Summer 2014 Fall 2014
عشر سنوات في الدوحة صاحبة السمو الشيخة موزا بنت ناصر تشهد احتفالية الذكرى العاشرة لتأسيس كارنيجي ميلون في قطر
A Decade in doha Her Highness Sheikha Moza attends 10-year celebration
Exploring Innovation in
SILICON VALLEY page 20
Class of 2014 Ready to
ServE Society page 24
Play Raises Money for
Syrian Refugees page 29
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
Features
عشر سنوات في الدوحة صاحبة السمو الشيخة موزا بنت ناصر تشهد احتفالية الذكرى العاشرة لتأسيس كارنيجي ميلون في قطر
A Decade in Doha
Her Highness Sheikha Moza Attends 10-year Celebration
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Exploring Silicon Valley
25 students learn ingredients of U.S. technology hub
24
16
Ready, Set, Grad
Graduates urged to use their education and experience to serve society
CONTENTS
Summer 2014 Fall 2014
3 - 15
On the record.
Highlight
On:
8
Japan Trip Introduces Students to Economic Powerhouse
Business
Research
28
Tajer-Day is CMU-Q’s First Business Outreach Program
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Student Life
29 Science Fiction Comes to Life
Science 30 Student Set to Become Leader
in Applying Computational Methods to Biological Problems
Twitter Sentiment Analysis Project Wins at Meeting of the Minds
Pittsburgh 36 Brightest Information Systems
Undergraduates Convene in Pittsburgh
Alumni 37 Graduate Takes Education to
New Heights
A publication of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar A member of Qatar Foundation P.O. Box 24866, Doha, Qatar www.qatar.cmu.edu Dean and CEO
Ilker Baybars, Ph.D. Executive Director of Marketing & Public Relations
D. Murry Evans Assistant Director
Kara Nesimiuk Administrative Coordinator
Marissa Edulan
Manager of Alumni Relations/Media Support
This spring, we celebrated Carnegie Mellon University’s 10th anniversary in Qatar. Our event on campus was nothing short of spectacular, and we were delighted to welcome H.H. Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser, Carnegie Mellon President Subra Suresh, and many distinguished guests from Qatar and the United States.
Feras Villanueva
Manager of Multimedia and Graphic Design
Sam Abraham
Web Manager/Senior Multimedia Designer
Stephen MacNeil
Communications Manager/Senior Editor
Sarah Nightingale
MPR Advisory Board Chairperson
Dudley Reynolds, Ph.D. Members
Tom Emerson, Ph.D. Susan Hagan, Ph.D. Khaled Harras, Ph.D. Kenneth Hovis, Ph.D. Gloria Khoury Selma Limam Mansar, Ph.D. Editor
Sarah Nightingale Writer
Sarah Nightingale Proofreader
Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Photographs
Khalid Ismail, Adrian Haddad, Stephen MacNeil, Sam Abraham Layout
Empire Advertising Qatar For editorial inquires or reprints, contact the Marketing & Public Relations Department at mpr@qatar.cmu.edu Articles and photographs contained in this publication are subject to copyright protection. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the university.
As dean of the Doha campus since 2011 and a member of Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s Joint Advisory Board since the beginning, I’ve seen the campus grow from concept to reality, and from 41 students taking classes in the Weill Cornell Medical College building to 400 students in Carnegie Mellon’s state-of-the-art facility in Education City. Our program offerings have also increased. In 2004, we delivered undergraduate degrees in business administration and computer science. Since then, we’ve added programs in information systems, biological sciences and computational biology. In Doha, you only have to look around you to see the country’s rapid growth. One of Qatar Foundation’s biggest projects, Sidra Medical and Research Center, will be ultra modern and completely digital. The recently opened Hamad International Airport will be among the largest in the region. The National Museum of Qatar is under construction and will help preserve the country’s history and heritage. (In case you didn’t know, Carnegie Mellon Qatar graduates are employed at all of these organizations.) When Qatari leaders committed to transforming oil and gas revenues into a diversified economy, they realized their most important investment would be in the country’s people. Qatar must prepare the next generation of scientists, creators and business leaders who will lead the country and make a lasting impact on society. That is why Qatar Foundation invited Carnegie Mellon to Qatar, and that is what we have achieved—through more than 300 innovative and enthusiastic graduates. I look forward to seeing the contributions they will make over the next decade. Thank you for your interest in Carnegie Mellon Qatar.
Ilker Baybars Dean & CEO
On the record.
Summer 2014 Fall 2014
EVENTS January Students build cool apps in 24 hours at the Hackathon. February H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani, chairman of Ooredoo, shares the findings of a new study, “Young, Arab and Connected.” March Students compete in the Quick Startup entrepreneurship program. April Bart Cahir, president of ExxonMobil Qatar, shares his outlook on the energy sector. May Carnegie Mellon Qatar celebrates 80 graduates.
Students, Faculty Help Share Ideas Worth Spreading In a talk that was part fractals and part life experiences, Mark Stehlik, associate dean at Carnegie Mellon Qatar, urged students to maximize their potential at this year’s TEDxEducationCity conference, which was held at the Education City Student Center this January. Stehlik was one of six speakers who shared their interpretations of the event’s theme, “Branch Out.” Joining him were Susan Pak, a screenwriting professor at Northwestern University in Qatar; Eyad Masad, assistant dean for research and graduate studies at Texas A&M University at Qatar; Sara Al-Saadi, a documentary filmmaker; Omar Chatriwala, journalist and co-founder/publisher of Doha News; and Memoonah Zainab, a lawyer and community educator. The event was organized by students from Carnegie Mellon and other Education City universities, and drew more than 400 students, faculty and community members. “There’s no better place for the exchange of ideas that TEDx conferences stimulate than Education City, where branch campuses of six American universities come together in a unique environment that encourages students and faculty to work collectively and collaboratively across disciplines,” Stehlik said. “I hope my talk on how to overcome one’s natural reluctance to branch out, even as today’s global world increasingly demands it, provides food for thought as students consider the next steps in their academic careers and beyond.” Founded in 1984, TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to “ideas worth spreading” that started as an annual conference bringing together people from three disciplines: technology, entertainment and design. The TEDx program gives communities and organizations the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. Watch Stehlik’s talk here: http://qatar.cmu.edu/galleries/showvideos/67
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
3
On the record.
Students Build Cool Apps in 24 Hours at Hackathon This year’s winning team for the best overall app, V-Hack, created “Tweetmotions,” an application that extracts sentiments from live tweets. “We can’t believe what we achieved in just 24 hours and are excited about perfecting the application that we have created. Hackathon definitely puts the fun back into coding!” said Hira Yasin Dhamyal, a freshman in computer science at Carnegie Mellon and V-Hack team member. In the run-up to the competition, participants had the opportunity to attend talks and interactive workshops on topics that teach students how to solve computational problems and move tech ideas from concept to reality.
Led entirely by students, Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s Hackathon competition saw its second edition this spring. The event was organized by the Carnegie Apps student group and sponsored by Vodafone, and brought together more than 40 students from across Qatar to build cool mobile applications and games in just 24 hours.
The students were mentored and judged by Carnegie Mellon alumni and representatives from companies including Vodafone, Microsoft and Williams F1. The winning applications were chosen based on their design, concept and creativity, with the prizes including Blackberry Q10s and iPads.
A Nobel Teacher In the late ’70s and early ’80s, Finn Kydland and Edward Prescott published groundbreaking research on the time consistency of economic policies and the driving forces behind business cycles. In 2004, they were recognized for their contributions with the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Kydland, who holds the Richard P. Simmons Distinguished Professorship at Carnegie Mellon and is the Henley Professor of Economics at the University of California in Santa Barbara, doesn’t usually teach undergraduates. But this spring, Kydland taught undergraduate business administration students at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. “We were thrilled to welcome our first Nobel laureate to deliver a course at Carnegie Mellon Qatar,” said Dean Ilker Baybars. “Dr. Kydland has made contributions of great significance to the field of macroeconomics, and this was a rare opportunity for our students to learn from a renowned economist.” Kydland, a CMU alumnus, first visited the Qatar campus last year to deliver a distinguished lecture in business management. This semester, he spent five weeks on the Qatar campus, where he co-taught a course on Advanced Topics in Macroeconomics and Real Business Cycles with Patrick Sileo, associate dean and associate professor of economics and finance.
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“Yet again, Carnegie Mellon Qatar students have delivered a great event; participants came with ideas and transformed these into a working application and demonstration in just 24 hours. Everyone who entered showcased excellent ideas that really simplify the concept of computer programming,” said Thierry Sans, assistant teaching professor of computer science.
Distinguished Speakers Talk About Big Data
Distinguished lecturers this spring (left to right): Kannan Srinivasan, Tom M. Mitchell and Jaime Carbonell.
From the value of celebrity endorsements to the applications of machine learning, the campus explored research on big data during three distinguished lectures this spring. Each of the lectures drew students, faculty and community members.
Tom M. Mitchell and Jaime Carbonell spoke about different applications of machine learning, which uses the properties of a relatively small known sample to make predictions about a much-larger unknown sample.
Using 13 years of sales data, the Tepper School’s Kannan Srinivasan put a monetary value on celebrity endorsements in his talk on “Business Insights from Big Data” by showing how sales of Nike golf balls increased by 118,000 packs per month when Tiger Woods was using them and playing well. Srinivasan, who is the Rohet Tolani Distinguished Professor of International Business and H.J. Heinz II Professor of Management, Marketing and Business Technologies, spoke in Qatar as part of the Richard M. Cyert Distinguished Lecture Series in Business Management.
In a talk titled “Machine Learning, Optimization and Useful Applications,” Carbonell highlighted some of the challenges associated with working with big data, which he defined as not just massive in size, but also highly complex and multi-dimensional.
In two A. Nico Habermann Distinguished Lectures in Computer Science, professors
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
Big data, he said, is being used to address challenges such as diagnosing diseases, pinpointing financial fraud among billions of transactions and determining the role that newly discovered proteins play in our bodies. Carbonell is director of the Language Technologies Institute and University
Professor in Language Technologies and Computer Science. Mitchell, the E. Fredkin University Professor and head of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon, worked with a multi-disciplinary team in Pittsburgh to analyze neural imaging data collected over a decade, and discussed his results in a talk titled “How does the Brain Represent Meaning?” The group investigated the neural patterns that emerge in the brain when a person is asked to think of a noun or related action, and then trained a computer to recognize these patterns and predict the word a person is thinking about, based on their brain activity. The researchers hope the technology might have practical applications in treating people with language impairments or disorders.
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On the record.
Technology Offers Hope for Young Arabs by the Qatari telecommunications company Ooredoo to provide a snapshot of the digital aspirations and attitudes of young people across the region. H.E. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al Thani, chairman of Ooredoo, premiered the study’s findings during a Dean’s Lecture at Carnegie Mellon Qatar this February. Joining him on stage were Carnegie Mellon Qatar alumni Hassan Al-Mulla and Maha Al-Khulaifi, who were both sponsored by Ooredoo as students and now work for the company.
