New York University Abu Dhabi Research Articles

Betting on Diversity—Occupational Segregation and Gender Stereotypes

Gender segregation of occupations and entire industries is widespread. The segregation could be the result of perceived job-specific productivity differences between men and women. It could also result from the belief that homogeneous teams perform better or from in-group bias of male or female recruiters. We investigate these explanations in two samples: students and personnel managers. The subjects bet on the productivity of teams that are homogeneous with respect to gender at the outset and then either remain homogeneous or become diverse. The teams work on tasks that differ with respect to gender stereotypes. We obtain similar results in both samples. Women are picked more often for the stereotypically female task, and men are picked more often for the stereotypically male task. Subjects believe that gender-diverse teams perform better, especially in the task with complementarities, and they display an own-gender bias. Elicited expectations about the bets of others reveal that subjects expect the gender stereotypes of tasks but underestimate others’ bets on diversity. This paper was accepted by Yan Chen, behavioral economics and decision analysis. Funding: The authors acknowledge financial support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [Excellence Cluster EXC 2035/1 “The Politics of Inequality” (to U. Fischbacher), CRC TRR 190 “Rationality and Competition” (to D. Kübler), and the Excellence Cluster EXC 2055 “Contestations of the Liberal Script” (to D. Kübler)] and from Tamkeen [NYU Abu Dhabi Research Institute Award CG005 (to R. Stüber)]. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4943 .

What's in a Name? Archives and Special Collections at American Research Institutions in the Middle East: Repositories at the American University of Beirut, the American University in Cairo, the American Center of Research in Jordan, and New York University Abu Dhabi

ABSTRACT In today's Middle East, a number of institutions of research and higher education have American origins, and several maintain archives and special collections. This article offers case studies of repositories at four of these institutions: the American University of Beirut (AUB), the American University in Cairo (AUC), the American Center of Research (ACOR) in Jordan, and New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). The article traces the origins of these archives and how those were shaped by the development of each one's parent organization as an American-inspired institution, as well as by the historical, social, and cultural framework of their host countries. The authors also consider the landscape of archives in the nations where these institutions are based: Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates. The evolution of the collecting program of each repository is outlined, with strategies and key acquisitions and collections mentioned. Access and dissemination methods, including digitization initiatives, are also covered. In presenting such activities, the ways in which American traditions and standards of archival practice contrast with or complement those of local archival traditions are examined. A central theme is the way that the archives at AUB, AUC, ACOR, and NYUAD go about documenting not only institutional history but also the heritage of their host countries and the challenges and opportunities inherent in that work.

Current debates and emerging trends in the history of science in premodern Islamicate societies.

This roundtable brings together contributions from nine senior, mid-career and junior scholars who work on the history of science in pre-1800 Islamicate societies. The contributions reflect upon some of the challenges that have historically constrained the subfield, how they have sought to overcome them, and what they see as some of the more productive and fruitful turns the field has taken and/or should take in the future. A central trend in all contributions is how they seek to confront the combined weight of colonialism, Orientalism, and the teleological history of science that continues to haunt contemporary discussions in both academia and the general public with regards to science in pre-1800 Islamicate societies. Without diminishing the pioneering achievements of the generations of historians who have preceded us, and upon whose work we continue to rely, this combined weight has tended a) to marginalize the study of occult sciences in Islamicate societies; b) to emphasize investigations of content from an etic perspective of how we got to the present, which is primarily seen as how the scientific content is connected to the rise of modern science in Europe; and c) to concomitantly marginalize the study of science in post-1200 Islamicate societies, particularly those with little to no connection to the rise of "Western" science. The contributions build upon conversations that took place among participants in December 2019 at a workshop at New York University (NYU), Abu Dhabi Institute in New York City, funded by a grant from NYU Abu Dhabi.

