NYU Abu Dhabi student Tanya Bansal, Class of 2018, describes the Abu Dhabi Science Festival and NYU Abu Dhabi’s participation:
Abu Dhabi’s Mushrif Central Park has been transformed into an 11-day science extravaganza of more than 50 interactive workshops and exhibitions, fun experiments and performances to educate young minds about diverse topics in science like the environment, the human body, aerodynamics and outer space.
The Abu Dhabi Science Festival, now in its fifth year, aims to make science relevant to everyday life and stimulate academic interest in science, technology, engineering and math. A team of 12 passionate NYUAD students are running a series of interactive experiments and workshops at the festival from November 12-22 to show young people that science is fun and it’s everywhere.
“I think the Abu Dhabi Science Festival is important because it piques curiosities among children and their parents,” said Nouf Ali Al Hamly, NYUAD event coordinator. The festival is also a celebration of diversity, she added, because it blends local and international knowledge from exhibitors who come from all over the world.
NYUAD’s 40-minute genetics workshop called “From DNA to cells to…worms?” takes children into a discovery of the building blocks of an organism’s body. Children start by examining C. elegans worms that have been genetically modified at NYUAD labs, then compare them with normal worms to learn about disease. In the first few days of the festival alone, more than 500 people participated in the cells to worms experiment.
At the NYUAD ‘Cell-fie’ Station, young students extract cells from their own cheeks using a cotton swab and examine them under a microscope, while at the Kitchen DNA workshop, DNA is extracted from mashed up strawberries and saved inside a necklace for children to take home.
NYUAD biology major Khairunnisa Mentari Semesta, Class of 2018, said, “It’s a very rewarding experience to spread my love for science not only to little kids but also to adults who want to learn. It’s a great way for NYUAD students to give back and interact with the greater Abu Dhabi community.”
“You can touch and literally squish the science,” added Thinh Tran, biology major, Class of 2017. “We’re teaching children that science isn’t some scary equation. It’s something fun and can be found in simple kitchen ingredients.”
One mother at the festival remarked that NYUAD’s workshop was “probably the most impactful” because her children were visibly excited by knowledge and learning. “I felt like my children were really learning something new.”
The Abu Dhabi Science Festival is organized by the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) and the Abu Dhabi Technology Development Committee (TDC) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and the Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

NYU Abu Dhabi student Sue-Ann Lau, Class of 2018, writes about how NYU Abu Dhabi has examined the refugee crisis:

The influx of migrants and refugees streaming into Europe from the Middle East, South Asia and Africa has created one of the biggest strains on Europe since the migration wave that occurred during and after World War II. While international agencies, local residents and NGOs work to develop immediate responses to the increased volume of migration to Europe, EU leaders are struggling to generate a long-term plan for collective action.
To spark dialogue about the situation, NYU Abu Dhabi Political Science student Toma Pavlov (Class of 2017) organized a panel discussion with prominent scholars from the fields of migration, sociology and political science. More than 150 people attended to hear about this pressing global issue and evaluate recent events, consider old precedents and explore new answers to what has been called one of the most pressing migration crises in European history.
“My main motivation was to create a space for discussion,” said Pavlov, who adds it’s important that students have an informed opinion or at least some knowledge beyond the news headlines. “Academics from different universities bring fresh perspectives and encourage students to think critically about the topic and how we can shape the future.”
Leading the panel discussion was Alejandro Portes, a visiting professor from Princeton University and sociologist who has been studying migration and urbanization for 30 years. He was joined by Ronald Rogowski, visiting professor of Political Science who is at NYUAD to teach courses on political institutions and international trade, NYUAD Faculty Fellow of Social Science Michael Harsch, and Assistant Professor of Social Science and Humanities Marc Michael. The panel guest of honor was His Excellency Dr. Eckhard Lübkemeier, Ambassador of Germany to the UAE.
In response to Germany having the highest asylum claims in the EU, Dr. Lübkemeier, said, “While our hearts are wide open and our compassion is infinite, our capacity to cope is finite”.
All panelists stressed the importance of differentiating between refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants when discussing the crisis.
After almost two hours, Professor Rogowski closed the discussion by saying, “This has to be a shared burden…it’s not just Europe’s problem.”