Eight out of 10 young people in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region are optimistic about the future, with many pinning high hopes on the Internet and technology to help them hone their entrepreneurial spirits and build a forward-thinking society. These are some of the findings of an extensive online survey, “Young, Arab and Connected,” which was commissioned
Other important findings include nine in 10 young MENA citizens believe access to the Internet and mobile digital technology can help them realize their personal aspirations for employment, entrepreneurial opportunities and education, and that most respondents believe in equality between men and women. H.E. Sheikh Abdullah said the results would serve Ooredoo’s roadmap in creating the technology infrastructure needed to drive growth and development in Qatar and other countries in the region. View the results of the survey here: www.ooredoonewhorizons.com
التكنولوجيا تحمل األمل للشباب العربي شباب في منطقة الشرق األوسط وشمال10 ثمانية من كل ويعلقون آما ًال،أفريقيا يشعرون بالتفاؤل إزاء المستقبل عريضة على اإلنترنت والتكنولوجيا في مساعدتهم على صقل روح المبادرة لديهم وبناء مجتمع متطور يستشرف .المستقبل كانت تلك بعض نتائج استطالع الرأي الواسع الذي تم عبر بتكليف من،» وعلى تواصل، عرب، بعنوان «شباب،اإلنترنت التعرف على تطلعات،Ooredoo شركة االتصاالت القطرية على مستوى،الشباب ومواقفهم تجاه التكنولوجيا الرقمية .منطقة الشرق األوسط وشمال أفريقيا ،وقد كشف سعادة الشيخ عبد اهلل بن محمد بن سعود آل ثاني عن نتائج هذه الدراسة خالل،Ooredoo رئيس مجلس إدارة شركة سلسلة محاضرات العميد التي أقيمت في جامعة كارنيجي وانضم إليه على المنصة خريجا.ميلون قطر في شهر فبراير ،جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر حسن المال ومها الخليفي وهما اآلن يعمالن في، كطالبينOoredoo اللذين رعتهما شركة .الشركة من النتائج المهمة التي توصل إليها االستبيان كذلك أن شباب في منطقة الشرق األوسط وشمال10 تسعة من كل أفريقيا يرون أن االتصال باإلنترنت والتكنولوجيا الرقمية المتنقلة يساعدهم في تحقيق تطلعاتهم الشخصية في التعليم والحصول على وظيفة وفرص ريادة األعمال؛ ويؤمن .أكثر المشاركين بالمساواة بين الرجل والمرأة وقال سعادة الشيخ عبد اهلل أن النتائج ستكون بمثابة خارطة في إنشاء البنية التحتية التقنيةOoredoo طريق لشركة الالزمة لدفع عجلة النمو والتنمية في قطر وغيرها من بلدان : شاهد نتائج االستبيان هنا.المنطقة www.ooredoonewhorizons.com
Carnegie Mellon Qatar Connects Students with Top Employers Carnegie Mellon Qatar held another successful annual Professional Day, a career and networking fair that provides an opportunity for students to meet face-to-face with private and public companies from an array of sectors in Qatar and the region. Almost 50 companies from industries as varied as digital media, consumer goods and health care came to Carnegie Mellon Qatar for the event, looking to hire students. Companies attending Professional Day for the first time included Dubai-based companies McKinsey & Company, SAP, and Cummins Middle East FZE.
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Students Win at GCC Henkel Challenge The competition challenged students to create an innovative, sustainable product or technology for the Henkel brand in 2050. Headquartered in Düsseldorf, Henkel operates in three business areas: laundry and home care, beauty care, and adhesive technologies. Sarah Mustafa and Jaasim Polin, who are both seniors, came up with an idea for “the world’s first smart, programmable beauty product.” “This is a beauty cream that is made of living proteins, with digital data stored in them. Users can control it through software on a computer. The cream will be able to reproduce a 3D model of the user’s face and display it on an external device. The user will then be able to retouch their face, such as changing shades or colors, hiding pimples, and improving glow,” Polin said. Asli Tumer Sezgin, organization development manager at GCC Henkel, said the team represented the best of Carnegie Mellon’s “education, enthusiasm and innovative spirit.”
Jaasim Polin and Sarah Mustafa.
Two information systems students won first place in the Henkel Innovation Challenge 7 regional semi-final in Dubai this spring. The team went on to take second place in the international final, which was held in Düsseldorf, Germany.
Twenty-one teams from 30 countries competed in the international final.
ACHIEVEMENTS
Congratulations to “Delta Consulting” on winning the 2014 Internal Case Competition. Business administration students Anas Farah, Shafiya Fasalu and Amalan Roshan claimed the trophy along with Haris Aghadi, an information systems student, and Nancy Yue, a double major in business administration and statistics from the Pittsburgh campus. The team impressed the judges with a plan for how the communications company Ooredoo could use its recent survey, “Young, Arab and Connected,” to gain customers in Tunisia and Algeria.
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
Carnegie Mellon Qatar students rounded out another successful debating season, placing second overall in the Qatar University Debate League. Nawal Mir, a freshman in business administration, was named top novice speaker and Narcis Sadat Jafarian, a senior in business administration, was named second-best speaker. In a two-day championship marking the end of the debate year, students Valeria Garcia and Zuhair Syed were finalists and Nawal Mir and Yousuf Akhlaq were semi-finalists.
Three CMU-Q teams competed at the Gulf Programming Contest organized by the American University of Dubai, UAE, this spring. Teams “Brainiacs,” “NB-Hard” and “Tasty Brownies” ranked second, fourth and 26th respectively. More than 50 teams from around the Gulf region competed. A team of CMU-Q computer science students also took first place out of 29 teams at the Qatar Collegiate Programming Contest 2014, held at Qatar University in March. Dilsher Ahmed, Naassih Gopee and John Naguib of the winning team NB-Hard received a cash prize and an invitation to a summer training program at the Digital Incubation Centre.
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On the record.
Japan Trip Introduces Students to Economic Powerhouse
for students in information systems and business administration. Gloria Khoury, assistant dean for student affairs, and Kevin D’Arco, student development coordinator, also participated. Emerson said the trip offered an introduction to business, social and cultural practices in Japan, and a look at how high-quality manufacturing has contributed to the country’s success.
The world’s third-largest economy today, Japan recovered from devastation during World War II to become a major manufacturing hub for automobiles, electronics and consumer products. This spring, 12 students traveled to Japan to find out what makes it the economic and technological powerhouse it is today. Tom Emerson, distinguished career professor of entrepreneurship, and Ray Tsai, professor of practice, information systems, led the weeklong trip, which was part of an independent study class
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“Japan was the first country to adopt the principles of quality manufacturing developed by American quality pioneer W. Edwards Deming in the 1960s,” Emerson said. “Today, Japanese manufacturing is synonymous with the highest standards of excellence. Our students observed the integration of state-of-the-art robotics and information technologies with Deming’s empowerment of workers to make continuous improvements aimed at zero-defect manufacturing.” A highlight of the trip was a tour of the Toyota manufacturing facilities in Nagoya. “Our tour of the production line was a sight to see. The level of precision, quality and organization was unmatched by anything
that I have seen before. Toyota developed these processes when their manufacturing activities began and, over time, refined them to perfection; one can clearly see how Japan has capitalized on its human potential,” said Rafay Abbasi, a senior in business administration. The group also visited Tokyo Gas, the nation’s largest natural gas provider, and several startups, including Sixapart, a blogging software company that was founded by Carnegie Mellon alumnus Nobuhiro Seki. Sightseeing in the capital and visits to Waseeda University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology completed the trip. Abassi said the group was impressed by the widespread culture of innovation, but could see potential problems with the top-heavy management style in Japan. “After studying Japanese companies, one realizes that all communication is top-down with very little two-way communication channels. The top management of the company makes most of the decisions, with little or no feedback from the lower-level managers,” he said.
Students Compete in CMU-Q’s Entrepreneurship Program Twenty budding entrepreneurs from universities in Qatar were coached this spring as they developed business plans and presented investor pitches at Quick Startup 2014, a business-training program launched this year by Carnegie Mellon Qatar. The three-day program aimed to expose students to entrepreneurship and provide opportunities for them to interact with local business leaders, which in turn creates pathways for them to develop their ideas into real ventures, said Thomas Emerson, distinguished career professor of entrepreneurship. Participants’ projects were judged based on their potential profits, feasibility and market research. The winning team, “Memzy,” developed a social media application and were keen on having professionals analyze their venture before moving forward. “We signed up for Quick Startup because we wanted to understand how to start a venture. Having a panel of judges with industry experience was the perfect opportunity for us to gather feedback,” said winning team member Afrah Hassan, a senior in information systems. The second place went to “Tarweej,” a startup aimed at helping high school students choose a university and fill out
application forms, with third place going to “Qatar Arabian Theme Park,” a venture to set up the region’s first theme park. The students were mentored by experts from industry and academia, including Dave Mawhinney, co-director of the Carnegie Mellon University Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and executive director of the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship; Milton Cofield, executive director of Undergraduate Business Administration at Carnegie Mellon; and Peter Stern, a Carnegie Mellon graduate who co-founded Datek Online, the fourth-largest online brokerage firm.
The judging panel comprised Cofield; Saleh Al Khulaifi, head of business development at Qatar Development Bank; Hala Al Misnad, junior associate from Enterprise Qatar; Peter J. Moore, entrepreneurial mentor at the College of the North Atlantic-Qatar; Mohamed Fathy Miligy, relationship manager at Qatar National Bank; and Juha Peralampi, manager at the Business Incubator Center for Entrepreneurship and lecturer in the Entrepreneurship and International Business Marketing and Management Department at Qatar University.
Understanding Pittsburghese “Yinz going dahntahn to watch dem Stillers?” If this makes sense to you, you’ve probably spent time in Carnegie Mellon’s hometown of Pittsburgh or the surrounding area. Barbara Johnstone, a professor of English and linguistics at Carnegie Mellon and author of Speaking Pittsburghese: The Story of a Dialect, has spent years researching the language of Pittsburgh. In a talk at Carnegie Mellon Qatar this spring, Johnstone captivated an audience from Pittsburgh and around the world as she traced the history and development of Pittsburghese, which is among the most distinctive dialects in the United States. According to Johnstone, words like yinz (you guys), dahntahn (downtown) and dem Stillers (the Steelers football team) have evolved over time, starting as simple phrases and ending up as commodities. Today, the use of Pittsburghese on t-shirts and other souvenirs helps Pittsburghers share the city’s culture and heritage. At the same time, the commercial use has strengthened and reinforced the dialect as a local identity.
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
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On the record.
Web Security Workshop Among Recent Executive Education Courses
ورشة عمل حول أمن اإلنترنت ضمن دورات التعليم المهني بالجامعة
To complement Qatar’s commitment to keeping online information safe, Carnegie Mellon Qatar offered an executive education course this spring targeting local IT professionals who want to better understand challenges in securing web applications within their organizations.
في اإلطار التزام قطر بالحفاظ على أمن المعلومات على
The course featured lectures by Thierry Sans, assistant teaching professor of computer science, whose research focuses on creating new programming languages that will make future applications more secure.
