etc or after a scientist like Einstein or even a Arab scientist…why not…is what I’m bothered.
Why name it king Abdullah….what is his contribution to science ?
I don’t like politics to be mixed with science.
If its agenda was truly for the good of people why name it after him…why not after a prominent Arab scientist ?
Amerikkka is a wonderful country
Learn English: It is spelled AMERICA and and YES it is a WONDERFUL country that feeds half the world’s population and leads most of humanity’s scientific discovers in the last 100 years and is the greatest contributor – by far – to humanitarian crises all over the world (AIDS, Africa, tsunami/earthquakes victims.. ). By using the Internet, you are now enjoying one of many of its fruits.
Typical. You honestly believe that America feeds half the world, invented the internet, and also “leads most of humanity’s scientific discoveries*” Let me ask you this, if America is so “WONDERFUL” and so full of humanitarians, why is it that many your companies are responsible for many of the issues in Africa, and the rest of the world, in the first place?
Furthermore, how can you make a statement that America “feeds half of the world’s population” when America can’t even feed its own population?
I could go on, but that would be silly as there are too many errors within your statement to even begin to discuss. In the future: please fact check.
You really are a dumb f#ck moron making allegations but not backing ANYTHING with facts.
How are American companies “responisble for many issues in Africa”?
By the way, the browser (Mosiac) was invented in an Illinois University and later commercialized by American companies: Netscape/Microsoft. Without the browser no one outside of academia would be using the Internet. Not to mention the introduction of the PC and integrated circuits, operating systems and network equipment that makes the Internet what it is today.
No one in America dies of starvation.
Get your facts straight.
hear hear.
great to have you TC in the Arab world. Plz come again for the Next ArabCrunch DEMO event the launchpad for emerging tech in the Arab world.
Guys u r missing the truth:::
the fact is that America/Israel has killed over 2 million civilians people in Iraq, children, woman and old people, ( USA has killed 1 million babies before 911 due to US imposed sanctions, USA imposed it on the UN.)
US has killed 10s of thousands of civilians in Afghanistan,
Not to mention that ur baby Israel has killed thousands of civilians in Palestine, took the homes and land of millions of people and forced them out of the country. not to mention they killed around 5, 000 civilians in recent Gaza genocide.
Not to mention that your CIA/FBI has raped according to Obama adimn, around 700 men (yes Raped men u faggots) and woman ( real number must be in thousands.)
Not to mention that Muslim governments are puppies for the CIA …. Not to mention US crimes agaionst hummanity in Vietnam, Kora, Philippians. Africa, Latin America, 60 million native Indians were killed.
Not to mention… the list is too big for ur crimes.
So guys if you do not want TC or any American to have a peaceful relation with Muslims and Arabs SO BE IT BUT.get your troops and CIA agents out from the Muslim land, stop Killing Muslims, stop supporting Israel, and never ever buy our oil.
> the fact is that America/Israel has killed over 2
> million civilians people in Iraq
You forget that 1.9 million out of the 2 million killed in Iraq were perpetrated by towel head suicide bombers killing their own people in Mosques. Zero people were killed by Israel because there simply are no Israelis in Iraq!! Nice try!!
> Not to mention that your CIA/FBI has raped
> according to Obama adimn, around 700 men
This is a joke right?? Are you trying to compare that to the thousands of sand niggers who cut people’s heads off and show it on the Internet along with a message that says “God is Great!”?
> USA has killed 1 million babies before 911 due > to US imposed sanctions, USA imposed it on
> the UN
What sanctions?? How do people die from sanctions? Your logic is not only flawed but sad.
> if you do not want TC or any American to have
> a peaceful relation with Muslims
Peace and Muslims are two words that don’t mix. Especially since Muslims spend more time blowing up other Muslims.
> Not to mention that ur baby Israel has killed
> thousands of civilians in Palestine
Well, stop shooting rockets into their country you dumb towel head prick. Then maybe they won’t have to die. Muslims are the only people on Earth who think that they can attack other people and that the other side has no right to attack back!!
Just ask the people of Mumbai India who also deal with animal towel heads! Oh, but I’m sure Muslims have something to say about them too right??
FACT IS, YOU CAN SETUP ALL THE IBM MAINFRAMES YOU WANT IN SAUDI ARABIA. BOTTOM LINE, IF MUSLIMS KEEP ACTING LIKE ANIMALS THEN THEY GET TREATED LIKE ANIMALS!! GET USED TO IT ACHMED!!
