A Collaborative Journey by Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

A Collaborative Journey

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Qatar Foundation and Carnegie Mellon Qatar both trust in the power of our imagination to change the world. We both believe in a culture of innovation, dedication, energy and confidence in shaping the future. We need only look to the example of Education City in Qatar, where Carnegie Mellon has found a home away from home, to see a community of diverse cultures, religions, and academic disciplines coming together in the common goal of imagining a better future. Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser

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Dr. Subra Suresh

President of Carnegie Mellon University

“Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar has had an impressive ten years! The students and faculty here have embraced and built on CMU’s tradition of collaborative discovery across disciplines to solve important and urgent problems, and they have engaged in vigorous outreach activities in the community and the nation of Qatar. The education students receive here prepares them well to take on significant challenges in their careers, and our graduates are already making a difference at major companies and organizations throughout the world. This campus is a vital and engaged part of Carnegie Mellon’s worldwide university community. As we celebrate the university’s successful ten years in Qatar, we can look with pride at what has already been accomplished and with optimism about what is ahead.”

Engineer Saad Al Muhannadi President of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development

“The dream of Qatar Foundation was to build a city that would be a center of academic excellence for the country and the world. It would build bridges across continents and cultures, bringing internationally established teaching and research institutions to our front door. As the foundations for the Carnegie Mellon facility were being laid in Qatar, we turned this dream into a reality, brick by brick. Through hard work, dedication and the vision of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation, our partnership with Carnegie Mellon Qatar has yielded great results.”

From the Dean As we celebrate our first 10 years in Doha, it gives me great pleasure to highlight Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar’s journey and achievements from the beginning. At the invitation of Qatar Foundation, we brought the Carnegie Mellon education to Qatar to support the long-term development of the country and its people. Since then, we have grown from 41 to 400 students, and we have graduated almost 300 young men and women. Our goal is to do more than graduate students, it is to produce leaders, creators and innovators who are prepared to make a lasting impact on society. Our students are consistently recognized at the national and international level. Since 2009, Google has recognized four Carnegie Mellon Qatar students through its Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship program. They each received a scholarship and an invitation to a Google Scholars’ Retreat in Zurich, Switzerland. Another of our students won Vodafone’s “World of Difference” competition for a road safety campaign. Mohammed Al Matwi has received one year of funding from Vodafone to implement this community awareness project. Our alumni are recruited by top organizations like Shell, Microsoft, General Electric and Qatar Petroleum, to name a few. A great number of our graduates are employed in Qatar and are contributing to Qatar’s National Vision 2030 and the nation’s aim to build a knowledge-based economy. Our alumni are also making a difference across the Gulf region and around the world. Having joined the Carnegie Mellon faculty in 1978, I know the university attracts the best students in the world. In Doha, thanks to our partnership with Qatar Foundation, we are fortunate to have the same high standard of students here. It is due to Qatar Foundation’s diligence in securing the highest quality of education and making it available in Qatar that we are here with the same curriculum, the same requirements and the same high standards as our U.S. campus. It is due to Qatar Foundation’s consistent generosity that we are able to offer the best facilities, cutting-edge equipment, and comfortable and spacious workplaces. This is something we not only commend, we applaud. Over the past 10 years, our Qatar campus has made its mark with a strong emphasis on hard work, creative problem-solving and collaboration across disciplines. We embody the vision, mission, and values of Carnegie Mellon and are able to measure excellence by the impact we have had on making the world better. Therefore, we are thankful for the vision and leadership of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser and Qatar Foundation for their support of our core values, now and into the future.

Ilker Baybars

Dean and CEO, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

10 years ago… Carnegie Mellon University entered into a partnership with Qatar Foundation to offer its highly ranked undergraduate programs in computer science and business administration at a branch campus in Education City. The new campus in the Arabian Gulf nation would be called Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Bringing its unique educational culture to Qatar, the university would offer programs leading to Carnegie Mellon degrees based on the same admission standards and curricula as its main campus in Pittsburgh. This is the story of how that came about… Established in 1995, Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development set out to bring the finest education available in the world to Education City in Doha. Global leaders in fields as diverse as medicine, engineering, business and computer science were sought to form partnerships with Qatar Foundation.

The university’s first faculty and staff stand outside the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar building in 2004.