فهم تحديات تأمين تطبيقات الويب داخل المؤسسات
“Internet penetration is higher in Qatar than anywhere else in the world. The more people who use the Internet, the more threats you are going to have. To address this higher risk, Qatar is investing heavily in research,” Sans said. The courses were part of a series of executive and professional education workshops offered by Carnegie Mellon Qatar to engage professionals who want to improve skills that are critical to good management, and equip organizations and their leadership with the tools needed for success. In February, Tridas Mukhopadhyay, distinguished career professor in business administration and Deloitte consulting professor of e-business, led a course focusing on e-business strategies. Other courses held this spring include Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, which was led by Ben Collier, assistant professor of business administration, and David Emmanuel Gray, assistant teaching professor of philosophy; and Quality: Innovation, Service and Leadership, led by Sham Kekre, distinguished career professor, production and operations management. More than 207 professionals attended from key Qatari organizations, including Qatar Foundation, Council of Ministry, Qatar Ministry of Interior, Lakhwiya, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Development Planning & Statistics, Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, Qatar Central Bank, RasGas, Qatar Airways, Ooredoo, Commercial Bank of Qatar, Al Jazeera Media Network, Al Faisal Holding, and Ezdan Holding. “We are very pleased to offer these courses to organizations that the university has built strategic partnerships with. These courses equip professionals with the concepts and tools they need to ensure the future success of their organizations,” said Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. As part of its commitment to strengthening its ties with the local community, Carnegie Mellon Qatar signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Vodafone Qatar this spring. The two organizations plan to collaborate on educational initiatives: scientific research and community development. Dean Ilker Baybars and Kyle Whitehall, CEO of Vodafone Qatar, signed the agreement. في إطار تدعيم روابطها مع وقعت،المجتمع المحلي كارنيجي ميلون في قطر
تكنولوجيا المعلومات في قطر الذين يرغبون في .والشركات التي يعملون بها األستاذ،وشملت الدورة محاضرات ألقاها ثايري سانس والذي ركزت أبحاثه،المساعد في علوم الحاسوب بالجامعة على إنشاء لغات برمجة جديدة تجعل تطبيقات المستقبل .أكثر أمن ًا ً ويع ّلق سانس قائ «ينتشر اإلنترنت في قطر انتشاراً يفوق:ال ، وكلما زاد عدد مستخدمي اإلنترنت،أي مكان آخر في العالم وقطر تستثمر بكثافة في.زادت التهديدات التي نجابهها ».البحوث من أجل التصدي لتلك المخاطر تأتي هذه الدورات ضمن سلسلة ورشق عمل التعليم المهني والتنفيذي التي تقدمها جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر لجذب المهنيين الذينيرغبون في تطوير مهاراتهم كما تعمل على تجهيز المؤسسات،المتصلة باإلدارة الجيدة .والشركات وقياداتها باألدوات الالزمة للنجاح أستاذ المهنة، قام تريداس موكوباديا،وفي شهر فبراير إدارة األعمال واألستاذ االستشاري في التجارة اإللكترونية بتقديم، والذي يتمتع بتاريخ مهني متميز،بجامعة ديلويت ومن بين الدورات.دورة حول استراتيجيات التجارة اإللكترونية األخرى التي عقدت في فصل الربيع دورة التفاوض وحل األستاذ المساعد في إدارة،النزاعاتالتي قدمها بين كوليير مدرس الفلسفة المساعد؛، وديفيد إيمانويل جراي،األعمال التي قدمها،» االبتكار والخدمة والقيادة:ودورة «الجودة األستاذ المرموق في تخصص اإلنتاج وإدارة،شام كيكري .العمليات متخصصين من207 وقد شارك في هذه الدورات أكثر من ومجلس، مؤسسة قطر:كبرى المؤسسات القطريةمن بينها ووزارة، ونادي لخويا الرياضي، ووزارة الداخلية القطرية،الوزراء ، ووزارة التخطيطالتنموي واإلحصاء،الشؤون الخارجية وشركة، وبنك قطر المركزي،واللجنة العليا للمشاريع واإلرث وشركة، والخطوط الجوية القطرية،راس غاز المحدودة ، وشبكة الجزيرة اإلعالمية، والبنك التجاري القطري،Ooredoo . وشركة إزدان القابضة ،والفيصل القابضة
مذكرة تفاهم مع فودافون
عميد جامعة كارنيجي ميلون،ومن جانبه علق إلكر بايبرس
وتخطط المؤسستان.قطر
ً في قطر قائ «يسعدنا تقديم هذه الدورات للمؤسسات:ال
للتعاون في المبادرات التعليمية والبحوث العلمية .وتنمية المجتمع
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قدمت جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر دورة،اإلنترنت تستهدف محترفي، في الربيع الماضي،تعليمية مهنية
حيث تهدف هذه.التي أقامت شراكات استراتيجية معنا الدورات إلى تعريف المهنيين على المفاهيمواألدوات التي .»يحتاجونها لضمان النجاح المستقبلي لمؤسساتهم
Qatar’s DPS Modern Indian School Wins Botball More than 200 participants from 22 secondary schools across the region participated in the 10th Botball Educational Robotics Program at Carnegie Mellon Qatar this spring. This year’s competition was a continuation of last year’s popular NASA Curiosity Rover theme, which challenged students to build robots to collect samples from Mars and send them back to Earth. This year, students were tasked with helping the robots reacclimatize to Earth after spending months in space at zero gravity. Competing students had the opportunity to interact with Carnegie Mellon faculty and students, and to learn more about robotics and computer science. The team from the DPS-Modern Indian School took home the first place prize: a chance to compete at the International Botball Tournament at the 2014 Global Conference on Educational
Robotics (GCER) at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles this summer. Members of the winning team included Abhiram Ajith Kumar, Rishikesh Debsot, Rahul Murulidhara Malode, Ajay Menon and Solomon Kingsley Richard. They were mentored by Avishek Jha, head of the computer science department at DPS Modern Indian School. Carnegie Mellon Qatar first brought the Botball Program to the Middle East in 2005 during the inaugural year of the branch campus. The program begins with a workshop on how to design, build and program a robot from scratch. Following the workshop, students have eight weeks to create a robot or a team of autonomous robots, which they pit head-to-head against other teams in the fast-paced competition.
Publications and Presentations Articles and Book Contributions Divakaran Liginlal, associate teaching professor of information systems, 2015. “The Aftermath of HIPAA Violations – Can U.S. Healthcare Organizations Bear the Costs?” In: Mehdi Khosrow-Pour, Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, third edition. IGI Global.
Wajdi Zaghouani, research associate, 2014. “Large Scale Arabic Error Annotation: Guidelines and Framework,” Proceedings of the 9th edition of the Language Resources and Evaluation Conference (with Behrang Mohit, Nizar Habash, Ossama Obeid, Nadi Tomeh, Alla Rozovskaya, Noura Farra, Sarah Alkuhlani and Kemal Oflazer).
Tridas Mukhopadhyay, Deloitte Consulting Professor of E-business, 2014. “How to attract and retain readers in Enterprise Blogging?” Information Systems Research (with Param Singh and Nachiketa Sahoo).
Selma Limam Mansar, associate teaching professor of information systems, 2014. “Adapting a Database of Text Messages to a Mobile-Based Weight Loss Program: The Case of the Middle East,” The International Journal of Telemedicine and Applications (with Shashank Jariwala).
Presentations Divakaran Liginlal, associate teaching professor of information systems. “Cyber Threat and Disarmament,” 2014 Model United Nations Conference—Thimun, Doha, Qatar. Divakaran Liginlal, associate teaching professor of information systems. “Accessibility through Education,” MADA e-Accessibility Majlis for web developers in Qatar, Doha, Qatar. Teresa MacGregor, director of the library, and Alicia Salaz, reference and instruction librarian. “Combating a Zombie Apocalypse through Subject-Specific Research: A Topic Selection Practice,” LOEX Annual Conference, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
S. Thomas Emerson, distinguished career professor, entrepreneurship. “Leading a Fast-growth Business,” SMEEP (Small & Medium Enterprise Evolution Program), Dubai, UAE. Keynote. S. Thomas Emerson, distinguished career professor, entrepreneurship. “Secrets of Success of a Technology Entrepreneur,” Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Invited talk.
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On the record.
Dean’s Leadership Series Draws Speakers from ExxonMobil and Qatar Airways
By 2040, the world’s population will rise by more than 25 percent, reaching almost 9 billion. Oil, gas and coal will continue to make up the bulk of the energy supply, with natural gas pegged as the fastestgrowing source, according to Bart Cahir, president and general manager of ExxonMobil Qatar. In a Dean’s Leadership Series talk this spring titled “Energy in the 21st Century,” Cahir spoke to students and faculty about the importance of studying the links between population growth, economic progress, and the amount and types of energy used around the world.
In 2010, Johnston joined Qatar Airways, where she oversees the personnel growth of Qatar’s rapidly growing national carrier. The airline hired about 9,500 employees last year. The Dean’s Leadership Series at Carnegie Mellon Qatar was established in 2012 to connect students and recent graduates with senior executives.
“Energy plays a fundamental role in powering economies, enabling modern life and supporting progress and development,” Cahir said. “Thus, the world faces a tremendous and growing challenge: the need to develop new sources of energy and to do so in a safe, secure and environmentally responsible way. That’s our challenge and our business at ExxonMobil, and it is one that begins with economics, and some of the key drivers for ever-increasing energy demand.” Cahir highlighted how ExxonMobil is making investments in research and development that will unlock new resources, improve the efficiency of its operations and increase the value of its products. Cahir also gave advice to students based on his 20-year career with ExxonMobil in the United States, Asia and the Middle East. “I encourage you to never stop learning, be enthusiastic and engaged with the world around you, and remember that integrity in everything you undertake matters,” he said. Also this spring, Elizabeth Johnston, chief human resources officer for Qatar Airways, gave firsthand career advice based upon her 30-year career in the aviation industry. Joining Delta Airlines as a flight attendant in 1977, Johnston went on to numerous positions, where she developed technology solutions and business plans across the airline. She was the first female in several key roles and retired from the company as senior vice president of human resources.
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H.E. Sheikh Abdulla Bin Saoud Al Thani, chairman of the Board of Directors of Qatar Central Bank (QCB), discussed the latest trends and developments in the banking sector at Carnegie Mellon Qatar as part of the Dean’s Panel Series. H.E. Sheikh Saoud was joined by Finn Kydland, University Professor of Economics at Carnegie Mellon and a co-recipient of the 2004 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences.
2014 Applicant Pool Represents 58 Nationalities This year, applications from Qatari nationals increased, and the university also received applications from students representing 58 nationalities. In addition to a networking session and dinner, a panel of students and alumni offered insights into their own Carnegie Mellon experiences as they answered questions. The panel included Amna Al-Mazroei, business administration graduate and business process improvement analyst at Msheireb Properties; Mohammed Al-Haddad, information systems graduate and site assurance analyst at Qatar Shell; Aya Gaballa, a biological sciences student; and Fahim Dalvi, a computer science student.
