Happy Zohran Mamdani is the Mayor of New York City to all who celebrate 😭❤️

thas my mayor 💅

Huge congrats to my fellow KAUST students for crushing finals week! 🎉

Time to find your "crater moment," decompress, and celebrate making it to the top. Recharge for what’s next! 🚀🏜️

#KAUST #SaudiArabia #AlWahbahCrater #StudentWellbeing #Resilience #Neuroscience #GradSchool

Group photo in the crater

🤝Community makes the difference. The journey is always better when we support each other. Whether it’s a hand up after a fall or a laugh to break the heat, we go further together

🧠The Essential Reset: Our brains aren't built for 24/7 output. Rest is fuel for the next big thing

raheema climbs back up the crater with the group

🧗‍♀️The ascent is the work. The climb looked daunting from the bottom, but you get there by focusing on 1 step at a time

🩹Resilience is a practice. Even though I took a hard fall, I knew I had to get back up. Stumbles happen; the grit to finish the climb is what counts

Raheema stands at the bottom of the crater

250m deep in the Al Wahbah Crater! 🌋

Just wrapped up finals at KAUST and looking back at this grueling 4-hour trek. It was hot, steep, and rocky—the perfect metaphor for a Master’s program.

Here are 4 lessons I’m carrying from the crater into the break: 🧵👇

Sign that reads "Where innovation flows, possibility follows."

Sign that reads "Water isn't just a resource, it's our responsibility."

IDWS 2025 reinforced that innovation = technology + policy + knowledge. Proud to see this strategic transformation coming to life!

#WaterSustainability #PredictiveModeling #NeurosciencePolicy #KAUST #Jeddah #Vision2030

digital screen pointing direction to Miyahthon hosted by the water academy

As a bioscience student, I focused on these pillars:

🌊Digitization & AI: The use of large models & predictive systems—essential for analyzing complex systems

🌊Regulation: Understanding how policy links directly to Behavioral Science—incentivizing compliance for sustainability

Raheema stands in front of the IDWS sign

What does a Neuroscientist do at the Global Water Sustainability Conference?💧

Look for the Data, Policy, & Behavioral Loops! Attended #IDWS2025 in Jeddah this week

Water security, like the brain, is a complex system solved at the intersection of #AI, #Policy, & #HumanBehavior

Hosting "Classroom Cognition" was great training! It taught me how to communicate complex research clearly—a critical skill I now use in my Master's program at KAUST 🇸🇦!

#ScienceCommunication #TeacherLife #CognitiveScience #CUNO #Neuroscience #EduSky #Science

Raheema shares pictured from her time in the classroom

It was truly heartwarming to see @nycschools.bsky.social teachers brave the cold December night ❄️ to join us.

Their dedication showed me just how vital it is to bridge that research-to-education gap 🏫.

Thank you to the CUNO team (s/o Carina Pizzano & John Rinald) for the opportunity! 🙏

Raheema shares a slide titled "Hippocampus' role in recalling memories"

Raheema presents expected results

I was joined by educators & members of the community to talk about my lab's work on balancing memory encoding & future prediction (essential for learning!)🔮

My core goal was to equip teachers with practical cognitive insights for lesson planning🧑‍🏫

Poster for Late Night Science talk titled "Classroom Cognition: Memories for the Future" hosted by Raheema Javid

One year ago today: I hosted "Classroom Cognition" for CUNO (
@columbiauniversity.bsky.social's #NeuroscienceOutreach program)🧠

My #SciComm goal: Bridge the gap between #Neuro knowledge & classrooms. Having been a teacher, I experienced firsthand this knowledge gap's harm

This talk was my answer👇

Will blockbuster obesity drugs revolutionize addiction treatment? Scientists are testing whether GLP-1 drugs can help to cut cravings for cigarettes, alcohol and opioids — as well as food.

GLP-1 drugs can help people lose weight by quelling hunger cues. Nature reports on the work by scientists testing if these drugs can help to cut cravings for cigarettes, alcohol and opioids. 🧪

This project is trying to raise science awareness by doing short videos about cancelled research — including mine.

