I want to share with you my intention to step down as president of KAUST at the end of my term in November next year.  My President’s Circular announcing this to the KAUST community was sent this morning.  A global search for my successor will be initiated shortly, and until the next president comes on board, I shall continue to serve. 

Update:  See a press release and photos.  Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, (January 14, 2008) – After an extensive international search among top academic research leaders, His Excellency Minister Ali Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia and Chairman of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Board of Trustees, today announced that Professor Choon Fong Shih will be the Founding President of KAUST, the new world-class, graduate-level scientific research university now under development in Saudi Arabia. He is expected to assume his duties on 1 December 2008.

Choon Fong Shih is named the founding president of KAUST