On-Q, Winter/Spring 2015

Winter 2014 Spring 2015

Introducing Alice ‫إطالق برنامج أليس‬ CMU Software Helps Kids in Qatar Learn Computer Programming Site Removes Mystery from

FINDING A CLINIC page 16

‫جامعة كارنيجي ميلون تدشن برنامجً ا يساعد‬ ‫األطفال في قطر على تعلم البرمجة‬

Grad Finds Career Success in

STUDENT LIFE page 20

Students Lend a

HELPING HAND page 23

Summer 2014 / Fall 2014

Features

16 ‫العثور على الطبيب المناسب‬

12

‫فريق من جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر يساعد الناس في اختيار‬ ‫األطباء والعيادات في قطر‬

‫إطالق برنامج أليس‬

Finding Dr. Right

CMU-Q Team Helps People Choose Doctors and Clinics in Qatar

‫برنامجا يساعد‬ ‫جامعة كارنيجي ميلون تدشن‬ ً ‫األطفال في قطر على تعلم البرمجة‬

20

Introducing Alice

In the House

CMU Software Helps Kids in Qatar Learn Computer Programming

Graduates Finds Career Success in Housing and Residence Life

CONTENTS

Winter 2014 Spring 2015

3 - 11

On the record.

Highlight

Students Create Digital Submission Platform for Model United Nations Film Festival

Student Life

10

On:

23 Helping Hands

Business

24

CMU-Q Teams Win at Enterprise Challenge

Science

25 Qatar’s Phage Hunters

Research 26 28

Social Interaction Improves Lung Function in the Elderly Cyber Security: Staying One Step Ahead

Pittsburgh 34 Google VP Joins CMU’s School of Computer Science Alumni 35 Alumna Works to Close Digital Divide

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

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

Alexander Cheek Susan Hagan, Ph.D. Khaled Harras, Ph.D. Kenneth Hovis, Ph.D. Gloria Khoury Selma Limam Mansar, Ph.D. George White, Ph.D. Editor

Sarah Nightingale Writer

Sarah Nightingale Proofreader

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Photographs

Khalid Ismail, Adrian Haddad, Stephen MacNeil, Sam Abraham

Carnegie Mellon University has been pioneering solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges for more than a century. We are a leader in bringing new and innovative ideas to market, and a place where students learn the skills that will equip them as the next generation of leaders and thinkers.

Carnegie Mellon’s tradition of innovation began in Pittsburgh in the United States, but today’s Carnegie Mellon is global, with more than a dozen degree-granting locations across the world. In 2004, the university opened the first fully fledged branch campus outside of Pittsburgh—right here in Doha.

The Carnegie Mellon community is particularly proud of our Qatar campus, and with good reason. We provide a world-class education to a growing number of students from Qatar and around the globe—more than 400 this academic year.

We work with Qatar Foundation to contribute to Qatar’s National Vision of developing a knowledge-based economy, and our faculty members engage in research that is aligned with the needs and challenges of this part of the world.

We also continue to forge important international partnerships, and maintain strong ties with the Pittsburgh campus. An example is our recent panel on cyber security, during which four experts from the Pittsburgh campus discussed one of the most pressing challenges of our time.

The story about that event, on page 28, also highlights research on computer security that is being done here at CMU-Q. Another important collaboration with our Pittsburgh campus was in bringing Alice, a software designed to teach computer programming skills to children, to Qatar. You can read about Dr. Saquib Razak and his team’s work on creating Alice for the Middle East on page 12.

Carnegie Mellon has truly achieved its status as a global leader in education and research. As dean of CMU-Q, I couldn’t be prouder of the contributions we are making on our Qatar campus.

Thank you for your continued support of Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

Layout

Empire Advertising Qatar For editorial inquiries 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.

Ilker Baybars Dean & CEO

On the record.

Winter 2014 Spring 2015

EVENTS July This year’s Summer College Preview Program (SCPP) welcomed 71 students from 27 high schools who learned what will be expected of them at select universities and took classes in math, English, and SAT or ACT preparation.

August New and returning students learned about clubs and activities at the Tartan Activities Fair.

September Students, faculty and staff showed off their entertainment skills at CMU-Q’s annual Tartans Got Talent.

October Alumni enjoyed the cooler weather as they met for a Dhow boat cruise around Doha’s Corniche.

November CMU-Q’s student-led Tartan Carnival attracted students, faculty, staff and alumni.

December The community enjoyed Qatari food, music and games to commemorate Qatar’s National Day on December 18.

View photos from these events and more at: tinyurl.com/cmuq-albums

Takeo Kanade, the U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon.

Glare-Blocking Headlights Developed at CMU Drivers are much more likely to crash if they’re on the road at night or in poor weather conditions.

A smart headlight developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon may reduce these kinds of accidents by enabling drivers to take full advantage of their high beams without blinding oncoming drivers or suffering from the glare that can occur when driving in snow or rain.

Takeo Kanade, the U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, presented the research during a Dean’s Lecture at CMU-Q this fall.

During snow or rain, the programmable headlight improves driver vision by tracking individual snowflakes and droplets in front of the car and blocking narrow slivers of the headlight beam that would otherwise illuminate them and cause reflection back into the driver’s eyes. The smart headlight can also sense oncoming vehicles, reducing the glare that would usually shine into a driver’s eyes.

Instead of a standard headlight, these headlights use DLP projector technology, which divides the light into a million tiny beams, each of which can be independently adjusted by an onboard computer. While some beams would be dimmed to spare the eyes of oncoming drivers, others might be brightened to highlight street signs or traffic lanes. The changes in overall illumination are minor, however, and generally not noticeable by the driver.

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

3

On the record.

Welcome, Class of 2018

Carnegie Mellon Qatar welcomed more than 100 new students this fall. Their first stop: a Harry Potter-themed orientation program, complete with a sorting ceremony, wand-making sessions and owl-post parcels.

orientation, and how they begin the next four years is heavily influenced by the welcome they receive. That’s why it’s so important to make it a special experience for them,” said Noshin Nisa, senior in information systems and head orientation counselor.

Orientation is held each year to introduce new students to their classmates, campus resources and university traditions.

The program was planned by upperclassmen, with four head orientation counselors supported by 30 other students and Student Affairs staff.

A highlight of Orientation Week was the convocation ceremony, a long-standing university tradition that welcomes new students and their families to Carnegie Mellon.

“The first interaction that new students have with the university is through

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Speaking at the event, Dean Ilker Baybars encouraged students to embody the university’s core values of teamwork, problem solving and hard work.

2014–15 by the numbers Enrollment: 427 Countries represented: 40 Qataris: 40% Women: 57%

“We are confident that you are ready for the challenge ahead. That’s why you chose to attend Carnegie Mellon, and that’s why we chose you,” Baybars said.

Experts Discuss the Impact of Technology-Enhanced Learning Technology-enhanced learning will have a tremendous impact on higher education, but early models of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) won’t be game-changers for most universities, said Mark Kamlet, University Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University.

Kamlet, who served as provost at Carnegie Mellon for 14 years, spoke about technology-enhanced learning during the John Patrick Crecine Lecture Series in Social Sciences at CMU-Q. One of the problems with MOOCs—free courses broadcast to an unlimited audience via the web—is they don’t address a major shortcoming of large lectures: the lack of interaction between professors and students. Another concern is the lack of a revenue stream, since many early courses were offered free of charge.

Kamlet said that “cognitive tutoring,” another approach to technologyenhanced learning, has been successful in engaging students in personalized learning opportunities. Carnegie Learning, for example, has helped students in grades 6–12 learn math through interactive web-based software that identifies their strengths and weaknesses.

Mark Kamlet, University Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon.

Justine Cassell, Associate Vice-Provost of Technology Strategy and Impact at Carnegie Mellon and Co-Director of CMU’s Simon Initiative, also discussed in a Dean’s Lecture this fall how technology is being used to maximize learning outcomes. Cassell highlighted how technology can be used to develop the bond between teachers and students, allow for meaningful peer-peer interactions, and accommodate social and cultural differences.

Cassell also spoke about the Simon Initiative, a university-wide enterprise investigating how technology affects learning outcomes, with the goal of improving education for Carnegie Mellon students and millions of people across the world.

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

Justine Cassell, Associate Vice-Provost of Technology Strategy and Impact at Carnegie Mellon and Co-Director of CMU’s Simon Initiative.

5

On the record.

Ecuadorian President Visits CMU-Q During an official trip to Qatar, Rafael Correa, president of Ecuador, visited Carnegie Mellon’s Doha campus to tour the building, meet Dean Ilker Baybars and hear about the programs at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. Just before Correa’s visit to Qatar, Ecuador opened Yachay University, a multi-university campus similar to Education City.

Baybars led the tour for Correa, which included about 40 government officials and journalists from Ecuador, in addition to about 40 officials from Qatar and CMU-Q. He emphasized that the quality of education at CMU-Q was the same as a student receives in Pittsburgh.

Dean Baybars also talked about how the educational technology on campus allows students and faculty to connect instantly to lectures, talks, seminars and classes in Pittsburgh and around the world.

Commercial Bank CEO Discusses Innovation in Banking

‫الرئيس التنفيذي للبنك‬ ‫التجاري يناقش االبتكار في‬ ‫الصناعة المصرفية‬ ‫يحفل تاريخ البنك التجاري باالبتكار؛ فهو أول بنك في قطر يدرج‬ ‫ وأول بنك يطلق تطبيق‬،‫شهادات إيداع عالمية في بورصة لندن‬ .‫الخدمات المصرفية عبر الجوال في قطر‬ ‫ الرئيس‬،‫وفي خريف هذا العام ألقى السيد عبد اهلل صالح الرئيسي‬ ،‫ محاضرة بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‬،‫التنفيذي للبنك التجاري‬ ‫تناول خاللها جهود البنك المبذولة للحفاظ على تميزه عن منافسيه‬ .‫عبر استقطاب عمالء جدد ورعاية العمالء الحاليين‬ ً ‫ قائ‬،‫وفي هذا الصدد صرح السيد الرئيسي‬ ‫ «نعيش اليوم في عصر‬:‫ال‬ ‫ وقد الحظنا أن عدد عمالء البنك الذين يُجْ رون‬،‫التقنيات الرقمية‬

From the first Qatari bank on the London Stock Exchange to the nation’s first mobile banking app, Commercial Bank is no stranger to innovation.

This fall, Commercial Bank CEO Abdulla Saleh Al Raisi delivered a Dean’s Lecture at CMU-Q, sharing how the bank strives to stay ahead of its competitors to attract and retain customers.

“We are in a new digital era, where many of our customers are visiting branches less and increasingly using the Internet and mobile banking,” Al Raisi said. “With remote online banking becoming increasingly important, we must harness changing technology platforms to deliver benefits for our customers.”