Therefore, it was with a healthy dose of uncertainty that Dr. Raj Reddy, the founding director of the Robotics Institute and the former dean of the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon, approached Dr. Mark Kamlet, the university’s provost, with the proposal to open a campus in Qatar. Dr. Reddy, a co-chair of the President‘s Information Technology Advisory Committee (PITAC) under President Clinton, was part of a committee advising the Qatari leadership on the best way to implement an IT infrastructure. He has been a member of the Carnegie Mellon faculty since 1969 and as a recipient of the ACM Turing Award, the computing world’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize, Dr. Reddy is one of the university’s most

The vision was to offer students in Qatar and the region the opportunity to gain an education that is second

acclaimed faculty members.

to none in a broad base of subjects. This was a visionary move on behalf of Qatar Foundation’s leadership

Dr. Reddy was asked to make the introductions regarding partnering with Qatar Foundation and that is how the

and Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation. The mandate was based on a belief in the power of education to drive progress, and a recognition that human resources are the most precious, dynamic and sustainable resource any country has. His Highness

process began. Dr. Reddy and Provost Kamlet traveled to Qatar in January 2001, visited the proposed site for Education City and met with the country’s leadership. The proposal was taken to Carnegie Mellon’s president at that time, Dr. Jared L. Cohon, who believed in the project and took it to the Board of Trustees.

Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar from 1995 to 2013, believed in this ambitious project as a way to strategically develop society and transform the nation from a carbon-based economy to one that is based on knowledge. Certain criteria were set in place that included ensuring the universities that partnered with Qatar Foundation were not only leaders in their fields, but that they would be granted academic freedom to run the courses the same way as their home campuses did. This meant that entry requirements were of the same standard, the course content was the same, and the resulting degree was the same as that delivered on the home campus. In other words, local high school students were competing on a global scale to gain entry to Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar and other Education City universities. Carnegie Mellon is proud to have been able to deliver on this agreement with a growing number of graduates from their Qatar campus who have been recruited by technology giants such as Google, Microsoft and IBM. However, this is not to say that the endeavor was easy or without its challenges. When the proposal was first put to the university in 2001, Carnegie Mellon had never developed an undergraduate campus outside the United States before. There is a large and complicated infrastructure that has to be implemented when establishing a branch campus. Complex legal, financial, tax, human resource and regulatory frameworks must be successfully navigated. One of the greatest challenges in offering undergraduate degrees away from the home campus is in delivering the same Carnegie Mellon experience. This is because the university’s graduates are more than academic achievers; they are well-rounded individuals who have been nurtured into adulthood through the diverse extracurricular experiences offered at Carnegie Mellon. All this and more had to be taken into consideration.

Dr. Raj Reddy

Moza bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics, Carnegie Mellon University Dr. Raj Reddy had a key role in setting up the Qatar campus. In 2005, he was the first holder of the Moza bint Nasser Chair of Computer Science and Robotics, a gift from Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. Dr. Reddy joined the Carnegie Mellon faculty as an associate professor of computer science in 1969, became a full professor in 1973, and a University Professor in 1984. He was the founding director of the Robotics Institute, and as dean of the school of computer science, he helped create the Language Technologies Institute, Human Computer Interaction Institute, Center for Automated Learning and Discovery (since renamed the Machine Learning Department), and the Institute for Software Research.

In 2000, Dr. Reddy was asked to join a committee in Qatar tasked with planning the structure of information technology in the country. He says, “I had been working with the President’s Information Technology Council under President Clinton, when Her Highness Sheikha Moza asked me to join their committee. At the time, they were looking for the right partner to bring computer science education to Qatar and asked me if Carnegie Mellon would be interested. I informed the relevant people and the rest, as they say, is history. I am now on the Qatar Foundation Advisory Board and continue to visit Qatar frequently.”

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar was the first undergraduate

idea of a constructive collaboration between our

campus Carnegie Mellon had set up overseas and therefore subject

two nations and two philosophies, and found this

to a great many unknowns, said Dr. Chuck Thorpe, the founding dean. He explained, “First of all, we had to establish if there was a need for this type of curriculum in Qatar, if we could find the right students and if we could obtain the right faculty to come here to teach.

to be in-line with our ethos and mission, and it still is.” By July 2003, a resolution had been signed to establish a branch campus in Qatar. By February 2004, the first faculty and staff were in place. From 2004 to 2010, Dr.

“Details such as how big would the library be and how many students could we accommodate had to be ascertained,” he continued. “We had to establish a business plan, and work out how many staff we would need, both locally and internationally.”