TYPOLOGY OF INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS UNIVERSITY-BASED INNOVATION ECOSYSTEMS ENTREPRENEURS IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Purpose- This paper explores the typology of innovation ecosystems obtained from the literature review which university-based innovation ecosystems in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) universities on the entrepreneurial subdivision of the innovation ecosystem and terms it an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Methodology- The aims of this study is qualitative in nature, while reflecting its exploratory nature and the absence of any previous work on university Typology of innovation in the UAE. A list of all UAE universities from the Commission for Academic Accreditation (CAA) will be used as primary research. Secondary sources and used as a sampling frame. The sampling procedure involved contacting the universities or colleges. Findings- The Centre of Excellence for Applied Research and Training (CERT) at Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) Established in 1996 the first center to adopt entrepreneurial initiatives. The UAEU Science and Innovation Park (UAEU-SIP) and Start AD, NYU Abu Dhabi both established in 2016 as the first concepts of innovation and incubator centers in the UAE universities. The UAE Government and Local government are the biggest supporters of universities, and with limited support from the private sector. Due to the early stage of those incubators and centers, with building a skilled workforce with entrepreneurial mindsets, the outcomes of incubated startups are expected to emerge after some time. Conclusion- This study focused only on universities located in the UAE which it's an emerging country. This study focused on university incubators or Innovation Centers only as introduced above more research is required on university-based innovation ecosystems' reach and strategic context. Keywords: Entrepreneurial, Ecosystem, Typology of innovation,UAE, University-based innovation JEL Codes: O30, O31

الرقمنة تعني الوصول: استخدام الرقمنة في توسيع قاعدة الوصول لمواد التراث الثقافي في جامعة ذات

As part of a university system with campuses around the globe, the library of NYU Abu Dhabi is part of a network of libraries that shares holdings with campuses in New York, Shanghai and other locations internationally. As an American-based university in the Middle East, seeking to be a bridge between cultures, NYU Abu Dhabi also promotes scholarship and interest in the social and cultural traditions of the region in which it is located. The Archives and Special Collections of the NYU Abu Dhabi Library has materials of relevance to this mission, but due to the uniqueness or rarity of such materials, it cannot lend them in the same manner that the library does other materials. As a result, the library is investigating the role of digitization as a means of increasing access and encouraging use of its archival holdings. This paper examines some of the logistical and practical issues encountered in its initial pilot digitization project, as well as considerations for other institutions wishing to embark on a similar program.

NASQAR: a web-based platform for high-throughput sequencing data analysis and visualization

BackgroundAs high-throughput sequencing applications continue to evolve, the rapid growth in quantity and variety of sequence-based data calls for the development of new software libraries and tools for data analysis and visualization. Often, effective use of these tools requires computational skills beyond those of many researchers. To ease this computational barrier, we have created a dynamic web-based platform, NASQAR (Nucleic Acid SeQuence Analysis Resource).ResultsNASQAR offers a collection of custom and publicly available open-source web applications that make extensive use of a variety of R packages to provide interactive data analysis and visualization. The platform is publicly accessible at http://nasqar.abudhabi.nyu.edu/. Open-source code is on GitHub at https://github.com/nasqar/NASQAR, and the system is also available as a Docker image at https://hub.docker.com/r/aymanm/nasqarall. NASQAR is a collaboration between the core bioinformatics teams of the NYU Abu Dhabi and NYU New York Centers for Genomics and Systems Biology.ConclusionsNASQAR empowers non-programming experts with a versatile and intuitive toolbox to easily and efficiently explore, analyze, and visualize their Transcriptomics data interactively. Popular tools for a variety of applications are currently available, including Transcriptome Data Preprocessing, RNA-seq Analysis (including Single-cell RNA-seq), Metagenomics, and Gene Enrichment.

