Kuwait-MIT Center for Natural Resources and the Environment (CNRE)

The Kuwait-MIT Center for Natural Resources and the Environment (CNRE) was established in 2005 to bring together faculty, students, and scientists to improve scientific and technical understanding of natural resources and the environment issues and related challenges. The Center also fosters collaborative research between Kuwaiti Institutions and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the areas of energy, water and the environment through a number of grant programs.

The Kuwait-MIT Center for Natural Resources and the Environment will be based at the Institute. The organization, whose core staff is MIT faculty in the sciences, engineering and policy studies, will promote interdisciplinary work by those investigators, by MIT students, and by Kuwaiti investigators and students.

The center's director will be Dale Morgan of the Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and CEE Prof. Elfatih Eltahir will be the associate director. An initial group of five MIT faculty representing three departments will be involved. The center will also draw on the expertise of interdisciplinary MIT entities like its Earth Resources Laboratory and the Parsons Laboratory for Water Resources and Hydrodynamics.

The center will seek solutions for a range of challenges, including:

(*) finding and accessing groundwater resources using technologically innovative and environmentally sustainable methods;

(*) gauging and minimizing the risks of earthquakes related to the extraction of large amounts of water and petroleum from underground;

(*) analyzing difficult policy issues that involve natural resources like water and petroleum.

The partnership between MIT and the foundation will put a heavy emphasis on collaboration. At least two investigators from Kuwaiti institutions will be in residence at MIT at any given time, and MIT investigators will make periodic visits to Kuwait to further joint research projects.

The Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences supports efforts related to the country's modernization and scientific progress. To that end, it sponsors basic and applied research in such areas as natural science, engineering, economics and health; recognizes achievements that enhance the development of Kuwait and other Arab nations; grants scholarships and fellowships, and otherwise supports Kuwaiti scholars and students; and forms partnerships focused on scientific research and programs on an international basis. It also awards the Kuwait Prize, an important honor that recognizes outstanding achievement in the sciences and related realms by individuals of Arab extraction. Eltahir is among past recipients of this distinguished prize.