King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Red Sea
Research Center
Symposium
April 9–11, 2011

AGENDA
 www.kaust.edu.sa

Red Sea Research

Red Sea Research Center Symposium

Center Inauguration
Saturday, April 9, 2011
9:00–9:45 Registration; Welcome Reception
9:45–11:00 Welcome Remarks
• Prof. James R. Luyten, Director, Red Sea Research Center
The Red Sea—Precious Resource: Opportunity and Responsibility
• Prof. Choon Fong Shih, President of KAUST
KAUST – Towards Regional Impact and Global Excellence
Scientific Opportunities in the Red Sea 
• Dr. Sameer J. Ghazi, Presidential Deputy for Environmental Affairs,
Presidency for Meteorology & Environment
• Prof. Terry Hughes, Australian Research Council Centre of
Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University, Australia
11:00–12:00 Lab Opening
• Walk over to Red Sea Research Center, Ibn Al-Haytham, Level 2
• Opening Remarks: P rof. James R. Luyten, Director,
Red Sea Research Center
• Tour of Lab
12:00–13:00 Lunch Conference Center, Building 19
Red Sea Research

Red Sea Research Center Symposium

Center Symposium
Saturday, April 9, 2011
13:00–13:10 Opening Remarks: Stefan Catsicas, Provost
Marine Microbial Ecology
Session Leader: Prof. Uli Stingl
Session Introduction: Prof. Uli Stingl
13:10–13:15 
Marine Microbial Ecology at the KAUST Red Sea
Research Center
13:15–15:00 Marine Microbial Ecology—Ongoing Collaborations
• Mitch Sogin, Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), USA
Long-Tailed Distributions in Microbial Communities in
Globally-Distributed Sites and the Red Sea
• Hamza El Dorry, The American University of Cairo (AUC), Egypt
The Red Sea Microbiome Project: Metagenomics Analysis of the
Microbial Communities in the Red Sea
15:00–15:30 BREAK
15:30–17:30 Marine Microbial Ecology—The Next Step
• H. Jim Tripp, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA
Reduced Genomes of SAR11 and UCYN-A in the World Ocean:
Specialized Roles in Biogeochemical Cycles
• Stefan Sievert, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), USA
Shedding Light on the Dark: A Metaproteogenomic View of
Chemosynthesis at Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents
• Thomas Ishoey, Glori Oil Limited, USA
Single Cell Genomics: Development and Application in
Microbial Genomics
 www.kaust.edu.sa

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Red Sea Research Center Symposium

8:30–9:00 Reception
Modeling and Analyzing the Red Sea
Physical and Biological Environment
Session Co-Leaders: P rof. Georgiy Stenchikov
Prof. Ibrahim Hoteit
9:00–9:15 Session Introduction
9:15–10:30 Ocean Dynamics: Observations, Modeling and Assimilation
• Amy Bower, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), USA
Eddies in the Red Sea
• Sarantis Sofianos, University of Athens, Greece
The Red Sea Three-Dimensional Circulation and Exchange with
the Indian Ocean
• Fengchao Yao, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
(KAUST), KSA
Seasonal Overturning Circulation in the Red Sea
10:30–10:45 BREAK
10:45–12:45 Ocean Dynamics: Observations, Modeling, and
Assimilation (contd.)
• Marcus Dengler, Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, Kiel, Germany
New Insights on the Atlantis II Brine Pool from
Microstructure Temperature Observations
• Jim Carton, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
The ocean deserts: salt budgets of northern subtropical oceans
and their relationship to climate variability (James Carton and
Semyon Grodsky)
Atmospheric Forcings
• Zong-Liang Yang, University of Texas at Austin, USA
Beyond Land-Atmosphere Interaction

• George Kallos, University of Athens, Greece

The Role of Natural and Anthropogenic Particles on
Radiation-Cloud-Precipitation Cycle in Arid and
Semi-Arid Areas
12:45–13:45 LUNCH Conference Center, Building 19
13:45–15:15 Atmospheric Forcings (cont’d.)