50% Laughter, 50% Despair: A Dialogue with Jarett Kobek

50% Laughter, 50% Despair:A Dialogue with Jarett Kobek Jarett Kobek (bio) and Rita Raley (bio) When JARETT KOBEK says he writes garbage, he is not to be believed. The self-laceration is ubiquitous—"this is a bad novel," the narrator of I Hate the Internet (2016) says in so many words, throughout the text—but it should not be understood as false modesty, an anxious plea for affirmation, or as stylistic affectation. Such pronouncements are instead aspirational. "I try to make everything a little shitty," KOBEK explains in an interview, because, the argument goes, truly holding a mirror up to the surreal horror that is post-9/11 America necessitates a self-conscious abandonment of the figure of the romanticized writer, as well as the aesthetic project of literary realism.1 Writers of "good novels," his narrator protests, have "missed the only important story in American life," "the world of hidden persuaders, of the developing communications landscape"—in other words, the internet.2 It may be that the new Click for larger view View full resolution Jarett Kobek, self-portrait. Image courtesy of the author. [End Page 469] idioms and genres of self-expression and the accelerated temporal rhythms of multichannel communication are ill-suited to the mode of the "good novel." But KOBEK's argument is not about literary form or language, so one cannot point to Flarf, uncreative writing, Alt-Lit, or even Emoji Dick as counterexamples. KOBEK's indictment is more fundamental and his outrage more overtly, unreservedly, political. What US writers in particular have missed, his work suggests, is the extent to which life itself has been altered by an industry that has broken its utopian promise; that captures and capitalizes on every utterance; that rewards extremity, cruelty, and, yes, stupidity—in other words, the internet. It is all very sordid, but it does make for wonderful, albeit tragicomic, satire. Lest it not be clear, I should stress: Kobek is perfectly capable of writing good novels and in fact has done so. ATTA (2011), his fictionalized biography of the hijacker Mohamed Atta, imagines 9/11 as an enactment of Atta's master's thesis, which railed against Western skyscrapers and idealized an "Islamic-Oriental city."3 It is incisive, elegant, and in many ways an emblematic work of academic fictocriticism. He has also written a carefully considered, sympathetic analysis of XXXTentacion, which uses the musician's social media presence to reflect on the question of separating the work and life of an artist. And here too he pursues his critique of the exploitative structure of social media, the coercive force of which is unevenly distributed. "Rich kids don't suffer the same Internet as poor kids," he dryly observes, noting the class markers in many a Twitch streamer's home.4 All of this paves the way for Kobek's summative polemic, Only Americans Burn in Hell (2019), equally well titled and quite rightly described by Alan Moore as a "scabrous portrait of an America lost in its insipid fantastic dreams while it is sliding into an abyss."5 The setup for the book, which is best analogized to a stand-up comedy set, with all of its seemingly digressive refrains, self-mocking confessions, and droll punchline, is this: Celia, the Queen of Fairy Land, goes to Los Angeles with her murderous bodyguard, Rose Byrne, in order to find her daughter. What else do you need from a novel, Reader, except perhaps a broadside against, in no particular order, the US publishing industry, NYU Abu Dhabi, fantasy and superhero films as war pornography, representational [End Page 470] politics and call-out culture, homelessness in America, the endless war in Iraq, and Donald J. Trump as "the natural consequence of an entire society that adopted unending slaughter as its central function"?6 Scabrous it surely is, but it works because it is also sincere. Not content to catalog and lampoon the grotesqueries of our moment, the book enfolds a moral lesson in an elaborate story about gaining access to the pit at a Guns N' Roses concert at Staples Center with a friend dressed as a circus performer: we may all be in fairy land, but...