Through quarterly surveys, Al Raisi said the bank assesses what customers like and dislike, and uses this feedback to make improvements.

He also discussed other areas of innovation, such as the trend toward specialization and customization of products and services, looking to new markets, and banks being good corporate citizens.

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‫ إذ أصبح أغلبهم‬،‫معامالتهم المصرفية داخل األفرع في تناقص مستمر‬ ّ ‫ ونظراً لتزايد‬.‫يفضل استخدام الخدمات المصرفية عبر اإلنترنت والجوال‬ ‫ كان علينا االستفادة من نظم‬،‫أهمية الخدمات المصرفية عبر اإلنترنت‬ .»‫التكنولوجيا الحديثة في توفير المزيد من المزايا لعمالئنا‬ ‫وتابع السيد الرئيسي محاضرته عن االبتكار في مجال الصناعة‬ ‫المصرفية؛ فتحدّ ث عن إجراء البنك الستبيان علمي دقيق كل‬ ‫ يُطلب فيه من العمالء تقييم خدمات البنك وتحديد‬،‫ثالثة أشهر‬ ‫ كما‬.‫ ثم يُستخدم هذا التقييم في تطوير خدمات البنك‬،‫متط ّلباتهم‬ ‫ مثل المنتجات والخدمات‬،‫ناقش أيض ًا أهمية إيجاد سبل جديدة لالبتكار‬ ‫ والبحث‬،‫بناء على متط ّلباتهم‬ ‫التي يتم تصميمها‬ ً ً ‫خصيصا للعمالء‬ ‫عال‬ ٍ ٍ ‫ وحرص البنك على أن يكون مؤسسة على قدر‬،‫عن أسواق جديدة‬ .‫من االلتزام والمسؤولية تجاه المجتمع‬

Interaction Designers Connect The design of digital products involves more than making them look good—it also means satisfying users’ needs and enabling the best possible interactions between people and technology. In November, CMU-Q hosted the first meeting of the Qatar Chapter of the Interaction Design Association (IxDA).

With more than 60,000 members and 150 groups, IxDA is a global network of design professionals who are interested in advancing the human experience through design. The gathering brought together professionals and students—including several Carnegie Mellon alumni—to generate ideas for future events and workshops. The Qatar Chapter is the first in the Middle East. For more information, contact Alexander Cheek, assistant teaching professor, information systems, at alexcheek@cmu.edu, or connect on Twitter (@ixdadoha).

‘Stand Up! Speak Out!’ Event Concludes Domestic Violence Awareness Month Carnegie Mellon, Georgetown and Northwestern universities in Education City collaborated to host activities throughout the month of October in support of the internationally recognized Domestic Violence Awareness Month, with the community gathering on October 29 for the finale event, ‘Stand Up! Speak Out!’ The month-long program was designed to raise awareness among students, staff and faculty on issues such as personal safety, types of abuse, healthy relationships and how to help a friend in need. A self-defense class took place in late October, along with a screening and discussion of ‘Cairo786,’ a film focusing on harassment.

The awareness campaign also highlighted services offered by Carnegie Mellon Qatar throughout the year that support the personal and mental health needs of the campus community.

ACHIEVEMENTS Congratulations to this year’s Campus Scholars: Lana Al Kahala, Sabih Bin Wasi, Tanzeel Huda and Sama Kanbour. These students represent the best intersection of academic excellence, contributions to the community, volunteerism and student leadership. In addition, Al Kahala will represent Carnegie Mellon Qatar as the Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar in Pittsburgh.

Lana Al Kahala will represent Carnegie Mellon Qatar as this year’s Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar.

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

Business administration students Valerie Garcia, Bilal Sheikh, Narjis Premjee and Hessa Al-Thani won the Qatar Airways Digital Marketing Challenge. The competition challenged CMU-Q students to develop creative digital campaigns to meet the needs of Qatar’s national airline.

Valerie Garcia, Bilal Sheikh and Narjis Premjee.

Elected to represent their peers in the Student Majlis during the 2015 calendar year were: Mohamed Al Hor, president; Maryam Al Haddad, vice president; Yousuf Akhlaq, head of finance; Mounir Sheikh, head of communications; Shashank Shetty, head of clubs and organizations; Vishan Popat, head of academics; and Sherif Rizk, head of sports.

Recently elected Student Majlis president Mohamed Al Hor (right) with outgoing president Tarek Al-Hariri.

7

On the record.

Professor Reynolds Named President-Elect of TESOL Dudley Reynolds, teaching professor of English, has been named president-elect of the TESOL International Association (www.tesol.org).

TESOL is the largest professional association for teachers of English to speakers of other languages, with more than 13,000 members in 165 countries and more than 100 affiliated associations, such as Qatar TESOL, around the world. Members belong to all sectors of education, from elementary through postsecondary.

Reynolds will be sworn in as president-elect at TESOL’s annual conference in Toronto on March 27, 2015. He will become the 51st president of the Association in March 2016 and then serve as past president from March 2017–March 2018.

New Administrative Appointments

John O’Brien has been named associate dean at CMU-Q. He is responsible for assisting the Dean’s Office with faculty affairs, including recruitment, reviews for reappointment, promotion and mentoring. O’Brien has been with the Carnegie Mellon Tepper School of Business since 1984. He was the co-architect of the first Educational Trading Room, which combined and applied real time data and computeraided experiential learning tools to finance education worldwide. This resulted in a four-course series titled “Financial Analysis and Securities” (FAST), which has been offered in over 35 MBA programs globally and was also used to train participants in the emerging financial markets such as Russia and Mexico. A native of Australia, O’Brien earned bachelor’s degrees from Sydney University in 1973 and Macquarie University in 1980. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota in the United States in 1985.

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Selma Limam-Mansar, teaching professor of information systems, has been named associate dean, education, at CMU-Q. She holds a Ph.D. from L’Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble in France.

She has experienced various global educational models while teaching in France, the Netherlands, the UK, and the U.A.E, before joining Carnegie Mellon Qatar in 2007 to help launch the information systems major. She has taught information systems courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and to some extent at the executive level. In 2010, she received the meritorious teaching award.

Kemal Oflazer, teaching professor of computer science at CMU-Q, has been named associate dean for research.

Oflazer has a Ph.D. in computer science from Carnegie Mellon, and his M.Sc. in computer science and his B.Sc. in electrical engineering from Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey.

He has been working in the area of natural language processing for almost 25 years and has published widely in related journals and conferences.

Since 2008, he has been leading the natural language processing research effort at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

He has been awarded six Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) NPRP projects as either the Lead or Co-Lead PI.

Also this fall, new faculty members joined the Qatar campus: Amal Helu, visiting associate professor, statistics (Ph.D. from Old Dominion University); Onur Kesten, associate professor, economics (Ph.D. from University of Rochester); Niraj Khare, visiting assistant professor, mathematics (Ph.D. from Ohio State University); and Zelealem Yilma, visiting assistant professor, mathematics (Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University).

Qatar Shell Chairman ‫رئيس مجلس إدارة شل قطر‬ ‫يستعرض خبرته العملية‬ Shares Industry Knowledge Wael Sawan, managing director and chairman of Qatar Shell, shared industry knowledge and recent innovations at Shell Qatar during a Dean’s Lecture on campus. The presentation attracted students, faculty, staff and members of the community.

Sawan said Qatar Shell shares Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s vision of developing the country through investing in its human capital.

Sawan urged students, as the next generation of leaders in Qatar, to consider the welfare and development of all employees as integral to a company’s success.

Sawan also spoke about the importance of forming strong partnerships with local academic communities. These collaborations offer mutual benefits in terms of sharing skills and expertise, and to enhance collaboration in technology, innovation, and research and development, he said.

‫صوان طالب الجامعة العتبار رفاهية وتنمية قدرات جميع الموظفين كالركيزة‬

‫ خبرته‬،‫ المدير التنفيذي ورئيس مجلس إدارة شل قطر‬،‫استعرض السيد وائل صوان‬

‫ وذلك من منطلق إيمانه بأن طالب كارنيجي ميلون‬،‫األساسية لنجاح أي شركة‬

ً ‫ فض‬،‫في صناعة الطاقة‬ ،‫ال عن أحدث االبتكارات التي تم التوصل إليها في الشركة‬

.‫هم قادة المستقبل في قطر‬

‫ وقد‬.‫وذلك ضمن سلسلة محاضرات العميد بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‬

‫كما شدد السيد صوان على أهمية تكوين شراكات قوية مع المجتمعات‬

،‫اجتذبت كلمته عدداً من الطالب وأعضاء هيئة التدريس والعاملين بالجامعة‬ .‫باإلضافة إلى المهتمين بقطاع الطاقة‬

‫ لما تمثله تلك العالقات من فوائد مشتركة من حيث‬،‫األكاديمية في قطر‬ ‫ باإلضافة إلى تعزيز أواصر التعاون في مجال التقنيات‬،‫تبادل المهارات والخبرات‬

‫وأشار السيد صوان أن شل قطر وجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر تتشاركان‬

.‫التكنولوجية واالبتكار والبحث العلمي والتطوير‬

‫ وحث السيد‬.‫الرؤية نفسها في تطوير البالد من خالل االستثمار في ثروتها البشرية‬

The Importance of Storytelling A discussion of Tahir Shah’s In Arabian Nights was popular with students, faculty and staff this fall. The discussion was led by Ludmila Hyman, assistant teaching professor of English, who chose the book based on a recommendation from recent graduate Zuhair Syed.

Based on the tales in A Thousand and One Nights, Shah’s book prompted a conversation about the importance of storytelling, Eastern wisdom and cultural differences between people.

“Such topics are vitally important, but we don’t always have time to discuss them in our classes. I thought it would be wonderful to create a space for our students, faculty and anybody else interested to come together and have a deep conversation about these matters,” Hyman said. “I also believe that it is very important to pay close attention to the mighty cultural tradition that surrounds us. We are in the East.

Do we do enough to honor this culture—to understand it, in its depth and variety?”

Organized periodically by General Education faculty, book discussions promote the importance of reading for learning about the world and building the self. Hyman said the group also planned to offer movie discussions in the future.

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

9

On the record.

