On-Q, Winter/Spring 2013

Winter 2012 Spring 2013

SERIOUSLY FUNNY

MOHAMMED FAHAD KAMAL TALKS ABOUT BEING QATAR’S FIRST HOMEGROWN COMEDIAN Wazni App helps people

Secondary Students become

Banquet gives students

LOSE WEIGHT FORENSIC ANALYSTS FOOD FOR THOUGHT page 20

page 29

page 30

Turn it

Your favorite piece of technology.

Your sense of adventure.

Your imagination.

Your mind.

Welcome to The new publication of From this point on, the pages you turn will highlight the inspiring, exciting and innovative events and breakthroughs happening every day on our campus. We invite you to turn it on.

Andrew Carnegie, our founder

Innovation. At Carnegie Mellon.

Biological Sciences | Business Administration | Computational Biology | Computer Science | Information Systems

www.qatar.cmu.edu

Features

16 20

Wazni

Student app puts weight loss in the palm of your hand.

Seriously Funny Mohammed Fahad Kamal talks about being Qatar’s first homegrown comedian.

24

Scoring a Scholarship­­­­

Student’s interest in soccer highlighted opportunities at Education City.

CONTENTS

Winter 2012 Spring 2013

1- 15

On the record.

Highlight 8

On:

Carnival Time

Business

Research

28

The Big Fat Desi Wedding

32

Science

Pittsburgh

29 Crime Scene Investigators

Student Life

30 Food for Thought

Featured Image

34 Andy’s Birthday

Connecting with Qatar

38 First Stop Pittsburgh; Next Stop the World

Alumni 39 Alumnus Conducts Eye -opening Research

A publication of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

www.qatar.cmu.edu Dean & CEO

İlker Baybars, Ph.D. Director of Marketing & Public Relations

D. Murry Evans Assistant Director

Kara Nesimiuk Departmental Coordinator

Marissa Edulan

Manager of External Relations

Feras Villanueva Graphic Designer

Sam Abraham Web Manager

Stephen MacNeil Publications Manager

Sarah Nightingale MPR Advisory Board Chairperson

Dudley Reynolds, Ph.D. Members

Alex Cheek; Tom Emerson, Ph.D.; Khaled Harras, Ph.D.; Gloria Khoury; Selma Limam Mansar, Ph.D.; Mark Stehlik Editor

Sarah Nightingale Writers

Sarah Nightingale, Devika Hastak (TPR’15), Lana Al Kahala (TPR’15) Proofreader

Ruth E. Thaler-Carter Photographs

In 1955, Carnegie Mellon professor Herbert Simon and graduate student Allen Newell invented a computer that could think – a breakthrough that placed them among the founders of artificial intelligence.

From the Kevlar fiber in bulletproof vests to the software used to train New York’s firefighters, Carnegie Mellon University has been a birthplace of innovation throughout its 113-year history.

For most of that time, the pioneers of these inventions were faculty, researchers or graduates of our home campus in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. But as Carnegie Mellon has expanded internationally, so too has its global footprint on innovation. Today, Carnegie Mellon has degree-granting programs around the world, including Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America. In addition to the Pittsburgh campus, Carnegie Mellon has fully-fledged campuses in Silicon Valley (on the West Coast of the United States) and, of course, here in Qatar.

In this issue of On-Q, I invite you to discover some of the unique contributions being made by our Qatar community.

Among them is research by Khaled Harras, assistant professor in computer science, and Dania Rabbou (CS’12), who won top awards at Qatar Foundation’s Annual Research Forum. We’re also featuring Mohammed Fahad Kamal (TRP’12), a strategic planner at Qatar Petroleum and Qatar’s first homegrown comedian.

The stories in this issue reflect Carnegie Mellon’s century-old tradition of creating new things and bringing ideas to life.

Thank you for your continued interest in our Qatar campus.

Khalid Ismail, Adrian Haddad, Stephen MacNeil 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.

Ilker Baybars Dean & CEO

On the record.

Winter 2012 Spring 2013

EVENTS July Fifty-four students participate in the Summer College Preview Program.

August Carnegie Mellon Qatar welcomes 104 new students.

September H.E. Saad bin Ibrahim AlMahmoud, Minister of Education, presents Qatar’s National Education Strategy at Carnegie Mellon.

Students Commended for Completing Summer Program

October Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways, talks about leading one of the world’s fastest-growing premier airlines.

Fifty-four high school students deserved a cheer after completing Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s Summer College Preview Program (SCPP). The program, which takes places over the summer break, provides students with a crash course in the academic rigor that is expected of them at a top university.

November Raj Reddy, the Moza Bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics, shares how information technology can serve society.

Over three weeks, SCPP prepped students for the college admissions process, strengthened their standardized test-taking abilities, exposed them to collegiate-level courses, and presented a window of what life is like for a Carnegie Mellon student.

December The Carnegie Mellon community celebrates Qatar National Day.

“We are extremely proud of the students who participated in SCPP. While their peers were on their summer holidays, these 54 students were on campus, working hard and demonstrating their true passion – learning,” said Damian Dourado, manager of pre-college programs.

Initiated six years ago, SCPP is modeled after a decade-old program at Carnegie Mellon’s Pittsburgh campus known as the Summer Academy for Math and Science (SAMS).

Historically, 30 percent of SCPP participants have joined Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

On the record.

President Cohon Welcomes Next Generation of Leaders Carnegie Mellon students, alumni and faculty have a few things in common.

Among them, their intellectual strength, creative spark and a commitment to problem solving.

These qualities will prepare Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s newest students to be among the next generation of global leaders, said Jared L. Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University.

Cohon spoke to the students by video during September’s convocation ceremony, a long-standing university tradition that marks the beginning of the academic year.

Addressing the 104 new students in front of their families, friends and community members, Dean Ilker Baybars welcomed the Class of 2016 into the Tartan family. “As I start my second year as dean of our Qatar campus, I know that I have made the right decision to come here — and so have you,” Baybars told them.

Baybars called on students to “take risks, innovate and follow your passions. Get all you can out of Carnegie Mellon. Go to talks, seminars, and conferences. Participate in our international programs. Become global citizens.”

Latifa Al Rumaihi, a sophomore in business administration, spoke about the emotions she felt as a freshman.

“Around this time last year, I was in your shoes. I was worried about my future, just like you. My anxiety made me feel uneasy, but then I realized that nothing worthwhile comes easy in life,” she said.