On April 19, NYU Abu Dhabi’s first TEDx conference – TEDxNYUAD – brings 11 inspirational and innovative talks to the NYU Abu Dhabi community and public.
Most of us have heard of TED Talks. These awe-inspiring, empowering talks revolve around the theme of innovation, change and thinking differently. TED has become a global phenomenon because it provides a platform for people to share their ideas and stories.
TEDx was created in the spirit of TED’s mission: ideas worth spreading. It supports independent organizers who want to create a TED-like event in their own community.
In a university that is still new and building from a blank slate, the student body has many varied and dynamic experiences that go unshared. Within this diverse community, countless students have incredible stories and ideas inspired by their achievements, struggles, aspirations, experiences, interests and passions. This year’s speakers will talk about an array of topics and ideas that question how we view the world and the ideas we hold.
The Speakers
TEDxNYUAD will feature speakers from the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Chile, Ethiopia, India, Montenegro, Ukraine, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Qatar. But the talks go beyond the boundaries of the speakers’ nations and will relate to and resonate with global issues, individual struggles, socio-political matters and technological advancements.
Charlotte De Bekker
Charlotte, a Dutch artist and filmmaker who grew up in Ras Al Khaimah, surrounded by Ikea furniture and caught in hipster angst, will question her previous conceptualizations and attempts at constructing authenticity.
Maitha Al Memari
As a young Emirati woman wearing the Abaya, Maitha is exposed to continuous questions regarding her choice of dress. She will explore how the Abaya is not a form of oppression, but a form of expression.
Sam Ridgeway
An avid traveller with a passion for science and film, Sam will question the idea of ‘home’ and what this means to him.
Hayat Seid
Everyone has a story. How do we make sure that our voices are heard and our stories are told the right way?
Jovan Jovancevic
Jovan who became the youngest competitor at the Montenegro National Youth Chess Competition at the age of five, will talk about the game of blindfold chess, and what it tells us about who we are.
Sara Al Shamlan
A Qatari social entrepreneur, Sara will talk about how curiosity and unlikely interactions with those different from herself led her to reevaluate her life and find a passion worth pursuing.
Vasily Rudchenko
Vasily is a Ukrainian engineering student and technology enthusiast whose team won the UAE Drones for Good Award 2015. He will talk about how innovation should always have a purpose.
Amer Nasr
Amer led one of Brazil’s largest peaceful campaigns against corruption and will talk about how individuals, especially youth, have the potential to change the world.
Mohit Mandal
Through his interactions with the immigrant communities, Mohit will recount the many stories he’s stumbled upon while playing street cricket.
Attilio Rigotti
By combining his passion and love for theater and video games, Attilio will take us on an exciting journey of finding the heroes in ourselves.
Meera Al Agroobi
In high school, Meera was a bully. After having studied psychology, she is today an advocate of social issues in the UAE and will talk about her passion to help young bullies overcome their own evils, and change how schools deal with bullying.

There’s more than one kind of goal in football, especially for participants in a customized program for children with autism, co-organized and hosted by NYU Abu Dhabi. For the kids, volunteers, and parents alike, having fun was the biggest goal of all.
“Parents of children with special needs are always seeking extra-curricular activities and increased opportunities for social integration for their children,” said Suparna Mathur, assistant director, NYUAD Community Outreach. “This partnership between Community Outreach, NYUAD Athletics, and GOALS UAE—a non-profit that organizes activities for children with autism—provides such an opportunity. And it has been very well received.”
Sixteen NYUAD student volunteers—affectionately known as ‘buddy mentors’—were each paired with a child on the autism spectrum to lead a series of activities designed to improve the child’s football skills and coordination. Volunteer buddies also helped keep children on task and develop social skills. Guided by autism professionals and experienced athletes, practice sessions were held Sunday evenings for six weeks at NYUAD’s brand new football pitch on Saadiyat Island.
Volunteers Gloria Jensen and Wesley Huang (NYUAD ’18) agreed; seeing those smiles every week made it all worthwhile. “It helped with my own understanding of what it means to be part of a community,” said Jensen. “I think we were able to create some valuable memories.”
Huang added, “Even if I am having a rough day, teaching soccer to children instills a joy that I cannot truly describe.”
For many parents of children touched by autism, seeing their child play sports or make meaningful connections with other people can be a remarkably emotional experience. While children with autism are often bright and outgoing, they may struggle with communication, social interaction, and physical coordination.
Goals UAE Founder Khawla Barley said, “One mother even teared up when her son came off the field and looked her in the eyes for the first time.”
The program will continue at NYUAD in April, along with other autism education initiatives to mark Autism Awareness Month.