Students Create Digital Submission Platform for Model United Nations Film Festival

‫طالب ينشئون منصة‬ ‫رقمية للتقديم بالمهرجان‬ ‫السينمائي‬ ‫ شكيب محمود وعبد‬،‫عقد طالب السنة النهائية ببرنامج أنظمة المعلومات‬ ‫ شراكة مع مهرجان جامعة نورثويسترن‬،ً‫ مؤخرا‬،‫الرحمن تقي الدين وبرنس أبراهام‬ ‫السينمائي ضمن فعاليات نموذج األمم المتحدة الدولي في الهاي (مؤسسة‬ ‫تسهل عملية التقديم‬ ‫ وذلك لتطوير منصة على اإلنترنت‬،)‫ قطر‬-‫ثيمون‬ ّ .‫لصانعي األفالم من الطالب المشاركين بالمهرجان‬

ً ‫ قائ‬،‫ صرح تقي الدين‬،‫وفي هذا الصدد‬ ‫ «في أولى لقاءاتنا مع مسؤولي مؤسسة‬:‫ال‬ ‫قطر ناقشنا التحديات التي تعترض عملية التقديم في مهرجانهم‬-‫ثيمون‬ ‫ ويتمثل في ضرورة إدخال التقنية الرقمية على‬،‫ وكان الحل واضح ًا‬،‫السينمائي‬

Information systems seniors Sakib Mahmoud, Abdulrahman Takiddin and Prince Abraham recently partnered with The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) Qatar Northwestern University Film Festival to develop an online platform to ease the submission process for participating student filmmakers.

Takiddin said, “At our initial meeting with THIMUN Qatar we discussed the challenges around their film festival submissions process and the solution was clear—we needed to digitize the entire process by creating online forms and integrating a file upload system.”

The students developed the submission system as part of their capstone project, under the supervision of Abhay Valiyaveettil, THIMUN Qatar’s IT Coordinator and a Carnegie Mellon Qatar alumnus. They were mentored by Divakaran Liginlal, associate teaching professor of information systems at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

“With the support of our faculty mentor, we created a variety of prototypes that went through multiple phases, and functionality and usability tests. After 13 weeks of work, we managed to deliver a fully functional solution along with the necessary documentation to ensure future improvement,” Takiddin added.

Before the creation of this digital system, film festival participants submitted copies of their entries through CDs and USB drives.

Registration forms were also handwritten and manually converted to a digital format for processing.

“As the reach of the film festival has grown, the need for a stable and accessible way to submit films was becoming more of a necessity.

This new platform allows us to really put the ‘international’ into our film festival, making submissions from anywhere in the world a relatively easy process,” said Lisa Martin, head of THIMUN Qatar.

THIMUN Qatar is a joint project between Qatar Academy, a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, and the THIMUN Foundation that works to promote dialogue between global youth. The film festival encourages better understanding of, and appreciation for, cinematic arts, and to help put a human face on the contemporary issues facing the world today.

THIMUN Qatar Northwestern University Film Festival is one of three main events THIMUN Qatar holds each year, along with a leadership conference and a Model United Nations (MUN) conference.

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‫العملية برمتها من خالل وضع استمارات على اإلنترنت واعتماد نظام لتحميل‬ .»‫الملفات إلكتروني ًا‬ ‫ تحت‬،‫هذا وقد طور الطالب نظام التقديم عبر اإلنترنت كجزء من مشروع تخرجهم‬ ،‫قطر‬-‫ منسق تكنولوجيا المعلومات بمؤسسة ثيمون‬،‫إشراف أبهاي فاليفتل‬ ‫ وأنجزوا مشروعهم تحت إشراف ديفاكران‬،‫وخريج جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‬ .‫ األستاذ المشارك في أنظمة المعلومات بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون‬،‫ليجينالل‬ ‫ بمساعدة‬،‫ «لقد توصلنا إلى مجموعة متنوعة من النماذج‬:‫وأضاف تقي الدين‬ ‫ وخضعت الختبارات‬،‫ ومرت تلك النماذج بمراحل متعددة‬،‫مشرفنا بالجامعة‬ ‫ أسبوع ًا من العمل‬13 ‫ وبعد‬.‫مكثفة لقياس جدواها العملي وقابليتها لالستخدام‬ ّ ‫ إلى جانب توثيق كافة المراحل لضمان‬،‫تمكنا من تقديم حل عملي‬ ،‫المتواصل‬ .»‫تطوير البرنامج في المستقبل‬ ‫ كان على المشاركين في‬،‫جدير بالذكر أنه قبل إنشاء هذا النظام الرقمي‬ ‫المهرجان السينمائي تقديم نسخ من أعمالهم على أسطوانات مدمجة وأقراص‬ ‫ ثم يتم تحويلها‬،‫ كما كانت استمارات التسجيل تكتب أيض ًا بخط اليد‬.‫يو إس بي‬ .‫يدوي ًا إلى نماذج رقمية لمعالجتها‬ -‫ رئيس مؤسسة ثيمون‬،‫ أشارت ليزا مارتن‬،‫وفي معرض تعليقها على هذا االبتكار‬ ‫ أصبحنا بحاجة ماسة إلى وسيلة‬،‫ «مع توسع المهرجان السينمائي‬:‫ قائلة‬،‫قطر‬ ‫ وهذه المنصة الجديدة تسمح لنا‬.‫ لتقديم األفالم‬،‫ وفي متناول الجميع‬،‫ثابتة‬ ‫ حيث يجعل ذلك عملية التقديم من‬،‫بوصف مهرجاننا السينمائي «بالدولي» حق ًا‬ .»‫أي مكان في العالم عملية سهلة نسبي ًا‬ ‫ عضو‬،‫قطر هي مشروع مشترك بين أكاديمية قطر‬-‫يشار إلى أن مؤسسة ثيمون‬ ‫ ومؤسسة ثيمون التي تعمل‬،‫مؤسسة قطر للتربية والعلوم وتنمية المجتمع‬ ‫ ويشجع المهرجان السينمائي على‬.‫على تعزيز الحوار بين الشباب في العالم‬ ‫ والمساهمة في إضفاء الطابع اإلنساني على القضايا‬،‫تقدير الفنون السينمائية‬ .‫المعاصرة التي تواجه عالمنا اليوم‬ ‫ قطر أحد ثالث‬- ‫ويعتبر مهرجان جامعة نورثويسترن التابع لمؤسسة ثيمون‬ ‫ بجانب مؤتمر القيادة‬،‫قطر سنوي ًا‬- ‫فعاليات رئيسية تقيمها مؤسسة ثيمون‬ .‫ومؤتمر نموذج األمم المتحدة‬

Publications and Presentations Articles and Book Contributions Omar AlZoubi, postdoctoral research associate, and Davide Fossati, assistant teaching professor of computer science. “ChiQat: an Intelligent System for Learning Recursion,” Proceedings of the Second Workshop on AI-supported Education for Computer Science (with Barbara Di Eugenio and Nick Green).

Omar AlZoubi, postdoctoral research associate, and Davide Fossati, assistant teaching professor of computer science. “Affect Detection from Non-stationary Physiological Data Using Ensemble Classifiers,” Evolving Systems (with Sidney D’Mello and Rafael Calvo).

Rami el Samahy and Kelly Hutzell, associate teaching professors of architecture. “In Search of Doha’s Public Realm.” In: Urban Pamphleteer #4: Heritage and Renewal in Doha, University College London Urban Laboratory.

Rami el Samahy and Kelly Hutzell, associate teaching professors of architecture. “Inexhaustible Ambition: Two Eras of Planning in Doha, Qatar.” In: UAE and the Gulf, Architectural Design (with Adam Hines).

Adam Hodges, visiting assistant professor of English. “ ‘Yes, We Can’: The Social Life of a Political Slogan.”

In: Contemporary Critical Discourse Studies, Bloomsbury Publishing.

Starling D. Hunter, visiting associate teaching professor of business administration. “A Network Text Analysis of Fight Club,” Language Theory and Practice (with Saba Singh).

Starling D. Hunter, visiting associate teaching professor of business administration. “A Semi-Automated Method of Network Text Analysis Applied to 150 Original Screenplays,” Proceedings of the Joint Workshop on Social Dynamics and Personal Attributes in Social Media.

Starling D. Hunter, visiting associate teaching professor of business administration. “A Network Text Analysis of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness,” English Linguistics Research (with Susan Smith).

Zeinab Ibrahim, teaching professor of Arabic. “Learning Activities, Educational Games, and Tangibles: Arabic Language Learning in the ALADDIN Project,” Proceedings of the 17th Panhellenic Conference on Informatics (with Pantelis M. Papadopoulos and Andreas Karatsolis).

Zeinab Ibrahim, teaching professor of Arabic. “Teaching the Arabic Alphabet to Kindergarteners: Writing Activities on Paper and Surface Computers,” Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (with Pantelis M. Papadopoulos and Andreas Karatsolis).

Tridas Mukhopadhyay, Deloitte Consulting Professor of eBusiness. “Project Managers’ Practical Intelligence and Project Performance in Software Offshore Outsourcing: A Field Study,” Information Systems Research (with Nishtha Langer and Sandra A. Slaughter).

Heiko Topol, postdoctoral research associate, and Hasan Demirkoparan, associate teaching professor of mathematics.

“A Theory for Deformation Dependent Evolution of Continuous Fibre Distribution Applicable to Collagen Remodeling,” IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics (with Thomas J. Pence and Alan Wineman).

Heiko Topol, postdoctoral research associate, and Hasan Demirkoparan, associate teaching professor of mathematics.

“Evolution of the Fiber Density in Biological Tissues,” Proceedings in Applied Mathematics and Mechanics.

Presentations David Emmanuel Gray, assistant teaching professor of philosophy. “Business Ethics for Accounting and Financial Professionals,” IMA Qatar Chapter, Session on Professional Ethics, Doha, Qatar.

Zeinab Ibrahim, teaching professor of Arabic. “Arabiyyatii,” World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), Doha, Qatar.

Zeinab Ibrahim, teaching professor of Arabic. “Arabiyyatii, a Revolutionary (Innovative) Curriculum in Teaching Arabic to Native Speakers,” Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference, 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, Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

Dudley Reynolds, teaching professor of English.

“Motivating Reading,” 1st International Conference on Motivation in ELT, Al Yamamah University, Riyadh, KSA. Dudley Reynolds, teaching professor of English.

“An Intervention to Improve Qatari Middle-Schoolers’ Strategies for Reading EFL Science Materials,” International Association of Applied Linguistics World Congress 2014, Brisbane, Australia.

Heiko Topol, postdoctoral research associate, and Hasan Demirkoparan, associate teaching professor of mathematics. “Finite Deformation Continuum Mechanics of Stretch Dependent Fiber Turnover with Application to Collagen Tissue Remodeling,” 17th U.S. National Congress on Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, USA (with Thomas J. Pence and Alan Wineman).