Lets have a look around the world and you’ll find that everywhere you look you have muslims responsible for the violence – China, thailand, singapore, malaysia, indonesia, philipines, india,
minority non muslims in pakistan, africa, shit that took refuge in the west. Look at what happened last time the freakin algerians lost to france at soccer, they started burning and destroying stuff. Well, if your so disappointed go back to algeria you scum. Same in britain where these imams are imposing sharia law. I understand that you all want to live a barbaric lifestyle, but we don’t. on 9/11 we had palestinians in texas celebrating, didn’t understand why no one took them down.
And let me remind you that Arafat and the palestinian state was helped by kuwait and owes alot to that regime. But when the iraqis invaded, again they celebra
celebrated. You can’t deny this as I was there myself. Talk to the Jordanians and lebanonese. Again you’ll learn its the palestinian animals that destroyed those countries that gave them refuge. Why did you think Egypt suppressed them from getting into their country last time palestine was attacked in retaliation by Israel.
Remember, if it wasn’t for the discovery of oil by the west, you scum would still be riding on camels. Don’t forget, your wealth doesn’t hide the fact that you’l are decedents of nomads, what ever you learn was discovered by “Infidels”
Don’t use it, go back to your crappy quran.
Stan :
ur a bad israeli lier amigo:
1-No the fact that 1 million civilians killed in Iraq by US forces or their allies: mercenary security forces and the criminalize sheeat militias that are supported by the US gov. and are in the Iraqi gov. and parliament.
2- Israeli Zionist lobby is behind the US invasion of Iraq. and US media just show one side of the story with lies, even bc some are controlled by the Israelis and Zionists or because they will lose Ads.
3- yes CIA and FBI raped thousands of men and woman and by saying that “This is a joke right?? Are you trying to compare that to the thousands of sand niggers who cut people” u agree to the act that it is ok to rape men and women! and u showed ur true skin that ur a racist prick. and btw it was not thousands of “sand niggers” who did the beheading it was not more than 10 in the best case, and these acts are condemned.
>> USA has killed 1 million babies before 911 due > to US imposed sanctions, USA imposed it on
> the UN
stan: “What sanctions?? How do people die from sanctions? Your logic is not only flawed but sad.”
where stan or Mr. Stoned do u live, you did not know that USA forced the UN to impose sanctions from 1990 until the day of US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
if u r stupid enough to know how these sanctions killed 1 million people then read Ramsey Clark, former Attorney General of the United States words:
“sanctions against the people of Iraq from August 6, 1990 to this date with full knowledge constantly communicated that the blockade and sanctions were depriving the people of Iraq of essentials to support and protect human life. These essentials include medicines and medical supplies, safe drinking water, adequate food, insecticides, fertilisers, equipment and parts required for agriculture, food processing, storage and distribution, hospital and medical clinic procedures; a multitude of common items such as light bulbs and fluorescent tubes; equipment and parts for the generation and distribution of electricity, telephone and other communications, public transportation and other essential human services. Also denied the people of Iraq is knowledge of the existence of, and procedures and equipment to provide protection from, depleted uranium and dangerous chemical pollution released in the environment of Iraq by defendants. The United States has further subjected Iraq to random missile assaults which have killed civilians.
The direct consequence of such acts and others is direct physical injury to the majority of the population in Iraq, serious permanent injury to a substantial minority of the population and death to more than 1,500,000 people including 750,000 children under five years of age.”
http://www.twf.org/News/Y1997/Ramsey.html
>> if you do not want TC or any American to have
> a peaceful relation with Muslims
stan:” Peace and Muslims are two words that don’t mix. Especially since Muslims spend more time blowing up other Muslims.”
complete lie, Obama and Bush do not agree with u in this one or i am mistaken! and u forget to add this “then get your troops and CIA agents out from the Muslim land, stop Killing Muslims, stop supporting Israel, and never ever buy oil from Muslim countries and stop interfering in internal Muslim Affairs”.
>>> Not to mention that ur baby Israel has killed
> thousands of civilians in Palestine
stan “Well, stop shooting rockets into their country you dumb towel head prick. Then maybe they won’t have to die. Muslims are the only people on Earth who think that they can attack other people and that the other side has no right to attack back!!
Just ask the people of Mumbai India who also deal with animal towel heads! Oh, but I’m sure Muslims have something to say about them too right??”
there was a seaside fire and Israel ended it with its assault in Gaza that killed more than 4 thousand civilians in Gaza and destroyed mosques school and homes. and BTW people in Gaza live in their own homeland since 5 thousand years, “Israel” on the other hand is an illegal country that drove millions of Palestinians from their homes and out of the country.