Thorpe was the dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, which offered undergraduate degrees in computer science, business administration and later

In June 2003, Dr. Thorpe flew to Doha with President Cohon and the trustees, to meet with students, explore

information systems.

the suggested location of the university and to learn about the country. “Having met with high school students

Dr. Thorpe said: “I moved over with my family

and established that they were bright, enthusiastic and articulate, we knew we would not have a problem filling

in July 2004 and later that year, in September,

the courses,” he said.

the first students took up places in our courses. Enrollment was the first department to be set up under

Further discussions took place between Qatar Foundation and the trustees, as well as with the leadership of Weill Cornell Medical College, which had already established a branch campus in Education City. The trustees then went on to meet with Her Highness Sheikha Moza in Paris, where she was giving a speech at UNESCO. Mary Jo Dively, vice president and general counsel of Carnegie Mellon, would be tasked with drawing up the agreement between the university and Qatar Foundation. She said: “Qatar Foundation clearly understood all the requirements necessary to establish an overseas campus and were very supportive. We liked the

the guidance of Bill Elliot (who was vice president of enrollment at Carnegie Mellon) and there followed a great deal of hard work.” The curricula had to be developed, student admissions had to be established, faculty sourced and relocated, and an IT department installed. As the Qatar campus leader, Dr. Thorpe oversaw a great deal of change and growth. Student numbers swelled and many went on to win prestigious awards. Following the addition of the third major in Information Systems, the Biological Sciences and Computational Biology degrees were added in 2011.

Dr. Mark Kamlet

Dr. Mohammad Fathy Saoud

Provost and Executive Vice President, Carnegie Mellon University

Special Advisor to the Chairperson, Qatar Foundation Dr. Mohammad Fathy Saoud, the former president of Qatar Foundation, is currently the special advisor to the chairperson of Qatar Foundation. Speaking about the development of Education City and the establishment of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, he says: “His Highness the Father Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, had a clear idea about the power of education to bring about change. His vision was to develop society in Qatar, believing that the greatest resource for any country is its people and that education could be the driving force of change in society. “Therefore, Qatar Foundation decided to partner with top, higher education institutions in the world. We saw this as a great opportunity to do something unique. In bringing leading universities from around the world here to Education City, we have created a culturally diverse and educationally rich environment in Qatar. This diversity is part of its strength and character. We not only succeeded

in offering great educational programs in Education City, we also succeeded in becoming a role model to the rest of the world. We have demonstrated that it is possible to bring people together of different religions, different ethnic backgrounds and different cultures, and encourage them to work together as part of a global society. “Our partnership with Carnegie Mellon Qatar has brought many advantages to Qatar Foundation. For example, the university has played a very important role in the success of Education City through the issue of cross-registration. It is clear that science and education are generally moving towards a multi-disciplinary model and Carnegie Mellon has demonstrated great leadership in bringing this concept to fruition in Qatar. “As an internationally-recognized university, highly ranked by academia around the world, Carnegie Mellon has opened our eyes to the importance of computer science in terms of e-learning. With the institution’s help, we have made many e-learning programs available to young students in our schools. They have also led the way in robotics, an area of great importance for industry in Qatar. “Carnegie Mellon has proved to be one of the most creative and innovative educational institutions in Qatar.”

Members of the first class.

“I think we can look back on what we have achieved over the last 10 years with a great deal of pride,” says Provost Mark Kamlet. “I have relished the opportunity to learn about the country, the culture and the region. This has been an excellent partnership due to the extraordinary vision of His Highness the Father Emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, and Her Highness Sheikha Moza, and one that could not have taken place anywhere else in the Middle East.” Dr. Kamlet has been involved in this partnership from the start and continues to be involved as chair of the Joint Advisory Board. He says the partnership has been a very positive enterprise for the university. “We became known through our Qatar campus as an entrepreneurial, cuttingedge and progressive university. Other universities would ask for our advice on how

to approach education globally. This has also been positive for Qatar, as it works to create a knowledge-based economy where openly sharing ideas becomes important. The country aims to be a player in the global arena, taking a modern approach whilst celebrating the country’s national identity, culture and values. Education City has been a huge and progressive statement about the way Arab nations can become one with the modern world. Qatar stands out globally as a country ready to embrace the future and one that has also furthered Arab-Western relations.”