The fifth annual Conference on Genomics and Systems Biology at NYU Abu Dhabi brought together scientists working at the forefront of this rapidly progressing field and featured over 30 talks by researchers from NYU New York, NYUAD, and many other universities. The three-day event held February 17-19 was capped by a public lecture from Randy Schekman, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize for his work on the way cells secrete proteins.
For a field that was “in its infancy 10 years ago,” genomics and systems biology has come a long way, and many of the advances have been made possible by new technologies, said Justin Blau, program head of NYUAD Biology.
“One of the biggest changes is the advent of next generation sequencing,” Blau said. “This is making it possible to sequence the genome of pretty much any species and also to generate information about gene expression profiles of single cells.” For example, using a fruit fly, researchers can compare the genes expressed in visual system neurons with those in motor neurons. This should help scientists determine how neurons can have such specialized and diverse functions.
Blau gave a talk at the conference on the circadian clock of fruit flies. Like humans, fruit flies can keep track of time and anticipate the predictable cycles of day and night using a dedicated set of “clock neurons.” Air travel across time zones throws off the human body clock leading to jetlag. And although the tiny fruit fly rarely takes international flights, its clock neurons are also affected by changes in time zone and day length.
Blau and his coworkers were able to isolate clock neurons from the fly brain and compare the genes that these neurons express at different times of day. In his talk he mentioned a gene at much higher levels at dusk than dawn; this particular gene is involved in changing the connections clock neurons make with other neurons, in this case downstream target neurons. This process seems to be key to flies changing the pattern of their daily activity between summer and winter.
But the goal of these studies was not to simply study how changes in day length affect the fly brain. “It also allows scientists to address fundamental questions in neurobiology — such as plasticity,” or the way the brain rewires itself in response to experiences, Blau said. He hopes that “the basic mechanisms we uncover for structural plasticity can help us understand plasticity in general.” His lab is also trying to understand why a hard-wired behavior like circadian rhythm displays so much plasticity.
Genomics and systems biology has also brought high resolution imaging and computational expertise to biology. “For our plasticity project, we want to know if the neurons take the same path each time they grow and retract, or whether they take a different path,” Blau said. “So we plan to watch these neurons grow and retract, but we will need some computational help to figure this out.”

The annual Abu Dhabi Film Festival is about to begin. Starting on October 23, participants will attend film screenings and take part in a wide range of special events, including workshops and talks with directors. This year, a special program titled From New York to Abu Dhabi: a program by NYU Filmmakers will feature the films of three NYU community members: Of Many, a documentary short by Linda Mills; Watermark, a narrative short by Gail Segal; and Return to the Sea, a narrative short by Alexis Gambis.

This past weekend, Dubai’s XVA Gallery hosted a group of NYU Abu Dhabi student artists — senior Nikolai Kozak, juniors Nino Cricco and Shakhbout Al Kaabi, and sophomores Agustina Zegers and Charlotte de Bekker — whose work is currently on display in an exhibition entitled “I H8 My FRNDZ.” Addressing the notion of conceptual art and challenging the conventions of a typical art gallery experience, the exhibition — curated by NYU Abu Dhabi senior Grace Hauser — explores the intricate relationship between memory and identity.