As for Mombai, I it was carried by around 2 dozen of people, not by an Elected Government! in any case it is condemned. But why u do not talk about the Thousands of Muslims that get burred a live by Hindu Militias?
Botoom line that muslims are not killers, Muslims are victims, they r being killed everywhere, oppressed and surprised by monkeys like u. The discussion that accuse Muslims of killing and doing massacres is a big lie. true some Muslims carried violence, but how many r they? there are 2 billions Muslim in this world.
The hate words in this thread is not the spirit I think many like to see on TC and the technology community. Technology should bring people together. Not some moron racist pigs who object to Muslim and Arab collaboration.
sorry correction: Technology should bring people together. Not some moron racist pigs who object to US – Muslim and Arab collaboration.
Great Job TechCrunch for covering this event :)
If you really were an Israeli you would know how to spell ISRAELI, you dumb f*ck.
Just remember NO one killed more Muslims than Saddam Hussein – but you are too stupid to recognize that fact and keep playing the victim and blaming Israel and the West for all your problems.
Welcome to Jeddah Techcrunch.
How about a cup of coffee with some Saudi geeks in Jeddah?
@alex, are we feeling jealous?
Jealous? – about them purchasing US technology that still isn’t better than what we have ?
Maybe they have a class in hijabology? Bytes and burkhas? Mutawa metadata?
@alex and austin , that only shows how ignorant the west is about others.
yes , there are ppl out there better than you
plus we r WEALTHY ;) , suck on that
Auston u jack ass…why dont u go travel oustide your country and learn about people before you make ignorant and racist comments.
I have lived in the middle east for 20 years, I know exactly how they are, for some reason they consider themselves better than anybody else, even thou they are extremely ignorant. Yes you’ll find a few decent ppl that are educated.
@ Facebook User: Wealthy yes becoz the west invented technology that has made Oil valuable.
And you guy aren’t wealthy, its the rulers, and again your wealth isn’t a product of your intelligence! Its a byproduct of the West’s For god sake you guys can’t drill your own oil. Everything that you use from cell phones, to the way you shirts are designed and sticked, the soap that you use to the roads and cars and BOMBS – all created by infidels(non muslims)
you such a liar!!
More pics of KAUST, Shaheen’s home included:
http://www.photo-pcp.com/galeries/kaust7/
Wow! It looks like a great university
But if you’re a woman and seek an education without having a male relative attached to your frigging arm, it’s COURT APPROVED RAPE AND BEATING TIME!
that’s not true. Actually that’s one of the reasons they built the university in a town of it’s own, away from major cities, and separated from Saudi norms. The university will be run by Aramco, the oil company. Most of the Univ. admin and management are foreign.
If you know of any body that ever lied in a foreigner compound in Saudi, they will tell you the only difference from the west is the weather!
How would you know? Have you ever been there? If not then shut the F*** up!
Yes, I’ve been there, and it is completely coeducational and merit-based, with 70 nationalities already represented in the founding class alone.
Man, the Kingdom (KSA) is really on a roll. I’m interested on hearing your feedback on visiting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Jeddah is a beautiful city.
In KSA women still have no vote rights and are not permitted to drive a car but Jeddah is a beautiful city, of course.
HELLOOOO ? Saudi women don’t have vote rights? Neither do men !! SA is NOT a democracy (i.e. no one gets to vote)
impressive….:)
my homeland
Weird that they have a major that includes “computational science” and another that’s just “computer science.” Computer science is the study of computation, so it makes no sense to list it twice. Unless by “computer science” they mean computer software/hardware design. But it would be a misnomer to call that computer science.
One is like applied math, the other is the more familiar computer science (OS, AI, high performance computing, etc.) . The full title for computational science is actually “Applied Math and Computational Science.”
Also, I think he is missing the marine science major, though it is in a bit of limbo right now.
What is the student body like? A mixture of many nationalities? How many Americans are enrolled?
According to the information I have, there are currently 817 students enrolled, representing 61 countries. A specific break-down of students is not provided. I’ll see if I can find out more.
Scott,
Whats the cost of tuition? With a 10Billion endowment it must be free for everyone.
The first round of students were all awarded a “Discovery Scholarship”. I haven’t found anyone yet who can tell me actual tuition costs for non-scholarship students.
- The most represented countries in the inaugural class are :
1- Saudi Arabia (15%)
2- China (14%)
3- Mexico (11%)
4- United States (8%)
http://inauguration.kaust.edu.sa/people/students.aspx
——-
thanks Scott :)
how many are jewish? how many are bahai?
Something tells me not too many since they arent allowed to even visit saudi arabia legally.