E-Cigarettes: Effects on the Fetus

1. Nan Jiang, PhD* 2. Lily Lee†,§ 3. Judith T. Zelikoff, PhD‡ 4. Michael Weitzman, MD†,‡,¶,** 1. *Department of Population Health, 2. †Department of Pediatrics, 3. ‡Department of Environmental Medicine, School of Medicine, New York University, New York, NY 4. ¶College of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY 5. §Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY 6. **NYU Abu Dhabi Public Health Research Center, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates 1. 1. Lauterstein D, 2. Hoshino R, 3. Gordon T, 4. Watkins BX, 5. Weitzman M, 6. Zelikoff J The Changing Face of Tobacco Use Among United States Youth. Lauterstein D, Hoshino R, Gordon T, Watkins BX, Weitzman M, Zelikoff J. Curr Drug Abuse Rev. 2014;7(1):29–43 [OpenUrl][1][CrossRef][2][PubMed][3] 2. 1. Nguyen KH, 2. Tong VT, 3. Marynak KL, 4. King BA US Adults' Perceptions of the Harmful Effects during Pregnancy of Using Electronic Vapor Products Versus Smoking Cigarettes, Styles Survey, 2015. Nguyen KH, Tong VT, Marynak KL, King BA. Prev Chronic Dis. 2016;13:E175 [OpenUrl][4] 3. 1. McGrath-Morrow SA, 2. Hayashi M, 3. Aherrera A, 4. et al. The Effects of Electronic Cigarette Emissions on Systemic Cotinine Levels, Weight and Postnatal Lung Growth in Neonatal Mice. McGrath-Morrow SA, Hayashi M, Aherrera A, et al. PLoS One. 2015;10(2):e0118344 [OpenUrl][5][CrossRef][6][PubMed][7] The emergence of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) as devices touted to be helpful in the cessation or reduction of smoking has prompted many concerns about the prevalence and consequences of their use during pregnancy. Both pregnant women and health-care providers are poorly informed or misinformed about the potential health risks associated with e-cigarettes, which has profound consequences on clinical conversations about the product. Unfortunately, the scientific literature has not yet caught up with the rise in e-cigarette use. The safety of e-cigarettes to the mother and fetus is largely unknown, with a handful of human studies finding minimal health effects. In large part, concerns about e-cigarettes have been the result of the adverse health effects associated with nicotine during pregnancy, which include low birthweight, abnormal corpus callosum, and alterations in appetite, attention, and cognition. Although the health consequences of e-cigarette use during pregnancy remain poorly understood, it is imperative that health-care providers are well equipped to initiate conversations about e-cigarette use with pregnant women and women of childbearing age to discourage use during pregnancy as an aid to quitting smoking. E-cigarettes are the most commonly used, newly developed electronic nicotine delivery systems. They are battery-powered vaporizers that heat a liquid solution (typically containing nicotine, glycerol, propylene glycol, flavorings, and other additives) to deliver an aerosol for user inhalation with the intention of imitating conventional cigarettes. Since their introduction to the US market in 2007, e-cigarette use has increased rapidly among youths and adults. E-cigarettes are widely advertised and often are promoted as less harmful alternatives to cigarettes and also as effective smoking cessation tools, which has considerable … [1]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DCurr%2BDrug%2BAbuse%2BRev%26rft.volume%253D7%26rft.spage%253D29%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.2174%252F1874473707666141015220110%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F25323124%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [2]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.2174/1874473707666141015220110&link_type=DOI [3]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=25323124&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fpedsinreview%2F39%2F3%2F156.atom [4]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DPrev%2BChronic%2BDis%26rft.volume%253D13%26rft.spage%253DE175%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [5]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DPLoS%2BOne%26rft.volume%253D10%26rft.spage%253De0118344%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1371%252Fjournal.pone.0118344%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F25706869%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [6]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.1371/journal.pone.0118344&link_type=DOI [7]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=25706869&link_type=MED&atom=%2Fpedsinreview%2F39%2F3%2F156.atom

Green Laboratories: University Campuses as Sustainability “Exemplars” in the Arabian Peninsula

ABSTRACTLike many universities in the West, universities across the Arabian Peninsula are increasingly home to various conspicuous sustainability initiatives. This article examines this trend at three of the region’s most prominent projects: NYU-Abu Dhabi in the Emirates, Qatar Foundation’s Education City, and Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Based on the textual analysis and informed by fieldwork in these countries since 2012, this article joins interdisciplinary research in political geography, sustainability experimentation, and laboratory studies to understand their iconic campuses not as enclaves, but as “exemplars” of sustainability and renewable energy futures in the region. Tracing their effects beyond their walls, I argue that they have mostly been limited to symbolically injecting sustainability into public discourse. While more substantial shifts toward sustainable development in the region are underway, these have largely stemmed from market forces rather than a new environmental consciousness promoted by these three iconic universities.