Students accepted to Carnegie Mellon Qatar for fall 2014 came together for the annual “Marhaba Tartans” event in April. The gathering has become an important tradition for the university in connecting incoming students and families with the CMU-Q community.
Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, congratulated the students: “You are a highly sought-after, select group of students and you have been chosen because of your accomplishments. At Carnegie Mellon University, the bar is high and you will be challenged to achieve your full potential.”
Program Delivers English Lessons to Workers
Carnegie Mellon Qatar recognized 71 learners in April for completing literacy classes through Language Bridges, a student-led club at Carnegie Mellon. More than 49 students and three faculty and community members volunteered to teach English to the learners, who come from across Asia and work for Qatar’s United Development Company. The program runs each semester and aims to empower low-income workers through education. Since 2010, more than 250 students have helped 650 learners through Language Bridges.
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
Sarah Buhmaid, a freshman in business administration and student volunteer, enjoyed the opportunity to teach students from different backgrounds. “It was wonderful to see how the learners improved in their reading and writing from the very first lesson,” she said. “I feel that some of them have even become more confident in themselves as well. I also enjoyed learning each of my students’ stories and what motivated them to participate in Language Bridges. Overall, I feel very grateful to have participated.”
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On the record.
Carnegie Mellon Qatar Honors Charles E. Thorpe Award Winners The Charles E. Thorpe Distinguished Service Awards, named after Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s founding dean, are a tribute to the teamwork and dedication of the university’s staff members. Each
Outstanding Newcomer Aliesha Jones Academic assistant for writing
Outstanding Commitment to the Community Tariq Rafiq Director, Project Management Office, IT
year, the community nominates non-faculty university employees in five categories, with the winners announced at the end of the school year. The 2014 winners are:
Outstanding Innovation Sindu Velsar Library associate and textbooks coordinator
Outstanding Service to Students
Outstanding Dedication to CMU
Syed Faizan Nihal Senior systems engineer, IT
Damian Dourado Manager of pre-college programs
Qatar National Research Fund Awards CMU-Q $4.5 million in NPRP Grants Carnegie Mellon Qatar has received six grants totaling more than $4.5 million in the seventh cycle of Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF)’s National Priorities Research Program (NPRP). The awarded proposals are aligned with the four pillars of the Qatar National Research Strategy (QNRS): energy and environment; computer science and information and communications technology; health and life sciences; and social sciences. The awarded proposals are: “Scalable Analytics Engine for Big Graphs on the Cloud,” by Mohammad Hammoud, visiting assistant professor of computer science at CMU-Q; Tamer Elsayed, assistant professor of computer science at Qatar University; and Rami Melhem, professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh. “Learning4Teaching-Qatar: Examining Qatari Teachers’ Experiences of Professional Development in English Language Teaching,” by Donald Freeman, associate professor of education at the University of Michigan; Dudley Reynolds, teaching professor of English at CMU-Q; and Abdullah Abu-Tineh, associate professor of educational leadership and HRD at Qatar University.
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“Numerical and Theoretical Modeling of Complex Fluid Flows,” by Snejana Abarji, visiting professor of physics and mathematics at CMU-Q, and Marcus Herrmann, Associate Professor Aerospace Engineering and Mechanical Engineering at Arizona State University. “Role of the PDZ and LIM Containing Protein Zasp in Integrinmediated Cell Adhesion,” by Mohamed Bouaouina, assistant professor of biological sciences at CMU-Q. “MADAR: Multi-Arabic Dialect Applications and Resources,” by Nizar Habash, research scientist at the Center for Computational Learning systems at Columbia University; Kemal Oflazer, teaching professor of computer science at CMU-Q; and Owen Rambow, research scientist at the Center for Computational Learning systems at Columbia University. “Automated Verification of Properties of Concurrent, Distributed and Parallel Specifications with Applications to Computer Security,” by Iliano Cervesato, associate teaching professor of computer science, CMU-Q, and Carsten Schuermann, associate professor, IT, University of Copenhagen.
Carnegie Mellon Wins at كارنيجي ميلون تفوز بالمركز األول والثالث في مسابقة الفكرة Al Fikra Competition
Carnegie Mellon students placed first and third in the 2014 Al Fikra business plan competition, which is organized annually by Enterprise Qatar to foster a culture of entrepreneurship in Qatar. Ali Abbas, Saad Ahmed, Sabih bin Wasi and Noorul Huda Admaney placed first in the student category with “F8,” an idea that would combat food waste through an app informing consumers when food they had purchased was about to expire. Daniel Cheweiky and Sultan al-Jaber placed third with “LifeSpan+,” which would store specifics about potential blood donors so they could be contacted in an emergency. In addition to cash prizes, the students were awarded two years of business incubation services and professional development under the guidance of Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC). Beginning with a series of workshops in January, Al Fikra was held in partnership with Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC), Qatar Development Bank (QDB), ExxonMobil, Sasol, Carnegie Mellon Qatar and Qatar University. The initiative reinforces Enterprise Qatar’s philosophy of helping aspiring entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life by starting small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The students received their awards at a closing ceremony held in May, where winners in the professional category were also recognized. Carnegie Mellon received the “Best University” award during the ceremony. “In Qatar, we endeavor to encourage entrepreneurship through our classes and by supporting and promoting Al Fikra. We firmly believe this competition will make a significant contribution to realizing the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030,” said George White, distinguished career professor of entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
نجح طالب كارنيجي ميلون في الفوز بالمركز األول والثالث،في إنجاز تاريخي التي تنظمها شركة،»2014 في مسابقة قطر الوطنية لخطط األعمال «الفكرة بهدف ترسيخ ثقافة ريادة،»تنمية المشاريع الصغيرة والمتوسطة «قطر للمشاريع .األعمال في قطر فاز بالمركز األول في فئة الطالب كل من علي عباس وسعد أحمد وصبيح بين » الذي يقلل إهدار الطعام8 واصي ونور الهدى عدماني عن فكرة تطبيق «إف بينما فازت،عبر إبالغ المستهلكين بقرب انتهاء صالحية الطعام الذي تم شراؤه » التي قدمها دانييل تشويكي وسلطان الجابر بالمركز+فكرة تطبيق «اليف سبان وهو تطبيق يخزن مواصفات المتبرعين المحتملين،الثالث في الفئة نفسها .بالدم لالتصال بهم في حالة الطوارئ حصل الطالب أيض ًا على خدمات حاضنة قطر لألعمال،وباإلضافة إلى الجوائز المالية ً فض،لمدة تتراوح من سنة لغاية سنتين ال عن حصولهم على الخدمات االستشارية .المدعومة من قبل قطر للمشاريع تحت رعاية مركز حاضنة قطر لألعمال تقام مسابقة الفكرة السنوية التي بدأت في يناير الماضي بسلسلة من ورش ، وإكسون موبيل، وبنك قطر للتنمية،العمل بالشراكة بين حاضنة قطر لألعمال وتهدف مبادرة. وجامعة قطر وجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر،وشركة ساسول المسابقة إلى تعزيز فلسفة قطر للمشاريع التي تدعم الشباب الواعد والطموح وتشجيعهم على إنشاء مشاريعهم الخاصة،على تحويل أفكارهم إلى حقيقة .الصغيرة والمتوسطة حيث تم،وتلقى الطالب جوائزهم في حفل الختام الذي أقيم في شهر مايو كما تم تكريم جامعة كارنيجي ميلون،تكريم الفائزين في فئة المهنيين أيض ًا .بمنحها جائزة «أفضل جامعة» خالل االحتفال ، أستاذ ريادة األعمال المرموق في جامعة كارنيجي ميلون،وصرح جورج وايت ً قائ «تحرص جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر على غرس روح ريادة األعمال في:ال كما، ومن خالل دعم وترويج مسابقة الفكرة،الطالب خالل الدراسة والمحاضرات تؤمن الجامعة بأن هذه المسابقة تمثل إسهام ًا كبيراً لتحقيق أهداف رؤية قطر ».2030 الوطنية
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A Decade in Doha
Her Highness Sheikha Moza attends 10-year celebration Every journey has a beginning. For Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, that journey began almost 180 years ago in the Scottish lowlands. Andrew Carnegie, the son of a weaver, was born on November 25, 1835, in Dumfermline, Scotland. Times were hard and, when Carnegie was a teenager, his family moved to the United States for a better life. As a young adult, he worked his way through a series of jobs, eventually finding himself on the forefront of the U.S. steel industry and amassing a fortune. Carnegie dedicated the rest of his life to philanthropy. In 1900, he opened a technical institute for the sons and daughters of working-class Pittsburghers with the words “My Heart is in the Work.�
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Qatar Foundation and Carnegie Mellon Qatar both trust in the power of imagination to change the world. We are joined in our belief in the power 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 and academic disciplines coming together for the common goal of imagining a better future. Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser
عشر سنوات في الدوحة
صاحبة السمو الشيخة موزا بنت ناصر تشهد احتفالية الذكرى العاشرة لتأسيس كارنيجي ميلون في قطر تؤمن ك ً ال من مؤسسة قطر وجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر أن للتخيل من القوة على إحداث التغيير في العالم .كما نتشاطر كذلك االعتقاد بقدرة االبتكار واإلخالص والنشاط والثقة على تشكيل المستقبل .ويكفي النظر إلى المثال الذي تقدمه المدينة التعليمية في قطر ،التي وجدت كارنيجي ميلون فيها موطن ًا بعيداً عن الوطن األم ،لنرى مجتمع ًا متنوع الثقافات وتخصصات أكاديمية تتضافر مع ًا لتحقيق الغاية المشتركة المتمثلة في وضع التصور لمستقبل أفضل. سمو الشيخة موزا بنت ناصر لكل رحلة بداية. وقد بدأت رحلة جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر ،منذ ما يقرب من 180عام ًا مضت في السهول اإلسكتلندية. حيث ولد أندرو كارنيجي ألب يعمل نساج ًا في 25نوفمبر ،1835في دمفرلين، إسكتلندا .وكانت األحوال وقتها عصيبة ،مما دفع كارنيجي عندما بلغ سن المراهقة إلى الهجرة مع أسرته إلى الواليات المتحدة بحث ًا عن حياة أفضل .وعمل في شبابه في سلسلة من المهن والوظائف ،حتى وجد نفسه في النهاية على قمة صناعة الحديد والصلب وقد جمع ثروة هائلة. وكرس كارنيجي ما بقي من حياته ألعمال البر واإلحسان ،وافتتح عام 1900معهداً تقني ًا ألبناء وبنات الطبقة العاملة في بيتسبيرغ ،تحت شعار "قلبي في العمل". ثم تحول هذا المعهد إلى جامعة كارنيجي ميلون ،إحدى أرقى المؤسسات التعليمية التي تنتشر برامجها في جميع أنحاء العالم. وفي عام ،2004افتتحت كارنيجي ميلون أول مقر جامعي للدراسة النظامية في الدوحة عاصمة دولة قطر .وعلى مدى السنوات العشر الماضية ،ارتفع عدد طالب الجامعة من 41طالب ًا في برنامجين إلى 400طالب يدرسون خمسة تخصصات علمية متميزة. احتفلت جامعة كارنيجي ميلون ،في شهر مارس الماضي ،بالذكرى العاشرة لتأسيسها في قطر من خالل احتفالية ضخمة أقيمت في مبنى الجامعة بالمدينة التعليمية .وتشرفت االحتفالية بحضور صاحبة السمو الشيخة موزا بنت ناصر ،رئيس مجلس إدارة مؤسسة قطر للتربية والعلوموتنمية المجتمع ،إلى جانب لفيف من قيادات جامعة كارنيجي ميلون ومؤسسة قطر وأعضاءالجامعة والمجتمع األكاديمي.