Growth and development For the inaugural year, Carnegie Mellon Qatar set up home in Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar’s building in Education City. After two years, the success and growth of the programs meant another move, to a larger space in the Liberal Arts and Sciences building, was necessary for the academic year 2007-2008. In fall 2008, the university celebrated the opening of its state-of-the-art building. Designed by Mexican architects Legorreta + Legorreta, the building sits in the heart of Education City. Warm and natural earth colors and materials combine with cascading water features to provide an academic oasis of excellence in learning and research and in the desert. Its central location, with a walkway through the middle that joins the east and west sides of campus, means that students and faculty from all over campus make use of the space, which adds to the sense of community that is so important to Carnegie Mellon.

encourages us to come together to teach, to study and to conduct research. We are truly blessed with a location that will enhance opportunities for collaboration and cross-disciplinary learning.” In July 2010, Dr. G. Richard Tucker, the Paul Mellon University Professor of Applied Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon, took over from Dr. Thorpe, serving as interim dean during the 2010-2011 academic year. Dr. Tucker recalled: “It was a great year. The quality of the staff and faculty in Qatar is really quite amazing. You would expect it to be, but they are really there for the students 24/7. Their commitment and dedication meant I simply had to empower good people to carry on doing good things. They are wonderful and their hearts really are in the work. It made it a fantastic experience.” In March 2011, Dr. Ilker Baybars was named the second dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, a position he assumed in August 2011. Coming from Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business, where he was the deputy dean, the George Leland Bach Chair and professor of operations management, Baybars brought more than 32 years of experience at Carnegie Mellon to the Qatar campus.

At the opening ceremony, Dr. Thorpe, the founding dean, commented, “We’re far from the main campus in distance but we can bring the same spirit of Carnegie Mellon’s ‘Tartans’ to Qatar. This building provides a wonderful space that

Mary Jo Dively

Vice President and General Counsel, Carnegie Mellon University As lead negotiator, Mary Jo Dively drafted the university’s contract with Qatar Foundation and has been involved from the outset of the partnership. She says, “I love Qatar and am in awe of what the country has achieved in such a short time. We found the vision of the country’s leadership inspirational and the prospect to build an education infrastructure in the country appealing. We were intrigued by their mission to bring top universities in the world together, each offering some of their best majors. It was the first time we had considered offering our undergraduate degrees outside our main campus. “We knew Qatar was a vibrant place, very committed to its future as a knowledgebased economy. Qatar Foundation made it very clear they wanted to replicate what we had in Pittsburgh with literally no constraints. They wanted us to have academic freedom of instruction, the students to have the freedom to research

and investigate, and for the standards of excellence in academic achievement to remain exactly the same. “Our Board of Trustees was very excited and committed to the partnership. We signed an agreement in February 2004 and operations started right away. It has been a rousing success by all measures. We have educated a lot of students; we have added to the education resources of the country; brought research where it was needed and wanted; and we feel very good about the way we have integrated into Qatar.” Dively is also a member of the Joint Advisory Board and has visited Qatar many times. “It has become a real love of mine,” she says. “It’s a passion to make sure we continue to do this in the way we set out to do it 10 years ago.”

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H.H. Sheikha Moza bint Nasser attends the official building opening ceremony.

Since joining Education City 10 years ago, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar has . Below we highlight just a few of them.

achieved a great many milestones

February 2004

The ﬁrst staff and faculty take up positions in Qatar. The founding dean is Dr. Charles E. Thorpe, who was head of Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute before coming to Doha.

march 10, 2005

August 2004

The ﬁrst classes are held in the Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar building. Forty-one students are enrolled in the business administration and computer science programs.

July 17, 2003

A special meeting of Carnegie Mellon University’s Board of Trustees passes a resolution formally establishing a branch campus in Qatar.

2003

Student Majlis elections take place and ﬁrst student body president is elected.

July 20, 2007

2004 Faculty, staff and students move into the new building, centrally located in Education City.

June 1, 2007 Twenty-three business administration and 12 computer science students receive diplomas at the inaugural graduation.

July 1, 2007

Faculty and staff relocate from the Weill Cornell Medical College building to the LAS building.

2008 November 12, 2008

The Ibtikar outreach event is launched, aiming to get high school students interested in the ﬁeld of information systems.

February 22, 2009

H.H. Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani and H.H. Sheikha Moza bint Nasser attend the Building Opening Celebration.

2009

The inaugural CS4Qatar outreach program is held to generate excitement about computer science among high school students and help teachers incorporate computer science principles into their curricula.