2

‫الرئيس كوهون يرحب بجيل‬ ‫القادة الجدد‬ ‫يتميز طالب وخريجي وأعضاء هيئة التدريس بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون بعدة‬ ‫ من بينها التفكير العقالني والقدرة على اإلبداع إضافة‬،‫سمات مشتركة‬ .‫لاللتزام بالعمل الجاد تجاه حل المشكالت‬ ‫ فإن هذه‬،‫ رئيس جامعة كارنيجي ميلون‬،‫ كوهون‬.‫وعلى حسب ما يرى جاريد إل‬ ‫السمات ستعدّ الطالب الجُ دد بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر ليكونوا جيل‬ ‫ وقد تحدث كوهون إلى الطالب عبر الفيديو أثناء‬.‫القيادات العالمية القادم‬ ‫ وهو أحد تقاليد الجامعة العريقة إيذان ًا‬،‫حفل الترحيب الذي أقيم في سبتمبر‬ .‫ببداية العام األكاديمي‬ ‫ طالب الجدد أمام أهلهم وأصدقائهم وأفراد‬104‫ومن خالل مخاطبته الـ‬ ‫ وقال‬.‫ إلى عائلة تارتان‬2016 ‫ رحب العميد إيلكر بايبرز بانضمام دفعة‬،‫المجتمع‬ ‫ فأنا على‬،‫ “فيما أبدأ عامي الثاني كعميد للجامعة في قطر‬:‫بايبرز في كلمته‬ ‫ كما فعلتم أنتم مثلي‬،‫يقين بأنني قد اتخذت القرار الصائب بحضوري إلى هنا‬ .”‫اليوم‬ ً ‫ودعا بايبرز الطالب قائ‬ ‫ “عليكم األخذ بزمام المبادرة واالبتكار والحماس في‬:‫ال‬ ‫ والعمل على االستفادة من إمكانات كارنيجي‬.‫متابعة تحقيق طموحاتكم‬ ‫ فعليكم بحضور المحادثات والمنتديات و‬.‫ميلون بقدر ما تستطيعون‬ .”‫ لتصبحوا مواطنين عالميين‬،‫ والمشاركة في برامجنا الدولية‬،‫المؤتمرات‬ ‫ عن‬،‫وقد تحدثت لطيفة الرميحي الطالبة بالسنة الثانية تخصص إدارة األعمال‬ :‫األحاسيس التي انتابتها حينما ابتدأت الدراسة في السنة األولى فقالت‬ ‫ وكنت‬،‫ كنت أقف مكانكم‬،‫“في مثل هذا الوقت تقريب ًا من العام الماضي‬ ‫ قلقي جعلني أشعر بعدم‬.‫ مثلكم تمام ًا اآلن‬،‫متوترة و قلقة بشأن مستقبلي‬ ‫ ولكني أدركت بعدئذ أنه ما من شيء ذي قيمة في‬،‫الراحة في ذلك الحين‬ “ .‫الحياة يتأتى بسهولة‬

H.E. Saad bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, minister of education and secretary general of the Supreme Education Council (left) and Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways.

Dean’s Lecture Series Brings Leaders to Campus This fall, students heard from two of Qatar’s prominent leaders: H.E. Saad bin Ibrahim Al Mahmoud, minister of education and secretary general of the Supreme Education Council (SEC), and Akbar Al Baker, CEO of Qatar Airways.

In September, Al Mahmoud and Scott Hill, director of the Office of Program Review and Audit at the SEC, premiered Qatar’s National Education Strategy at Carnegie Mellon, highlighting the need for stakeholders to work together to support Qatar’s National Vision 2030.

“There is no doubt that we have encountered and will encounter many challenges in the implementation of this strategy; such challenges include aligning k-12 education, higher education and vocational education with labor market needs. The continuous participation of all of us is key to the success of our mission,” Al Mahmoud said.

In October, Al Baker shared with students his leadership philosophy, calling on them to excel in the face of increasing global competition.

Qatar Airways has become one of the fastest growing airlines in the world, with more than 20,000 staff, 110 aircraft and 100 international destinations.

“We compete in an era where geographical boundaries are being blurred as businesses embrace globalization. To stay relevant, the onus is on us to embrace these changes or risk being changed,” Al Baker said.

Established in 2012, the Dean’s Lecture Series brings leaders from government and industry face-to-face with students, faculty and the broader community. Each talk drew an audience of more than 400 people.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

‫سلسلةمحاضراتالعميدتجتذب‬ ‫القيادات إلى حرم الجامعة‬ ‫استمع الطالب في فصل الخريف لهذا العام إلى اثنين من القيادات البارزة في‬ ‫ سعد بن ابراهيم آل محمود وزير التعليم والتعليم العالي‬/‫ سعادة السيد‬:‫قطر‬ ‫ أكبر الباكر الرئيس التنفيذي‬/‫ والسيد‬،‫األمين العام للمجلس األعلى للتعليم‬ .‫للخطوط الجوية القطرية‬ ‫ سكوت هيل مدير مكتب مراجعة‬/‫ قام آل محمود والسيد‬،‫ففي سبتمبر‬ ‫ للمرة األولى بعرض االستراتيجية‬،‫وتدقيق اﻟﺒﺮاﻣﺞ بالمجلس األعلى للتعليم‬ ‫ حيث سلطا الضوء على ضرورة عمل‬.‫الوطنية للتعليم في كارنيجي ميلون‬ .2030 ‫األطراف المعنية لدعم رؤية قطر الوطنية‬ ‫ “ أننا واجهنا وسنواجه العديد من التحديات لتنفيذ تلك‬:‫وقال آل محمود‬ ‫ كمواءمة التعليم العام والعالي والتقني مع احتياجات سوق‬،‫االستراتيجية‬ ‫العمل وسد الفجوة بين التعليم العام والعالي بما يضمن تنفيذ هذه‬ ً ‫ وأشار إلى أن مفتاح نجاحنا هو استمرار تشاركنا جميعا أداء‬.‫اإلستراتيجية بنجاح‬ ”.‫هذه المهمة‬ ‫ أطلع أكبر الباكر الرئيس التنفيذي للخطوط الجوية القطرية‬،‫وفي أكتوبر‬ ‫ داعيا إياهم إلى التفوق في وجه المنافسة‬،‫الطالب على فلسفته في القيادة‬ .‫العالمية المتزايدة‬ ‫فقد أصبحت الخطوط الجوية القطرية واحدة من أسرع شركات الطيران نموا‬ ‫ طائرة وتس ّير‬110 ‫ ألف موظف وتملك‬20 ‫في العالم حيث يعمل بها أكثر من‬ .‫ وجهة دولية‬100 ‫رحالت إلى‬ ‫ “نحن نتنافس في عصر بدأت تتالشى فيه الحدود الجغرافية في‬:‫وقال الباكر‬ ،‫ ولكي نحافظ على تميزنا‬.‫ظل اعتناق مؤسسات األعمال لمفاهيم العولمة‬ ”.‫يقع علينا عبء تبني هذه التغييرات وإما إننا سنجازف بتغييرنا‬ ‫ قيادات من‬،2012 ‫تجمع سلسلة محاضرات العميد التي اس ُتحدثت في عام‬ ‫الحكومة وعالم األعمال بالطالب وأعضاء هيئة التدريس وعامة قطاعات‬ ‫ وقد استقطبت أي ًا من محاضرات السلسلة عدداً من أفراد‬.‫المجتمع وجها لوجه‬ .‫ شخص‬400 ‫الجمهور زاد عن‬

3

On the record.

Stars of the Show As the opening act of this year’s Tartans Got Talent, Dilsher Ahmed didn’t just perform a piece on the piano – he did it with one of his legs wrapped around his head.

Once again, a large crowd turned out for the annual event, which is organized by the Division of Students Affairs to welcome new students and introduce them to the diversity on campus.

The evening saw a range of performances, including Latin-American music, rap and Bollywood-style dancing.

I like the fact that everyone can join in.

KHALID ALLOUBA Business Administration student, Carnegie Mellon Qatar

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Students said they enjoyed the chance to socialize and grow as a community. “I like the fact that everyone can join in,” said Khalid Allouba, a junior in business administration.