11

‫إطالق برنامج‬

‫أليس‬

‫جامعة كارنيجي ميلون تدشن برنامجً ا يساعد األطفال في قطر على تعلم البرمجة‬

‫في الماضي‪ ،‬لو أردت أن تجعل الهواتف تتكلم من تلقاء نفسها‪ ،‬ولو أردت أن تجعل السيارات تسير ذاتها بذاتها‪ ،‬فكان‬ ‫عليك أن تكون ساحراً‪ .‬أما في هذه األيام فيمكنك فعل ذلك كله بأن تصبح خبيراً في علوم الحاسوب‪.‬‬ ‫ومع دخول التكنولوجيا في تفاصيل حياتنا اليومية‪ ،‬واالعتماد عليها كلي ًا وجزئي ًا في إتمام المعامالت التجارية والتوصل‬ ‫إلى اكتشافات علمية جديدة‪ ،‬سيزداد الطلب على علماء الحاسوب‪ ،‬الذين يستخدمون التفكير الحاسوبي لحل‬ ‫المشكالت الكبرى‪ .‬ولكننا نعاني من عدم كفاية أعداد الطالب الراغبين في دراسة هذا التخصص في الجامعة؛ ويرجع‬ ‫ذلك جزئي ًا إلى عدم دراستهم للحوسبة والبرمجة في مراحل التعليم بالمدارس‪.‬‬ ‫وفي هذا اإلطار يعمل فريق من الباحثين بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر على التصدي لتلك المشكلة في مدارس قطر‪.‬‬ ‫صمم خصيص ًا لمساعدة األطفال على تعلم أساسيات برمجة‬ ‫حيث أعد الفريق مشروع "أليس الشرق األوسط‪ "،‬وهو برنامج ُ‬ ‫الحاسوب بطريقة جذابة ومشوقة‪ .‬ويجري استخدام البرنامج حالي ًا في ثالث مدارس‪ ،‬ويأمل الباحثون استخدامه قريب ًا في‬ ‫المدارس األخرى في قطر ودول المنطقة‪.‬‬

‫‪Introducing Alice‬‬

‫‪CMU Software Helps Kids in Qatar Learn Computer Programming‬‬

‫‪I‬‬

‫‪n the past, if you wanted to make phones talk and cars drive by themselves, you had to be a magician.‬‬ ‫‪Today, you can do these things by becoming an expert in computer science.‬‬

‫‪As technology becomes increasingly central to the way we live our lives, conduct business and make‬‬ ‫—‪new discoveries, computer scientists—who use computational thinking to solve big problems‬‬ ‫‪will be in high demand.‬‬ ‫‪Not enough young people are applying to study the subject at universities, though, in part because‬‬ ‫‪they haven’t been introduced to computing and programming courses as schoolchildren.‬‬

‫‪12‬‬

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

13

A group of researchers at CMU-Q is working to help change that in Qatar’s schools.

The team has created “Alice Middle East,” a software designed to help children learn the basics of programming in an entertaining and appealing way. The software is now being used in three schools, and the researchers hope it will be introduced into other schools in Qatar and the region soon.

The program being used in Qatar is a localized version of Alice, which was developed by a team led by the late Randy Pausch, a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Alice allows students to learn fundamental programming concepts by creating animated movies and simple video games. In Alice, which takes its name from Lewis Carroll’s book, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, 3D objects such as people, animals and vehicles populate a virtual world, and students create a program to animate these objects.

The software has already been used in the United States and countries in Asia, South America, Central America and Europe.

With an estimated 1.4 million downloads per year, Alice is quite successful.In 2008, Her Highness Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser expressed an interest in bringing the software to Qatar. Wanda Dann, director of the Alice project in Pittsburgh, contacted Saquib Razak, assistant professor of computer science at CMU-Q. Together

with Yonina Cooper, an associate teaching professor of computer science at CMU-Q who retired in 2013, the pair submitted a proposal to the Qatar National Research Fund’s National Priorities Research Program (NPRP), which was funded in 2012.

Razak was then tasked with forming a team to help localize the U.S. version of Alice for the Middle East. Since the program is highly visual, the first step was to replace the U.S.-centric 3D models with ones that were relevant to local school children. To do this, several character artists created models of Qatar’s Zubarah Fort, a local police officer, a sheikh, camels, Land Cruisers and other Arabic objects. At the same time, other team members were developing the curriculum, including a textbook for Arabic speaking students, and conducting teacher-training workshops.

Alice Middle East was first implemented in 2013 at Al Arqam Academy, a private English-speaking school in Doha, with an initial pilot program running for one semester. It is now offered to all students in years 7, 8 and 9 in support of the United Kingdom’s new National Curriculum, which replaces traditional Information and Communications Technology (ICT) courses with computing.

Last September, Qatar’s Supreme Education Council (SEC) also rolled out the software to year 8 students at two independent schools: Ali bin Abi-Talib Independent

School and Khalid bin Waleed Independent School. Successful implementation of this curriculum could lead to it becoming standard for year 8 students in all SEC schools, Razak said.

“Computer scientists will be at the forefront of Qatar’s development of a knowledgebased economy, making computational thinking an essential skill that all students should have the opportunity to learn,” Razak said. “Computer science concepts not only benefit aspiring computer scientists—learning the fundamentals of problem solving and computational thinking enhances children’s skills, no matter what career path they eventually choose.”

Nour ElHouda Tabet, a teacher at Al Arqam Academy, shared the effectiveness of the tool in engaging students. She said the children have exceeded her expectations in learning important concepts.

“Instead of using the word ‘programming,’ I introduced the tool to my students as ‘animation,’ since children can easily relate to it. Animation is driven by expression, which appeals to young people, as they love to share ideas and be creative,” she said.

Carnegie Mellon faculty are now tracking the students’ progress through in-depth analysis that will measure the impact of Alice on their performance in fields such as computing, technology and math, and allow for future improvements.

Saquib Razak, assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon Qatar (left) with Alice team members Omar Ashour, computer science student and character artist; Mohammed Fituri, computer science student and character artist; Mounira Tlili, computer science student and curriculum developer; Huda Gedawy, computer science graduate and curriculum developer; Aliaa Ahmed, computer science student and curriculum developer; and Nour ElHouda Tabet, a teacher at Al Arqam Academy in Doha.

14

‫جدير بالذكر أن البرنامج المستخدم في قطر عبارة‬ ‫عن نسخة معربة من "أليس" الذي تم تطويره‬ ‫على يد فريق بقيادة الراحل راندي باوش‪ ،‬أستاذ‬ ‫علوم الحاسوب بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في‬ ‫بيتسبيرغ‪ .‬ويتيح البرنامج إمكانية تعلم أساسيات‬ ‫البرمجة في سياق إعداد أفالم رسوم متحركة‬ ‫وألعاب فيديو بسيطة‪ .‬وفي برنامج "أليس" يتم‬ ‫إنشاء عالم افتراضي من بشر وحيوانات ومركبات‪،‬‬ ‫ويقوم الطالب بتحريك هذه النماذج من خالل أوامر‬ ‫وتعليمات للبرنامج‪.‬‬ ‫هذا‪ ،‬ويُستخدم برنامج "أليس" فعلي ًا في الواليات‬ ‫المتحدة وفي العديد من بلدان آسيا وأمريكا‬ ‫الجنوبية وأمريكا الوسطى وأوروبا مع تنزيل البرنامج‬ ‫نحو ‪ 1.4‬مليون مرة في السنة‪ ،‬األمر الذي يمثل نجاح ًا‬ ‫مشهوداً للبرنامج‪.‬‬ ‫وفي عام ‪ 2008‬أعربت صاحبة السمو الشيخة موزا‬ ‫بنت ناصر عن اهتمامها البالغ ببرنامج "أليس"‬ ‫وتنفيذه في قطر‪ ،‬فتواصلت واندا دان‪ ،‬مدير‬ ‫مشروع "أليس" في مقر الجامعة في بيتسبيرغ‪ ،‬مع‬ ‫البروفيسور ثاقب رزاق‪ ،‬أستاذ مساعد علوم الحاسوب‬ ‫بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‪ ،‬وقدما اقتراح ًا‬ ‫للبرنامج الوطني ألولويات البحث العلمي التابع‬ ‫للصندوق القطري لرعاية البحث العلمي‪ ،‬وفي عام‬ ‫‪ 2012‬حصال على الموافقة بتمويله‪.‬‬ ‫عندئ ٍذ تم تكليف رزاق بتشكيل فريق للمساعدة‬ ‫في تعريب نسخة الواليات المتحدة الحالية من‬

‫‪15‬‬

‫"أليس" لمنطقة الشرق األوسط‪ .‬وبما أن البرنامج‬ ‫يعتمد اعتماداً كبيراً على الصورة المرئية‪ ،‬فقد‬ ‫تمثلت الخطوة األولى في تحويل النماذج ثالثية‬ ‫األبعاد المتمحورة حول الثقافة األمريكية إلى‬ ‫مثيلتها األكثر ارتباط ًا بأطفال المدارس المحلية‪،‬‬ ‫ص ّمم ثالثة من الرسامين‬ ‫ولتحقيق ذلك الهدف ُ‬ ‫نماذج قطرية‪ ،‬وهي حصن الزبارة ورجل شرطة وشيخ‬ ‫وجمال وسيارات الند كروزر وغيرها من النماذج التي‬ ‫تحمل الطابع والثقافة العربية‪ .‬وفي الوقت نفسه‬ ‫كان أعضاء آخرون في الفريق يعملون على إعداد‬ ‫المناهج الدراسية‪ ،‬من بينها كتاب مدرسي للطالب‬ ‫الناطقين باللغة العربية‪ ،‬وتنظيم ورش عمل‬ ‫لتدريب المعلمين‪.‬‬

‫التجربة على طالب الصف الثامن في كل المدارس‬ ‫التابعة للمجلس األعلى للتعليم على حد قول رزاق‪.‬‬ ‫وأضاف رزاق‪" :‬في المستقبل القريب سيقود علماء‬ ‫الحاسوب قاطرة التنمية في قطر إلنشاء اقتصاد‬ ‫قائم على المعرفة‪ ،‬األمر الذي يجعل التفكير‬ ‫الحاسوبي مهارة ضرورية يجب أن تتاح فرصة‬ ‫تعلمها أمام كل الطالب‪ .‬مع العلم أن أساسيات‬ ‫علوم الحاسوب ال تفيد علماء الحاسوب الناشئين‬ ‫وحسب‪ ،‬بل إن تعلم أساسيات حل المشكالت‬ ‫والتفكير الحاسوبي يسهم في شحذ مهارات‬ ‫األطفال بصرف النظر عن المسار المهني الذي‬ ‫سيختارونه في نهاية المطاف‪".‬‬

‫وقد تم تنفيذ مشروع "أليس الشرق األوسط" ألول‬ ‫مرة عام ‪ 2013‬في أكاديمية األرقم‪ ،‬وهي مدرسة‬ ‫خاصة ناطقة باللغة اإلنجليزية في الدوحة‪ ،‬عبر‬ ‫برنامج تجريبي أولي لفصل دراسي واحد‪ .‬ويجري اآلن‬ ‫تقديمه لكل الطالب في الصف السابع والثامن‬ ‫والتاسع لدعم مناهج المملكة المتحدة الجديدة‬ ‫للحوسبة‪ ،‬السيما أن الحوسبة أخذت تحل محل‬ ‫دورات تكنولوجيا المعلومات واالتصاالت التقليدية‪.‬‬