How many are women?
15% or something close to that .
For people with no idea of the motivation behind this development.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/26/world/middleeast/26saudi.html?_r=1
The royal family is rather progressive and have a good understanding of how the world works. It is the local population that is lacking in that area.
That’s what they (the royal family) claim. In reality, they are not progressive enough to devise and stick to a constitution, or to allow a parliament and give any real power to the people or even give them formal elective representation.
Yea this is the same progressive royal family, which funds thousands of terror institutes (aka Madrassas) in Pakistan.
What proof do you have that they fund these Madrassas as you call them?
By the way, here is a quick vocab lesson in Arabic, Madrassas = schools.
The funding of Pakistani Madrssas (Islamic religious schools/ terrorist training camps) by the Saudis is no secret. You can find any number of independent and Pakistani/Saudi government sources.
I hope this remains more of an institution of higher learning and less of a breeding ground for extremist politics. It seems these people cannot separate politics from education, or any facet of their lives for that matter.
Really, now? do you have any first hand experience with “these people”?
Glass Science 247–Transition from oil to sand.
Psychology 101–Maintaining harmony in the harem.
International Relations 350–Breaking the news to Filipina girls that that hostess job was just a ruse.
I do not understans why some people judge Islamic countries with no knowledge! I have seen a lot of western and when they began to talk about Saudi Arabia they told me lots of things which I have never heard even though I am Saudi! not because I do not know about my country but because they got their opinion from wrong and less information and they made up to complete it! like a guy who wrote a comment and said that Saudi women do not vote! lol any one who read that will feel sorry for Saudi women but I have something to tell, not just women do not vote even men do not and we are happy with that because Voting not everything, The most important we are in Saudi Free and we also have free education and health and I want to tell you guys Saudi government support Saudi students in Saudi and around the world, I am one of them and I am studying in Canada and when I compare any country in this world with Saudi Arabia and with what we have and with what Saudi government do for us I thank God a lot.
I hope this university will benefit all the human beings.
Obama, take a lead from King Abdullah, action does speaks louder than word. This is how you breed innovation for the betterment of world — 817 students enrolled, representing 61 countries.
I cannot somehow suppress my theatrical exuberance– Long live the King!!!
Ex-Obama fan, New King Abdullah fan (Non Arab)
west made fun of these arab countries, and told the rest of the world that they were barbarians, but at the same time they kept sucking up to those arab country governments and signing oil contracts.
more and more people become aware of that and in near future, new generations in west will be ashamed of what their fathers have done to the rest of the world, central asia, middle east and africa especially.
Again, with the Arabism victimization. Dont you ever get tired from it?
Other than blaming the West for EVERYTHING, do you guys look inward on how you treat women, homosexuals, religious minorities (Copts, Bahai, Jews). How about how the UAE expelling thousands of Palestinians, the Sudanese massacring thousands of Blacks, the Yemenite killing dozens of Shiites, the Iraqis killing thousands of Kurds and Shiites…. Take a little responsibility for YOUR own actions first.
I actually have a close friend who started school at KAUST this fall studying environmental science, interesting that Tech Crunch would have someone over there for the inauguration. Also, can you ask the Mechanical Engineering department if they plan to do much research in biomechanics?
Damn, too late for me. Wish i had joined this university :)
I agree with peoples views about SA. My dad worked in Saudi for two years and he said there is not much freedom for foreigners.
They will chop off your hands if you steal.
Women dont have any freedom and cant drive.
Women cant go to the beach for a sunbath
You cant get a good job unless your are muslim or caucasian.
If you are caught for any illegal activity, you are thrown in jail without a lawyer.
This is what i heard. Maybe i am wrong
Police can visit your home any time they want to make sure you:
1. are not watching satellite TV
2. you are not reading porn magazines
3. you are not eating what you are not supposed to eat.
1. Wrong
2. Wrorg
3. Wrong
1. Almost every household in Saudi has satellite TV because Saudi only has 2 national TV stations.
2. If you can get your magazine through customs at the airport then no one will bother you at your home. Because how would they know it was you? (But of course you cannot have it in plain view in public). It is a conservative Muslim society.
3. You can eat whatever you like. The only thing you won’t find in Saudi, legally anyway is pork or Alcohol. Other then that who the heck will care what you eat or drink?
this country is so backward from what I know but at least they are spending their petro dollar on something good this time.
2 questions:
1) Did you come across Ph.D. Students? i.e. are the university labs up and running with teams of grad students already active? I may consider a Ph.D.
2) Can you ask around if they plan to extend research activities in Biomedical Engineering in the near future? The research area listed are for the initial stage of the university’s development, what’s coming next?
