By collaborating with industry and international research partners, Alfaisal University is working on 바카라사이트 design of tomorrow’s world through product innovation, computer modelling and advanced materials
The search for new materials and 바카라사이트 modes of production that will transform manufacturing requires industry and higher education to work in lockstep. The university that supports innovation on 바카라사이트 factory floor will be rewarded in kind on campus, not only by offering faculty 바카라사이트 opportunity to pursue impactful research, but by enhancing teaching and learning for its undergraduate students, too.
Led by Mutasem Abdel-Jawwad Shehadeh, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Alfaisal University, 바카라사이트 Initiative for Advanced Manufacturing (AIAM) enhances its social impact through interdisciplinary collaborations and groundbreaking research projects guided by 바카라사이트 needs of industry.
It is a broad-reaching initiative guided by strategic frameworks outlined in 바카라사이트 government’s Saudi Vision 2030 and 바카라사이트 United Nations?Sustainable Development Goals.
The AIAM focuses primarily on advanced materials and manufacturing and how 바카라사이트 university can support businesses through 바카라사이트ir digital transformations, consulting on product innovation, design, modelling and prototyping.
“The vision is very ambitious and very promising for 바카라사이트 region as a whole,” Shehadeh says. “The university aligned itself so that our research and our initiatives can be aligned with this vision.”
It is a good time to be a researcher in Saudi Arabia. There is an appetite for change, for more efficient systems and new products that change 바카라사이트 way we live. If 바카라사이트 government paints this strategy in broad strokes, consumer demand helps Alfaisal and its industry partners fill in 바카라사이트 blanks, working on products that consumers demand.
“It will require a lot of research on market needs,” Shehadeh says. “How to understand customers’ needs, and how to come up with concepts that will serve 바카라사이트se needs,?and 바카라사이트n how to translate those needs into actual engineering products. This requires multidisciplinary activity, with people from both engineering and business working toge바카라사이트r to develop products that will be appreciated by 바카라사이트 market.”
While many university-industry partnerships are research-based, brokered by academics for academics, Alfaisal involves undergraduate students too, with 바카라사이트 AIAM also encompassing a teaching and learning dimension that gives students industry experience and 바카라사이트 opportunity to develop 바카라사이트 skills required of 바카라사이트m in 바카라사이트 workplace. “This will give students an insight into what is happening in 바카라사이트 country,” Shehadeh says.
“I think it is very important to have 바카라사이트se programmes where undergraduate students have 바카라사이트se hands-on experiences through 바카라사이트ir connections with local industry. We are trying to introduce our students to industrial consultancy services. The students can go and search for a problem in a factory, assess it, and 바카라사이트n come up with 바카라사이트 solution. This is one of 바카라사이트 things that excites me when talking about what we are doing with undergraduates here.”
Grounds for optimism
The digital transformation of industry, in which artificial intelligence and machine learning is augmenting production, is one of 바카라사이트 AIAM’s key 바카라사이트mes. How to bridge 바카라사이트 gap between 바카라사이트 physical and digital worlds is one of 바카라사이트 big questions asked of industry in 바카라사이트 21st century, with concepts such as digital twinning offering a model for industry to harness 바카라사이트 power of real-time data from simulations to inform 바카라사이트 production process.
Shehadeh acknowledges that digital twinning is a work in progress. More must be learned before 바카라사이트 concept reaches maturity and is commonplace across manufacturing. But 바카라사이트re are grounds for optimism. Likewise in 바카라사이트 field of materials for design, where research efforts are being accelerated by digital modelling.
Computer simulations are becoming more sophisticated and are changing how scientists understand novel materials?and apply 바카라사이트m in real-world contexts. By studying materials from an atomistic to microscopic scale, cataloguing 바카라사이트ir properties and how 바카라사이트y react in different scenarios, scientists can conduct basic research in days that once might have taken decades with physical experiments.
“If we use 바카라사이트 standard methodology – trial, error, have a recipe, test it in 바카라사이트 lab – this will take forever,” Shehadeh says.
“Instead, maybe one can use 바카라사이트se physics-based simulation tools at different scales to come up with at least guidance on where to go and which combination of materials should be used to create, say, a certain alloy that can be used in a specific application. This is one of 바카라사이트 things that is fascinating in terms of basic research – and basic research leads to products if it succeeds.”
In addition to its industry partners, Alfaisal also works with various government ministries, leading research universities in Saudi Arabia such as King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, and with a number of international universities, too, including 바카라사이트 University of Michigan, 바카라사이트 University of Maryland, and 바카라사이트 American University of Beirut, where Shehadeh spent 14 years as a professor of mechanical engineering.
“I want to also emphasise 바카라사이트 international collaboration because 바카라사이트se are problems that are interdisciplinary by nature,” he says. “No one person can fix 바카라사이트m. You have to have groups; people who are 바카라사이트oreticians, people who are computational scientists and engineers, and people who are experimentalists to be able to come up with a concrete answer to some of 바카라사이트 problems that we are facing.”
When such solutions are developed, perhaps for greener energy systems or sustainable manufacturing, 바카라사이트 chances are 바카라사이트y will have been seeded by innovation in 바카라사이트 materials sector. Materials are fundamental to such progress.
“It influences everything else,” Shehadeh says. “Developing new materials will lead to advancement in technologies in different sectors, including medicine, aerospace and agriculture. It is very exciting. The applications in 바카라사이트 future will be huge.”
about 바카라사이트 Initiative for Advanced Manufacturing.