Is There a Benefit to Importing a Branch Campus? Research Capacity in Abu Dhabi

Driven to become more economically competitive, some national and state governments seek todevelop their local capacity with branch campuses, and the example of Abu Dhabi -- particularly New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) -- is instructive in how de facto research capacity at such institutions may be measured.

Is There a Benefit to Importing a Branch Campus? Research Capacity in Abu Dhabi

Driven to become more economically competitive, some national and state governments seek todevelop their local capacity with branch campuses, and the example of Abu Dhabi -- particularly New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) -- is instructive in how de facto research capacity at such institutions may be measured.

Abu Dhabi’s New Urban Islands and Shorefront Development

Abu Dhabi is in the process of urbanizing a group of Islands that surround its northern and eastern coastlines. Al-Lulu, Al-Saadiyat, Al- Maryah, Al-Reem and Yas Islands are all new urban enclaves that were desert islands and marshlands yet, have been developed over the past decade to urban islands that include epic and entertainment centres such as the Abu Dhabi Louvre, Guggenheim Museum, Ferrari World, NYU Abu Dhabi, the Paris Sorbonne Abu Dhabi in addition to iconic and exclusive waterfront residential units. These new islands re-brand the image of the main archipelago of Abu Dhabi that for decades retained a grid street pattern and pragmatic concrete blocks created in the late 1970s. The new urban islands transform Abu Dhabi’s image into a multinational modern Arab city seeking to become part of the global city network. Abu Dhabi’s new urban islands also act as breakwaters that protect the main archipelago’s coastline from erosion resulting from tidal change, because they are designed to include concrete and stone breakwater barriers. This paper represents a cross-disciplinary research between Civil Engineering and Architecture Departments in an attempt to explore the emerging infrastructure and urban expansion of Abu Dhabi from a multi-disciplinary perspective. We also highlight through simulating the effect of breakwaters on wave heights two scenarios for Al-Lulu Island the importance of these new barrier Islands on the urban expansion of Abu Dhabi.

The point of it all.

It seems like a rite of passage now for Ph.D. students: confronting the harsh prospects of academic careers. I'm just at the beginning of my doctorate at New York University (NYU) in New York City, but already my peers are concerned about how to survive within academic institutions. Our career paths are described as risky undertakings, littered with pitfalls and wrong turns, and the journey can often lead to a dead end. At first I shared their anxiety, but I started to wonder about how this would affect my development as a scientist. How can one produce the best science while focusing on survival? If students remain in a constant state of competitiveness, they may end up trading their creativity for a shortsighted scramble for results. Would merely surviving fulfill my goals? I decided it was better not to overthink the whole survival thing. Negativity paired with a good imagination can be crippling. As with experiments, sometimes it is best to relax expectations until you see the results. ![Figure][1] “The Abu Dhabi project helped me understand what environmental biotech strives to achieve.” ILLUSTRATION: ROBERT NEUBECKER As I was thinking along these lines, I was offered a rotation project at NYU Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. The goal was to develop algae strains that could be used as a cheap source of biofuel. As in all rotation projects, I was given a taste of the research, but I didn't have time to really sink my teeth in. I embraced the opportunity because I wanted to work on an environmental biotech project, but I didn't expect to save the world. My 9 weeks in Abu Dhabi provided something unexpected: a renewed sense of purpose. Abu Dhabi is a rapidly evolving urban center; think Chinese megacities. What makes Abu Dhabi remarkable is that it survives in the middle of a desert. What little arable land and fresh water Abu Dhabi has cannot provide for a city that size. Resources must instead be created from scratch. I'm passionate about environmental biotechnology, but up until that point, my exposure to the subject had been limited to the scientific literature and some small adventures in the lab. The Abu Dhabi project helped me understand what environmental biotech strives to achieve. It became clear that innovations in algal wastewater treatment and salt-tolerant crop breeding could be real game changers in an environment that provides so little. Many Western cities also depend on advanced infrastructure to stay afloat, but in Abu Dhabi the need was much more obvious. This forced me to think differently about my sources of motivation. I became less concerned about how I was going to survive or what I was going to do after my Ph.D. I got more interested in the potential impacts of environmental biotechnology. I suppose the effect might be similar to what medical scientists who work at hospitals experience: Proximity to the site of application inspires a certain kind of urgency. This urgency, I believe, is better for science than that provoked by the academic rat race. How does Ph.D. research affect the world? As obvious as it sounds, this question is often overlooked during grad school. It's easy to lose sight of the larger purpose of your research, especially when you are distracted by concerns about survival. I suspect this distraction is present at other career stages as well. Now that I'm back in New York, the experience in Abu Dhabi seems a bit like a desert mirage, but it continues to influence my thinking. I got a glimpse of how my environmental biotechnology research could have a wider impact. Wrestling with a research question is a rewarding intellectual exercise, but an appreciation of the broader context of the research can enrich it. These multiple sources of motivation leave little room for career-related anxiety. [1]: pending:yes