‫وفي هذا اإلطار استعرضت نور الهدى ثابت‪،‬‬ ‫المعلمة بأكاديمية األرقم‪ ،‬فعالية تلك األداة في‬ ‫جذب وتشويق الطالب‪ .‬حيث أشارت إلى أن أداء‬ ‫األطفال قد فاق توقعاتها في تعلم األساسيات‬ ‫المهمة‪ ،‬قائلة‪" :‬بد ًال من استخدام كلمة (برمجة)‪،‬‬ ‫قدمت لطالبي األداة باعتبارها (رسوم ًا متحركة) ألن‬ ‫األطفال يحبون الرسوم المتحركة بشدة‪ ،‬فهي‬ ‫حافلة بالتعبيرات التي تروق للصغار ألنهم يحبون‬ ‫تبادل األفكار واإلبداع‪".‬‬

‫ومنذ شهرين اعتمد المجلس األعلى للتعليم أيض ًا‬ ‫تدريس برنامج "أليس" لطالب الصف الثامن في‬ ‫اثنتين من المدارس المستقلة‪ ،‬وهما‪ :‬مدرسة علي‬ ‫بن أبي طالب المستقلة ومدرسة خالد بن الوليد‬ ‫المستقلة‪ .‬وفي حال نجاح تنفيذ هذا المنهج ستعمم‬

‫كما يتابع أعضاء هيئة التدريس بجامعة كارنيجي‬ ‫ميلون اآلن تقدم الطالب من خالل التحليل الشامل‬ ‫والذي يقيس أثر "أليس" على أداء الطالب في‬ ‫مجاالت مثل الحوسبة والتكنولوجيا والرياضيات‪،‬‬ ‫ويتيح إمكانية إدخال تحسينات في المستقبل‪.‬‬

‫‪Winter 2014 / Spring 2015‬‬

Finding Dr. Right

CMU-Q Team Helps People Choose Doctors and Clinics in Qatar

T

here are hundreds of clinics in Qatar, but which one is right for you? A website developed by a team of CMU-Q alumni and students can now help you decide.

Launched in August, Meddy (Meddy.co) provides Qataris and resident expats with a new way to find information about local doctors.

“Meddy lists doctors and clinics, allowing people to find locations and contact details, read reviews, and get information about average wait times and other important details,” said Haris Aghadi, a 2014 information systems graduate and co-founder of the site.

16

“While some of this information was already scattered around the various forums and blogs in Doha, there was no single resource for people to access. The aim of Meddy is to provide a one-stop-shop for people looking for data on health care providers in Qatar.”

The idea emerged more than a year ago, when Aghadi was taking CMU-Q’s ‘Technology Start Up Launchpad’ course. Aghadi then partnered with information systems students Maahd Shahzad, who also graduated in 2014, and Ali Naqi, to start developing Meddy during the ‘Information Systems Applications’ course. The group was mentored

by Maher Hakim, visiting associate professor of information systems, and Selma Limam-Mansar, teaching professor of information systems.

‫العثور على الطبيب‬

‫المناسب‬

‫فريق من جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر يساعد الناس في اختيار‬ ‫األطباء والعيادات في قطر‬ ‫توجد المئات من العيادات الطبية في قطر‪ ،‬ولكن أي منها يناسب حالتك؟‬ ‫صمم فريق من خريجي وطلبة جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر موقع ًا على‬ ‫اإلنترنت لمساعدتك في اتخاذ هذا القرار‪.‬‬

‫الخدمات في دولة قطر‪ ،‬ومن يجدون صعوبة في العثور على الطبيب المناسب‪.‬‬ ‫وتقتضي خطتنا التوسع في الموقع بحيث يتمكن الناس من اتخاذ قرارات‬ ‫مستنيرة بشأن الرعاية الصحية المقدمة لهم"‪.‬‬

‫وقد أطلق موقع (‪ )Meddy.co‬في شهر أغسطس ليقدم للمواطنين‬ ‫والمغتربين في دولة قطر طريقة جديدة للعثور على معلومات عن األطباء‬ ‫المحليين‪.‬‬

‫وقد شهد ‪ Meddy‬نمواً سريع ًا في وقت قياسي‪ ،‬ليتحول من مجرد موقع يضم‬ ‫عددً ا ضئي ً‬ ‫ال من البروفايالت (ملف تعريف ومعلومات عن مقدمي الخدمات)‬ ‫ليحتوي اآلن على أكثر من ‪ 300‬بروفيل‪ .‬وفيه تم ترتيب مقدمي الرعاية الصحية‬ ‫بحسب التخصص‪ ،‬مثل طب األطفال واألمراض الجلدية وطب األسنان‪ ،‬وغيرها‬ ‫من التخصصات‪ .‬ويتصف الموقع ببساطة االستخدام وإمكانية الدخول إليه عبر‬ ‫الجوال‪ .‬وباإلضافة إلى تفاصيل االتصال والتعليقات ومتوسط فترات االنتظار‪،‬‬ ‫فإن البروفايالت تشمل معلومات عن تعليم األطباء واللغات التي يتحدث بها‬ ‫مقدم الخدمة‪ ،‬في حال توافرها‪.‬‬

‫وعن هذا الموقع يقول حارس أغادي‪ ،‬خريج دفعة ‪ 2014‬في اختصاص أنظمة‬ ‫المعلومات من جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‪ ،‬والمؤسس المشارك للموقع‪:‬‬ ‫"يضم موقعنا قوائم بأسماء األطباء والعيادات‪ ،‬مما يسمح للناس بإيجاد مواقع‬ ‫وتفاصيل االتصال‪ ،‬وقراءة اآلراء‪ ،‬والحصول على معلومات حول متوسط وقت‬ ‫االنتظار وغيرها من التفاصيل المهمة‪ .‬وفي حين أن بعض هذه المعلومات‬ ‫موجودة بالفعل على نحو متفرق في مختلف المنتديات والمدونات في الدوحة‪،‬‬ ‫إال أنه لم يكن هناك مصدر واحد يمكن للناس الرجوع إليه‪ .‬ويهدف موقع ‪Meddy‬‬ ‫إلى توفير منصة واحدة يستطيع الناس الدخول إليها للبحث عن بيانات مقدمي‬ ‫الرعاية الصحية في قطر"‪.‬‬ ‫هذا وقد ظهرت فكرة الموقع منذ أكثر من عام‪ ،‬عندما كان يتابع أغادي دورة‬ ‫"إطالق مشروع تكنولوجي" بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‪ .‬بعدها‪ ،‬انضم‬ ‫أغادي في شراكة مع ماهد شاهزاد‪ ،‬طالب أنظمة المعلومات‪ ،‬الذي تخرج من‬ ‫الجامعة أيض ًا عام ‪ ،2014‬وعلي نقي‪ ،‬للبدء في تطوير موقع ‪ Meddy‬خالل دورة‬ ‫"تطبيقات نظم المعلومات"‪ .‬وأشرف على عمل الفريق الدكتور ماهر حكيم‪،‬‬ ‫األستاذ المشارك الزائر في أنظمة المعلومات‪ ،‬وسلمى اإلمام منصر‪ ،‬أستاذ‬ ‫تدريس أنظمة المعلومات‪ .‬وباإلضافة إلى عمليات التطوير التقني‪ ،‬أجرى أعضاء‬ ‫الفريق مقابالت مع األطباء وأفراد من الجمهور‪ ،‬بغية التعرف على المشكالت‬ ‫التي يواجهها الناس للحصول على الرعاية الصحية في قطر‪.‬‬ ‫وهو ما علق عليه أغادي‪ ،‬قائ ً‬ ‫ال‪" :‬بدا من الواضح أن الناس ال يعرفون الكثير عن‬ ‫ً‬ ‫األطباء والعيادات على النحو المطلوب‪ ،‬وغالبا ما يجدون صعوبة في العثور‬ ‫على المعلومات الصحيحة‪ .‬ونتيجة لتفاعلنا المكثف مع الناس‪ ،‬فقد أخذنا فكرة‬ ‫بحق على اإلسراع في إنجاز المشروع"‪.‬‬ ‫ساعدتنا‬ ‫ٍ‬ ‫ومنذ تفعيل الموقع في أغسطس‪ ،‬يقوم على إدارته وتشغيله ٌ‬ ‫كل من أغادي‬ ‫وعبد اهلل الخنجي‪ ،‬الطالب بالسنة النهائية ببرنامج أنظمة المعلومات‪ .‬ويتولى‬ ‫الخنجي تحديداً مسؤولية تطوير األعمال في المشروع‪.‬‬ ‫وفي هذا الصدد يقول الخنجي‪" :‬في ظل وجود هذا العدد الضخم من الوافدين‬ ‫الجدد إلى الدولة‪ ،‬يعد ‪ Meddy‬مصدراً قيم ًا لمن ال يعرفون الكثير عن مقدمي‬

‫‪17‬‬

‫ويواصل الموقع توسعه بثالث طرق‪ )1 :‬يقوم فريق ‪ Meddy‬بإضافة األطباء بناء‬ ‫على معلومات من العيادات الطبية والمجلس األعلى للصحة كما يواصل‬ ‫الفريق تحديث الموقع أو ًال بأول؛ ‪ )2‬يمكن للجمهور التسجيل في الموقع إلضافة‬ ‫مقدمي الخدمات وتقديم آرائهم وتعليقاتهم؛ ‪ )3‬يمكن لألطباء والعيادات‬ ‫إضافة أنفسهم‪ .‬وبمقدور أي شخص الوصول إلى المعلومات دون الحاجة‬ ‫للتسجيل في الموقع لقراءة تعليقات رواد الموقع أو للحصول على معلومات‬ ‫العيادة‪.‬‬ ‫وتعليق ًا على الخدمات المقدمة عبر الموقع‪ ،‬يقول أغادي‪" :‬قد ال يكون بمقدور‬ ‫العديد من العيادات التسويق لخدماتها على النحو المطلوب‪ ،‬ولذلك نقدم‬ ‫لهم تلك الخدمة مجان ًا‪ .‬وننظر إلى تلك الخطوة باعتبارها حافزاً للعيادات‬ ‫للوصول إلى المرضى‪ ،‬ومنبراً للنقد البناء الذي يسمح للعيادات واألطباء‬ ‫بمعرفة رأي المرضى في خدماتهم وكيفية االرتقاء بها"‪.‬‬ ‫ويأمل الفريق القائم على إدارة الموقع أن يشهد المستقبل القريب إضافة‬ ‫معلومات حول التأمين الصحي‪ ،‬بحيث يتمكن المرضى من تحديد العيادات‬ ‫التي تقبل خطط تأمينهم الصحي‪ .‬كما يعملون على النسخة العربية من‬ ‫الموقع وتصميم تطبيق للهواتف الذكية‪.‬‬ ‫ويأمل أغادي والخنجي أن يمثل ‪ Meddy‬نموذج ًا يحتذى به لكيفية المزج بين روح‬ ‫ريادة األعمال والمهارات التقنية والتوعية المجتمعية بما يعود بالنفع على دولة‬ ‫قطر‪.‬‬ ‫حيث يقول الخنجي‪" :‬نأمل أن ال يساعد موقعنا الناس وحسب‪ ،‬بل وأن يلعب‬ ‫أيض ًا دوراً في بناء ثقافة ريادة األعمال في قطر‪ ،‬وربما تشجيع اآلخرين على بلورة‬ ‫وتنفيذ أفكارهم"‪.‬‬

‫‪Winter 2014 / Spring 2015‬‬

Haris Aghadi and Abdullah AlKhenji, co-founders of Meddy.