Thanks
alla – make poof *usa* from our planet – shukran !
If he does that who will you blame for all your problems. You might even have to start trying to solve your own issues – oh my! – rather than finding a scapegoat.
Be careful what you wish for.
if he does, who will drill, refine and make things that will use your oil. Or Remeber besides almost everything you use nowadays, including pretty much the entire university that was built was built using western technology.
go back and research your contributions as a group, and you’ll see that we’er the blessing and you all are the curse!
Enjoy the kegger and topless girls?
Oh, riiight.
Scott, great post. Any plans to visit Riyadh or Dhahran (Saudi Aramco)? Please let me know so we can arrange some visits/tours.
I’d love to get around to see more of Saudi Arabia, but I won’t have the time on this trip. Thanks for the invite, though.
At least we are in Jeddah. I can gather some TC followers and meet on a cup of coffee?
Hey Fouad, I’d love to meet some Saudi readers. I don’t know if I’ll have enough free time to do so, but please email me at scott at this domain, and we’ll see if we can coordinate something!
Hey Scott – I hope you’re not Gay.
Its a crime punishable by death over there.
Also, it is very safe to drive there because women are not allowed to drive.
Enjoy, I really hope your efforts will thrive, as this way we can all keep the regime as is and women oppression will last for many years to come.
And stop by the grave of the poor girl that was beaten to death by her dad for using Facebook. Say Hi for us.
stay classy, TC commenters!
It saddens me to see so much hateful ignorance towards Saudi Arabia. I’m an American who recently married a Saudi woman and converted to Islam. We got married in both the US and Saudi and I spent a month there in March for our Saudi wedding.
My wife will be the first to tell you that yes, Saudi can be a difficult place for a woman to live, which is why she moved to the US to finish her medical career (she was already a doctor in Saudi). But at the same time, she will also be the first to tell you that things are changing, little by little. The “moral police” are not out in the kinds of numbers they used to be. And the incidence of the kinds of extreme atrocities that people are mentioning here is down sharply and continues to drop.
I really wish more people would learn think outside of their staunch convictions every now and then. If you never open your mind to the possibility (and reality) that things can and will change, you’ll be stuck in the past, kinda like many Saudis are. But luckily, they aren’t ALL that way, and progress is in motion over there, whether you believe it or not.
no need to feel petty and defend these anti-Muslim Arab haters should look what they did to humanity before start talking shit about human rights and justice.
Yeah your the one to talk. Yes destruction of fellow humans is an inherent quality after all we did evolve form animals. but we are far higher on the evolution ladder than these fools
Also, can’t believe all it took was a p*&$y to convert you to Islam. That in itself speaks volumes of your ignorance. Islam is an offshoot of Judaism, just like Christanity. Why would you even convert to something that has a more barbaric approach. Yes the catholic church was the same 500 years ago. But again we’ve evolved.
Its one thing to spend a month in a country and another to live there for a year or more. Why don’t you try living there and come report back to us.
I’ve lived there for 20 years! So I have witnessed all the discrimination against other nationalities that don’t get properly represented by their emabssies. You can’t go to the police if a kuwaiti/saudi victimizes you. They would come to the American Embassy for help. And there is only so much you can do. They harrassed ppl for being christain as well. Again, they are very careful with westerners as they understand the ramifications, even if they were part of the royal family.
So the next time you go back go talk to non westerners especially the christain asians – and the truth will be revealed. You feel sorry for the palestinians – go talk to non fundamentalist lebonese, jordanians, egyptians, – you’ll change your mind. Even the syrians hate them and their support for them is propaganda.
wow. this looks like a good school. i would love to have the chance to go there but sadly the majors they offer are not anywhere near my realm. where can we go to look at more pics of the school?
lol john. don’t mind people’s comments. it’s the same usual b.s. although i also found it interesting that TC was invited for inaguration, but i’m not going to jump off the conspiracy cliff. thanks to you and scott for this and answering questions.
I wonder how many Israelis go to that university? I know there are many that more than qualify academically. Same goes with Jewish people of any citizenship. If there aren’t any, I wonder if this is truly a university worthy of adulation or even academic appreciation. Any institution that is by its structure racist and prejudiced against a person by their nationality is not a place I would put on my resume.
I wonder how many Arabs go to the University of Jerusalem? I know there are many that more than qualify academically. Same goes with Muslim people of any citizenship. If there aren’t any, I wonder if this is truly a university worthy of adulation or even academic appreciation. Any institution that is by its structure racist and prejudiced against a person by their nationality is not a place I would put on my resume.
yeah, becoz just like all the “infidels” they can divert their energy through their minds to innovate; where as you guys are only able to destroy. We do understand your plight – its a genetic limitation(just like animals), but keep the destruction amongst yourselves.