Red Sea Research Center Symposium

• Russell Dickerson, The University of Maryland,
College Park, USA
Reactive Nitrogen in the Environment: An Integrated Approach
• Elie Bou-Zeid, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA
Experimental and Numerical Studies of Atmosphere-
Water Interactions
• Georgiy Stenchikov, King Abdullah University of Science and
Technology (KAUST), KSA
Modeling of Regional Climate over Red Sea and Arabian Pen-
insula (G. Stenchikov, M. Zampieri, R. Abida, S. Kalenderski)

15:15–15:30 BREAK
15:30–17:00 Modeling of Red Sea Ecology
• John Norbury, Oxford University, UK
Constructing Ecologies
• George Triantafyllou, Hellenic Centre for Marine
Research, Attica, Greece
Modeling the Ecosystem of the Red Sea
• Goulven Laurelle, SOWCAR, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Biogeochemical Dynamics of the Coastal Waters of Jeddah: A
3D Finite Elements Modeling Approach
17:00–17:15 BREAK
FISH
Session Leader: Stein Kaartvedt
17:15–18:30 Session Introduction: Prof. Stein Kaartvedt
• Jarl Giske, University of Bergen, Norway
Modeling Vertical Migration: Combined Effects of
Environment and Animal Motivation
• Hauke Kite-Powell, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution,
(WHOI) USA
Bioeconomic Analysis of Traditional Fisheries on the Red Sea
Coast of Saudi Arabia (Hauke Kite-Powell, Di Jin, Porter Hoa-
gland, Andrew Solow)
 www.kaust.edu.sa

Monday, April 11, 2011

Red Sea Research Center Symposium

8:30–9:00 Reception
Coral Reef Ecology and Genomics
Session Co-Leaders: Michael Berumen
Christian Voolstra
9:00–9:10 Session Introduction: Michael Berumen
What We Know About the Red Sea
9:10–10:30 Coral Reef Ecology
• Maroof Khalaf, University of Jordan
Fish Communities of Aqaba
• Andrew Baird, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
Coral Spawning in the Red Sea
• Simon Thorrold, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), USA
WHOI-KAUST Fish Ecology Projects
• Ann Tarrant, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), USA
WHOI-KAUST Coral Ecology Projects
10:30–10:45 BREAK
10:45–12:30 What We Would Like to Know About the Red Sea
• Sally Holbrook, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
Herbivory, Connectivity, and Resilience on Coral Reefs
• Russ Schmitt, University of California Santa Barbara, USA
How Important are Reciprocal Feedbacks between Tropical
Fishes and their Coral Habitat?
• Stuart Sandin, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California, USA
The Structure and Ecology of Coral Reefs Across the Central Pacific
• Howard Choat, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
The Red Sea—A Critical Resource for Calibrating Ecological and
Evolutionary Processes in Reef Fishes
• Terry Hughes, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia
12:30–13:30 LUNCH Conference Center, Building 19
13:30–15:00 Projects Underway with KAUST
• Greg Skomal, Mass Marine Fisheries, New Bedford, USA
Red Sea Shark Ecology
• Brian Bowen, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology,
University of Hawaii, USA
The Origins of Tropical Marine Biodiversity in the
Indo-Pacific and Red Sea: A Phylogeographic Perspective
 • Kathryn Furby, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), USA

Red Sea Research Center Symposium

Red Sea Coral Health Assessments
• Kelton McMahon, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), USA
Ontogenetic Movements and Trophic Dynamics
• Elizabeth Tyler, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
(KAUST), KSA
Within- and Among-Reef Fish Movements
15:00–15:15 BREAK
 Genomics
15:15–18:00 Session Introduction: Christian Voolstra
• Roberto Iglesias Prieto, Universidad Nacional Autonoma
de Mexico, Mexico
Using Light to Build Reefs: The Development of Bio-Optical
Models of Coral Calcification
• John Pringle, Stanford University, USA
A Model System for Studies of Dinoflagellate-
Cnidarian Symbiosis
• Gos Micklem, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
The Genome Sequence of the Dinoflagellate Symbiodinium sp., a
Symbiont from the Red Sea Coral Stylophora pistillata
• Mikhail Matz, The University of Texas at Austin, USA
Quantitative Genetics and Genomics of Adaptive Traits in Reef-
Building Corals
• Didier Zoccola, The Monaco Scientific Center, Monaco
Characterization of Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs)
from Stylophora pistillata
• Ute Hentschel, University of Würzburg, Germany
Functional Insights into Sponge Microbiology by
Single Cell Genomics
• Christian Wild, Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology, Germany
Warm and Cold Water Corals as Engineers of
Reef Ecosystems
18:00–18:15 closing remarks
• Prof. Jean Frechet, Vice President for Research
• Prof. James Luyten, Director, Red Sea Research Center
www.kaust.edu.sa