In addition to doing the technical development, the team interviewed doctors and members of the public, learning about issues people face when accessing health care in Qatar.

“It was clear that people didn’t know as much about doctors and clinics as they would like to, and they often struggled to find the right information. There was a lot of interaction with people, and that really helped us take the idea forward quickly,” Aghadi said.

Since the site went live in August, Meddy has been run by Aghadi and Abdullah AlKhenji, an information systems senior. AlKhenji is particularly interested in the business development side of the project.

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“With so many new expats in the country, Meddy is a valuable resource for people who don’t know much about providers in Qatar and are struggling to find the right doctor. Our plan is to really expand the site so people can make informed decisions about their health care,” Al Khenji said.

Meddy has now grown from a few dozen profiles to more than 300.

Providers are listed by specialty, such as pediatrics, dermatology and dentistry, and the site is simple to use and mobile friendly.

In addition to contact details, reviews and average wait times, the profiles include information about doctors' education and languages spoken, if available.

The site continues to expand in three ways: the Meddy team adds doctors based on information from clinics and the Supreme Council of Health and also keeps the site up-to-date; the public can register to add providers and submit reviews; and doctors and clinics can add themselves. Anyone can access the information, and there’s no need to sign up to read reviews or get clinic information.

“Many clinics may not be able to do the marketing they would like to do, so we are actually giving them free exposure. We see this as an incentive for clinics to reach out to patients, and a platform for constructive criticism that allows clinics and doctors to find out what patients think about their services and how they can improve,” Aghadi said.

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

In the future, the team hopes to add information about health insurance, so patients can select clinics that accept their plans.

They are also working on an Arabic version of the site and a smartphone app.

Aghadi and AlKhenji hope Meddy will be an example of how entrepreneurial spirit, technical skills, and community awareness can be combined for the benefit of Qatar.

“We hope that Meddy will not only help people, but that it will also play a part in building an entrepreneurial culture in Qatar, and possibly encourage others to take their own ideas forward,” AlKhenji said.

19

I get so much energy from the students. I can’t imagine a time when I would give up working with them. basit iqbal

20

In the House Graduate Finds Career Success in Housing and Residence Life

B

asit Iqbal rarely gets to eat lunch by himself and is sometimes called to work in the middle of the night. He doesn’t mind one bit.

encouraged him to apply for a full-time but temporary position, he jumped at the chance for a career change. The risk paid off when he was offered a permanent job six months later.

A 2009 graduate of CMU-Q’s business administration program, Iqbal returned to Qatar Foundation in 2011 as residence hall coordinator for Housing and Residence Life, where he says going to work is fun.

Over the past three years, Iqbal has helped shape the residential experience for hundreds of students from more than 60 countries who come together to study at Education City.

He also helped oversee the move from the old student housing to new state-of-the art complexes that have earned a platinum certificate from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). He received a 2014 Thanaa Award from Qatar Foundation in recognition of his outstanding service.

That wasn’t always the case. After graduating, Iqbal worked for two years as a business analyst in a construction company, poring over spreadsheets, budgets and internal audits.

“It was a good job, but it was no fun for me. It was all about numbers, when what I really wanted to do was work with people,” he said.

As a student, Iqbal had worked as a community development advisor for Housing and Residence Life. When his former colleagues

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

Since the new housing complex opened last year, Iqbal and his wife—a graduate of Georgetown University and University College London in Education City—have lived there, alongside

21

about 130 first-year male students.

Altogether, more than 500 students are housed in two complexes in Education City, with men and women living separately.

Iqbal’s day-to-day activities include developing programs and activities that help students settle in and feel part of the community. He loves to cook, so barbeques and “midnight breakfasts” are a staple in the residences. When Iqbal and his wife eat in the cafeteria, she jokes that she has to compete with the students to have a chat with him.

The job also has a serious side—Iqbal is among those responsible for the health and wellbeing of students.

“In this job, you need to be really outgoing, but you also need to genuinely care about people and have a composed personality, because you could face a student death or a crisis situation,” he said. Last year, for instance, Iqbal helped support students after their friend, a Weill Cornell student, was killed in a traffic accident.

As a former international student from Pakistan, Iqbal understands firsthand the importance of helping students as they transition from high school to college, which, for many in Education City, involves their first experience in another country.

22

“This is their home away from home, so a major part of my job is to get to know my students one-on-one,” he said. “Students are busy during the day when they are at university, but when they come here and close their doors, that’s when we have to look out for signs that they are going through rough times. It definitely helps to have been a student here, because I know what some of the stressor points are.”

Iqbal is helped out by six student staffers, who assist in programming and act as his “eyes and ears.” Sometimes, he even gets a heads-up from social media, and he is happy to accept invitations from students to connect on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

In fact, those connections help him do his job even better.

“Not long ago, I was about to go to bed and I saw a Facebook post from one of my guys.

It said he was feeling lonely,” Iqbal said.

“I wasn’t comfortable with that student not being talked to that night, so I sent him a message and then asked one of my staff to check in on him. It turned out they talked for more than an hour, and it was a big help.”

Although a business background isn’t typical for student life professionals, Iqbal said he’s applied many of the skills he learned at CMU-Q to his career, among them

interpersonal communication and designing and implementing stepwise processes.

“Another thing that stays with you forever once you’ve graduated from Carnegie Mellon is the idea of putting everything you have into your work. If it’s 11 at night and you have to do something, you stay and you get it done,” he said.

Matthew Nelson, acting assistant director for residence life for HBKU Student Affairs in Qatar Foundation, said Iqbal is an “outstanding member of the team” who is passionate about community development.

“Basit has built strong relationships with students, staff and residents and through this has helped them to grow and develop.

However this is only one aspect of Basit’s contributions, as he is a staff member who is always willing to help and do whatever is needed. He frequently goes above and beyond in his work in service of students,” Nelson said.

Iqbal said his future plans involve completing a master’s and doctorate, and continuing to work with students.

“I get so much energy from interacting with the students. I honestly can’t imagine a time when I would give up working with them.”

On: Student Life

Helping Hands Mounir Sheikh, a sophomore in business administration, shares his experience in volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in Nepal

As my freshman year at Carnegie Mellon Qatar came to an end, I still couldn’t believe that I was building my future at one of the world’s top institutions. Little did I know that I would soon have the opportunity to build a future for others, and that it would be a life-changing experience for me.

Through Student Affairs, I decided to apply for a 10-day volunteer position with Habitat for Humanity Nepal. My reason for applying was quite simple: I wanted to give back to a

community that’s already given so much to Qatar. When I was given the opportunity to fly out to Nepal to build a house (and ideally a home) for a local family, I realized that Carnegie Mellon Qatar was not just a place for textbooks and lectures. Carnegie Mellon Qatar is so much more than that.

Abundant with positivity and perseverance, the Carnegie Mellon Qatar community helps develop citizens of the world.

In Nepal, our work schedule was far from empty. Waking up in the early morning every day did not prove to be a difficult task because every Carnegie Mellon Qatar student knows the routine of arriving promptly at 8:30 a.m. for those daily calculus sessions. We were told that the house could be in any stage of development, and that we’d be building whatever we could manage in a week’s time. We were surprised to see that only the foundation was prepared.

We were building a house from scratch. That didn’t worry us too much, though—when Tartans put their minds to something, they put all their efforts into making the impossible possible.

We were tasked with making everything from scratch. The strongest element of Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s community that we carried with us was our sense of teamwork

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

and direction. We divided ourselves according to strengths, and developed a process that worked like a well-oiled machine. Our days were long and busy, and consisted of manually making concrete and plaster, stacking bricks, laying roofing, pumping water, digging yards, and building foundations. Never in my experience as a Carnegie Mellon student did Andrew Carnegie’s words, “My heart in the work,” reverberate so eloquently in my mind.

We pushed ourselves to new limits, and learned a sense of teamwork that I would never have experienced anywhere else.

I now dream of leading a service trip on my own someday, and I know Carnegie Mellon empowers and paves the way for its students to leave their mark on the world.

Although the worksite was abundant with knowledge, we did not overlook the countless cultural opportunities we had at our fingertips. The Nepalese locals were very humble and grateful, which are two key aspects I try to implement in my daily life now. They had so little, yet still managed to be extremely hospitable. I’ve learned how to be more patient, thankful, hardworking, and collaborative with others and with myself. We went to better their lives and yet, somehow, they ended up bettering mine.