Just and FYI… As a student of Haifa University, I know that 15% of the student body here is Arab. A higher percentage is true for the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
well Seth , there are no Israelis in this school since we’re officially in a state of war with Israel since 1948 .
How long have you guys been in a “state of war” against homosexuals, women, and non-Muslim minorities?
Seth: u r funny, talking about a place that ” is by structure racist and prejudiced against a person by their nationality”
you forgot that It is Israel who 100% fits what u said, who drove 6 million Palestinians (Muslims and Christians) out of their homeland Palestine and never let them back, Palestinians who live in west bank ca not live in Jerusalem, a Palestinian who lives in Jerusalem and marries someone from west bank has to move out of the city and can not bring her own husband back. (not to mention the killing, the sanctions against gaza and so on.)
While any Jew who never saw Palestine, can migrate anytime, have full citizen ship and live in occupied Palestine. what is called “Israel.”
U Zionist andI sraelis and right wingers r funny how u lie.
And whats to be said about the Palestinians, hmm
the fac that they destroyed the neighboring countires that provided them refuge:lebanon and jordan.
And celebrating and partaking in the looting of kuwait, the country that helped them in their struggle, and played a huge part in what they have today. Even the peice of shit Arafat.
As i said in my previous posts I lived in the Gulf for a very long time. I have interacted with several nationalities.
@from an Isreali : talk about discrimination again other nationalities. Well go to the gulf and see how they discriminate against the s. asians and philipinos and other arabs. I looked at amazement at these apes treat other nationalities like shit, except ofcourse the westerners as they knew better. These apes were nomads and now think no end of themselves for being blessed by “God” – OIL + Westerners = Lots of Money. Yeah go talk to any one of those ppl about discrimination becaz of their natonality and what their options were available to them. I’m curious what you have to say
You may or may not be aware that your nick/handle is offensive. I would request you to please change it. I am sure your intent is to make your point based on logical and valid arguments, not to indulge in hate speech. Your nick doesn’t help your cause.
Respectfully,
A Citizen of the World
Hi there,
Nice article. By the way, KAUST covers 36 MILLION square kms not 30 square kms.!!!
Please fix it!
Thanks,
KAUSTer
36 million square kilometers is many times the size of Saudi Arabia itself.
Do you think your university is spread over 36 Million kms? Does anyone need anymore evidence that money cannot buy intelligence?
You can say that again!
Noor, 3an jad? 36 million KM2? All of Saudi Arabia is 2.1 million KM2, how can a college campus be bigger? And you’re a KAUSTer? Good, if this is the level of students they’re recruiting, we don’t need to worry about dumbass Saudis overtaking Lebanon in best education in the Middle East.
ayre fikon shou hal shaab el bajam.
This thread is going well.
yeah it looks like this thread has devolved into childish pov’s and rants. who are these people who are actually human irl. i just wish i could punch people. this is about a fucken school and this has become another discussion. i think it is imperant that the authors make sure to have control and keep comments on topic. how did a fucken post about a university become all about my side vs your side. fuck.
stay tuned
the inauguration webcast
will be available soon
you can watch it here:
http://inauguration.kaust.edu.sa/inauguration/webcast.aspx
Anyone dumb enough to believe that Muslims “are only able to destroy” and have “a genetic limitation (just like animals)” is a complete idiot, plain and simple. All I have have to do is turn on the evening news here in Miami to see Americans killing and raping Americans. EVERY group of people known to man has it’s own infighting, aggression towards others, and quality members.
I just hope one day the American/British/Israeli complex expresses regret for the injustice they perpetrated during the creation of Israel and maybe pays out some deserved reparations to the Palestinian people for treating them like pieces of shit from DAY 1 (before suicide bombings started as a way of crying out in frustration over being treated like said pieces of shit). I know, wishful thinking…
I’m not going to get involved in the political nonsense, but I’d love to get involved in the religious nonsense! Anyone on this page who says Muslims can be peaceful simply has not read the Qur’an. Every devout Muslim believes that sooner or later, every single infidel on this planet will be converted to islam, enslaved, or killed.
As an atheist, you can imagine I don’t care for muslims too much. Although, they don’t disgust me any more than any other organization of irrational zealots. The problem isn’t oil, it’s religion. There are millions of people killing one another every day for the favor of a mythical creature fabricated by bronze-age thinkers.
