KAUST Visualization Core Lab (KVL)
Who We Are
Who We Are
The KAUST Visualization Core Laboratory is a state-of-the-art facility within the Core Labs that offers students, faculty, researchers, and university collaborators a unique opportunity to use one-of-a-kind visualization, interaction, and computational resources to explore and analyze large scientific datasets.
Research Capabilities
Research Capabilities
Our mission is to support the data visualization and data science needs of KAUST researchers and In-Kingdom entities. To that end, we have a varied range of expertise across the team. Contact us with your questions, project requests, or collaboration requests that align with our research capabilities:
- 2D/3D Visualization Facilities
- We provide a unique set of visualization and meeting facilities on campus.
- Contact us for inquiries or use your KAUST credentials to create a booking.
- Data Visualization and Data Science Workflows
- We support KAUST users with visualization workflows, VR workflows, and data science/machine learning.
- Contact us for additional information, to submit a general request, or request a collaboration.
- Training and Workshops
- We have a wide variety of trainings available on our YouTube Channel
as well as select trainings performed in-person each semester.
Mission
Mission
To support the needs of KAUST researchers and In-Kingdom entities by:
- Developing and maintaining an effective and efficient environment for data exploration and analysis
- Partnering with researchers to co-develop advanced visualization and data analysis methodologies
- Providing training on state-of-the-art visualization hardware and software for scientific discovery
- Developing new capabilities to remain at the cutting edge of visualization and data science
Contact Us
Location & Directions
Location & Directions
Our main showcase facility is located @:
Building 1 (seaside), Level 2, Showcase
Looking for the MPR or Cubes? Check our FAQ page.
Recent Highlights
KVL Presented at IEEE VR 2026 Workshop
Rhodoliths as Daily Resolution Paleotemperature Archives in the Red Sea
Visualizing Extreme Dust Events
Video Overview
People
Dr. Sohaib Ghani
Lead Senior Visualization Scientist
Specialty Areas
- Large-Scale Data Analysis
- Advanced Computing, AI, & HPC
- Big Data
- Visual Analytics
- Data Visualization
- Human Computer Interaction
Biography
Dr. Sohaib Ghani leads the Visualization Core Lab (KVL), a state-of-the-art facility supporting large-scale data analysis, advanced computing, HPC, AI, scientific visualization, AR/VR, and 3D segmentation. KVL works with researchers and industry partners across disciplines and sectors on data-intensive research and discovery. With more than 15 years of experience, he has conducted research spanning large-scale data analysis, Big Data analytics, AI, visual analytics, and data visualization. He has contributed to many impactful publications and collaborations across energy, climate, marine science, geoscience, and other data-intensive domains. He received his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University, Indiana, USA.
Dr. James Kress
Visualization Scientist
Specialty Areas
- Scientific Visualization
- Visualization Software
- Distributed Visualization / HPC Scientific Visualization
- In Situ Visualization
Biography
James is a Staff Scientist in the Visualization Core Laboratory at KAUST. His research and interests are focused on in situ scientific visualization, HPC, and the intersection of the two. Prior to his time at KAUST, James spent 10 years at ORNL working on HPC, software development, and in situ visualization.
Dr. Ronell Sicat
Visualization Scientist
Specialty Areas
- Scientific Visualization
- Large-Scale Data Analysis
- Image Segmentation and 3D Analysis
- Immersive Analytics (AR/VR)
Biography
Ronell earned his MS and PhD from KAUST and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University. He works with researchers across disciplines to build tools and workflows for processing big data, including large-scale images, microscopy image stacks or volumes, and 3D meshes. He primarily works on Avizo/Amira, Unity, and MATLAB, leveraging AI and developing custom applications to meet the specific needs of each project.
Dr. Didier Barradas
Data Scientist
Specialty Areas
- Data Science
- Machine Learning
- Deep Learning
- High-performance computing
Biography
Didier Barradas received his Ph.D. in 2017 from the Universitat de Barcelona, where he conducted his doctoral research at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. Since 2022, he has been working as a Data Scientist at the KAUST Visualization Core Lab, specializing in high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) projects. In addition to his professional role, he is a certified instructor with The Carpentries and serves as an NVIDIA Ambassador. Find out more https://d-barradas.github.io
Dr. Abdelghafour Halimi
Data Scientist
Specialty Areas
- Data Science
- Machine Learning
- Deep Learning
- High-performance computing
Biography
Abdelghafour is a Ph.D. holder in AI, with 10 years’ experience in machine learning, data science, and image processing. He earned his International M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse in France in 2014 and 2017, respectively. He worked as a Data Scientist at ATOS from 2018 to 2022, and is currently a Data Scientist at KAUST Visualization Core Lab. www.ahalimi.com.