Cultural Settlements: Gulf Labor and Global Solidarity

Artists should not be asked to exhibit their work in buildings built on the backs of exploited workers Those working with bricks and mortar deserve the same kind of respect as those working with cameras and brushes.-Walid Raad, artist and Gulf Labor Committee memberThe Worker. Photographs of workers in Abu Dhabi conceal as much as they reveal. They do not tell us that his lodging is unsanitary or that he may not have been paid in months and is in more debt than before he arrived. We cannot tell that his passport was taken away and that consequently he cannot leave the country or quit his job because of a series of coercive or fraudulent contracts. We do not know that long shifts in 115-degree temperatures are the norm. Only his creased forehead and pensive gaze might provide a hint that all may not be well.Laborers in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere in the Gulf have been jailed and beaten for trying to congregate and organize. Labor laws in the United Arab Emirates and the region, meager as they are, are not enforced. Home country embassies, police enforcement, the countries where the labor comes from, and the institutions and businesses all share blame for the tragic plight of workers, yet no one takes responsibility-either individually or collectively.The art world is an ethically murky place. One might even call it a quagmire... with its indeterminate spaces, its constantly unresolved processes, its simultaneously grandiose and empty assertions.-Mariam Ghani, artist, curator, and Gulf Labor Committee memberGulf Labor: Gulf Labor is a coalition of artists, writers, curators, educators, and other supporters working to ensure that workers' rights are protected during the construction and maintenance of new cultural institutions on Saadiyat Island in Abu Dhabi (Island of Happiness in Arabic). In 2010, artists of varying experiences and logistical talents began to inform the art world about the plight of migrant workers in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. Since its inception in 2010, the members of Gulf Labor have worn several hats, and over the past four years have learned many new skills. They have studied legal contracts vis-a-vis international and local law practices; collected fieldwork that included speaking to the families of migrants; interviewed workers under highly constrained conditions; met with international organizations, including the International Labor Organization and Human Rights Watch; researched global links between institutions and their boards; and participated in interventions at museums and public spaces in the United States and the Gulf region.The members of Gulf Labor question their independence as observers, their dependence on museums to show their art, and, most important, the means by which such museums are being built. The Guggenheim Museum finally made a public commitment to protect the rights of the migrant laborers. However, they and their Abu Dhabi partner the Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) did not take sufficient steps to better the conditions of workers. At the time of this writing, violations still exist despite claims of improvements from TDIC and various museums.The first signs of trouble at Saadiyat Island actually surfaced with the New York University project, which had started in 2006. Alerted by rights activists, based on reports by Human Rights Watch, NYU faculty and students began to demand protections for the construction workers who are building the NYU Abu Dhabi campus.Conflicting reports of improvements and violations were coming in simultaneously. NYU professor Andrew Ross cautioned that consistent enforcement requires institutional change: GCC countries like the UAE and Qatar have embarked on a massive program of nation-building. The primary concern of elites is to avoid tarnishing the national brand, and so they will do what it takes to showcase improvements in the treatment of migrants. In this respect, Saadiyat Accommodation Village is exhibit number one. …