‫الدوحة‬

‫رباعية األبعاد‬ ‫ صمم المعماريون‬،‫على مدى الستين عام ًا الماضية‬ ‫من كل أنحاء العالم مباني معاصرة وفريدة تعكس‬ ‫مناخ الدوحة المحلي ومالمحها الثقافية والنمو الذي‬ .‫تشهده‬ ‫و يمكن للجمهور اآلن االطالع على هذه اإلنجازات‬ ‫المعمارية عن طريق تطبيق مجاني على الويب‬ 4dDoha: Buildings ‫يسمى‬ .)www.4ddoha.com/collection( ّ ‫ الذي‬- 4dDoha: Buildings ‫يشكل تطبيق‬ ‫مولته مؤسسة قطر وأنشأه كيلي هيتزيل ورامي‬ ّ ‫ عضوا هيئة التدريس بكلية العمارة‬،‫السماحي‬ ‫ جزءاً من‬- ‫ وفريقهما البحثي‬،‫بكارنيجي ميلون‬ ‫مشروع بحثي يُجرى حالي ًا لوضع خرائط توضح النمو‬ .‫الحضري والتحول الذي شهدته مدينة الدوحة‬ ‫يتيح التطبيق للمستخدمين مشاهدة المدينة‬ ‫ الطول والعرض واالرتفاع‬:‫بشكل رباعي األبعاد‬

Four-Dimensional Doha

‫ وهو يركز على عمارة المدينة منذ فترة‬.‫والزمان‬ 1971 ‫ إلى استقاللها في‬1947 ‫ما قبل النفط سنة‬ ‫ووصو ًال إلى التوسع الحالي الذي أتاحه استخراج‬ .‫الغاز الطبيعي‬

For the past 60 years, architects from around the world have designed unique, contemporary buildings that reflect the local climate, culture and growth of Doha.

‫ من أبرز األبنية كي تكون‬50 ‫اختار هيتزيل والسماحي‬

Today, their architectural feats can be explored publicly via a free web-based application called 4dDoha: Buildings (www.4ddoha.com/collection).

‫صمم الستعماله على‬ ُ ‫جزءا من التطبيق الذي‬ ‫ و يحتوي التطبيق على أيقونات لرسوم‬.iPad ‫أجهزة‬

Funded by Qatar Foundation and created by Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture faculty members Kelly Hutzell and Rami el Samahy and their research team, 4dDoha: Buildings, is part of an ongoing research project mapping the urban growth and transformation of Doha.

The application allows users to view the city in four dimensions – length, width, height and time. It focuses on the city’s architecture from the pre-oil period of 1947 to its independence in 1971, and through the current expansion facilitated by natural gas extraction.

Hutzell and el Samahy chose 50 of the most noteworthy buildings to be part of the application, which was designed for use with an iPad. The application includes graphic icons, detailed information and photos of the buildings collected by the researchers.

App users can sort the collection by time, location, architecture language or style, and by current status, such as whether it is standing, has been demolished or renovated, or is unrealized.

As professors and architects, Hutzell and el Samahy said they wanted to generate discussion on what represents “Qatari” architecture.

“It is important for architects in this region [the Arabian Gulf] to understand the commonality in architectural elements, as well as the differences,” said el Samahy, an assistant teaching professor and founding partner of the firm over,under.

Hutzell and el Samahy are planning on adding more categories to 4dDoha, including master plans, urban elements, and competitions that will round out the narrative of the city’s development. They are currently in discussions with institutions in Qatar to exhibit the app in larger venues to wider audiences.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

‫توضيحية ومعلومات تفصيلية وصورا جمعها‬ ‫ ويمكن لمستخدمي التطبيق‬.‫الباحثون للمباني‬ ‫فرز المجموعة حسب الزمان أو الموقع أو سمات‬ ‫ مثل ما إذا‬،‫العمارة أو طرازها وحسب الحالة الراهنة‬ .‫كان المبنى قائما أو ُهدم أو جُ دّ د أو لم يُنشأ‬ ‫وقال هيتزيل والسماحي إنهما كأستاذين‬ ‫ومعماريين يريدان استكشاف العناصر المعمارية‬ ‫ وإثارة النقاش‬،‫الفريدة من حيث المكان والزمان‬ .”‫حول ما تمثله العمارة “القطرية‬ ‫يقول السماحي األستاذ المساعد بالجامعة‬ ‫ “من‬:‫ أندر‬،‫والشريك المؤسس لشركة أوفر‬ ‫المهم أن يفهم المعماريون في هذه المنطقة‬ ‫[الخليج العربي] التطابق واالختالفات في العناصر‬ .”‫المعمارية‬ ‫ويخطط هيتزيل والسماحي إلضافة فئات جديدة‬ ‫ من ضمنها المخططات الرئيسية‬4dDoha ‫إلى‬ ‫والعناصر الحضرية والمسابقات التي س ُتكمل قصة‬ ‫ وهما يجريان حاليا مناقشات مع عدد‬.‫تطور المدينة‬ ‫من المؤسسات في قطر لعرض التطبيق في إطار‬ .‫فعاليات أكبر على جماهير أوسع‬

5

On the record.

Computing Technology in Service of Society Despite the potential, affordable access to devices and the Internet are barriers that must still be overcome. But we won’t have to wait too long.

RAJ REDDY Moza Bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon

For many of the 5 billion people who don’t have routine access to devices and networks, programs like Word, Excel and PowerPoint aren’t that important. However, technology-enabled solutions for things like education, health care and entertainment would be life changing.

This fall, Raj Reddy, the Moza Bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at Carnegie Mellon, highlighted how some of the world’s underprivileged populations can benefit from information technology. Reddy’s presentation was part of the A. Nico Habermann Distinguished Lecture Series in Computer Science.

One of the biggest challenges is educating more than 2 billion people who are functionally illiterate, meaning their reading skills are insufficient to meet their needs. Programs like Project LISTEN’s Reading Tutor can help, Reddy said. This automated tutor, which was developed at Carnegie Mellon, displays stories on a computer screen, listens to students read aloud and intervenes when they make a mistake.

Computing technology is also affecting other areas. The Khan Academy, a free collection of 3,500 academic video tutorials available to anyone, anywhere, has delivered more than 200 million lectures. In health care, a combination of philanthropy and information technology led to India’s first emergency response system, which is among the most advanced programs worldwide, Reddy said.

Despite the potential, affordable access to devices and the Internet are barriers that must still be overcome. But we won’t have to wait too long, Reddy said, since computing power is getting exponentially larger – and cheaper by the day.

Reddy, who helped establish Carnegie Mellon’s campus in Qatar, was honored in 2005 as the first recipient of the Moza Bint Nasser Chair of Computer Science and Robotics, a gift from Qatar Foundation. He was the founding director of the Robotics Institute from 1979 to 1991 and the dean of School of Computer Science from 1991 to 1999.

6

Executive and Professional Education Offered Forty executives from top organizations in Qatar gathered at Carnegie Mellon Qatar for a short course on dynamic organizational leadership as part of the university’s new Executive and Professional Education Program.

The first course was offered to Qatari companies and ministries that recently signed Memoranda of Understanding with the university.

“Last year, we signed agreements with nine organizations in Qatar, and I am pleased that we were able to enhance our ties with seven of these organizations through the Executive and Professional Education Program. We look forward to offering future courses to local and regional leaders in both the public and private sectors,” said Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

Included in the course were important lessons in establishing and maintaining organizational values; planning for and measuring organizational vitality; setting and achieving organizational goals; hiring and motivating talented employees; and effective use of performance reviews.

“I found the three-day course very interesting and I will apply the skills I have learned in my everyday life. In addition, it will help the development of the teachers and schools in Qatar and will advance our best practices,” said Muna Mohammad Ahmed Al Kuwari of the Supreme Education Council.

The Executive and Professional Education Program will continue to offer courses as part of the university’s corporate and ministerial engagement.

Employees from Qatar Statistics Authority, General Secretariat for Development Planning, Supreme Education Council, Al Jazeera Network, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior’s Police Training Institute, and Supreme Committee for Qatar 2022 completed the course, which is designed for those who lead or aspire to lead dynamic organizations.

“This was a very good opportunity for our employees to benefit from the knowledge and experience of Carnegie Mellon’s professors and to interact with employees from other organizations,” said H.E. Saleh bin Mohammed Al Nabit, secretary general of the General Secretariat for Development Planning.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

7

On the record.

8

Growth not in Europe, HSBC Qatar CEO Says Abdul Hakeem Mostafawi, CEO of HSBC Qatar, sees more growth opportunities in emerging markets such as China, Brazil and Egypt than in Europe.