23

On: Business

‫فوز فرق من جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر بمسابقة تحدي األعمال‬ ‫ فاز فريق من جامعة كارنيجي ميلون بالمركز األول في‬،‫للعام الثاني على التوالي‬ ‫ فيما فاز فريق آخر من جامعة‬،‫مسابقة تحدي األعمال المقامة برعاية شركة شل‬ ‫ طالب وطالبة من‬700 ‫ ليتغلب الفريقان على‬،‫كارنيجي ميلون بالمركز الثاني‬ .‫تسع جامعات في قطر‬ ‫ بالتعاون بين شركة شل قطر ومركز‬2012 ‫يشار إلى أن المسابقة قد أُطلقت عام‬ ‫ وهي مسابقة لمحاكاة األعمال تهدف‬،‫بداية لريادة األعمال والتطوير المهني‬ ‫ ويتنافس طالب الجامعات‬.‫إلى تشجيع روح ريادة األعمال بين الشباب في قطر‬ ‫ حيث يتم تقييم األعمال‬،‫والمدارس الثانوية في فئات تنافسية منفصلة‬ .‫المشاركة بحسب أدائها االقتصادي والبيئي واالجتماعي‬ ‫ ونأمل الترحيب‬،‫للغاية بالخريجين الذين ع ّيناهم من جامعة كارنيجي ميلون‬ .»‫بالمزيد من خريجي الجامعة في السنوات المقبلة‬

‫ بمشاركة فرق‬،‫وقد انطلقت نسخة هذا العام من المسابقة في شهر سبتمبر‬ ‫يتكون كل منها من خمسة طالب ينشئون شركة لمدة ثالث سنوات بنظام‬ .‫ بينما يحضرون ورش عمل وجلسات توجيهية يديرها خبراء محليون‬،‫المحاكاة‬

‫ إلى أن‬،‫ األستاذ المهني البارز في مجال ريادة األعمال‬،‫فيما أشار جورج وايت‬

‫ الذي‬،‫ من شهر نوفمبر‬16 ‫وتم اإلعالن عن الفرق الفائزة في حفل عشاء أقيم يوم‬

‫النجاحات التي حققتها الفرق الفائزة تسلط الضوء على كفاءة برنامج إدارة‬

.‫شهد أيض ًا انطالق األسبوع العالمي لريادة األعمال‬

،‫األعمال بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون‬

‫وقد احتل فريق كارنيجي ميلون جوكيز (فرسان كارنيجي ميلون) المركز األول بعد‬

‫ «إن السبب في فوز طالبنا بالمركزين األول والثاني يرجع إلى التركيز‬:‫حيث قال‬

‫ فيما فاز فريق أناليستس‬،‫ مليون ريال قطري‬47.79 ‫تحقيقه أرباح ًا افتراضية بلغت‬

.‫ باإلضافة إلى وظائف العمل‬،‫الشديد لجامعة كارنيجي ميلون على الرياضيات‬

‫ أما المركز الثالث‬. ‫ مليون ريال قطري‬47.75 ‫بالمركز الثاني محقق ًا أرباح ًا بقيمة‬

‫وقد تمكن طالب كارنيجي ميلون من اكتشاف المؤشرات المناسبة من خالل‬

.‫فكان من نصيب فريق من كلية الشؤون الدولية في قطر بجامعة جورجتاون‬

.»‫تطبيق أفضل تقنيات تحليل األعمال‬

ً ‫ قائ‬،‫ نائب المدير اإلقليمي بشركة شل قطر‬،‫ صرح روب شروين‬،‫وبهذه المناسبة‬ :‫ال‬

‫وأضاف وايت أن المسابقة خلقت بيئة للتفكير اإلبداعي الالزم لتنفيذ رؤية قطر‬

‫«لطالما أثارت فرق جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر إعجاب المحكمين بمسابقة‬

.‫ والتي تقتضي إنشاء اقتصاد قائم على المعرفة‬2030 ‫الوطنية‬

‫ ونحن سعداء‬.‫ ولم يكن هذا العام استثناء من تلك العادة‬،‫ قطر‬- ‫تحدي األعمال‬

CMU-Q Teams Win at Enterprise Challenge For the second year in a row, a team of Carnegie Mellon students claimed first prize in the Shell Enterprise Challenge. Another Carnegie Mellon team earned second place, with the top two teams beating more than 700 students from nine universities in Qatar.

Launched in 2012 by Qatar Shell and the Bedaya Center for Entrepreneurship and Career Development, the Enterprise Challenge is a business simulation competition that encourages entrepreneurship among young people. University and high school students compete in separate tiers, where they are judged on the economic, environmental and social performance of their companies.

This year’s competition kicked off in September, with teams of five students each controlling a company over a three-year simulation while attending workshops and mentoring sessions from local experts. The winners were announced at a gala dinner on November 16, which marked the beginning of Global Entrepreneurship Week.

Carnegie Mellon’s Jockeys took first place by earning a virtual profit of QR 47.79 million. The second place went to the Analysts, who gained a profit of QR 47.75 million. Third place went to Ibn Adam, a team from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar.

“The teams from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) have continued to impress the judges at the Enterprise Challenge Qatar, and this year was no exception,” said Rob Sherwin, deputy country manager at Qatar Shell.

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“We’re very happy with the graduates we have hired from Carnegie Mellon and we hope to welcome more Carnegie Mellon alumni in the coming years,” he added.

George White, Distinguished Career Professor of Entrepreneurship, said the teams’ successes highlights the quantitative nature of Carnegie Mellon’s business administration program.

“The reason our students won first and second places is because of the heavy emphasis CMU places on math skills as well as business functions,” he said. “Carnegie Mellon students were able to discover what parameters worked by applying better business analytics techniques.”

White said the competition created an environment for the innovative thinking that will be required for Qatar’s 2030 vision of a knowledge-based economy.

CMU’s Enterprise Challenge Winners First Place: The Jockeys

Second Place: The Analysts

Saad Ahmed

Razan Abunaba

Hassaan Ijaz

Fazail Ahmed

Muhammad Suhaib

Wadha Al-Khori

Taimoor Zahid

Farha Khan

Zeeshan Hanif

Osama Qureshi

On: Science

Qatar’s Phage Hunters Student Among First in Qatar to Study Viruses that Infect Bacteria When students first enroll in college, they often find themselves sitting in large lecture classes and flipping through textbooks.

That’s not the case at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. In their first year, students in the biological sciences program are challenged to do hands-on work, such as purifying a virus from a soil sample, characterizing it by electron microscopy and analyzing its genetic material.

Similar to an experience offered at select universities in the United States, including Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, the Phage Genomics Research program encourages biology majors to work in the lab right away as they learn important concepts such as how to design experiments and analyze results.

The students work on viruses that infect and kill bacteria, called bacteriophages (or phages for short). Despite being the most numerous life form on Earth, relatively little is known about phages, but scientists are becoming increasingly interested in their potential to treat infections caused by antibiotic resistant bacteria, among other applications.

With little known about phages in Qatar, the first students in the program used soil samples collected near Carnegie Mellon’s home campus in Pittsburgh. By infecting a “host” bacterium, Mycobacterium smegmatis, the students pinpointed individual phage populations, which they grew and purified using a variety of meticulous lab techniques. By the end of the semester, they were able to view their phages using an electron microscope and extract phage DNA for sequencing.

While the freshmen were excited about doing hands-on research, their professors knew it would be more rewarding for students to work on samples collected in Qatar. Until recently, though, questions like “How common are phages in Qatar’s sandy terrain?” and “Can they be studied in the same way as samples from the United States?” remained unanswered.

This summer, Umm-Kulthum Umlai, a biological sciences junior, became the first person to discover and characterize a phage from a sand sample in Qatar, paving the way for future students to work on phages from Qatar and the region. Her research was recognized at the 2014 Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum, where she received the award for best student poster in the Energy and Environment category. Umlai was mentored by Annette Vincent, assistant professor of biological sciences.

As described in her poster, the phage sample Umlai collected in Qatar didn’t grow in Mycobacterium smegmatis, the host that is commonly used in the United States. By switching to another host, Arthrobacter sp., Umlai was able to grow and purify a local phage and view it using an electron microscope.

“Umm-Kulthum was always in the lab, getting things done and preparing for the next stage of the experiment. She was very dedicated and very persistent, so it was no accident that she was the first person to make this discovery,” Vincent said.

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Umm-Kulthum Umlai

Umlai will learn more about the phage she isolated in the spring, when she will sequence its DNA and analyze its genetic material in the second part of the Phage Genomics Research program, which is taught by Valentin Ilyin, associate professor of computational biology.

Ilyin said Umlai and the freshmen will work with researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College to sequence their phage DNA, using an automatic sequencing machine. By determining the precise order of the nucleotides—the building blocks of DNA—in their phage genomes and comparing those to known samples, the students will find out if they have uncovered new phages or how closely the ones they find are related to other phage families.

Using computational analyses, the students will also locate genes within the DNA, identify the proteins they code for and learn how those proteins contribute to the characteristics of their phages.

The amount of DNA in a phage is relatively small—about 60,000 base pairs, compared to more than 3 billion in the human genome—but Ilyin said the tools used in his class are the same as those used by scientists working on much larger projects.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for students to learn the techniques that computational biologists use every day to unlock information about our genes, their cellular function, what happens when they go wrong. Through these types of analyses, our students will be trained to work on large-scale initiatives such as the Qatar Genome Project,” he said.

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On: Research

Social Interaction Improves Lung Function in the Elderly U.S. Study Expanded to Qatar It is well established that being involved in more social roles, such as being married, having close friends and family, and belonging to social and religious groups, leads to better mental and physical health. However, how social integration influences health and longevity has not been clear.

New research led by Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s Crista Crittenden shows, for the first time, that social integration has an impact on pulmonary function in the elderly. Crittenden, visiting assistant

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professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon Qatar and the study’s lead author, first studied elderly people in the United States and has recently expanded her study to include the aging population in Qatar. Published in the American Psychological Association’s Health Psychology journal, this study also rebuffs the popular notion that marriage is the only social role required for health benefits.

In fact, different social relationships can be substituted for each other and every added social role improves health.

Not only have we shown that more social roles, like being married or having friends, improve lung function, we found a link between more social roles and increased happiness and physical activity that could also help with lung function and overall health.

Crista Crittenden

For the study, the research team analyzed data collected from 1,147 healthy adults between the ages of 70 and 79. The data included a measure of the participants’ social roles and assessed their pulmonary function according to their peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR), which measures how fast a person can exhale.

Lung function, which decreases with age, is an important physiological quality that affects cardiovascular disease, asthma and other lung disorders.

The researchers found that the more social roles people engaged in, the better their lung function. While analysis of specific social roles indicated that marriage was the strongest positive connection to lung function, greater numbers of roles also were associated with better lung function, even in those who were not married. Being a relative or a friend was also individually linked to improved lung function, but more social roles also were associated with better lung function independent of being a relative or a friend.

“Older people need to get out, because any sort of social interaction will improve their health,” said Crittenden. “I am really interested

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in how social and psychological factors influence lung health.

Not only have we shown that more social roles, like being married or having friends, improve lung function, we found a link between more social roles and increased happiness and physical activity that could also help with lung function and overall health.”

In expanding the research to Qatar, Crittenden said she is also interested in exploring the social and psychological pathways that could connect daily prayer to better health, such as stress reduction, mindfulness, purposefulness and life meaning.

She is currently working with student researchers to develop the study’s questionnaires in Arabic.

In addition to Crittenden, the research team consisted of Sheldon Cohen and Denise Janicki-Deverts from Carnegie Mellon, Sarah D. Pressman from the University of California at Irvine, Bruce W. Smith from the University of New Mexico, and Teresa E. Seeman from the University of California at Los Angeles. Crittenden will present her research at the upcoming Annual Meeting of the American Psychosomatic Society, in Savannah, Georgia, USA.

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On: Research

Cyber Security: Staying One Step Ahead Experts Highlight the Need for Secure Software

As the Internet becomes increasingly intertwined with our daily lives, it’s not surprising that people, governments and companies are targets of ever-more-frequent online attacks.

software, according to Virgil Gligor, a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon and co-director of the university’s CyLab.

Carnegie Mellon researchers in Doha and Pittsburgh are working to address this by making systems more secure and developing best practices.