Main stage at Behavior Change Policy Forum

Sustainable practices are fundamentally #BehavioralChallenges. Inspiring to see this international collaboration dedicated to data-driven solutions📈

Huge thanks to National Waste Center & all the organizers 🙏

#BehavioralScience #PolicyForum #KAUST #SustainableWaste #KSA #Vision2030 #Neuroscience

Behavior Change Policy Forum signs

Behavior Change Policy Forum sign and agenda

The Forum (hosted by
KAUST & 🇬🇧UK-Saudi🇸🇦 #Waste2Energy) tackled 3 key areas:

💡Analyzing psychological/cultural levers influencing waste behavior in KSA.

💡Learning from global success stories.

💡Designing a data-driven pilot project roadmap.

Raheema standing in front of a Behavior Change Policy Forum sign

When #Neuroscience meets #Policy! 🧠🇸🇦

Was thrilled to attend the Behavior Change Policy Forum at KAUST last week, focused on driving sustainable waste management.

My driving force: Using behavioral insights to translate research into massive, positive societal change (hello, #SaudiVision2030). 🌍

$1.7 billion to attract international researchers to Canada Details of the major federal initiative to draw new talent to the country's universities were announced today at UdeM.

🇨🇦🇨🇦 Just announced: a massive new program from the Canadian govt, separate from the well-known CRCs and CERCs, to recruit foreign scientific talent

Canada was already a destination for scientists but whoa. Real impressive for a new govt to back political talking points with serious investment

Does e‐cigarette nicotine strength influence substitution for combustible cigarettes? Using the Experimental Tobacco Marketplace, we examined the effects of e-liquid freebase nicotine strength (3–24 mg/mL) and e-liquid price (US$0.25–$1.00/mL) on behavioral economic substitution for c...

Increasing e-cigarette nicotine strength doesn't appear to make e-cigarettes better substitutes for combustible cigs. New data suggesting that both low- and high-nicotine e-cigarettes support product switching about the same.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Signs for Brain Energy Metabolism in Health and Disease conference behind sign for KAUST neuro symposium

Flags advertising Brain Energy Metabolism in Health and Disease conference on KAUST campus

Couldn't be prouder to be pursuing my masters at
KAUST, where #BrainResearch 🧠 is clearly a flagship area with global reach🌍 What a productive week!

#NatureConferences #Neuroscience #BrainMetabolism #KAUSTResearch #BrainScience #SaudiArabia #alhumdulillah

Dr Nave talks about his work on Oligodendrocytes in brain energy metabolism and Alzheimer's disease

Over 3 days, we dove into crucial topics at the frontier of brain research:

✔️Astrocyte-neuron metabolic coupling

✔️The role of energy disruption in neurodegenerative disease

✔️Targeting metabolic pathways for brain health.

So much cutting-edge science!

Raheema stands in front of a sign for the Brain Energy Metabolism in Health and Disease conference

Main stage at the Brain Energy Metabolism in Health and Disease conference

And that's a wrap on an incredible week of #Neuroscience at KAUST🇸🇦!

Thrilled to have attended the Brain Energy Metabolism in Health and Disease conference🧠, hosted by @natureportfolio.nature.com right here on campus. 💡

A great capstone to a week of high-level brain discussions! 👇

Leena gives opening remarks at symposium

Huge appreciation to @leenaibrahim.bsky.social for organizing such a diverse and inspiring flagship event for neuroscience at KAUST. A truly memorable day!

#KAUSTNeuroscience #NeuroscienceSymposium #BrainResearch #SciComm #Neuroscience

Attendees of KAUST Neuroscience Symposium pose for photo on steps

A major highlight was connecting with my 'neuro family' and meeting new, brilliant minds! Great to catch up with
@ishmailsaboor.bsky.social (@columbiauniversity.bsky.social) & meet @drjkhokhar.bsky.social, @neuroseq.bsky.social, and @osamaharraz.bsky.social!

Raheema stands in front of a sign for the KAUST neruoscience symposium 2025

The future of the brain is bright at at KAUST 💡
Thrilled to attend the Neuroscience Symposium 2025 🧠

Energy, research, and collaborative spirit were contagious! Sessions covered emerging tools, genetic insights, & brain health. So exciting to see neuro get its flowers here💐

Palestinians mourn their colleague Saleh Al-Jaafarawi, killed today by Israeli-backed gangs in Gaza City.

he survived two years of genocide, reporting the news for us only to become the news story once the genocide was “over”

saleh. anas. hamza. the dozens of journalists who have been targeted and killed by the occupation all deserve justice

saleh was the best of us 💔
glory to the martyrs