“Investment in Egypt has big potential.

Egypt is a country with ample resources – gas, agriculture, water and a young, upcoming population – it just needs help from its Arab neighbors in this challenging time,” Mostafawi said during the Dean’s Leadership Series at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. The series invites industry leaders to campus, where they lead an open dialogue with students about important issues.

Given the injection of capital by GCC countries, including the State of Qatar, into the European economy through several high-profile investments, pundits have asked whether this type of foreign direct investment can spur growth. Rather, Mostafawi sees these types of investments as publicity for the country as opposed to investments capable of large returns.

Mostafawi, the first Qatari to head an international bank in Doha, closed his presentation by telling Carnegie Mellon Qatar students to “work hard and use technology to succeed.”

“People have yet to take advantage of all the opportunities available to them here.

Look to the future and concentrate on what you want, specialize and really focus on a particular area,” he said.

Carnival Time It’s 5 p.m. on a Thursday evening. Most people are winding up their week in Education City.

But the Green Spine – a grassy area behind the university – is bustling with Carnegie Mellon students. They are playing games, eating food and enjoying music that’s playing from a few loudspeakers.

The event is the Tarnival, Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s version of Spring Carnival – one of the biggest events of the year on the main campus. For the second year in a row, student clubs and organizations hosted games, photo booths, and prize giveaways. The highlight of the night, students said, was a water balloon fight that involved students, faculty and staff.

Attendees thanked Student Majlis for hosting the event, which provided some muchneeded recreation before the final lap of fall semester.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

9

On the record.

New Majlis Elected A large crowd, a healthy dose of competition and a buzz on Twitter marked the results of the 2012 Student Majlis election.

Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s student body chooses its government representatives annually, with this year’s elections taking place Dec. 4 – 6. Besting the turnout at recent U.S. presidential elections, almost 70 percent of Tartans voted online for their next Student Majlis.

In keenly contested races, Saleh Al Raisi, a junior in business administration, was elected President, and Hassan Salett, a sophomore in business administration, was elected vice president. Saleh said plans for the coming year include promoting the university beyond the Education City community and creating new dialogues between Majlis members and students.

Student Honored as Fifth Year Scholar Afnan Fahim, a senior in computer science, has been named one of Carnegie Mellon University’s Fifth Year Scholars.

The program offers a handful of standout undergraduates the opportunity to spend an extra year on the main campus to continue their studies and work on innovative projects.

Fahim’s project will examine ways to bridge computer science students’ experiences between Carnegie Mellon’s main campus in Pittsburgh and the Qatar campus.

Fahim is one of only three students in the class of 2013 selected for the honor, which provides free tuition, a $7,000 fellowship and the freedom to pursue a project of their own interest. This is the second time a student from Doha has been chosen.

Keghani Kouzoujian (CS’10) completed the program in 2011.

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Also elected were: Dana Abdulla, designer; Abdullah al Khenji, photographer; Devika Hastak, social media director; Tanzeel Huda, treasurer; Noora al Nassr, vice president for communication; Noshin Nisa, vice president for sports; Amalan Roshan, vice president for clubs & organizations; Lamana Mulaffer, vice president for academics; Noor-ul-huda Admaney, vice president for finance.

INET Qatar Draws Internet Experts Nearly 400 global, regional and local Internet experts attended the Gulf’s first INET conference, which took place at Carnegie Mellon in November.

Organized by the Internet Society (ISOC), ISOC Qatar and ictQATAR, the one-day conference was titled “The Rise of the Arab Information Society” and focused on connecting Internet communities throughout the region.

Imad Hoballah, chairman and CEO of the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority in Lebanon; and Khaled Koubaa, policy manager for Google in North Africa.

Carnegie Mellon professors Daniel Phelps and George White facilitated Q&A sessions

with CMU students during the conference.

Fatema Akbar, a senior in business administration and information systems, presented a student keynote speech on the adoption of new technologies at the Ellucian Live event in Abu Dhabi in December. The event was the 11th annual conference in the Middle East hosted by Ellucian, an education software specialist.

Mohamed Soudy, who completed a semester on the Pittsburgh campus in fall, was one of four students interviewed as part of the American Middle East Institute’s Annual Conference. Mohamed participated in a lecture and discussion, Building Bridges to the Middle East, which featured Prince Turki Al Faisal bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and Mahmoud Jibril, former interim prime minister of Libya.

The Internet Society holds multiple INETs every year, each with a unique regional focus and a selection of topics most relevant to the communities involved.

In her keynote address, Hessa Al Jaber, ictQATAR’s secretary general said: “It’s vitally important for Qatar and the rest of the Arab world to have a voice in the ongoing development of the Internet.

ISOC will play an integral role in this development and the more we can work together as a region, the more successful we will be.”

As one of 90 ISOC Chapters worldwide, the recently-established ISOC Qatar has already attracted more than 300 members.

A number of challenges were addressed, with participants discussing topics such as Arab businesses on the Internet, the development of online Arabic content, and how the Internet is governed in the region.

High profile regional speakers included Qusai Al-Shatti, deputy chairman of Kuwait Information Technology;

ACHIEVEMENTS

Business administration student Fatima Amir was recognized by Qatar National Research Fund’s Secondary School Research Experience Program (SSREP) for a nine-month project she completed while she was a student at Qatar Academy.

Her research, titled “The Mechanics behind the Cardiovascular System,” ranked in the top category and earned her 5,000 Qatari Riyals.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

11

On the record.

Carnegie Mellon Urges Young Women to Consider Computer Science Attracting women into STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields traditionally has been a challenge, but Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar is taking steps to improve female representation in these areas.

In an effort to accomplish this, Carnegie Mellon hosted CS4Qatar for Women, an outreach program that aims to introduce young women to computer science.

“With CS4Qatar for Women, we want to help students understand what Computer Science is. As these young women are trying to decide their future fields of study, we want them to make a more informed decision about Computer Science.

Moreover, these workshops teach students how to think about solving computational problems more systematically,” said Saquib Razak, Assistant Teaching Professor of Computer Science.

More than 80 female high-school students from 12 schools across Qatar attended the event, which consisted of three lectures and two workshops: one on programming with Java and another on computational thinking.

“Computer Science plays a role in the evolution of technology in our everyday life.

This student outreach program helps young women think about the fundamental issues in Computer Science.

“We use practical approaches that get students to think about different simple yet innovative approaches to solve fundamental problems. This is central to understanding what Computer Science is all about – problem solving,” said Majd Sakr, associate teaching professor of Computer Science.

During the event young women’s parents were also introduced to the field and the numerous career opportunities open to computer science majors.

“CS4Qatar for Women’s achieved its purpose, which is to encourage Qatari women to consider computer science.

I have met with the professors. They are full of knowledge and have great experience,” said Dodo Nodi, a participant.