If you’re hell bent on proving Islam to be evil, then sure, you can find all the passages you want in the Qur’an and interpret them to your favor. But for every passage that can be twisted into evil, there’s another one that preaches compassion and tolerance. Same goes for the Bible and the Torah. That’s religious doctrine for you… rife with ambiguities and contradictions. Always has been… always will be.
Anyone who truly believes the Qur’an is inherently evil or promotes hate to a degree beyond that of the Bible or Torah is severely mistaken and/or simply gullible and stupid.
Here’s a fact of Islam most people don’t know… you cannot be a true Muslim if you do not accept Jesus and Abraham as prophets of God, along with Muhammad of course, and the Torah and the Gospels as the word of God. But no, you don’t hear the Islamophobes mention these things because it doesn’t help their cause of demonizing an entire religion.
The problems with Islam have nothing to do with Islam itself or its teachings. The problems come from the stuck-in-the-past mentality of using religion as a governing force that is still common across much of the Muslim world. Don’t forget that same mentality was rampant in the Christian world not too long ago and caused some of history’s most horrific atrocities.
So… much of the Muslim world is behind the times. We agree on that much. But that’s a product of factors that have nothing to do with the Qur’an and more to do with the fact that Islam is relatively new compared to Western religions and, well, being poor and living in the desert doesn’t help you progress all that fast either. And I won’t even mention the bombs. Woops, I just did.
I’ll leave you with a few nuggets of wisdom from the Qur’an…
“Do not revile those whom they invoke other than Allah.” (6:108)
“They change words from their places, and they have overlooked a good deal of the Advice they were given. Every now and then you come across a certain treachery from all of them, except a few. So, forgive them and forego. Indeed, Allah loves those who are good in deeds.” (5:13)
“So, turn away from them (disbelievers) and wish them peace.” (43:89)
I’m not blaming just the Qur’an, I’m blaming the bible too! I’m blaming the fundamentalists and the moderates alike. The moderates simply provide a shelter of credulity for murderous zealots. The problem isn’t just one book, the problem is irrational belief in a creature that does not exist. The word could get along just fine without the “nuggets of wisdom” from either book.
And if you accept one of these religions, you have to accept the book as a whole, you can’t cherry-pick the nice happy parts either. All the merciful quotes in the world don’t make up for the murderous, jealous, homophobic, genocidal, intolerant ones. The bottom line is, the belief any of these books is the work of a divine being is irrational, and ultimately harmful to the development of humanity.
Do you hope that the Muslims would ever express regret for the hundreds of thousands of MUSLIMS THAT they killed. Do you know that Saddam Hussein killed more Muslims than any none Muslim in HISTORY. And Muslims still kill more Muslims than none Muslims – in Iraq, Sudan, Iran and Yemen – YET you blame the West. When will you people ever look in the mirror?
if we said that every book which in ones opinion has a wrong/bad statement should be thrown out, how many books would we be left with? not many articles of information in this life are “perfect”. This doesn’t mean we throw them all away
is anyone talking about THE SCHOOL???????????!!!!!!!!!!
i hate people. i hope kaust does well cause if so maybe they can branch out and offer courses in something i would be qualified for.
Hey, this is such a cool university! I’d love to enroll here for an undergraduate degree, but unfortunately, that hasn’t opened yet. It’s only masters and phd for now. I hope it opens soon for me to enter, though. ^_^
A few excerpts from the curriculum.
Subject: Jinn Maths
Module 1: Useful equations:
1 man = 2 women
1 Muslim = 100 Infidels
3 talaqs by a man > any number of talaqs by woman.
Subject: Theoretical Computer Science
Module 1: Automatoa theory:
Turing machines cannot decide anything, because Turing was gay!
1 PhD = piece of shit
King Abdullah sucks Turing’s balls in hell!
lets face the truth – if the king is spending that kind of money, he is seriously wanting to improve the image of the place. why would anyone be willing to spend that kinda money on an infrastructure which has nothing to do with world politics or for some people, say, “terrorizing” as they might want to associate that part of the world with. why cant people be a little more positive and give KAUST benefit of doubt? you dont loose anything for doing that…infact you get rewarded for that – im sure most of you are aware that phd students will be handsomely paid for their research which is rare in some developing countries….also if profs are willing to work there, they have their research funded for a period of 5 years and if they dont like it there, they can walk off with the money….how can this be bad?
YES, women have different set of rules there and so do gays, but things take time to change, dont force change on someone too fast….that destroys them. how about taking things slowly one at a time?
Couldn’t have said it better myself!
