CRANN Secures Funding From Saudi Arabian University For Solar Energy Research
Posted on: 17 February 2011
A new alliance has been established between TCD’s Computational Spintronics group headed by Prof. Sanvito and the group of Prof. Udo Schwingenschlögl at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). This is the ACRAB project. ACRAB is the Arab name of a star in the Scorpio Constellation, and according to traditional astrology, it is credited with giving the ability to do research, and especially research into things of a particular secret and hidden nature. This is precisely what the ACRAB alliance is about. The ACRAB project will develop a range of theoretical/computational techniques to study electron transport in complex materials systems.
In particular, the Computational Spintronics group will tackle problems connected to large-scale simulations, to strong electron correlation and to the interaction with a biological environment. Direct applications of these methods will be in the development of organic solar cells, of nanoscale transistors and of bio-sensors. All these are at the heart of the scientific missions of both TCD and KAUST. The new developments will be merged in the Smeagol code, Dublin’s premier computational tool. Smeagol will significantly increase its capabilities and will meet the requirement to become the ultimate simulation package for nanoscience.
Prof. John Boland, CRANN Director, Dr. Diarmuid O’Brien, CRANN Executive Director, H.E. Ambassador Abdulaziz Aldriss, Saudi Arabia Ambassador to Ireland, Prof. Stefano Sanvito, CRANN Deputy Director and CRANN/KAUST Project coordinator, Dr. Clotilde Cucinotta, CRANN Senior Researcher and Dr. Ivan Rungger, CRANN Senior Researcher.
The Dublin team, in addition to Prof. Stefano Sanvito, School of Physics, TCD and CRANN Principal Investigator, will be headed by Dr. Ivan Rungger, the main Smeagol developer, by Dr. Clotilde Cucinotta and by a newly hired PhD student, Amaury Melo Souza. This will be mirrored by the KAUST team at present comprising Prof. Schwingenschlögl, Dr. Konstantinos Gkionis, Joshua Obodo and Chengjun Jin. The project will also bring two additional alliances. It will establish a relationship between CRANN at TCD and KAUST, and also will bring together researchers from the Trinity Centre for High Performance Computing (TCHPC) and the KAUST supercomputer centre.
Professor John Boland, Director of CRANN said, “We are very excited about the collaboration between KAUST and CRANN and the work that is being done has huge potential benefits in addressing the challenge facing the world to find renewable and green sources of energy.”
H.E. Ambassador Abdulaziz Aldriss, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia said, “The collaboration between KAUST and CRANN is a further testament of the established and strengthened links between universities and research institutes in Saudi Arabia and Ireland and I would like to pay tribute to all those instrumental in establishing this ambitious partnership in the interest of delivering world-leading research and innovation.
“The government of Saudi Arabia acknowledges the critical role of Research and Development in both international industry and education, and has, therefore, placed a strong strategic focus on investment in research.
I think we can all look forward to the developments and ultimate outcome of this particular collaborative research on Solar Energy Conversion between KAUST and CRANN and indeed, future opportunities for student exchange and collaboration between our two countries.”