In the 9th and 10th centuries, during Islam's Golden Age, scholars in the region produced important advances in algebra and geometry. Today, KAU's Faculty of Sciences continues this noble legacy. The faculty is perhaps the university's most productive and internationally visible - and Bashir Ahmad is KAU's most prolific mathematics researcher. Between 2011 and 2015, Ahmad contributed to 178 publications. His research has been cited more than 1,600 times by more than 650 researchers worldwide.
Ahmad's faculty is undertaking several research projects of national importance. One analyses and simulates scalar transport in porous media. This can be used to model wastewater outfall into the sea, the dispersion of contaminants in estuaries and tidal flats, or how medical compounds are transported around the body with the blood flow. These models can be applied in several of Saudi Arabia's industrial sectors, such as oil exploration, seawater desalination, carbon capture and sequestration, and drug development.
Another area of study in the faculty is the flow of nanofluids. These are fluids that contain suspended nanoparticles, such as metals, oxides or carbon nanotubes. Because they transfer heat well, they are being considered for use in cars and solar panels. However, the field is new and the behaviour of the fluids is not yet fully understood.