April 2009

Keghani Kouzoujian is the ﬁrst student to receive a Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship. Since then Samreen Anjum (2010) and Sidra Alam and Hanan Mohammed Alshikhabobakr (2012) have received Anita Borg scholarships.

An Endowed Chair is gifted by Qatar Foundation to the university. Dr. Raj Reddy is the ﬁrst recipient of the Moza bint Nasser Chair of Computer Science and Robotics in honor of H.H. Sheikha Moza.

May 2006

H.H. Sheikha Moza bint Nasser delivers the keynote speech at Carnegie Mellon’s 109th Commencement in Pittsburgh, where she also received an honorary doctorate.

September 2007

May 5, 2007

The campus launches its Information Systems major, an internationally recognized bachelor of science degree.

The Meeting of the Minds undergraduate research symposium, a Pittsburgh campus tradition, is launched in Qatar.

August 2011

A groundbreaking ceremony celebrates the start of work on the new Carnegie Mellon Qatar building.

2007

September 2011

Dr. G. Richard Tucker, the Paul Mellon University Professor of Applied Linguistics at Carnegie Mellon, becomes interim dean for Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar for academic year 2010-11.

Carnegie Mellon Qatar and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar launch joint undergraduate degrees in biological sciences and computational biology.

2011

May 16, 2005

May 2006

Dr. Ilker Baybars, Deputy Dean and the George Leland Bach Chair and Professor of Operations Management at the Tepper School of Business, becomes dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

July 2010

2010

march 2005

2005

Summer College Preview Program is launched, a rigorous program designed to prepare students for the demanding curriculum of a selective American university.

August 1, 2008

May 5, 2008

September 2004

The Inaugural Celebration and Evening Gala is attended by H.H. Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation.

The ﬁrst International Botball Robotics event is held to engage high school students in the practical applications of science, math, engineering and technology.

2006 December 14, 2011

The ﬁrst group of high school students get a taste of the biological sciences degree at the Biotechnology Explorer Program.

February 2013

Students organize a 24-hour hackathon, bringing the culture of innovation to life by challenging students to develop an app in a day.

2013

February 2014

The Business Administration program welcomes high school students for the ﬁrst Tajer Day outreach program.

2014

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His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser stand with Carnegie Mellon students at the official building opening ceremony.

Flourishing programs Over the past decade, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar’s enrollment has grown from 41 students to the current 400 students. While the number of students has grown, class sizes have stayed small, which encourages productive faculty-to-student interaction and, in turn, delivers individualized attention.

Computing and technology is one area available to information systems students, but they may also specialize in the business application of technology, user experience and design, or technology in a global context. Carnegie Mellon Qatar now offers five majors with the addition of the Biological Sciences and Computational Biology programs. Dr. Kenneth Hovis, director of the Biological Sciences program, said these courses will play a big role in the country’s future.

Dr. Sham Kekre, director of the Business Administration program, explained the ideology behind a Carnegie Mellon education and how it has evolved in Qatar over the years. He said: “The three pillars of education are learning, experiencing and leading. We don’t just open a textbook and impart knowledge to students; rather, we teach them how to learn as a lifelong journey. Over the years, our content has become more relevant to the region as senior faculty have settled here and seen the phenomenal growth of Qatar. We also offer breadth as well as depth to the education.”

As the first Carnegie Mellon campus to be established overseas, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar was, says Dr. Thorpe, subject to a great many unknowns.

Kekre is referring to the comprehensive range of courses and learning available to Carnegie Mellon students so they gain a holistic education. The depth comes with elective courses that focus on specialty areas. Carnegie Mellon students also gain experience through the many and varied clubs, associations, field trips and guest lectures on offer, all of which help them develop confidence, character and integrity.

“First of all, we had to establish if there was a need for this type of curriculum in Qatar, if we could find the right students, and if we could obtain the right faculty to come here to teach.”

Carnegie Mellon offers one of the top undergraduate Computer Science programs in the world. When first offered in Qatar in 2004, there was a great amount of interest from the local community. Dr. Kemal Oflazer, director of the Computer Science program, explained: “While the program drew a lot of interest, there was limited understanding about what computer science entails. Coupled with the rigour of the curriculum, we felt it was necessary to introduce a comprehensive outreach campaign in high schools, developing programs such as CS4Qatar. Since then, our numbers have increased steadily every year, as has the general understanding of the field. Carnegie Mellon Qatar computer science students have won prestigious international awards and progressed to high profile careers in top-tier Qatari and international companies.” In fall 2007, the Information Systems program was added, a subject that was not available in the country at the time. The intake of students has more than doubled since the program started, and it is now running at full capacity, which is a testament to the value it adds to the academic community in Qatar, said Dr. Selma Limam Mansar, director of the program.