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‫تشجع الشابات على‬ ‫كارنيجي ميلون‬ ّ ‫دراسة علوم الحاسوب‬ ‫واصلت جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر جهودها من أجل تحسين مشاركة المرأة في مجاالت العلوم‬ ‫التكنولوجية والهندسة والرياضيات والتي تمثل التحدي األكبر من حيث نسبة مشاركة المرأة في تلك‬ ‫ البرنامج التفاعلي الذي‬،‫ جاء ذلك من خالل إستضافة الجامعة لبرنامج علوم الحاسوب في قطر‬.‫التخصصات‬ .‫يركز على تعريف المرأة بعلوم الحاسوب وتشجيعها إلقتحام هذا المجال‬ ً ‫ عن أهداف البرنامج قائ‬،‫وقد تحدث ثاقب رزاق األستاذ المساعد لعلوم الحاسوب‬ ‫”نسعى من خالل برنامج‬:‫ال‬ ‫ من خالل ورش عمل يتعرفن فيها على‬،‫علوم الحاسوب في قطر لتعريف الطالبات بماهية علوم الحاسوب‬ ‫ األمر الذي يمنحهن نظرة شاملة‬.‫سبل إستخدام الطرق المنهجية في حل المشكالت المتعلقة بالحاسوب‬ ”.‫عن هذا المجال قبيل إتخاذ قرار مستقبلي يتعلق بمجال دراستهم‬ ‫ طالبة بالمرحلة الثانوية من‬80 ‫ حيث شاركت أكثر من‬،‫وقد شهد برنامج علوم الحاسوب في قطر إقبال عالي‬ ‫ محاضرات وورشتي عمل األولى عن البرمجة بإستخدام‬3 ‫ ويتألف البرنامج من‬.‫ مدرسة من مختلف أنحاء قطر‬12 .‫ والثانية عن التفكير الحاسوبي الممنهج‬،‫لغة الجافا‬ ‫ “ بداية نعرف‬:‫ إلى األساليب المستخدمة في البرنامج حيث أوضح‬،‫كما أشار مجد صقر مدرس علوم الحاسوب‬ ‫ ثم ننطلق إلى تدريبهن على األساليب العلمية للتفكير في‬،‫الطالبات بالمبادئ األساسية لعلوم الحاسوب‬ ‫ األمر الذي يوضح لهم الدور الهام الذي يلعبه‬.‫حل المشكالت والتي تتسم بالبساطة واإلبتكار في آن واحد‬ ”.‫التطور التكنولوجي في حياتنا اليومية‬ ‫ حيث تم تعريفهم بمجال علوم الحاسوب وفرص العمل المتاحة‬،‫كما كان ألولياء األمور نصيب من البرنامج‬ .‫للمتخصصين في هذا المجال‬ ‫ “ لقد إلتقيت بالعديد من األساتذة لديهم خبرة هائلة في‬:‫وقد تحدثت إحدى الطالبات المشاركات قائلة‬ ”.‫ األمر الذي زاد من حماسي لدراسة علوم الحاسوب بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون‬،‫المجال‬

Publications and Presentations Books Lansiné Kaba, distinguished visiting professor of history (2012).

Le “non” de la Guinée à de Gaulle, Paris: AlfAbarre Editions (revised and expanded).

Daniel Phelps, assistant professor of information systems (2012).

Information Security For Managers, Burlington, Ma: Jones and Bartlett Learning (with Michael Workman and John N. Gathegi).

Articles and Book Contributions Zeinab Ibrahim, associate teaching professor of Arabic (2012).

Instructor–Student Communication: Cultural Misconceptions, Global Media Journal.

Vomeronasal Organ to the Accessory Olfactory Bulb, Journal of Neuroscience (with Rohit Ramnath, Jeffrey E. Dahlen, Anna L. Romanova, Greg LaRocca, Mark E. Bier and Nathaniel N. Urban).

Divakaran Liginlal, associate professor of information systems (2012). Information Privacy Situation Awareness: Construct and Validation, Journal of Computer Information Systems (with Inkook Sim and Lara Khansa).

Susan Hagan, assistant professor of English (2012). The Challenge of Look and Read: Why Illustration Communicates Meaning that Text is not Equipped to Deliver. Confia: International Conference in Illustration & Animation – Proceedings, C. Ferreira (Ed.).

Daniel Phelps, assistant professor of information systems (2012).

Information System Security: Self-Efficacy and Implementation Effectiveness, Journal of Information System Security (with John N. Gathegi, Michael Workman and Misook Heo).

Tridas Mukhopadhyay, Deloitte consulting professor of e-business (2012). Crowdsourcing Contests: A Dynamic Structural Model Of The Impact Of Incentive Structure On Solution Quality, International Conference on Information Systems – Proceedings (with Yan Huang, Param Veer Singh).

Selma Limam Mansar, associate professor of information systems (2012). Integrating Health Theories in Health and Fitness Applications for Sustained Behavior Change: Current State of the Art, Creative Education (with Angela Brunstein and Joerg Brunstein).

Selma Limam Mansar, associate professor of information systems (2012). A Usability Testing Experiment For A Localized Weight Loss Mobile Application, Procedia Technology (with Shashank Jariwala, Maahd Shahzad, Aysha Anggraini, Nawal Behih and Amna AlZeyara).

Selma Limam Mansar, associate professor of information systems (2012). Addressing Obesity Using A Mobile Application: An Experiment Design, E-Health 2012, IADIS Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information Systems (with Angela Brunstein and Shashank Jariwala).

Tridas Mukhopadhyay, Deloitte consulting professor of e-business (2012). A Hidden Markov Model for Collaborative Filtering, MIS Quarterly (with Nachiketa Sahoo and Param Vir Singh).

Ludmila Hyman, assistant professor of English (2012). Vygotsky’s Crisis: Argument, Context, Relevance, Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological & Biomedical Sciences.

Ludmila Hyman, assistant professor of English (2012).

The Soviet Psychologists and the Path to International Psychology (Chapter 26), In The Globalization of Knowledge in History, Jurgen Renn (ed.), Berlin: Edition Open Access.

Ludmila Hyman, assistant professor of English (2012). Bone and Verdure: The Porcelain Sculptures of Chris Vicini, Ceramics: Art and Perception.

Kenneth Hovis, assistant professor of biological sciences (2012).

Activity Regulates Functional Connectivity from the Presentations Vincent Zeng, course assistant of photography, Rincon (a grant-funded photographic exhibition), Trinity Gallery, Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania, October 6, 2012.

Zeinab Ibrahim, associate professor of Arabic, Challenges Facing the Arabic Language, Arabic & English Departments Workshop, Cairo University, Egypt, December 27, 2012.

Amal Al-Malki, assistant professor of English, keynote speaker, Language and Popular Culture Conference, Baruch College, City University of New York, September, 2012.

Amal Al-Malki, assistant professor of English, keynote speaker, Active Leaders for Women’s Advancement in the Near East (ALWANE) Coalition, Women’s Campaign International (WCI), Regional Summit, Amman, Jordan, November, 2012.

Amal Al-Malki, assistant professor of English, Arab Women in Arab News: Old Stereotypes and New Media, Durham Book Festival, Durham University, October, 2012.

Divakaran Liginlal, associate professor of information systems, Tracking the Socio-Technical Barriers to Digital Identity Adoption in Arab Countries – A Case Study of Qatar,

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

9th International Conference on E-Governance, Kochi, India, December, 2012 (with Daniel Phelps and Lansiné Kaba).

Divakaran Liginlal, associate professor of information systems, Modeling Privacy-Security Tradeoff in the Internet of Things (IOT), BITs 2nd Annual International Congress of U-World, Dalian, China, August 27, 2012.

Dudley Reynolds, associate professor of English, Second Language Writing Development: Implications for (from) Curriculum Development, Second Language Research Forum, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, October 2012.

Lansiné Kaba, distinguished visiting professor of history, “Unity and Solidarity in Guinea” and “Islam, Political Islam, and Extremism in Sub-Saharan Africa,” invited by the President of Guinea to deliver two lectures at the Kofi Annan University, October, 2012.

Teresa MacGregor, director of the library, The Power of Me / The Power of We: Harnessing Narratives of Personal and Cultural Identity in English Writing Instruction, Creating a Culture of Writing - Middle East North Africa Writing CentersAlliance(MENAWCA) annual conference, Doha, November, 2012 (with Elena Athwal).

