NYU Abu Dhabi’s CITIES Joins Forces With Cranmore Partners To Fund Research On Critical, Local, And Global Issues

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 12th Apr, 2021) An important new partnership in the UAE is supporting promising young talent to generate ground-breaking research. The collaboration between NYU Abu Dhabi’s (NYUAD) Center for Interacting Urban Networks (CITIES) and Cranmore Partners aims to fast-track solutions for key societal and technical urban challenges.

NYUAD’s Center for Interacting Urban Networks (CITIES), in partnership with Cranmore Partners, a boutique advisory firm headquartered in Abu Dhabi, is enabling four NYUAD undergraduate students to pursue their unique research projects. The grants provide selected students the chance to develop innovative solutions to critical issues in the UAE and the world. As an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to advance urban science, CITIES promotes cutting-edge research leading to tangible improvements in the development of sustainable, resilient, and equitable cities. Leveraging faculty’s expertise across NYUAD’s four academic divisions, CITIES also engages with world-renowned scientific researchers, both within and beyond NYU’s global network, as well as stakeholders throughout the UAE and beyond.

Reflecting on Cranmore Partners’ commitment to supporting NYUAD students to advance their research efforts, Managing Partner of Cranmore Partners Yusuf Macun, commented: "We are deeply committed to supporting talented young academics.

We firmly believe that by empowering youth, through important opportunities like the CITIES program, the UAE can continue to emerge as a dynamic research hub, delivering vital scientific findings."

For CITIES, the partnership is a chance to provide resources to promising students and advance scientific research in critical fields, while driving greater involvement from the private sector in highlighting areas of mutual interest.

Monica Menendez, Associate Professor of Civil and Urban Engineering and the Director of CITIES, said: "Through our association with Cranmore Partners, four outstanding NYUAD students can make vital contributions to their fields of study. They will research a wide range of topics, including the use of AI to assist clinical decision-makers and curb the over-prescription of antibiotics; the creation of sustainable coastal structures; the development of environmentally friendly alternatives to cement; and the understanding of the psychology behind both compliance and reporting of pandemic-time transgressions. These grants are helping produce much-needed research while at the same time promoting the role that young people play in shaping our future."