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وقد تخلل األمسية عرض مقاطع فيديو وكلمات للخريجين والطلبة التي ع ّرفت جمهورالحاضرين على البدايات المتواضعة ألندرو كارنيجي في إسكتلندا ،ثم انتقاله إلى بيتسبيرغ حتى إقامة الحرم الجامعي في قطر. وقد قدم االحتفال أحمد السالمة خريج دفعة عام 2013في تخصص علوم الحاسب. وفي إطار االحتفالية التاريخية ،قامت صاحبة السمو الشيخة موزا بجولة تفقدية تفضلتخاللها بزيارة المعرض الحصري الذي أقيم بمناسبة الذكرى العاشرة لتأسيس الجامعة تحت عنوان 'السفر عبر الفنون واألزمنة' والذياستعرض ثراء الثقافة والتراث القطري والحضارة اإلسالمية من خالل أكثر من 160قطعةأثرية نادرة مهداة من المجموعة الخاصة للشيخ فيصل بن قاسم آل ثاني . وقد أشاد سعد المهندي ،رئيس مؤسسة قطر ،بالتزام جامعة كارنيجي ميلون تجاه بناء قدرات قطر وتنميتها بشكل عام. حيث صرح قائ ً ال" :يُعزى نجاح كارنيجي ميلون في قطر كفرع لحرم جامعي عالمي في قلب المدينة التعليميةإلى قدرة مؤسسة قطر على تحقيق نوع من التوازن بين الحفاظ على المعايير العاليةللجامعة األم وبين قيم المجتمع وتلبية احتياجات المجتمع المحلي". وخالل الحفل الرسمي ،س َّلط مارك كامليت ،عميد جامعة كارنيجي ميلون ونائب الرئيسالتنفيذي ،الضوء على اإلنجازات الرئيسية في قطر ،بما في ذلك مضاعفة عدد الطالب 10مرات ،ووصول نسبة الطالب القطريين إلى ما يقرب من 40في المائةمن إجمالي عدد الطالب الملتحقين بالجامعة. كما نوه أيض ًا بما يقرب من 300شاب وشابة تخرجوا في الحرم الجامعي وهم يقومون اآلن بدور أساسي في مجتمعتطوير المعرفة القطري والعالمي. وصرح كاملت قائ ً ال" :سمعنا مراراً وتكراراً أصحاب األعمال وهم يعربون عن
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
Speakers at Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s 10-year celebration (left to right): Subra Suresh, president of Carnegie Mellon University; Mark Kamlet, provost and executive vice president of Carnegie Mellon University; Nofe Al Suwaidi, alumna; Tarek Al Hariri, student body president; and Ahmad Al Salama, alumnus and emcee at the event.
That institution became Carnegie Mellon University, today a top-ranked research institution with programs across the globe.
to Pittsburgh and to the campus in Qatar. The emcee was Ahmad Al Salama, a 2013 graduate in computer science.
In 2004, Carnegie Mellon opened its first undergraduate branch campus— in Doha, Qatar. Over the past decade, the Qatar campus has grown from 41 students in two programs to 400 in five world-class programs.
As part of the landmark celebrations, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser also toured an exclusive exhibition commemorating the 10-year anniversary. “Travelling Through Arts and Times” showcased the richness of Qatari and Islamic culture, heritage and civilization through rare artifacts from Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani’s private collection.
This spring, Carnegie Mellon celebrated its 10-year anniversary in Qatar with a spectacular ceremony and reception at the university’s building in Doha’s Education City. Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, attended, alongside leadership from Carnegie Mellon and Qatar Foundation, and members of the university and wider community. Throughout the evening, videos and speeches featuring alumni and students transported the audience from Andrew Carnegie’s humble beginnings in Scotland,
Saad Al Muhannadi, president of Qatar Foundation, commended Carnegie Mellon’s commitment to the country’s capacity-building and development as a whole. “Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s success as a global branch campus at the heart of Education City can be attributed to the institution’s ability to balance between maintaining the home campus’ high standards and ethos while meeting the needs of the local community,” he said.
During the official ceremony, Mark Kamlet, Carnegie Mellon provost and executive vice president, highlighted key accomplishments in Qatar, including the 10-fold growth in students and Qatari enrollment of almost 40 percent. He also recognized the 300 young men and women who have graduated from the campus to date and are now playing integral roles in the knowledge-creation community in Qatar and across the world. “Time and time again, we hear how pleased employers are with their Carnegie Mellon hires. They praise our alumni for their hard work, their creativity and their team-above-self approach. These are the hallmarks of a Carnegie Mellon education and that is what we have achieved on our Qatar campus,” Kamlet said. Tarek Al Hariri, Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s student body president, addressed the audience on behalf of current students: “Our vibrant student body represents the collaborative ethos our campus in Qatar is consolidating,” he said. “Every class builds upon this growing, integrated community, and we continue to embrace these cultural differences to enhance our overall experience. We are unified through our shared Tartan values, which strengthen us beyond our differences in nationalities, experiences and interests.” The evening included performances by Carnegie Mellon’s Matisse Quartet and a speech by alumna Nofe Al Suwaidi, a risk management analyst at Msheireb Properties and a writer for JustHere.
Carnegie Mellon University’s Matisse Quartet performs.
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Al Suwaidi reflected on her achievements since graduating in 2011. “What’s important for all of you to understand is that Carnegie Mellon University made it possible for me to take on these challenges,” she said. “It was the confidence that I learned, the
problem-solving skills that I gained and the communication ability that I developed here that allowed me to confront these issues at all. This is true for all CMU alumni— whatever challenges we face, whatever life throws in our paths and whatever injustices we come across, Carnegie Mellon gave us the tools, the strength and the willpower to face them, believing that there’s always a solution to be pursued. “Together, with CMU alumni past and future, we will continue to do the work not just for the past 10 years, not just for the next 10 years, but for the 10 years after that and the 10 years after that.” More than 120 alumni who attended the celebration gathered on stage to be greeted by H.H. Sheikha Moza and Carnegie Mellon
University President Subra Suresh. “Ten years ago, when Qatar Foundation and Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh decided to embark on this journey, they both set out to make sure that the quality of education and the passion for learning that would emerge from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar was as rigorous, as excellent and as inspirational as what students find in Pittsburgh,” Suresh said. “From what we have seen today, I feel very proud that we have achieved that objective, and these alumni are the living proof. The ultimate metric of success will be what they do in the world and how they affect society, and I really look forward to watching them over the coming years and decades as they make the world a better place.”
Exhibition of Rare Artifacts Marks 10-Year Celebration
“Travelling Through Arts and Times,” an exhibition featuring more than 160 rare artifacts from Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani’s private collection, had its first public showing at Carnegie Mellon Qatar this spring. The two-week exhibition in the university building coincided with Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s 10-year celebration on March 18 and drew an audience from the Pittsburgh campus, Education City and the wider community. The collection included a set of gold Qatari jewelry, a 7-meter model of a pearl fishing boat and four vintage cars, along with manuscripts, Islamic art and ceramics, and Qatari heritage exhibits. Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani said the collection showed Qatar’s ambitious journey from the past to the present: “The artifacts we have chosen to display express my fascination with the past and our heritage, and how historical struggles and accomplishments have shaped our current culture and identity.” H.E. Hamad Bin Abdulaziz Al Kuwari, Qatar’s minister of culture, arts and heritage, attended the closing reception, where he applauded the collaborative effort between Carnegie Mellon and the Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani Museum.
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سعادتهم بخريجي كارنيجي ميلونالمعينين لديهم؛ حيث أثنوا على جديتهم في العمل وإبداعهم وإعالئهم لمصلحة الفريق على هذه هي السمة المميزة.مصلحتهم الشخصية وهذا ما حققناهفي،للتعليم في كارنيجي ميلون ."حرمنا الجامعي بدولة قطر وألقى رئيس اتحاد طالب جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر طارق الحريري كلمة بالنيابة عنالطالب "لدينا اتحاد طالبي نابض: قال فيها،الحاليين بالحياة يمثل الروح التعاونية لحرمنا الجامعي في حيثيضيف كل فصل إلى نمو هذا المجتمع،قطر وسنواصل تبني هذه االختالفات،المتكامل إذ إن روح الفريق،الثقافية لتعزيز تجربتنا الشاملة مما يعزز قدرتناعلى تجاوز،المشتركة تجمع بيننا ."اختالف جنسياتنا وخبراتنا الحياتية واهتماماتنا جدير بالذكر أن األمسية شملت فقرات موسيقية بأداء عازف عود وفرقة كارنيجي ميلون ماتيس باإلضافة إلى كلمة الخريجة نوف،كوارتيت محللة إدارة المخاطر في شركة مشيرب،السويدي وقد ألقت.JustHere ومحررة في مجلة،العقارية السويدي الضوء على اإلنجازات التي حققتها منذ .2011 تخرجها عام "من المهم أن تدركوا:حيث قالت نوف في حديثها جميع ًا أنني استطعت بفضل جامعة كارنيجي لقد كانت الثقة.ميلون التصدي لهذه التحديات ومهارات حلول المشاكل التي،التي تعلمتها وقدرات التواصل التي نميتها هنا،اكتسبتها .هي أتاحت لي مواجهة هذه المشاكل جميعها وينطبق ذلك على كل خريجي جامعة كارنيجي ، فمهما كانت التحديات التي نواجهها،ميلون ومهما صادفنا،ومهما ألقت الحياة في طريقنا فقد سلحتنا جامعة كارنيجي ميلون،من معاناة ،باألدوات والقوة واإلرادة التي تمكننا من مواجهتها ".مؤمنين دوم ًا أن هناك حلول لكل عقبة نحن، "وسنعمل مع ًا:وأضافت السويدي قائلة في الماضي،خريجي جامعة كارنيجي ميلون على مواصلة جهودنا وإصرارنا ولن،والمستقبل كما،يقتصر ذلك على السنوات العشر الماضية بل لعشر،لن يقتصر على السنوات العشر المقبلة ."سنوات بعدها ولعشر سنوات أخرى بعد األخيرة خريج ًا من الذين شهدوا120 وارتقى أكثر من االحتفالية المنصة لتحية صاحبة السمو الشيخة . رئيس الجامعة،موزا والبروفيسور سوريش "حرصت مؤسسة قطر وجامعة:وقال سوريش عندما قررتا منذ عشر،كارنيجي ميلون في بيتسبيرغ على أن،سنوات مضت استكمال هذه الرحلة مع ًا تفوق تجربة التعلم في جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر مثيلتها في بيتسبيرغ من حيث القوة ً والتميز واإللهام فض ال عن جودة التعليم والحماس ".للتعليم فإنني أشعر، "وبعد ما شهدناه اليوم:ويضيف أيض ًا ،بكل الفخر ألننا نجحنا في تحقيق هذه الغاية فإن أفضل.وهؤالء الخريجون خير شاهد على ذلك مقياس للنجاح هو ما يقومون به في العالم وأنا أتطلع حق ًا إلى رؤيتهم،وتأثيرهم في المجتمع في األعوام والعقود المقبلة وهم يغيرون هذا ."العالم إلى األفضل
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Exploring Silicon Valley 25 students learn ingredients of U.S. technology hub
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or more than 50 years, Silicon Valley has been on the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship. Nestled along the southern shores of San Francisco Bay, the area is home to some of the world’s largest technology companies and thousands of emerging startups. But what’s so unique about Silicon Valley and how did it become a breeding ground for high-tech ventures and the companies that support them?