13

On: Camera

A hundred learners celebrated their completion of a literacy program for immigrant workers organized by Language Bridges, a student club run by Fatima Fikree, Mashael Al Misnad and Sama Kanbour. Thirty Carnegie Mellon students volunteered to teach English to the workers, who are from Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and the Philippines.

Two computer science students, Baljit Singh and Sabih Bin Wasi, interned at Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), where they developed an interactive language learning app.

14

Even before the university’s annual Convocation ceremony, Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s newest students were on campus learning about the university community. In a place called ‘TartanLand,’ the freshmen participated in a student-led orientation, where they discovered our history and traditions, 15 as well as the many opportunities available to them in the years ahead.

Seriously Funny

by Sarah Nightingale

W

e’re sitting at a burger restaurant in one of Qatar’s upscale malls.

I think people might be looking at us – looking at him, rather. It’s possible; as Qatar’s first homegrown comic, Mohammed Fahad Kamal has gained an avid fan base.

When I ask, “Are you a celebrity?” he just smiles back.

I think that means yes.

16

Between bites, Mohammed is explaining the etiquette behind the majlis, a traditional meeting place for Qatari men.

He pauses.

He’s thought of a joke. It’s some kind of analogy between taking your relationship to the next level and inviting a friend to the family majlis.

He pulls out his Android, taps out a memo, and we continue our chat.

Mohammed is a 23-year-old Carnegie Mellon Qatar graduate, but he’s better known as the first Qatari comedian, or as he puts it, the first who’s actually trying to be funny. He’s not an improv comic.

He writes down his jokes. He reads books about making people laugh. And he practices his material – line by line, over and over.

His degree in business administration helped him become funnier, he says, and he’s not joking this time. Business school helped him learn to be a great presenter, to look people in the eye, and to keep his audience hanging on every word … until he delivers that perfectly timed punch line.

Like when he’s reminiscing about college (he has to be at work at 6:30 a.m. now):

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

“When my friends call me at 10 p.m. to go out for dinner, I tell them I’m sleeping.”

(He pauses for effect.)

“Not that I am going to sleep, I mean that I am actually sleeping and they just woke me up.”

By the time we’re eating lunch, it’s already 2:45 in the afternoon.

Mohammad has just clocked out from his real job, where he works as a senior business planner for Qatar Petroleum.

Like many comedians, Mohammed started his career by telling jokes to a couch-full of family and friends. Three years ago, just for a laugh, he entered an open-mic competition organized by the Doha Film Festival.

17

Seriously Funny

Not only did he win, he also met Bilal Randeree, a South African comedian who uses humor to bridge gaps between different people.

The two decided to start a comedy troupe, which they called Stand Up Comedy Qatar (SUCQ). “Suck,” as it’s affectionately known, supports comedy in the region by developing up-and-coming comedians and hosting events and tours. Beyond that, the organization brings together Qatar’s different communities and breaks down cultural barriers through laughter.

While Mohammed comes from a “very progressive” family, he is, in many ways, a traditional Qatari. He dresses in the thobe (a long white shirt worn over white pants) and a headscarf called a gutra, he had his pick of jobs upon graduation, and he owns the quintessential Qatari vehicle. (No, not a camel; a white Toyota Land Cruiser.)

The secret to making people laugh, Mohammed says, is to tell the truth, but exaggerate it. Like his Land Cruiser jokes. (The first thing you have to know about comedy in Qatar is that Arabs – in white Land Cruisers – have a questionable reputation when it comes to driving.)

Mohammed never thought people would actually pay money to see him perform, but since 2010 he’s toured in Dubai, Jordan, Kuwait and (shhh) Saudi Arabia, where comedy is still pretty much underground. While he was studying on the Pittsburgh campus last summer, he even got the chance to perform in New York. He turned it down, he says, because he got a better offer. Or was it because he had an exam the next day?

Yes, that was it – an exam.

Mohammed’s biggest shows have been with SUCQ in Qatar.

Nowadays, there are about 20 comedians in the group. There’s Bilal Randeree, a.k.a. Hilal Bilal, and another Qatari, Hamad AlAlmari. The youngest, 16-year-old Issa El-Fahoum, is a PalestinianCanadian who studies at an Indian School in Doha. You can imagine the jokes.

Mohammed says he’d like to tour in America or Europe, but worries his humor won’t export; that it makes better sense for people who live in Qatar.

But for many of his fans, the jokes about culture clashes are the funniest. Like his joke about a Qatari-American running for U.S. president, which he opened with at a recent show at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

“If you vote for me…” Mohammed begins in his thickest Qatari accent, “… not the other guy … I will buy every American family a Land Cruiser.

(He pauses for effect.)

18

“And if you vote for me … not the other guy … every American man will have four wives.”

The ice is broken.

From there, Mohammed pokes fun of Qataris and expats, men and women, current affairs and tradition. The only things that are truly off limits, he says, are religion and anything “too sexual.”

Even his parents feature in his acts, as in a conversation Mohammed reenacted during his Carnegie Mellon show.

“If I die, what will you do?” Mohammed begins in his mother’s highpitched voice.

“If you die, I will go crazy,” his father answers.

“So you won’t remarry?” his mother replies.

(He pauses for effect.)

“Honey, crazy man can do anything!”

Neither of his parents has been to a SUCQ show, Mohammed says, but they watch his videos online. And his father, a renowned dermatologist, will even suggest jokes at his own expense.

But they’d rather he keep his day job, which is fine, since Qatar’s comedy scene isn’t lucrative enough to pay the bills, Mohammed says.

And with that he asks the waiter to bring our check.

Mohammed’s videos have been viewed more than 40,000 times, and earned him 260 subscribers on YouTube. Check them out at: www.youtube.com/user/mohammedComedy

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

19

20

Wazni Students' App Puts Weight Loss in the Palm of your Hand

The Hollywood diet. The one-day diet. The cabbage soup diet.

Fad diets definitely have a way of sucking you in.

While many of us have been enticed by the latest miracle berry or food combination, experts agree that crash diets like these won’t help you lose weight – at least for the long haul.

That’s why information systems students Aysha Anggraini, Nawal Behih and Maahd Shahzad have designed a mobile application to help young women lose weight by creating small goals that add up to big changes over time.

The idea earned Selma Limam Mansar, associate professor of information systems, an Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) grant from Qatar National Research Fund to supervise the students’ research. The $25,000 award enabled the trio to be paid as research assistants, attend an overseas conference and buy the software they needed to complete the study.

To resonate with their target audience, the app’s characters are young Qatari women, and the app is available in both English and Arabic.

According to Nawal, a junior in information systems, the team wanted to create more than a calorie-counting app, incorporating what researchers already know about promoting behavioral changes. For example, people are more likely to achieve their goals when they set small targets, like cutting down on soft drinks, rather than large goals, like losing 10 pounds in a month. People are also more likely to lose weight if they are part of a team and receive one-on-one advice from a health professional, Nawal said.

To add to the existing research, the team surveyed their target audience – young Arab women – learning that they struggle with frequent snacking and eating junk food while they are on the go.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

21

Wazni

With this in mind, the students set to work on their app, which they built with the help of Shashank Jariwala, a researcher programmer at Carnegie Mellon Qatar and a 2011 information systems graduate.

To resonate with their target audience, the students chose young Qatari women as characters, and the app is available in Arabic as well as English, Nawal said.

Meaning “my weight� in Arabic, Wazni offers three main functions: The first is a goal-setting component, which allows users to

Left to right: Maahd Shahzad, Aysha Anggraini and Nawal Behih designed and created Wazni.

22

create their own targets, record their progress and visualize their success over time. The second is a chat room that serves as an online support network, and the third is a series of automated SMS messages from a health expert – in this case, Yezenia CadenaMalek, director of health and wellness at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

“For example, if you set a daily goal to cut back on the chocolate you are eating from a full bar to a half bar, the app is first going to ask what your goal is and that will be stored in the database. Then the app is going to ask you if you reached your goal. Again, that information is going back to the database,” she said.

