عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Varieties

NEOM Appoints Founding President of its Flagship University

Dr. Andreas Cangellaris, the Founding President of NEOM U. SPA
Dr. Andreas Cangellaris, the Founding President of NEOM U. SPA
TT
TT

NEOM Appoints Founding President of its Flagship University

Dr. Andreas Cangellaris, the Founding President of NEOM U. SPA
Dr. Andreas Cangellaris, the Founding President of NEOM U. SPA

NEOM, the sustainable regional development in northwest Saudi Arabia, has appointed Dr. Andreas Cangellaris as the Founding President of NEOM U – NEOM’s first university.

Cangellaris is joining NEOM from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where he is the M. E. Van Valkenburg Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering and has been serving as Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Provost since 2018.

NEOM aims to establish a world-class Education, Research and Innovation (ERI) hub that empowers future generations while using technology to engender new ways of learning from early years on, through primary, secondary, post-secondary education and beyond.

These goals support the transformation of Saudi Arabia’s educational sector.

Dr. Cangellaris has overseen the academic and research programs of a highly regarded US academic institution with over 50,000 students, 15 colleges and 150+ programs of study and in excess of USD 600 million in annual research expenditures.

A distinguished scholar in the fields of computational electromagnetics and electronic design automation, he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Thessaloniki, Greece and his graduate degrees, a Master of Science and Ph.D., in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

“I am delighted that we have attracted a person of the caliber of Dr. Cangellaris to lead one of the critical pillars of our education sector,” said CEO of NEOM Nadhmi Al-Nasr.

“NEOM U is our first step toward developing a postsecondary education that is accessible to all, attracting the brightest students from all over Kingdom and the world. We want it to be a differentiator and a powerful signal of NEOM’s commitment to pioneering ideas in a world inspired by innovation.”

Cangellaris said he was honored to have been given this opportunity.

“To change the world for the better, you need everyone to become a change agent. And this is what NEOM U will do, by bringing together learners from the Kingdom and the world in NEOM’s living laboratory and immersing them in the learning of how the deliberate, responsible, innovative use of technology can improve our world and the human condition,” he said.

Most Viewed

 
 
Varieties

Scientists Seek Miracle Pill to Stop Methane Cow Burps

A cow that's part of study on reducing methane emitted by cow burps stands in an exclosure at UC Davis in Davis, California on October 23, 2024. (AFP)
A cow that's part of study on reducing methane emitted by cow burps stands in an exclosure at UC Davis in Davis, California on October 23, 2024. (AFP)
TT
TT

Scientists Seek Miracle Pill to Stop Methane Cow Burps

A cow that's part of study on reducing methane emitted by cow burps stands in an exclosure at UC Davis in Davis, California on October 23, 2024. (AFP)
A cow that's part of study on reducing methane emitted by cow burps stands in an exclosure at UC Davis in Davis, California on October 23, 2024. (AFP)

A scientist guides a long tube into the mouth and down to the stomach of Thing 1, a two-month-old calf that is part of a research project aiming to prevent cows from burping methane, a potent greenhouse gas.

Paulo de Meo Filho, a postdoctoral researcher at University of California, Davis, is part of an ambitious experiment aiming to develop a pill to transform cow gut bacteria so it emits less or no methane.

While the fossil fuel industry and some natural sources emit methane, cattle farming has become a major climate concern due to the sheer volume of the cows' emissions.

"Almost half of the increase in (global) temperature that we've had so far, it's been because of methane," said Ermias Kebreab, an animal science professor at UC Davis.

Methane, the second largest contributor to climate change after carbon dioxide, breaks down faster than CO2 but is more potent.

"Methane lives in the atmosphere for about 12 years" unlike carbon dioxide which persists for centuries, Kebreab said.

"If you start reducing methane now, we can actually see the effect on the temperature very quickly."

Filho uses the tube to extract liquid from Thing 1's rumen -- the first stomach compartment containing partially digested food.

Using the rumen liquid samples, the scientists are studying the microbes that convert hydrogen into methane, which is not digested by the cow but instead burped out.

A single cow will burp roughly 220 pounds (100 kilograms) of the gas annually.

- 'Social critters' -

Thing 1 and other calves receive a seaweed-supplemented diet to reduce methane production.

Scientists hope to achieve similar results by introducing genetically modified microbes that soak up hydrogen, starving methane-producing bacteria at the source.

However, the team proceeds cautiously.

"We can't just simply cut down methane production by removing" methane-making bacteria, as hydrogen could accumulate to the point of harming the animal, warned Matthias Hess, who runs the UC Davis lab.

"Microbes are kind of social critters. They really like to live together," he said.

"The way they interact and affect each other impacts the overall function of the ecosystem."

Hess's students test different formulas in bioreactors, vessels that reproduce microorganisms' living conditions in a stomach from movements to temperature.

- More productive cows -

The project is being carried out at UC Davis as well as UC Berkeley's Innovative Genomics Institute (IGI).

IGI scientists are trying to identify the right microbe -- the one they hope to genetically alter to supplant methane-producing microbes.

The modified microorganisms will then be tested at UC Davis in the lab and in the animals.

"Not only are we trying to reduce methane emissions, but you also increase the feed efficiency," said Kebreab.

"Hydrogen and methane, they are both energy, and so if you reduce that energy and redirect it to something else... we have a better productivity and lower emissions at the same time."

The ultimate goal is a single-dose treatment administered early in life, since most cattle graze freely and can't receive daily supplements.

The three research teams have been given $70 million and seven years to achieve a breakthrough.

Kebreab has long studied sustainable livestock practices and pushes back against calls to reduce meat consumption to save the planet.

While acknowledging this might work for healthy adults in developed nations, he pointed to countries like Indonesia, where the government is seeking to increase meat and dairy production because 20 percent of children under five suffer from stunted growth.

"We can't tell them to not eat meat," he said.