ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 30, 2023 — ADIA Lab, the Abu-Dhabi-based institute dedicated to basic and applied research in data and computational sciences, has announced that Nobel Prize winner and former US Secretary of Energy Professor Steven Chu has joined its Advisory Board.

Professor Chu is an internationally renowned scientist who was named co-winner of the 1997 Nobel Prize in Physics alongside Claude Cohen-Tannoudji and William D. Phillips “for development of methods to cool and trap atoms with laser light”. He is William R. Kenan Jr. Professor, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and of Energy Science and Engineering at Stanford University. Over recent years he has focused on the search for new solutions to energy and climate challenges, both as US Secretary of Energy from 2009 to 2013 and, before that, as Director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, where he explored alternative and renewable energy technologies.

ADIA Lab focuses on Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and High-Performance and Quantum Computing, across all major fields of study. This includes exploring applications in areas such as climate change and energy transition, blockchain technology, financial inclusion and investing, decision making, automation, cybersecurity, health sciences, education, telecommunications, and space.

“Professor Chu is one of the world’s most distinguished and highly-respected scientists, and we are delighted to welcome him to the ADIA Lab Advisory Board,” said Dr Horst Simon, Director of ADIA Lab. “Our research agenda focuses on tackling societally-important issues at a global level, and the calibre of our Advisory Board reflects this ambitious mission. Professor Chu’s vast experience and the scope of his scientific achievements will be incredibly valuable as we shape ADIA Lab’s research program.”

ADIA Lab’s Advisory Board includes global thought-leaders from various data and computationally-intensive disciplines, and oversees the development and implementation of the Lab’s research agenda and programs.

During his time as US Secretary of Energy, Professor Chu promoted renewable energy and energy efficiency, and emphasized the importance of increased investment in clean energy technology. Under his leadership, the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) was created to promote and fund research into high-potential, high-impact energy technologies considered too early for private-sector investment.

Professor Chu has made important contributions in atomic physics, quantum electronics, polymer and biophysics including tests of fundamental theories in physics, the development of methods to laser cool and trap atoms, atom interferometry, the study of polymers and biological systems at the single molecule level, molecular biology, medical ultrasound imaging, nanoparticle synthesis, batteries and other applications in electrochemistry.

The holder of 20 patents, Professor Chu has published more than 300 scientific and technical papers. He is a member of numerous scientific societies including the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Royal Society, the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Academia Sinica, the Korean Academy of Sciences and Technology, and is an honorary member of the Institute of Physics, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Lifetime Member of the Optical Society of America and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. He received an A.B. degree in mathematics, a B.S. degree in physics from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, as well as 34 honorary degrees.

About ADIA Lab

ADIA Lab is an independent institution engaged in basic and applied research in Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and High-Performance and Quantum Computing, across all major fields of study. Based in Abu Dhabi, ADIA Lab is an independent, standalone entity supported by the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), a globally-diversified investment institution that invests funds on behalf of the Government of Abu Dhabi. ADIA Lab has its own governance and operational structure, and is guided by an Advisory Board of global thought leaders in data and computationally-intensive disciplines, to pursue its research independently.

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Source: ADIA Lab