By talking to CEOs, entrepreneurs and technologists, the group learned how the region’s growth has been fueled by optimism, courage and a desire to challenge the status quo.
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This spring, 25 students from Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s Business Administration, Computer Science and Information Systems programs set out on a journey to uncover the factors behind Silicon Valley’s growth and success. Maher Hakim, associate professor in information systems, and Selma Limam Mansar, director of the Qatar Information Systems program, led the trip. Hakim organized the trip to introduce students to the technology hub and enable them to network with IT professionals and Carnegie Mellon alumni in Silicon Valley.
“As part of the trip, we met with successful Arab IT entrepreneurs, which was a great way to inspire the students to follow in their footsteps,” Hakim said. During their weeklong visit, the students visited with high-profile IT and Internet companies, including Twitter, WhatsApp, Zynga and YouNoodle. They also visited several companies that support startups, like Whipsaw, a design agency, and Techshop, a company that provides tools and equipment for startup companies to create their initial prototypes. The students soon realized that they share many qualities with Silicon Valley employees, such as creativity, collaboration across disciplines and innovative problem-solving. Like Carnegie Mellon Qatar, the area is home to a diverse
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community, with more than half of the companies started by foreign-born entrepreneurs and a talent pool from across the globe. In Silicon Valley, boundaries based on gender, age or religion have broken down, and people with different skill sets offer unique contributions to the dynamic ecosystem. By talking to CEOs, entrepreneurs and technologists, the group learned how the region’s growth has been fueled by optimism, courage and a desire to challenge the status quo. “We learned that people do a lot more than talking,” said Afrah Hassan, a senior in information systems. “It’s easy to say that you’re going to create the next Google or Twitter, but it’s also easy to complain about the challenges or find an excuse like lack of
funding. When we were in Silicon Valley, we noticed that, at a certain point, people stop talking about things and start acting.” Hassan said a highlight of the trip was meeting Jan Koum, CEO and co-founder of the mobile messaging app WhatsApp, which was launched in 2009 and recently bought by Facebook for $19 billion. “He had a clear vision and strategy for his product, and was not distracted by the requests for new features that were thrown at him all the time,” Hassan said. “It is important to stay focused, and this has resulted in WhatsApp becoming one of the most popular apps in the world.” The students also learned how Silicon Valley inventors share their ideas so they can get help and feedback—without worrying that
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“If you fail, it means you have tried something and there’s actually more chance of somebody noticing you and your hard work,” said computer science senior Fahim Dalvi.
“One important thing to note is that these entrepreneurs are not just taking any idea and betting their lives on it,” Moosavi said. “They are working day in and day out on their idea to transform it into a practical solution to a real problem that exists in society. The entrepreneurs take calculated risks and the better calculations they make, the better chance they have of getting funded by an angel investor or a venture capitalist.”
It soon became clear that the best entrepreneurs are calculated risk-takers, who try to reduce risks at every step of a process. “They take small steps, pausing frequently to ask ‘how can I do this better, more cheaply or faster?’ ” said Hashim Moosavi, also a senior in computer science.
A key part of starting a high-risk, highpotential company is raising the financial capital needed. As Silicon Valley’s technology hub has flourished, so too has the investor community. Over the past decade, more than 35 percent of the venture capital in the United States has gone to Silicon Valley startups.
someone will steal their proposals. Taking risks was another topic that kept coming up, with some entrepreneurs calling failed ventures “badges of honor” on their paths to success.
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During the trip, the students had conversations with both venture capitalists and angel investors. They visited a startup incubation center and learned about new alternative fundraising options such as crowdfunding. “Visiting the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo was an eye-opening experience in which we learned about a valuable resource that can help us not only to fund a startup, but also to prove whether an idea is actually worth a try,” Hassan said. The students toured Carnegie Mellon’s Silicon Valley campus (www.cmu.edu/ silicon-valley), which offers graduate degrees in software engineering and software management, among others. Sightseeing in San Francisco, tours of
Silicon Valley Visits Day 1 Zynga Twitter SF Techshop YouNoodle
Day 2 Autodesk Gallery Autodesk Indiegogo
Day 3 Odesk Computer History Museum NASA’s Ames Research Center Carnegie Mellon Silicon Valley
Day 4 WhatsApp Whipsaw NestGSV
Day 5 Drive-by visits: Facebook Apple Stanford University
the Computer History Museum and NASA’s Ames Research Center, and drive-by visits to Facebook, Apple and Stanford University rounded out the trip. Hakim said creating a similarly vibrant culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Qatar and the region is vital as young Arabs look for meaningful careers. “It is important for young people to find careers that they are passionate about and that allow them to contribute to society. Right now, the options for Carnegie Mellon Qatar graduates who are studying in creative domains are limited unless they are prepared to move overseas,” Hakim said. “That’s where universities like Carnegie Mellon can play a role—by highlighting
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the advantages of being part of a diverse community, by encouraging students to share their ideas, and by showing them that taking risks can reap big rewards, particularly when it comes to career satisfaction.” Several students said the experience of this trip gave them the confidence to consider entrepreneurship as a career. “Even though I have had a big interest in startups for a couple of years now, I did not have the courage to convert my passion into reality,” Moosavi said. “This was because I wanted to have a stable career and a constant source of money. The Silicon Valley trip has changed my view not only about entrepreneurship, but also about leadership, work ethic
and taking risks. It gave me a pathway to look for new career ambitions.” Haider Zali, a senior in business administration, said the trip helped him overcome his fear of failure and focus on trying to change the world through innovative ideas. “When your parents, teachers and mentors are constantly nudging you to find the best job out there, you never really get a chance to take entrepreneurship seriously. I’ve always dreamed of being an entrepreneur and doing my own thing—probably for over 15 years now—but the dedication and perseverance to walk on that path was bolstered by this trip,” he said. To visit a student blog and watch a video about the trip, visit http://svtrip.tumblr.com
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Graduates urged to use their education and experience to serve society
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ike many students, Saleh Al Raisi felt a little overwhelmed when he first arrived at the university. Joining the football team helped him get through his first year at Carnegie Mellon, said Al Raisi, who graduated in May with a degree in business administration and was the student speaker at this year’s diploma ceremony. “Sport is the one thing that kept me going. I got to meet new people, I learned from my teammates, and I was able to leave my comfort zone and become more of an extrovert,” he said. Al Raisi went on to be captain of the football team, and became active in other areas of campus life, serving as the president of the Qatari Student Association in 2011 and 2012, and student body president in 2013. With more than 20 clubs and organizations on campus, students at Carnegie Mellon Qatar are empowered to create and develop a campus community that fosters teamwork and inclusiveness. Eighty students representing 24 countries graduated from Carnegie Mellon Qatar this spring: two in biological sciences, 42 in business administration, 10 in computer science and 26 in information systems. Held at the Qatar National Convention Centre, the ceremony drew an audience of more than 1,200 family members, friends and distinguished guests. Al Raisi urged his classmates to capitalize on their Carnegie Mellon experience to make a difference in their careers and communities. “We have all helped each other in becoming who we are today. The spirit of teamwork whether it be in classrooms, student clubs or the student body government made us close friends, gave us wonderful memories to cherish. “As we move forward, let’s continue to work together with our new teammates, be it at work or in the community, to make a difference and leave a mark wherever our careers may take us.” Addressing the graduating class, Subra Suresh, president of Carnegie Mellon University, praised the graduates for their achievements. “You have achieved something important, something that took time, discipline and willingness to persist in the face of difficulties. That is impressive, so savor the moment. “This campus is itself an example of intentionally seeking out diversity. Carnegie Mellon Qatar has brought a distinctive flavor to Carnegie Mellon University as a whole and, over the past 10 years,
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this campus has opened the institution to new and innovative ways of teaching and learning. The two campuses together have created new opportunities for undergraduates to exchange knowledge, and to collaborate in new ways. This interaction has made us more successful as a global institution.” Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, welcomed the graduates into Carnegie Mellon’s global network of more than 95,000 alumni. “We look forward to seeing the difference these young leaders will make to the community and market. The Class of 2014 joins the university’s high caliber alumni network who are making an impact through key roles with regional and international organizations, setting up their own businesses or joining graduate programs,” Baybars added. Academic Achievement Awards were presented to three students based on their outstanding academic performance: Haider Zali, business administration graduate; Fahim Dalvi, computer science graduate; and Haya Thowfeek, information systems graduate. Narcis Sadat Jafarian, who received the 2014 Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar Award, and the Qatar Campus Scholars were also recognized during the ceremony. This year’s Qatar Campus Scholars were Jafarian, a business administration graduate; Syed Moosavi, a computer science graduate; Zali and Thowfeek. Baybars also recognized Matthew Szudzik, assistant teaching professor of mathematics, with a Meritorious Teaching Award. Marion Oliver, teaching professor of mathematics, was recognized as the 2014 recipient of the University Award for Outstanding Contributions to Academic Advising, which was presented to him in Pittsburgh in April. Senior Student Leadership Awards were presented to 13 students who demonstrated extraordinary leadership and made substantial contributions to the community during their time at the university. Recipients were: Al-Raisi (with Distinction,) Kenrick Fernandes (with Distinction), Saba Singh (with Distinction), Aveed Sheikh (with Distinction), Haider Zali (with Distinction), Fahim Dalvi, Syed Moosavi, Rama Sbei, Safouan Amor, Narcis Sadat Jafarian, Stephanie Abi Gerges, Maha Al Meer and Dana Al Ansari. Al Raisi hopes to go on to make a difference to Qatar’s development as an entrepreneur. His father, Abdulla Saleh Al-Raisi, chief executive officer of Commercial Bank Qatar, expressed his pride as a Carnegie Mellon parent. “When Saleh was born, I looked at him wondering what his future would hold. Today, I look at him with pride as he graduates from one of the top universities in the world. This has fulfilled my wish as a parent: to see him develop into a responsible individual. Thank you to Carnegie Mellon for contributing to the well-rounded individual I see before me today.”