SEI director Paul Neilson said the best way to ensure safety is to design and integrate secure software in the first place, rather than patching vulnerabilities later.

This fall, Carnegie Mellon Qatar welcomed four experts from the Pittsburgh campus for a Dean’s Panel on Cyber Security. The panel was hosted under the patronage of Staff Major General Saad Bin Jassim Al Khulaifi, director general of public security at Qatar’s Ministry of Interior.

Farnam Jahanian, vice president of research at Carnegie Mellon and the panel’s moderator, said it was important for experts to work together in addressing cyber challenges.

According to Richard Pethia, director of the Computer Emergency Readiness Team (CERT) program at Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute (SEI), more and more increasingly capable attackers are trying to access secure online information, with motivations ranging from espionage to financial fraud. The SEI serves as a national resource in software engineering, computer security and process improvement.

But it isn’t just hackers who create problems. Software developers have enjoyed little industry regulation, which has promoted rapid innovation and high productivity, but resulted in low-security

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“Addressing these vulnerabilities is not a university challenge or a country challenge, but a global challenge,” he said.

In Qatar, cyber security has been identified as one of the country’s grand challenges, and researchers from around the world discussed it as a critical issue at the 2014 Qatar Foundation Annual Research Conference. Several CMU-Q researchers were among those presenting their work.

Research in Qatar Professor Iliano Cervesato’s Virtually Safe project aims to design computer systems that protect people who use cloud-based applications—which nowadays includes nearly all activities we

Cyber Security Panelists Virgil Gligor, a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon and co-director of the university’s CyLab, which establishes public-private partnerships for the research and development of technologies for security, privacy, and resiliency of computing and communication systems Staff Major General Saad Bin Jassim Al Khulaifi, director general of public security at Qatar’s Ministry of Interior, at the Dean’s Panel on Cyber Security.

Paul Nielsen, director and CEO of the Software Engineering Institute (SEI), a global leader in software engineering and cyber security

Richard Pethia, director of the CERT program at Carnegie Mellon University’s SEI, which conducts research and development activities to produce technology and systems management practices to help organizations recognize, resist and recover from attacks on networked systems

Farnam Jahanian, vice president of research at Carnegie Mellon (moderator) Dean Ilker Baybars with the panelists: Paul Nielsen, Richard Pethia, Virgil Gligor and Farnam Jahanian.

do online—from security and privacy breaches. The project is funded by a Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) grant and is a collaborative effort with researchers at Qatar University and the State University of New York (SUNY) Binghamton in the United States. In another NPRP-funded project, rated as “exceptional,” Cervesato is working with researchers in Qatar and the U.S. to develop the Garbled Computer, a system that essentially hides all of its operations and output data from attackers.

“Once developed, this system could benefit companies or government agencies that are particularly concerned about maintaining privacy or confidentiality,” Cervesato said.

Thierry Sans, assistant teaching professor of computer science, is also developing technologies to protect users and organizations.

His Qwel experimental programming language, a joint effort with Cervesato and research assistant Soha Hussein, will help web developers build security right into their designs. In another project, with Cervesato and researchers at the Qatar Computing Research Institute, Sans has developed a way to detect Cross Site Scripting (XSS), a vulnerability found in websites that allows attackers to bypass security protections. Sans said his newest project involves

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a large-scale analysis of the Qatari web, which he hopes will help secure the country’s emerging cyber infrastructure. In April, he led an executive education course on web security for local technology professionals.

In research that combines technology and psychology, Daniel Phelps, assistant professor of information systems, is studying how and why people attack systems, and how organizations (or their system administrators) react to such events. By modeling the motivations and actions of attackers, Phelps hopes to help individuals and organizations predict and reduce their risks.

Phelps works with researchers at ictQatar and Qatar’s National Center for Information Security (QCERT), as well as with corporate and academic researchers in Europe and the U.S. While there is no silver bullet for securing online information, Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, said CMU researchers are committed to staying ahead of cyber attackers.

“Our educational efforts, combined with multidisciplinary research in partnership with key entities in Qatar and around the world, is advancing the field and providing a framework for future developments in technology and policy,” Baybars said.

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Feature

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Two student clubs, IMPAQT and the Big Movement, organized parallel events celebrating the university’s home campus in Pittsburgh and the end of the ‘Movember’ men’s health initiative.

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

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Students, faculty and staff enjoyed traditional Qatari food, music and games to commemorate Qatar’s National Day on December 18.

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On: Pittsburgh

Google VP Joins CMU’s School of Computer Science

Some of Google’s strongest talent has come out of CMU, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with the university.

I know Andrew will help inspire the next generation of innovators.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman, Google Inc.

Andrew W. Moore, former vice president of engineering of Google Commerce, has joined Carnegie Mellon University as the new dean of the School of Computer Science (SCS).

Moore, a distinguished computer scientist with expertise in machine learning and robotics, served as a professor of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon before being named founding director of Google’s Pittsburgh engineering office in 2006. In October 2011, while continuing to serve as leader of Google’s Pittsburgh office, Moore was named vice president of engineering of Google Commerce, where he became responsible for developing new products and services.

“Ever since college, I have been inspired by the world-changing ideas and technologies that come out of CMU. I’m privileged to return to the School of Computer Science in this new role,” Moore said.

Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google Inc. and former member of the CMU board of trustees, noted that: “Andrew Moore has been a respected contributor to Google and the Pittsburgh community since he helped start

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the office there in 2006. Some of Google’s strongest talent has come out of CMU, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with the university. I know Andrew will help inspire the next generation of innovators.”

Moore will take office as the fifth SCS dean, succeeding Randal E. Bryant, who visited the Qatar campus in 2012 as a speaker in the A. Nico Habermann Distinguished Lecture Series in Computer Science. As one of five programs offered at Carnegie Mellon Qatar, computer science has grown significantly since its inception in 2004.

Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar, said: “A hallmark of Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science is the exceptional relationship its faculty and researchers have built with industry, which catalyzes the development of new technologies from concept to reality. As a former Google vice president, Andrew Moore will strengthen those ties, affording tremendous opportunities for computer science students in Doha as well as Pittsburgh.

We look forward to welcoming Dr. Moore to the Qatar campus soon.”

Moore’s appointment adds further momentum to Carnegie Mellon President Subra Suresh’s initiatives aimed at enhancing CMU’s world-renowned research and its innovative and entrepreneurial culture, and expanding interactions with industry and government.

“As computing grows ever more critical to our global society, the scope of SCS and its importance to the world will continue to expand, and its impact on the human condition will be more evident. Andrew is particularly well positioned to lead the School at this time,” Suresh said.

The School of Compute Science’s graduate program has been consistently ranked number 1 by U.S. News and World Report, and the undergraduate degree is widely regarded as one of the best computer science programs in the world.

CMU scholars Alan Perlis, Allen Newell and Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon were among the founding fathers of the discipline of computer science. Moreover, CMU is home to 12 winners of the Turing Award, the highest honor in computer science research.

On: Class Notes

Alumna Works to Close Digital Divide It’s hard for many of us to imagine life without our mobile phones, but just one person in three in the least-developed markets has access to this technology.

2009

That’s a problem—because the ability to get online through mobile phones has the potential to transform the lives of people in developing countries. From online textbooks to emergency medical advice, the Internet can bring much-needed services to people in some of the world’s most remote areas.

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Dana Haidan, head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability at Vodafone Qatar and a 2009 graduate of CMU-Q’s business administration program, returned to campus this fall to share insights about the barriers and benefits of the mobile revolution.

She spoke to faculty and students in Professor George White’s entrepreneurship class.

“Although cultural factors, physical barriers and lack of access to technology exclude many people from the communication revolution, Vodafone is working hard to extend the benefits of mobile to everyone—wherever and however they live. By working collaboratively with governments, industry bodies, NGOs, aid agencies and regulators, we can increase their availability, and so truly democratize the mobile Internet, enabling millions more people to connect,” Haidan said.

Haidan shared several Vodafone initiatives, including Instant Network, which provides free communications and technical support to aid agencies and victims during disaster situations. She also spoke about Vodafone’s AmanTECH program, which helps parents keep their children safe online.

White, a distinguished career professor of entrepreneurship, taught Haidan in 2009.

“I am pleased to see how Dana’s career is unfolding at Vodafone,” said White. “Being socially responsible has always been one of the main themes of my classes and it warms my heart to see Dana making a positive difference in the workplace and in society at large.”

Alumni Give Back Thank you to the CMU-Q alumni who returned to campus recently to speak to students or volunteer. Among them were: • Saleh Al Khulaifi was a judge in Professor George White’s end-of-semester business plan competition.

• Salwa Al Mannai, Mariam Al-Sayed and Nofe Al Suwaidi were guest speakers in classes at CMU-Q. • Zaid Haque and Abhay Valiyaveettil supervised information systems senior student projects.

• Yasmine Abdelrahman, Batoul Khalifeh, Wadha Al-Adgham and Firas Bata attended the Ignite student-alumni networking event.

In addition, Vicken Etyemezian, research professor in atmospheric sciences at the Desert Research Institute in the U.S., who earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1998, delivered a talk to students, faculty, staff and community members in November.

Alumni: Are you coming to campus? We’d love to connect! E-mail Feras Villanueva, manager of alumni relations, at fvillanueva@cmu.edu.

Winter 2014 / Spring 2015

Rana El Sakhawy (BA) is a marketing and communications manager at Uber Technologies.

Iyed Jouini (BA) is a portfolio manager at Silatech.

Tarik Abou Galala (BA) is an executive officer at Qatar Islamic Bank.

Shahriar Haque (CS) is an IT leader at General Electric.

2011 Salwa Al Mannai (IS) earned her master’s degree in Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

2014 Saba Singh (BA) is a business coordinator for 60 Degrees.

Haider Zali (BA) is an associate consultant at Bain & Company.

Syed Zuhair (BA) is an account executive for BLJ Worldwide.

Kenrick Fernandes (CS) is pursuing a Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Pittsburgh.

Syed Ali Hashim Moosavi (CS) is a research assistant at Texas A&M University at Qatar.

Ammar Abouelghar (IS) is a digital marketing consultant at Qatar Financial Center Authority.

Ola Asaad Daher (IS) is a data analyst at Qatar National Bank.

Sarah Mustafa (IS) is a product management analyst at Al Jazeera.

Maahd Shahzad (IS) is an intern at Qatar Computing Research Institute.

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Members of Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s second graduating class, the Class of 2009, attended a five-year reunion at the W Hotel in Doha.

Alumni enjoyed a dhow boat cruise around Doha’s Corniche and a reception at Dean Baybars’ residence in fall.

A global leader in education with 13,000 students across the globe

19 Nobel Laureates and 12 Turing Award winners

More than 400 students from 40 countries on the Qatar campus

Programs: Biological Sciences Business Administration Computer Science Information Systems