Dr. Charles E. Thorpe

Founding Dean, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Dr. Charles E. “Chuck” Thorpe had three decades of teaching and leadership experience at Carnegie Mellon before coming to Qatar in 2004 to set up the new campus.

In June 2003, Dr. Thorpe flew to Doha, along with President Jared Cohon and the trustees. The group met with students, explored the suggested location of the university and learned about the country. “We had to ascertain if such an entity would survive here,” he explains, “but having met with high school students and establishing that they were bright, enthusiastic and articulate, we knew we wouldn’t have a problem filling the courses.”

Next came a great deal of hard work, according to Dr. Thorpe. The curriculum had to be devised, student admissions established, faculty sourced and relocated, and an IT department installed. “However, following the signing of the agreement in 2003, we had courses up and running in 2004. I moved over with my family in July 2004 and later that year we had our first students.”

400

41 2004-05

2012-13

Enrollment Growth

A collaborative community “These have been a great addition to Carnegie Mellon in Qatar and the graduates will fill valuable jobs in this region. They contribute to Qatar’s National Vision 2030, which seeks to improve public health through scientific research. Our program fits well with the work being carried out at Sidra and Hamad Corporation, as well as with organizations such as Qatar Biobank. As medicine evolves, technology plays an increasing role and our students are at the forefront of this change.” As a research university, Carnegie Mellon prides itself on identifying and solving real-world problems, and Carnegie Mellon Qatar has continued this tradition. Research involves teams composed of faculty, post-doctoral fellows, and students, and includes collaborations beyond our institution. Since the inception of the Qatar National Research Fund, faculty, researchers and students at Carnegie Mellon Qatar have been awarded a total of 53 research grants. A number of different themes are being addressed in these awards, many of them clearly aligned with Qatar’s goals of developing a knowledge-based economy and preserving Qatari heritage. Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s research activities have been recognized at Qatar Foundation’s Annual Research Conference. In 2012 and 2013, Dr. Khaled Harras won the award for Best Computing & IT research, while Dr. Dudley Reynolds received the Best Poster Award in the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities in 2013.

Innovation through collaboration is the Carnegie Mellon mantra, so it is not surprising that the university was the first in Education City to offer a collaborative degree program. Established in 2011, the Biological Sciences program is delivered through a partnership with Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. Carnegie Mellon Qatar also collaborates with Northwestern University in Qatar on shared minors. Since 2011, Carnegie Mellon students can take courses in contemporary media studies at Northwestern University and Northwestern University students can take Carnegie Mellon’s business administration minor. Following the success of this, the university has opened courses that may lead to minors in business administration, computer science and information systems to students from all Education City universities, with Texas A&M students already starting to take advantage of the business minor in 2013. Memoranda of Understanding to Create Strategic Partnerships • General Secretariat for Development Planning • Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy • Permanent Committee for Drug and Alcohol Affairs Ministry of Interior • Ministry of Foreign Affairs • Police Training Institute-Ministry of Interior • Al Jazeera Media Network • Qatar Statistics Authority • Supreme Education Council • RasGas Company • Qatar Finance and Business Academy • Al Faisal Holding • Ezdan Holding • Ooredoo • Qatar Airways • Commercial Bank of Qatar

Faculty and staff who have been at Carnegie Mellon Qatar since the beginning (left to right): Ahmed Husaine, Housing and Transportation Manager; Fadhel Annan, Assistant Dean for Government and Corporate Affairs; Abdullah Ibrahim, Housing and Transportation Coordinator; Amal Al-Malki, Associate Teaching Professor, English; Benjamin Reilly, Associate Teaching Professor, History; Gloria Khoury, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs; Stephen MacNeil, Web Manager and Senior Multimedia Designer; and Marion Oliver, Teaching Professor, Mathematics.

The university also offers a comprehensive community outreach program in collaboration with many of Qatar’s high schools. These pre-college programs prepare students for the college application process, introduce them to the majors on offer and educate them on the types of career paths the university’s graduates may follow. Each year, hundreds of students attend programs such as: Summer College Preview Program, the Biotechnology Explorer Program, Botball, CS4Qatar and the Ibtikar Information Systems outreach program. The university has also established a Professional and Executive Education program, enabling professionals to hone their leadership skills and enhancing the university’s ties with key entities in Qatar.