Much of the students’ work was behind the scenes, in the development of a database that stores user information and tracks their progress over time, Nawal said.

The students presented their concept at Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s annual Undergraduate Conference in Information Systems (UCIS) as well as the 2012 International Conference on Health and Social Care in Information Systems and Technologies, which was held in October in Algarve, Portugal. More recently, they deployed their app onto phones for testing by a group of undergraduate students.

While the initial trial was short – just three weeks – the testers found Wazni easy to use, and most of them said they would like to continue using it. The team’s next goal is to test it in a full-scale experiment, Nawal said.

The UREP grant helped the students to mature intellectually, express their research curiosity, and develop the perseverance and tenacity needed to accomplish their goals, Limam Mansar said.

“Since the team comprises a sophomore, a junior and a senior, there has been a lot of mentorship, with the senior helping the junior and the junior helping the sophomore. This has been a very rewarding experience for them,” she said.

Ibtikar Competition Examines Culturally Relevant Apps Aysha, Nawal and Maahd worked hard to make Wazni reflect the culture of Qatar and appeal to young Arab women.

But what exactly makes an app “culturally relevant” and how much does the look and feel of an app contribute to its success?

Secondary-school students in Qatar will investigate this as part of Ibtikar, an annual information systems competition hosted by the university. This year’s competition challenged students to design a mobile-based game that will support sustainable healthy lifestyle habits in Qatar. The application must reflect the local culture, language, climate and eating habits.

As well as introducing the students to the field of information systems, the competition will help researchers gain insight into “culturally relevant” app design.

“We’re interested in what it means to students to localize their design and how important they feel that it is to be culturally sensitive when designing an app for people in this region,” said Selma Limam Mansar, associate professor of information systems.

Editor’s note: We’ll update you on the Ibtikar Competition in the next issue of On-Q.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

23

24

Scoring a Scholarship­­­­ Student’s interest in soccer highlighted opportunities at Education City Long before Aayush Karki ventured beyond his home country of Nepal, he’d already taken a tour of Education City on the Internet.

Now, thanks to a new scholarship program at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, Aayush has joined the university as a first-year student in computer science.

The H.E. Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani Scholarship will pay for Aayush and three more outstanding students to attend Carnegie Mellon Qatar for the full four years. The scholarship was established in 2012 following a $1 million gift to the university from an anonymous donor.

Aayush was born in Kathmandu Valley, where he grew up with his parents and sister.

His father’s job as a technical officer for the city’s water supply corporation classified the family as middle class, but they’d be humble by Western standards, Aayush said.

In 2009, Aayush was admitted into the highly selective Budhanilkantha School, located 15 miles north of Kathmandu in the foothills of the Shivapuri Mountains. Aayush graduated with A-levels in Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics, Further Mathematics, English Language, and a General Paper. His A-Level score in English Language was the highest in the country.

As a child, Aayush’s interest in computer technology was ignited through games; a hobby that soon morphed into an interest in computer science. Aayush plans to use his education to develop mobile applications and to bridge the technology gap between the rich and poor.

While Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science – among the world’s best – didn’t need an introduction, it took soccer to connect Aayush with Education City. Last year, even before Qatar Foundation’s logo made it onto their shirts, Aayush read a story online about a partnership between QF and FC Barcelona. From there, he discovered Education City, the six American universities that call it home, and, most excitingly, that Carnegie Mellon’s computer science degree was being offered in Qatar.

The draw of Carnegie Mellon’s Qatar campus, Aayush said, was the opportunity to join a small but diverse community and be part of Education City.

As the first person to receive the H.E. Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani Scholarship, the award will enable Aayush to complete his education at Carnegie Mellon and pursue his goal of going to graduate school.

25

Scoring a Scholarship­­­­

“To be able to attend Carnegie Mellon was like a dream come true.

And I owe this largely to the generosity and kind spirit of the family who made the scholarship available to me. The scholarship allows me to put my focus entirely on my studies and interests during and after my time at Carnegie Mellon. I am very thankful for this opportunity,” Aayush said.

The H.E. Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani Scholarship was established in 2012 through a generous gift to Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar from an unnamed donor.

The funds cover the cost of attending the university for four students for four years. They can be offered to students who qualify for financial aid and are accepted into any of Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s five majors – biological sciences, business administration, computational biology, computer science and information systems.

“We are incredibly appreciative for this commitment to Carnegie Mellon, which help to attract and support outstanding students who otherwise could not afford to study at a world-renowned institution like Carnegie Mellon,” said Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar.

“I hope this scholarship brings Aayush one step closer to fulfilling his goal of advancing the field of computer science and achieving his dream of bringing technology to underserved communities.”

Five minutes with Aayush

As a child, Aayush’s interest in computer technology was ignited through games; a hobby that soon morphed into an interest in computer science.

Name:

Aayush Karki

Hometown: Kathmandu, Nepal Major:

Computer Science

Class:

2016

Career goal: To develop mobile security applications for Android and Mozilla, or maybe the next Angry Birds Personal goal: To contribute to underserved communities with technology What he likes best about Qatar: Diversity of the people What he misses most about home: Monsoon and rain

‫خمس دقائق مع أيوش‬ ‫أيوش كاركي‬

:‫االسم‬

‫ نيبال‬،‫ كاتماندو‬:‫الموطن‬ ‫ علوم الحاسوب‬:‫التخصص‬ 2016

:‫الدفعة‬

‫ أو ربما‬،Mozilla‫ و‬Android‫ تطوير تطبيقات جوالة لـ‬:‫الهدف المهني‬ .Angry Birds ‫للجيل التالي من‬ ‫ المساهمة بالتكنولوجيا لصالح المجتمعات المحرومة‬:‫الهدف الشخصي‬ ‫تنوع سكانها‬ ّ :‫أكثر شيء أعجبه في قطر‬ ‫ الرياح الموسمية والمطر‬:‫أكثر شيء يشتاق إليه في دياره‬

