Join us Saturday, January 14 from 11:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., for the Fun in the Sun & Community Picnic – a joint event which will be put on by GCC and the WEP teams. Stop by for inflatables, human table football, a GCC obstacle course, GCC awards, a bike raffle, drone racing and so much more.
Week one wrap up
On Sunday we kicked off WEP with a keynote by His Excellency Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, chairman of the KAUST board of trustees. Naimi talked about his childhood and his time in Saudi Aramco, as well as his new book “Out of the desert: My Journey from Nomadic Bedouin to the Heart of Global Oil.” We also took in “Discover Saudi Arabia: The Egyptian Pilgrimage Road” a powerful exhibition and lunchtime lecture. And we kicked off the WEP on Air series with Professor David Dureisseix of the University of Lyon, France.
Monday’s program focused on Universe Exploration with a keynote lecture by Professor Edward Stone who has pushed the limits in space exploration by leading the launch of the Voyager mission and contributing to many NASA missions. We also listened to Executive Vice President and Provost of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Wei Shyy, talk about his love of birds and the development of new technologies modeled after winged flight.
On Tuesday, Christopher Fabian delivered a fascinating keynote, which told us how UNICEF’s Office of Innovation uses new methods and approaches to invest in open source technologies that benefit children and the world. We also visited the official opening of the photography exhibition, “KAUST, an Oasis for Birds” with Professor Wei Shyy, Professor James Calvin, the photographer Marios Mantzourogiannis and the bird expert Brian James.
The theme for Wednesday was Mega Projects that will revolutionize the future. Dirk Alhborn, CEO and founder of Jumpstarter Inc. delivered a keynote entitled: “Hyperloop: the future of transportation.”
There was also an Engineering Afternoon chaired by Professor Gilles Lubineau, His Excellency Dr. Osama Al-Bar, the mayor of Makkah, and three project leaders, who visited to share the latest Mega Projects in Saudi Arabia. In-Kingdom speakers including Eng. Hesham Al-Hariri, Dr. Bassam Ghulman, Eng. Sami Iskandarani, H.E. Dr. Osama Al-Bar, mayor of Makkah, were also present to discuss major projects in Saudi Arabia.
And who could forget the mass of people who turned out to play with over 150,000 blue LEGO bricks under the supervision of instructor Luke Reveruzzi.
Today, Thursday, January 12, we enjoyed a WEP on Air session with keynote speaker Theo Jansen, who will present his fascinating kinetic sculptures “Strandbeests” tonight in the week’s final keynote. At the Hub, two creative workshops made the arts lively with Theo Jansen and the Chinese artist Tian Qin. The week will wrap up with an entertaining performance by Basel Al-Naffouri, Lisa Rowland, Regina Saisi and Tim Orr from the San Francisco School of Improvisation and their students, who are on hand to demonstrate that improvised acting is the ultimate exercise in teamwork.
All Hub events and activities are open to everyone in the community.
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Many thanks, the WEP team.