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On: Business
High School Students Get a Taste of Financial Markets Tajer-Day is CMU-Q’s first business outreach program
Fifty secondary schools students experienced life on the trading floor and gained insight into financial markets at Tajer-Day, which was held for the first time at Carnegie Mellon Qatar this spring. Tajer-Day, a business administration community outreach program, challenged students take to the trading floor in two simulated live-trading scenarios. The event was sponsored by Al Faisal Holding and run by Muhammad Farooqi, visiting assistant professor of finance, and John O’Brien, associate professor of accounting. Each scenario took students through different market types, from “open outcry” trading in a pit to electronic markets. The students first congregated on the trading floor, where they learned to negotiate face-to-face over price. They then progressed to electronic stock markets using the Financial Trading System, where trading is connected by online networks and the result of negotiations are bids and asks. In these markets, students were introduced to how news items affect prices, along with concepts related to momentum and market efficiency. The overriding
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objective was for students to learn how markets work. According to O’Brien: “Markets are all about negotiation and price discovery. Tajer-Day was designed so students could learn how both product and financial markets work, from personal negotiations and trading experience. That is, learning was by doing.” A second objective was to encourage students who have an interest in studying business to apply. “Given that these students are in the process of applying to colleges and universities, I hope we were able to get them interested in the world of business and finance,” Farooqi said. “Overall, I think this program was a great opportunity for the students to get a first-hand look at the different forms of markets, as well as for us to be able to speak to potential applicants and understand their backgrounds and expectations.” The faculty is keen to build on the success of the first Tajer-Day and hopes to expand the program in the future.
On: Student Life
Science Fiction Comes to Life Biological sciences play raises money for Syrian refugees
By Syed Zuhair (BA’14) The Education City community got a lighthearted glimpse at the social lives of budding biologists through a play that was written and produced by CMU-Q students. “BS-101,” created this spring by CMU-Q’s Biological Sciences Club, was the first play to be organized and staged on the Qatar campus. The group hosted the event to raise money for Syrian refugees. “We found out that the Biological Sciences Club on the main campus in Pittsburgh puts on a murder-mystery play each year, with the money going to charity. We thought that was a great idea and wanted to do something similar here,” said Fatima Amir, a sophomore in biological sciences and president of the CMU-Q Biological Sciences Club. Set in a biological sciences classroom, the play took the audience into the heads of the various characters, including Itsy, a smart student who is sidetracked by video games, and Bubbly, a girl who is obsessed with her relationship. The humor was based on the stereotype of Carnegie Mellon students being geeky, and included musical performances and references to popular books, movies and games, such as The Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games and World of Warcraft. Annette Vincent, assistant teaching professor of biological sciences, said the play was laugh-out-loud funny.
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“It was very refreshing to see the students portray biology in a manner that appealed to the general public and people in the field,” Vincent said. “I am glad the students donated all proceeds to charity to aid the Syrian refuges. It just goes to show that, despite being blessed with the needs of life, they can still empathize with those who lack them.” The 50-minute play was written by Amir; Mohammed Janahi, a computer science graduate; and Yasser El-Sayed, a computer science student. It was produced by Amir and Hassan Al-Manni, senior events coordinator for the Biological Sciences Club. The cast comprised 16 students and eight crew, all from Carnegie Mellon. Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar’s Ambassadors Club helped in arranging costumes and props. The play drew an audience from across Education City and raised QR 3,140 to help Syrian refugees. “I believe the play was popular with students because it was the first play put on by CMU-Q students and also because our cast was fantastic. We had cast members from all majors and years, including our Student Majlis president and a member of staff from the Student Affairs team. This diverse cast really tied all current students to the play and brought the campus together,” Amir said.
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On: Science
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Student Set to Become Leader in Applying Computational Methods to Biological Problems CMU-Q’s interdisciplinary program will help advance medical research in Qatar In 2011, Carnegie Mellon Qatar announced new programs in biological sciences and computational biology. The programs have grown from six students in the first class to more than 30 students this year, 12 of whom are Qatari. Noora Al Muftah is the first student to pursue the degree in computational biology, a selective program open to students who are already studying biological sciences or computer science. After spending two years in the computer science program, Al Muftah will take a combination of courses in computer science, biological sciences, chemistry and computational biology to complete her bachelor’s of science degree in 2016. “I wanted to learn how to apply computer science to everyday life, and one of the most important fields is biomedical sciences. I chose the computational 30
biology major because it is the intersection of biology and computer science and it represents the bridge between them,” Al Muftah said. In addition to her studies, Al Muftah is working with researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar to help map the Qatari genome, an effort that will lead to new understanding about hereditary diseases in the Qatari population. Valentin Ilyin, associate professor of computational biology, is leading the computational biology program at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. In a one-day symposium this spring, Ilyin introduced the field and its applications to students, researchers and medical professionals in Qatar. When the human genome sequence was first released in 2001, it represented a major milestone in modern biology—but that was
only the first step in understanding the role of the almost 30,000 genes within our DNA. The next step, Ilyin said, is analyzing each gene’s protein product, learning first its structure and then its role in the cell. “Once we know the structure of a protein, it becomes easier to understand its role, how it interacts with other molecules, how it is affected by mutations and how it can be targeted by therapeutic agents,” Ilyin said. While biologists have been doing this type of research for decades—historically studying one gene and its protein at a time—the application of computer science and mathematical modeling has enabled researchers to cope with the enormous mass of data now available. “Without these techniques, analyzing the massive amounts of data generated during the Human Genome Project
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نعد الطالب ليصبحو الرائدين في تطبيق الطرق الحاسوبية للمعضالت البيولوجية
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برنامج جامعة كارنيجي ميلون سوف يساهم لتطوير تخصصات البحوث الطبية المتقدمة في قطر . في عام ،2001أعلنت جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر عن افتتاح برامج جديدة في العلوم البيولوجية والبيولوجيا الحاسوبية .وقد زاد عدد طالب البرامج من ستة طالب في الدفعة األولى إلى أكثر من 30 طالب ًا هذا العام 12 ،منهم قطريين.
وبينما كان علماء األحياء يقومون بهذا النوع من البحوث لعقود – دراسة أحد الجينات والبروتين الخاص به في نفس الوقت – إال أن تطبيق علم الحاسوب والنمذجة الرياضية مكن الباحثين من التعامل مع الحجم الهائل المتاح حالي ًا من البيانات.
would be almost impossible. This is just one example of how the related fields of computational biology and bioinformatics ”are revolutionizing modern medicine, Ilyin said.
وتعد نورا المفتاح أول طالبة تسعى للحصول على درجة في البيولوجيا الحاسوبية ،وهو برنامج انتقائي مفتوح للطالب الذين يدرسون بالفعل العلوم البيولوجية أو علم الحاسوب .وستحصل نورا ،بعد أن أمضت عامين في برنامج علم الحاسوب ،على مقررات مشتركة بين علم الحاسوب ،والعلوم البيولوجية ،والكيمياء والبيولوجيا الحاسوبية للحصول على درجة البكالوريوس في العلوم في عام .2016
ويضيف إليين" :بدون تلك التقنيات ،لم يكن ممكن ًا تحليل هذه الكميات الهائلة من البيانات التي يتم إنتاجها من خالل مشروع الجينوم البشري .وهذا مجرد مثال واحد على دور البيولوجيا الحاسوبية والمعلومات البيولوجية في تشكيل ثورة في الطب الحديث".
Ugur Sezerman, a professor of computational biology at Sabanci University in Istanbul, and Andrey Ptitsyn, a principal scientist at Sidra Medical and Research Center, also spoke at the tutorial this spring, addressing other ways in which computational biology is contributing to medical research.
وحول هذا األمر صرحت نورا قائلة" :أردت تعلم كيفية تطبيق علم الحاسوب على الحياة اليومية ،التي يعد الطب من أهم مجاالتها .ووقع اختياري على تخصص البيولوجيا الحاسوبية نظراً لكونه يمثل ملتقى بين المجالين وجسراً يربط بينهما". وإلى جانب دراستها ،تتعاون نورا المفتاح مع الباحثين في كلية طب وايل كورنيل في قطر في رسم خريطة الجينوم القطري؛ ذلك المجهود الذي من شأنه أن يساعد في فهم جديد لألمراض الوراثية في الشعب القطري. ويرأس برنامج البيولوجيا الحاسوبية في جامعة كارنيجي ميلون ،البروفيسور فالنتين إليين ،أستاذ مساعد البيولوجيا الحاسوبية .وفي ندوة تعريفية استمرت يوم ًا واحداً أقيمت في فصل الربيع، قام إليين بتعريف الطالب والباحثين والعاملين والمهنيين في مجال الطب في قطر بهذا المجال وتطبيقاته المختلفة. وعندما نشر تسلسل الجينوم البشري للمرة األولى عام ،2001كان يمثل نقلة كبرى في البيولوجيا الحديثة – ولكنه لم يكن سوى خطوة أولى في فهم دور ما يقرب من 30ألف جين في أحماضنا النووية. وتتمثل الخطوة التالية ،كما يقول إليين ،في تحليل المنتج البروتيني لكل جين ،والتعرف أو ًال على تركيبه ،ثم على دوره في الخلية .ويوضح إليين قائ ً ال" :بمجرد معرفتنا بتركيب البروتين ،يصبح من السهل فهم دوره ،وكيفية تفاعله مع الجزيئات األخرى ،وكيف يتأثر بالطفرات ،وكيف يمكن استهدافه بواسطة العوامل العالجية".
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كما تحدث أيض ًا في الندوة التعريفية كل من أوغور سيزرمان ،أستاذ البيولوجيا الحاسوبية في جامعة سابانجي بإسطنبول ،وأندري تيتسين ،الباحث الرئيسي في مركز السدرة للطب والبحوث ،حيث تناوال الوسائل األخرى التي يمكن للبيولوجيا الحاسوبية أن تسهم من خاللها في البحوث الطبية. وأوضح تيتسين أن أخصائيي البيولوجيا الحاسوبية سيقدمون إسهامات مهمة في مركز السدرة وفي غيره من الكيانات البحثية في قطر. وقال" :البيولوجيا الحديثة علم دقيق .ولكي يكون أي برنامج بحثي قاب ً ال لالستمرار يجب أن يتوافر فيه مكون حاسوبي أساسي ،وبالتالي يجب إعداد متخصصين في البيولوجيا الحاسوبية مدربين على أعلى مستوى ومزودين بالمعلومات والمعارف الحديثة .وعندما يكتسب التوجه القطري نحو االقتصاد القائم على المعرفة زخم ًا كافي ًا، ستؤدي البحوث األكاديمية إلى موجة من مشاريع التكنولوجيا الحيوية والطب الحيوي ،وستفتتح الشركات الدولية فروع ًا إقليمية لها في قطر. وسيسهم ذلك في زيادة الحاجة إلى المتخصصين في البيولوجيا الحاسوبية". من جانبها ،تخطط نورا المفتاح للحصول على درجة الماجستير في البيولوجيا الحاسوبية أو أي علم حاسوبي آخر ،وتتمنى أن تتمكن في نهاية المطاف من االستفادة من تعليمها في اإلسهام في تنمية قطر. وتؤكد نورا المفتاح قائلة" :من شأن األدوات الحاسوبية أن تساعد قطر على إيجاد العديد من الحلول في مجال البحوث الطبية ،وفي غيره من المجاالت مثل التكنولوجيا والتجارة .ويسعدني كثيراً أن أكون جزءاً من هذا في المستقبل".