Saleh Al-Raisi Class of 2014

Saleh Al-Raisi, a business administration student in the class of 2014, was the president of the student body at Carnegie Mellon Qatar last year. Upon graduating, he plans to become a consultant or join an international oil and gas company in Doha. “The experience for students at Carnegie Mellon Qatar is unmatched. Carnegie Mellon has top professors and facilities. We have access to accomplished professors and, because the campus is small, you can get to know them on a personal level. They’ve been entrepreneurs and have many stories to tell. They started up companies and sold them for millions, and they are teaching you with an open door policy. Any student coming here should definitely take advantage of that.”

Student achievements The success of Carnegie Mellon’s programs is not only measured by the number of students who graduate, but also by the national and international awards, scholarships, and recognitions bestowed upon them. In the past five years, four computer science students have won prestigious Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarships, which include a stipend and a trip to Zurich, Switzerland, for the Google Scholars’ Retreat. The scholarship program, named after computer science pioneer Anita Borg, supports undergraduate and postgraduate women completing degrees in computer science and related areas, recognizing and encouraging the next generation of technical

leaders and role models.

Computer Science graduate Ahmad Al-Salama is a graduate trainee at Sidra Medical and Research Center.

Last year, Amna AlZeyara, won first place in the undergraduate research competition at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference. Several others have won research awards from the Qatar Annual Research Forum and for the past three years the Qatar Annual Research Forum Student Award in Computing and IT has gone to Carnegie Mellon students. Another Carnegie Mellon Qatar student was recognized by Phi Beta Kappa, an honor bestowed on fewer than one percent of college graduates and generally considered one of the most selective and prestigious of all college honor societies. Perhaps the biggest indicator of student success is in the career paths they follow after graduating. More than 90 percent of the university’s alumni have gained employment with the region’s top organizations such as ConocoPhillips, Google, HSBC Bank, Microsoft, Qatar Petroleum, Sidra Medical and Research Center and Vodafone to name a few. Others are accepted on to graduate courses at esteemed institutions including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, London School of Economics and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Sidra Alam and Hanan Mohammed Alshikhabobakr are 2012 recipients of Google Anita Borg Memorial Scholarships.

Dana Haidan Class of 2009

Dana Haidan is the head of corporate social responsibility for Vodafone Qatar and a business administration graduate from the class of 2009. Haidan credits Carnegie Mellon Qatar for her success and says it is as much due to the extracurricular opportunities offered to students as it is to the rigorous educational programs. She says, “I wanted to achieve success in the corporate arena and I knew that Carnegie Mellon offered one of the best programs in the world, so I was very excited to be accepted into the business administration program. Being a student at Carnegie Mellon Qatar gave me the confidence I needed to excel. The university has so many student organizations that carry out charitable work in Education City, the wider community and internationally. This culture and ethos is what helped inform my decision to work in the field of corporate social responsibility. I learned how important it is to give back to the community.”

World-class Faculty

Dr. Raj Reddy is the Moza bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics and a Turing

Bringing the spirit of the Carnegie Mellon community to Qatar required much more than finding the right students

delivering a lecture on computer technology as part of the Distinguished Lecture series.

and teaching them the right set of courses. It was first and foremost necessary to bring experienced Carnegie Mellon faculty to senior positions within the Qatar campus. Dr. Ilker Baybars, dean and CEO, is the George Leland Bach Chair and Professor of Operations. He has now been with Carnegie Mellon for more than three decades, many of them spent as the deputy dean of the Tepper School of Business. Also on the faculty are three University Professors, the highest and most prestigious rank attainable at Carnegie Mellon, as well as winners

Award winner. He has led a course in computer architecture for Carnegie Mellon Qatar students as well as The faculty now includes five chaired professors, 12 full professors, 11 associate professors, 15 assistant professors and many special appointments and visiting faculty. Carnegie Mellon Qatar started small with a few dozen students and a few faculty members, but with big ambitions. It is now growing and nurturing a new generation of regional leaders and entrepreneurs; academics and researchers; and scientists and business people. The century-old tradition of learning through innovation, dedication to solving important problems and developing humanitarian people has been transported across

of the most distinguished

oceans and continents to be embraced by the staff, faculty and students in Qatar.

awards, such as the Turing Award (computer science)

