WASHINGTON: Saudi Computer Science Assistant Professor Faisal Nawab, who is based at the University of California, Irvine, has led a research team to develop projects for technology companies in Silicon Valley. The largest of the projects was for the Meta platform, after the team Nawab led won the 2021 research company award for future technologies to improve the next generation of the Internet, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. “The project aims to process data to build systems around the world to match the huge user data that Meta owns, through protocols and algorithms that communicate efficiently, reduce data differences, and allow me to communicate in a more hierarchical manner,” Nawab said. Nawab said the other two projects were with a start-up company to develop research ideas in the laboratory to process data in smart cities and universities through products that they transfer. The other was for the game company Roblox to solve the problem of data pressure during vacation periods, in light of the large number of users and the pressure of processing images, data and interaction among game players. Nawab commended the huge and rapid leap that the Saudi education sector had enjoyed in the past decade, which made local universities compete with their international counterparts in well-known international rankings and raised research production. He also praised the performance and level of Saudi scholarship students, especially those who received high academic and scientific qualifications from institutions such as King Abdulaziz University, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals; King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Foundation, and Aramco. Nawab graduated from the University of Petroleum and obtained a master’s degree from KAUST.