The KAUST Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) is one of the signature events during KAUST’s academic year.
The annual two-week program results from selected proposals submitted by the KAUST community.
WEP 2025: Outliers
January 12-23, 2025
Chaired by Professor Michael Berumen and co-chaired by Professor Deanna Lacoste.
The word “outlier” in science typically implies an anomaly, a data point that is not representative of expected results. In real life, an outlier can also be something unconventional that opens the door to great inspiration. Outliers can push the boundaries of sports, for example, like the record-breaking athletes assembling in Paris this summer for the Olympics. Or they can be remarkable moments, like when Alexander Fleming realized that mold growing on a dish stopped the spread of bacteria, or when Ibn Al-Haytham devised a series of experiments that showed that our eyes do not emit light, but instead absorb light, to reconstruct images. Outliers represent impact by unconventional people or unconventional means.
Each year, WEP invites experts from the world over to KAUST to share their insights, their journey of discovery, and their hopes for the future. WEP 2025 invites you to embrace the outliers, those exceptional, remarkable, and rare individuals who stand out from the norm. Join us as we explore unconventional paths to progress and success.
WEP is an annual signature program for KAUST that brings together the world’s greatest thinkers and leaders at the intersection of academia, research, culture, and innovation. WEP 2025 is chaired by Michael Berumen, Professor of Marine Science at KAUST and Associate Dean of the Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, and co-chaired by Deanna Lacoste, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at KAUST and the Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Program.
Click here to submit your proposal
Proposals Guidelines