Carnegie Mellon did not achieve this alone but with the support, vision and dedication of Her Highness Sheikha

and the Nobel Prize

Moza bint Nasser and Qatar Foundation. The university also works strategically with many government agencies

(economic sciences).

and Qatari companies to partner in education, research and community

Dr. Takeo Kanade is the U.A.

development. Among many other

and Helen Whitaker University

benefits, these have led to new

Professor of computer science

internship and placement opportunities

and robotics and has won

for students and graduates.

the Allen Newell Research Excellence Award among

Almost 300 students have now

many others. He first taught

graduated from the university’s

students in Qatar last year

programs and most of them are

and has returned for the 2014 spring semester.

employed in Qatar and the region. More

Faculty at the 2013 graduation ceremony.

than a third of them are Qatari nationals. Since 2004, Carnegie Mellon’s goals as

Dr. Finn E. Kydland holds the Richard P. Simmons Distinguished Professorship, and is University Professor of

a global institution have been aligned

economics and the 2004 Nobel Laureate in Economics. Dr. Kydland is teaching an undergraduate class this

with Qatar Foundation’s aim to create

academic year, having previously delivered lectures in business management as part of the university’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

Carnegie Mellon Qatar celebrates its first graduates in 2008.

the next generation of thinkers and leaders who will lead the development

of the country, the region and the world. By this measure, Carnegie Mellon Qatar has made a meaningful contribution to Qatar over the past ten years. May this vision continue for many more.

* Undergraduate Degrees By Year Started

Business Administration

Computer science Information Systems Biological Sciences Computational Biology

2004-05 2004-05 2007-08 2011-12 2011-12

2008

2009

2010

2011

Graduates

2012

2013

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar has enjoyed visits from global thought leaders, dignitaries and innovators, here are a few… Takeo Kanade

Sir Richard Branson

(November, 2008 and February 2013)

(May 2010)

Renowned researcher and robotics professor, Dr. Takeo Kanade is the U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon University. One of the world’s foremost researchers in computer vision, Dr. Kanade spoke to students, faculty and the community as part of the Distinguished Lecture Series.

Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group of Companies, engaged in a dialog with Carnegie Mellon Qatar students and alumni about his many diverse ventures and what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur and global citizen. He said, “The students embody the spirit of Virgin, with their enthusiasm and visionary ideas. Carnegie Mellon and Virgin share the same spirit of entrepreneurship.”

Bill Gates

Paula Wagner

(April 2009)

(October 2010)

Bill Gates, founder and chairman of Microsoft Corporation, spoke at Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s new building in Education City when he attended the 3rd International Conference on Information and Communications Technology and Development (ICTD). As the featured speaker he said he was excited about the cutting-edge research conducted here.

Paula Wagner, renowned Hollywood producer and former top talent agent and studio executive, paid a visit to Carnegie Mellon Qatar during the second annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama and a member of the university’s Board of Trustees, it was Wagner’s first visit to her alma mater’s campus in Qatar.

Hillary Clinton

Chuck Thacker

(February 2010)

(January 2013)

Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, came to Carnegie Mellon Qatar to hold a question-and-answer session with the Education City community. She talked about the importance of education and the role it plays in providing opportunities for youth, especially women, in the region.

Dr. Chuck Thacker received the Association for Computing Machinery’s A.M Turing Award in 2009 for his numerous contributions to the field, including his pioneering design and realization of the Alto, the first modern personal computer. Dr. Thacker delivered a lecture on the challenges facing computing in the 21st century.

Steven Chu

Gordon Bell

(February 2010)

(February 2013)

Dr. Chu, U.S. Secretary of Energy, is a distinguished scientist and co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1997. He supports an education initiative for training new scientists on basic and applied research on clean energy. Secretary Chu took questions from students and guests on a range of topics, including U.S. energy policy, energy pricing and ways to reach a global agreement on reducing emissions.

Dr. Gordon Bell, principal researcher in the Microsoft Research Silicon Valley Laboratory, delivered a lecture at Carnegie Mellon Qatar titled, “Digital Lifelog: Capturing Every Activity in Our Lives.” Dr. Bell argued that by using e-memory as a surrogate for human memory, we free our minds to engage in more creativity, learning and innovation.

Finn Kydland (February 2013)

Carnegie Mellon alumnus Dr. Finn Kydland was the joint recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences with Edward C. Prescott. Kydland gave a lecture during the Distinguished Lecture Series in Business Management at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.