Crystal Growth to Foster Inquiry–Based Learning: First Year Science Laboratory

Crystals play an important and ubiquitous role in our everyday life with applications in medicine, industry, agriculture, and biotechnology. With the recent trends toward inquiry-based learning in undergraduate science teaching laboratory, we developed a crystals growth laboratory for first year students. While one objective is to learn how to grow and handle crystals, the laboratory is designed to foster the acquisition of basic scientific knowledge and hands on experience to develop critical laboratory skills. In this sense, it is targeted for students with diverse backgrounds and, in accord with the liberal arts curriculum at NYU Abu Dhabi readily includes non-science majors. The original inspiration for the lab came from the 1960 classic book "Crystals and Crystal Growing" by Holden and Singer. We have expanded on the emphasis there on inorganic salt crystals to require students to crystallize macromolecules as well, in a research driven environment. Similar to projects carried in more advanced courses, students write an outline of their project that is developed into a full proposal through a literature search stimulated by in class discussions and peer-review. Some of the learning goals include the ability to design and manage a research project, propose ideas and methods to explore the topic of interest, learn various techniques and equipment common in a science laboratory, the ability to analyze data, acquire best practices in lab safety, and most importantly develop their scientific writing skills. Following 4-5 weeks of crystal growing and characterization, students present their data at the end of the semester Crystal Growth Symposium first presenting a 5 minute flash poster-presentation followed by a poster session. The symposium is a collective effort to enhance the students' presentation and communication skills and to showcase and encouraging high quality of research. While still evolving, the laboratory has seen a variety of mainly student-initiated investigations not only exploring a variety of methods to grow crystals, but also in exploring the effect of magnetic field, vibration, temperature, or pH on crystal growth. We will present organizational details of the laboratory program and present examples of many posters that have been generated during four years of operating the laboratory.

What is a Library?: International College Students' Perceptions of Libraries

This study presents findings from an online survey and series of one-on-one interviews with students at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) regarding their perceptions of libraries. With an international student population, NYUAD represents a unique opportunity to gain insight into a wide variety of student opinions and experiences of libraries. The goal of the study was to develop a student-based perspective of libraries, which can be used to improve library services and outreach. The student responses ranged from intense engagement with libraries to little or no experience. In general, students had a limited view of the role of librarians in the library. Interestingly, many students have a lofty view of libraries and see them as repositories of knowledge for humanity.

Theatre Building, Building Theatre: Fostering Disruption and Community through Arts and Education

The occasion of building an NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center on Saadiyat Island, as part of NYU's campus there, and the Tisch School planning a new Institute of Performing Arts Center (IPAC) in lower Manhattan create an opportunity for conceiving a dynamic, collaborative Middle East-meets-West partnership. This partnership has the potential to disrupt conventional expectations of both a liberal arts education and professional theatre training as well as to build bridges to new audiences.

Start-Up Library: My Experience at NYU Abu Dhabi

NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), as a relatively new campus of New York University, embodies the vision of the Global Network University (GNU). In my three years as instruction and public services librarian at NYUAD, I have experienced many of the challenges and rewards that creating a new library in the Middle East and within the GNU can provide. Above all, I have learned that collaboration, innovation, and awareness of local culture are critical skills necessary for start-up libraries in new environments. It is my hope that staff members in branch campus libraries, libraries with small user populations, new libraries, and international libraries can identify with and learn from my experiences as an original staff member of the NYUAD Library.