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[rozzy]

Hi evreyone

I wanted to know if there is anyone that can give me advice about postdoc positions with kaust.
Does anyone have an idea of the usual salary for such a position ?

any other experience as a postdoc with kaust would also be helpful

thank you for your time

Rozzy

[sciencephd]

I would advise against doing a postdoc at this institution unless it is your only option.  Both the fact that it is new and there will therefore potentially be significant delays in you research, and the fact that institutional reputation matters in terms of your future employment.  Kaust has essentially no track record yet.

[mathdoc]

In many fields, future employment after a postdoc depends mostly on who you work with, and only to a much lesser degree on the institution (of course this will vary among different fields).  At KAUST you will have the opportunity to work with excellent people within KAUST as well as through partnerships with places like Oxford, Berkeley, Stanford, etc.  You will have access to some of the best experimental, computational, and visualization facilities in the world.  And you will be part of something new that is going to have a powerful positive impact on the world in many ways.

The salary depends on many things, but will probably be higher than any academic postdoc offer you get from any other institution.  You will not find anyone right now with experience as a postdoc at KAUST because KAUST opens its doors in September.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I am a KAUST faculty member.  I chose KAUST over competing offers at Ivy League and other top research schools in the US.

Best wishes to you as you make this important decision.

[helpful]

Where is KAUST? I am guessing Kuwait?

[sciencephd]

Where is KAUST? I am guessing Kuwait?

420 miles north.

[helpful]

Where is KAUST? I am guessing Kuwait?

420 miles north.

Actually, I finally figured it out (OP should have specified what institution they were talking about); it is about 800 miles west on the red sea. I don't know what is 420 miles north; my maps show that as the middle of Iraq!

[sciencephd]

Where is KAUST? I am guessing Kuwait?

420 miles north.

Actually, I finally figured it out (OP should have specified what institution they were talking about); it is about 800 miles west on the red sea. I don't know what is 420 miles north; my maps show that as the middle of Iraq!

The OP did specify the institution.

[notaprof]

Is there a problem with naming it?  King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia.  They had a big splashy announcement a year or so ago at a conference I attended about the start up of the university.    

[sciencephd]

Thanks, that was quite helpful.

[nomadescientist]

Where is KAUST? I am guessing Kuwait?

420 miles north.

This is in Iraq. What's your point?

[notaprof]

Actually 420 miles north of the capital city of Kuwait would put you near Tatarashi, Iran.

The correct location would be about 760 miles southwest of Kuwait.  But your mileage may vary.  ;o)

[sciencephd]

Where is KAUST? I am guessing Kuwait?

420 miles north.

This is in Iraq. What's your point?

My point is that for some people it is 4:20 all the time.

[martins]

In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I am a KAUST faculty member.  I chose KAUST over competing offers at Ivy League and other top research schools in the US.

If you really did that it is quite a ridiculous decision. Working at KAUST would immediately cast doubts on your attitude towards research. It shows you as someone who values dollars over research. KAUST does not give tenure, is located in a country with one of the most opressive regimes there. You cannot be seriously thinking about settling there permanently so the only reason one would go there is of course money.

To the OP: I read an announcement for postdoc in KAUST in oceanic sciences where they were paying 90k (tax free) + housing. However, take the advice of SciencePhD: doing this postdoc will rake in the cash, but shut down the possibility of academia for you.

[lilikoi]

Working at KAUST would immediately cast doubts on your attitude towards research. It shows you as someone who values dollars over research.

--You need to consider the field you are talking about - In the hard sciences it is about funding, you have to have *dollars* to do the *research.*  Your criticism would also include all the major universities in the US as they DO care about dollars.   So saying "someone who values dollars over research" is a bad blanket statement. 


but shut down the possibility of academia for you.
[/quote]
--Not necessarily.  If someone has the funding and personal (techs and students) to accomplish important research then academia will be interested in that person and their results.  It is in academia's best interest.  Again you need to consider the field you are making the statement about as not all are the same.

[mathdoc]

In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that I am a KAUST faculty member.  I chose KAUST over competing offers at Ivy League and other top research schools in the US.

If you really did that it is quite a ridiculous decision. Working at KAUST would immediately cast doubts on your attitude towards research.

There seem to be a lot of people making 'ridiculous' decisions...take a look at 

http://www.kaust.edu.sa/about/faculty.aspx

before you jump to conclusions.  You'll see that people have left positions at places like Stanford, Columbia, MIT, etc. to come to KAUST.

You should also look at

http://www.kaust.edu.sa/research/core-visualization.aspx

for instance.  This is the best visualization facility in the world (ask the folks at UCSD, who have the next best, and they'll tell you so).  For another example, see

http://www.kaust.edu.sa/research/core-supercomputing.aspx

It's the 3rd fastest academic supercomputer in the world (14th fastest overall; just check out top500.org ).

Why are people coming to KAUST?  Clearly one reason is the unparalleled research funding and unmatched research facilities. 

If you are concerned about 'the regime' in Saudi Arabia, you should be aware that KAUST is a private university funded by a privately held endowment.  You can see the board of trustees here: http://www.kaust.edu.sa/about/board-trustees.aspx
Apparently people like the presidents of Princeton, Cornell, NIH, and CERN think KAUST is serious about research.

To the OP: if you PM me, I can put you in contact with post-docs who are currently working for KAUST (they are located at places like Stanford, UT, Oxford, etc. until KAUST opens in September).