It should be noted by others that KAUST is waaaaaay too liberal compared to other places in the kingdom, and this will hopefully have a positive impact on the Saudi society for generations to come. Petro-dollar can’t work miracles, and you absolutely can’t expect in two years something with the caliber of radical events such as the English and French revolutions, American civil rights movement, and Meiji revolution. So, stop your whining fellas, and appreciate those baby steps!
Well, I love the language of comments made by anti-Saudi & anti-Islam commentators here in this post ;-)
Moral of the story: Never ever ever post anything about Saudi Arabia, less it piss off the hippies. Seriously, was TC praising King Abdullah or SA’s human rights record? No, they weren’t. They were reporting about a brand new university geared towards science and *gasp* technology!
Oh yes, TechCrunch is nothing but anti-American, antisemite cocksucking whores.
hi
Oh my gash
i like this Uni = )
it is a big
it is so nice
i love islam
i love saudi arabia
Islam is a religion of tolerance
Everyone here is insulted Islam and Saudi Arabia is a person who feels jealous definite
Blame information here
I swear there is no injustice to women and men,
on the contrary
I hope that everyone entering into the Islamic religion will see the light inevitably
Well really ashamed to read all the negative comments.
I think KAUST is one of its kind in the muslim world and the world in general. Embraced with latest and state of the art technology and teaching methods. The facilities provided also cant be found anywhere else. There is such a huge jealousy factor in the ppl who are commenting that makes me wanna do my Masters over here in KAUST.
I m not a saudi but i know abt them, i have been there, lived there, and ppl here are just fabricating stories. I mean so much meaningless crap has been said that can never find its foundations.
Most of the comments are just lies.
–
-Does not have equal right for women.
- It tortures gay people and hangs them.
- Death penalty for petty crimes.
- Stoning and caning of women in streets..
-12 911 Hijackers were from Saudi Arab
- They fund most of the terror organization in Asia.
- They control half of the oil wealth and still control prices like gangster having no disregard for the world economy.
–
so you think you’re so funny ?!
Backwardness and ignorance !!
whatever
King abdulla university of science is great institution and has a first class facilities.
sunil
that’s what the media in your country wants you to ONLY hear that the kingdom is such a barbaric country.
Secondly if you want to express your jealousy, just say it: “THIS COUNTRY DOES NOT DESERVE TO OBTAIN SUCH A TECHNOLOGY” and we both would be clear about your intentions.
Thirdly, about being gay, if you were born as such, islamically there is no problem. However, engaging in an intercourse is strictly forbidden because this leads to diseases AND IT IS PROVEN SCIENTIFICALLY THAT WHEN TWO MEN ENGAGE IN AN INTERCOURSE, THE PROBABILITY OF CATCHING HEPATITIS B IS HIGH!
Four, I want to ask you this simple question: if you claim that our country does not respect human rights ( or what you are badly trying to claim “gays” don’t have the right to be as such in the kingdom), why some states in your country still do not even recognize your “gays” rights?
Five, please do not try to impose your way of thinking or living. People don’t want to be like you, you know.
Sixth, you said that women is being stoned in the kingdom, however you never mentioned that your country has the biggest porno industry! So, please try to fix what’s in your country first before launching your “gay-ness” on others.
guys you’re forgetting one important thing…the arabs are basically a dumb nation.the are opening KAUST because they dont have a world class university now but they have money and so they have spent billions and opened it.the most important thing is that they have brought faculties and students from all over the world.and trust me very very few of them are arabs.it’s just a place for other people to research and excel.saudia arabia wants a university which people will talk about for its excellence.they are not gonna use the research findings to develop something of their own which they are not capable of by the way.so KAUST is a university for the people of world to go to and learn and research which happens to be in saudia arabia.i think it’s a great oppurtunity for scholars.that’s it.
i feel really sorry about ppl how talking shit about Arabs and Muslims. hey guys, u think all Arabs and Muslims are retarded?? i’m studyin’ here in the US and i have found that many Americans don’t like to learn about other cultures. they just take and keep what media says!!! they just believe in media!! even if media says that there is no water inside sea, i’m sure that they will believe it!! OMG what a retarded ppl. i have been here for 2 years and i faced many difficulties cuz of my black skin!! OMG what a racist country!! most of Americans hate Black ppl why??? black ppl should have their rights in the US. also, if u guys wanna discuss women rights in Saudi Arabia, u have to run it in the right way, not like what some of u wrote. ( they just hate Muslims, so they talk shit)
john & Alex !
why ur comments out of the main subject ???!
r u dumbs ?!?! or u don’t understand english ?