Ptitsyn said computational biologists would make important contributions at Sidra and other research entities in Qatar. ”“Modern biology is a precision science, said Ptitsyn. “Any viable research program must have significant computational component and, thus, well-prepared computational biologists. When Qatar’s drive toward a knowledge-based economy gets enough momentum, academic research will be followed by a wave of biotech and biomedical startups and regional branches of established international companies. This will serve to further increase the ”need for computational biologists. Al Muftah plans to pursue a master’s degree in computational biology or another field that involves scientific computing, and would eventually like to use her education to contribute to Qatar’s development. “Developing computational tools and algorithms will help Qatar find many solutions in medical research, and other areas such as technology and business. I’m excited to be a part of this in the future,” she said.
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On: Research
Twitter Sentiment Analysis Project Wins at Meeting of the Minds Team to present research in Ireland As the writer and poet Oscar Wilde once said, “There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” That was before the Internet. As businesses and organizations increasingly rely on social media sites to promote products and services, it’s becoming essential for them to monitor comments—both favorable and unfavorable— about their brands. Over the past few years, computer scientists have been investigating how to automatically mine and understand the opinions and sentiments expressed on the social media site Twitter using machine learning. Those tools could lead to new software that enables users to analyze what’s being said about them online without having to review each message manually.
and “Best Poster” at Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s eighth “Meeting of the Minds” research symposium for a tool they developed to analyze Twitter sentiments. The students were mentored by Behrang Mohit, assistant professor of computer science. “To develop our system, we used around 10,000 tweets with their respective sentiments labeled. The system automatically learned the features of positive, negative and neutral tweets in this data set. From there, we were able to analyze unknown tweets, with the system assigning the likelihood of each tweet being positive, negative and neutral,” Bin Wasi said.
But progress has been slow, in part because of the complexity of the task. Twitter language tends to be very informal, with new words, abbreviations and genre-specific terminology to factor in.
In addition to winning Meeting of the Minds, the project came in third at SemEval 2014, an international competition on computational semantic evaluation that draws entries from researchers across the globe. Bin Wasi and Neyaz worked on their entry with Hanan Mohamed, a computer science graduate, and Kamal Al-Manai, a graduate of Texas A&M at Qatar, and will present their work in August during the 2014 International Conference on Computational Linguistics in Dublin, Ireland.
This spring, computer science students Sabih Bin Wasi and Rukhsar Neyaz won “Best Undergraduate Research Project”
Bin Wasi said the team did well because they came up with creative ways to define tweets as positive, negative or neutral.
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Meeting of the Minds takes place at the end of spring semester each year to give students the opportunity to present their research to faculty, fellow students and industry experts using posters, videos and visual aids. “The quality of the work is exceptional for undergraduates; it shows that faculty at Carnegie Mellon Qatar are doing a good job in mentoring these young minds,” said Stephan Vogel, principal scientist at Qatar Computing Research Institute and a judge at the event.
“For example, one of the strongest features we had was ‘number of positive words.’ We compiled our list of positive words from many external sources and matched the words found in a tweet to this list. The choice of capitalizing on external resources mindfully and being cautious about feature selection was one of the critical factors for our system,” he said. Second place in this year’s Meeting of the Minds also went to Bin Wasi, who completed the project “Using Technology to Help People Save Food Effortlessly” with faculty advisor Thierry Sans. Third place went to “SNV-check: A Quality Control Tool for Familiar Exome Sequencing Data Based on the Sharing of Rare Genetic Mutations” by Noora Al-Muftah, a computational biology student, who worked with faculty advisor Khalid A. Fakhro from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
Judges at this year’s event came from Qatar Biobank, Qatar Ministry of Environment, Qatar Shell, Vodafone, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, PC DealNet, Aspire Zone Foundation, Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar, Qatar University, ictQatar, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), iHorizons, the Qatar Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, and the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development. On behalf of His Excellency Saleh bin Mohammad Al Nabit, Minister of Development Planning, Dr. Barak Yehya, an expert in institutional development at the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics, recognized projects that were closely aligned to Qatar’s National Development Strategy. Winners were: Fatima Al-Saygh, advisor Jonathan Finkel; Aniish Sridhar, advisor John Gasper; Kenrick Fernandes, advisor Divakaran Liginlal; Aliya Hashim, advisor Divakaran Liginlal; and Dania Abed Rabbou (post-graduate), advisor Mohammad Hammoud.
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Students, alumni and faculty celebrated Carnegie Mellon’s 10th year in Doha at the university’s March event.
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Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
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On: Pittsburgh
Brightest Information Systems Undergraduates Convene in Pittsburgh CMU-Q co-hosts international conference in the United States campus, to enhance the visibility of the Qatar campus internationally, and to expose our students to another level of competition.” The conference attracted nearly 50 of the world’s brightest students, as well as internationally renowned experts.
Advances in information communication technologies have revolutionized the business world and changed the way we live our lives. To highlight how technology can affect the future, Carnegie Mellon recently hosted the fourth annual Undergraduate Conference in Information Systems. The conference was established at Carnegie Mellon Qatar in 2011 and this year was held on the Pittsburgh campus for the first time. According to Selma Limam Mansar, director of the Qatar Information Systems program, the conference creates a venue for students interested in research to convene, discover and augment their knowledge about information systems. “The first conference was organized and run by the Information Systems program in Qatar, together with the Qatar Association of Information Systems students’ chapter,” said Limam Mansar. “We started with a local conference, reached out to regional universities for the following two years, and expanded this year to the United States. “Our intention by organizing the conference in Pittsburgh was to nurture the exchange between the main campus and the Qatar
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Daniel Cheweiky, an information systems student from Carnegie Mellon Qatar, was recognized for the best paper, “Evaluating the Use of Emerging Technologies in Education.” It examined the use of augmented reality as an effective means of instruction in education. Instead of relying on traditional teaching methods such as lectures and textbooks, this emerging technology allows children to explore concepts like geometry by interacting with 3-D models on a computer or tablet. Cheweiky elaborated on how advances in information communication technologies have not only changed the way companies and employees do business in the Middle East, but also affected the education sector in Qatar. “Educational tools are changing rapidly, and this could be another step that will help take education to a different level that is fun and engaging for students. Further research could involve how we can localize augmented reality educational materials to suit a specific culture or region, such as Qatar and the Middle East,” Cheweiky said. Other awards went to Taylor Poulos from Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh, for best presentation with “How Hackathons Will Change IS Students,” and to Pittsburgh students Michael Ferraco, Dillon Grove, Nathan Hahn and Jonathan Miller, who won the best poster for “GreenLight,” their wireless, green-energy lighting system. Dale Markowitz, from Princeton University, was named “Most Promising Researcher” for her findings on bringing affordable Internet access to people in developing countries. Her solution to increasing
bandwidth is a low-cost piece of hardware called BeagleCache. Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, opened the event. During his remarks, he recognized the conference program as a collaborative effort with input from faculty and staff at Carnegie Mellon in both Pittsburgh and Qatar. Baybars also expressed his excitement at seeing so many undergraduate students from different universities present their research at the conference. Raul Valdes-Perez, a Carnegie Mellon alumnus who co-founded the business software company Vivisimo in 2000 and was named a 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, gave the keynote lecture. This year’s conference was sponsored by Carnegie Mellon, Carnegie Mellon Qatar and the Qatar AIS chapter. It was co-chaired by Limam Mansar and Divakaran Liginlal, associate teaching professors of information systems at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, and Jeria Quesenberry, associate teaching professor of information systems in Carnegie Mellon’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The following Qatar students were selected to showcase their work at the conference: Daniel Cheweiky, “Evaluating the Use of Emerging Technologies in Education”; Sarah Mustafa, “Accessible Website is Usable: Framework for Usability Assessment”; Maahd Shahzad, “Identification of Biomarkers for Diabetes in NMR Data”; Haya Thowfeek, “Flipped Learning for Educational Content Delivery: Application to Programming with Python”; Muhammad Jaasim Polin, “On the Relevance of Cultural Intelligence for Technology Acceptance”; Afrah Hassan, “Studying the Sociotechnical Barriers to AR”; and Haris Aghadi, “Pinpoint: An Efficient and Effective Way to Manage Events.”
On: Class Notes
Graduate Takes Education to New Heights 2008 Rasha Mkachar (BA) is a consultant at Oxford Economics.
2010 Rishav Bhowmick (CS) is a data scientist at Expedia.
2011 Asma Al-Kuwari (BA) is a senior analyst, product development, at Ooredoo. Nada Al-Mahmeed (BA) is a corporate planning supervisor at Qatar Development Bank. Zeyad Al Mudhaf (BA) is a business analyst at McKinsey & Company.
Varun Arora is an information systems alumnus and the brains behind OpenCurriculum— an online platform that helps educators create, access and share learning materials for primary- and secondary-school–aged children. Arora was inspired to develop the website in 2009, while he was a student at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. He went on to complete his senior year in Pittsburgh and earn a master’s in information systems management from the main campus. “I realized I was blessed with technology skills equipping me to significantly improve systems, so I knew I had to dedicate my time to tackling an issue that was close to impossible to accomplish and that would make a real difference to communities,” said Arora, an Indian national who was raised in Oman.
2012 Abdulmunim Kelzieh (IS) is a business development manager at Al Jaber Brothers. Mohammad Abed Shirzai (BA) is a senior account executive at BLJ Worldwide. Maha El-Moghany (CS) is a E-Channel Officer at Ahlibank Qatar.
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As OpenCurriculum’s founding director, Arora leads a team of five people who share his vision and passion for open source education.
Ahmad Al-Sarraf (BA) is a fleet analyst at Qatargas.
OpenCurriculum provides educational content, including thousands of open articles, videos, audio, worksheets and documents, all produced and curated by the community. The team’s materials are being used by 100 organizations and educational communities in Pittsburgh, South Africa and Nepal.
Anas Halbawi (CS) is a software engineer at NSI Technology.
Arora’s work has earned him several awards, among them an Anne and Edward Lewis Social Innovation Fellowship from Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz College and an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Young Innovators Award. In 2011, Arora was named a winner of Google’s Zeitgeist Young Minds social entrepreneurship competition. To learn more about Open Curriculum, visit: http://opencurriculum.org/about/
Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
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Feature
Alumni welcomed graduating seniors into the CMU-Q Alumni Association at a beach party at the InterContinental Hotel.
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Summer 2014 / Fall 2014
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Carnegie Mellon. We created the first Internet search engine. We helped develop artificial intelligence. We revolutionized business education. We led the convergence of information technology and biology.
And that’s just our first century.
Biological Sciences | Business Administration | Computational Biology | Computer Science | Information Systems
www.qatar.cmu.edu