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‫الفوز بمنحة دراسية‬ ‫قام أيوش كاركي بالفعل بجولة في أرجاء المدينة التعليمية على اإلنترنت قبل‬ ‫فترة طويلة من إقدامه على السفر خارج وطنه نيبال‪.‬‬ ‫واآلن وبفضل برنامج جديد للمنح الدراسية في جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‪ ،‬فقد‬ ‫انضم أيوش إلى الجامعة كطالب في السنة األولى تخصص علوم الحاسوب‪.‬‬ ‫وستتولى منحة صاحب السمو الشيخ ناصر بن حمد بن عبد اهلل آل ثاني الدراسية‬ ‫اإلنفاق على أيوش وثالثة طالب متميزين آخرين لاللتحاق بجامعة كارنيجي ميلون‬ ‫في قطر على مدى السنوات األربع كاملة‪ .‬وأُنشئت المنحة في العام ‪ 2012‬بعد‬ ‫حصول الجامعة على هبة مالية بمبلغ مليون دوالر أمريكي من فاعل خير‪.‬‬ ‫ُولد أيوش في وادي كاتماندو ونشأ هناك مع والديه وأخته‪ .‬يقول أيوش إن عمل‬ ‫والده كمسؤول فني لدى شركة المياه في المدينة ص ّنف أسرته باعتبارها من‬ ‫الطبقة الوسطى‪ ،‬لكنهم أسرة متواضعة بالمقاييس الغربية‪.‬‬ ‫وفي عام ‪ 2009‬التحق أيوش بمدرسة بودانيلكانثا‪ ،‬التي ت ّتبع معايير صارمة في اختيار‬ ‫طالبها وتقع على بعد ‪ 15‬كيلومت ًرا شمال كاتماندو عند سفح جبال شيفابوري‪ .‬تخرج‬ ‫أيوش حاصال على تقدير ممتاز في الكيمياء والفيزياء والرياضيات‪ ،‬و الرياضيات‬ ‫اإلضافية واللغة اإلنجليزية ومادة عامة‪ .‬وكان تقدير ممتاز الذي حصل عليه في اللغة‬ ‫اإلنجليزية هو األعلى في بلده‪.‬‬ ‫أثارت األلعاب شغف أيوش بتكنولوجيا الحاسوب يوم أن كان طفال‪ ،‬وسرعان‬ ‫ما تحولت هذه الهواية إلى اهتمام بعلوم الحاسوب‪ .‬ويخطط أيوش الستغالل‬ ‫تعليمه في تطوير تطبيقات جوالة وتجسير الفجوة التكنولوجية بين األغنياء‬ ‫والفقراء‪.‬‬ ‫على الرغم من أن كلية علوم الحاسوب في جامعة كارنيجي ميلون تعتبر من‬ ‫أفضل الكليات في العالم بال شك‪ ،‬إال أن كرة القدم هي ما أوصلت أيوش إلى‬ ‫المدينة التعليمية‪ .‬ففي العام الماضي‪ ،‬وحتى قبل وضع شعار مؤسسة قطر على‬ ‫قمصان الالعبين‪ ،‬قرأ أيوش قصة على اإلنترنت عن شراكة بين مؤسسة قطر ونادي‬ ‫برشلونة‪ .‬وانطالقا من تلك النقطة اكتشف أيوش المدينة التعليمية والجامعات‬ ‫األمريكية الستة الكائنة فيها واألهم من ذلك كله أنه اكتشف أن بكالوريوس علوم‬ ‫الحاسوب من جامعة كارنيجي ميلون يُمنح في قطر‪.‬‬ ‫وكما قال أيوش فإن جاذبية فرع جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر تكمن في الفرصة‬ ‫التي يتيحها لالنضمام إلى مجتمع صغير لكنه يمتاز بالتنوع وبأن تكون جزءا من‬ ‫المدينة التعليمية‪.‬‬ ‫وبصفته أول من يحصل على منحة صاحب السمو الشيخ ناصر بن حمد بن عبد اهلل‬ ‫آل ثاني الدراسية‪ ،‬فإن أيوش سيتمكن بفضل هذه المنحة من إتمام تعليمه في‬ ‫كارنيجي ميلون وتحقيق هدفه المتمثل في مواصلة دراساته العليا‪.‬‬ ‫يقول أيوش‪« :‬إن تمكني من االلتحاق بكارنيجي ميلون أشبه بحلم تحقق‪ .‬وأنا أدين‬ ‫بهذا في المقام األول لسخاء وكرم العائلة التي أتاحت لي هذه المنحة الدراسية‬ ‫التي تسمح لي بتركيز اهتمامي كله على دراستي واهتماماتي أثناء دراستي في‬ ‫كارنيجي ميلون وبعدها‪ .‬أنا شاكر جدا لهذه الفرصة»‪.‬‬ ‫أُنشئت منحة صاحب السمو الشيخ ناصر بن حمد بن عبد اهلل آل ثاني الدراسية‬ ‫في عام ‪ 2012‬من خالل هبة سخية تلقتها جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر من‬ ‫فاعل خير‪ .‬وتغطي المنحة تكلفة تمويل االلتحاق بالجامعة ألربعة طالب لمدة أربع‬ ‫سنوات‪ .‬ويمكن منحها للطالب الذين يتأهلون للحصول على المعونة المالية‬ ‫ويتقدمون لاللتحاق بأي من تخصصات جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر الخمسة‬ ‫وهي‪ :‬العلوم البيولوجية وإدارة األعمال وعلم األحياء الحاسوبي وعلوم الحاسوب‬ ‫وأنظمة المعلومات‪.‬‬ ‫يقول إيلكر بايبرز‪ ،‬عميد جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‪« :‬نقدّ ر بكثير من االمتنان‬ ‫هذا االلتزام تجاه كارنيجي ميلون‪ ،‬والذي سيساعد على اجتذاب ودعم الطالب‬ ‫المتميزين الذين لواله لما كانوا سيستطيعون تحمل تكلفة الدراسة بمؤسسة‬ ‫ذات سمعة عالمية مثل كارنيجي ميلون»‪.‬‬ ‫وأردف قائال‪« :‬أرجو أن تقرّب هذه المنحة أيوش خطوة تجاه هدفه في العمل على‬ ‫االرتقاء بمجال علوم الحاسوب وتحقيق حلمه المتمثل في إتاحة التكنولوجيا‬ ‫للمجتمعات المحرومة»‪.‬‬

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‫‪Winter 2012 / Spring 2013‬‬

On: Business

The Big Fat Desi Wedding South Asian cuisine brings success to students There were trays of steaming biryani, spicy samosas and sweet karak tea. For three days this fall, students got a taste of typical Indian and Pakistani party food as part of Carnegie Mellon’s own version of “The Apprentice.”

Calling themselves “The Big Fat Desi Wedding,” the team turned a seed injection of 500 Qatari Riyals into traditional South Asian – or Desi – party food, ending the competition with almost 2,500 QR in profits.

Inspired by the American reality show, “The Apprentice” is an annual competition organized by cmBA, a student organization that prepares its members to be business professionals. Unlike the television series, where individuals compete to run a company, the cmBA version saw

The Top Three Teams My Big Fat Desi Wedding Members: Valerie Garcia, Sana Britto, Mehreen Alam, Hamza Nagree Profit: 2,422 Qatari Riyals Student Needs Members: Reem Saad, Fatima Al-Emadi, Noor Al-Malki, Shafiya Fasalu Profit: 1,676 Qatari Riyals Culture Clash Members: Abed Alkarim Khattab, Mustafa Abualsuod, Zuhair Mohammed, Amna Al Sulaiti Profit: 680 Qatari Riyals

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teams compete for the greatest share of a relatively small market – Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar.

Five teams entered, starting with the same amount of cash and a unique business model. Over the course of three days, the groups bought or made their products and sold them from tables in the food court area. The most successful teams also conducted market research, advertised through social media, and risked reinvesting each day’s earnings back into inventory, which are all important parts of a business plan, said Stephanie Abi Gerges, a junior in business administration and president of cmBA in Qatar.

The three top-selling teams then went up before a panel of judges, where they explained their strategies, financial decisions, and divisions of labor.

According to its members, team “Culture Clash” sold food from their home countries, choosing a different cuisine each day. But selling Arabic food for two out of the three days may have hurt profits, they admitted during their presentation.

Another team, “Student Needs,” sold food, drinks and t-shirts, hoping to fill the basic requirements students have while on campus. The team was commended for its unique selling point – t-shirts inspired and modeled by Marion Oliver, a popular mathematics professor.

The judges selected “The Big Fat Desi Wedding” for first place, not only as the

top earners, but also based their creativity, unity and communication skills.

“All the teams worked hard, but ‘Desi Wedding’ out-hustled the others.

They stayed committed to their concept, took good risks and worked the sales floor,” said Patrick McGinnis, assistant teaching professor of business communication and one of the judges.

The winners received 75 percent of the competition’s total revenue (5,340 QR), while the second- and third-place teams received 15 percent (1,068 QR) and 10 percent (712 QR) respectively. Equally important, Abi Gerges said, was the challenge of running a business.

The Judges Patrick McGinnis Assistant teaching professor, business communication Sham Kekre Associate teaching professor, business administration Peter Stuettgen Visiting assistant professor, marketing “The purpose of cmBA is to represent business students and this is good experience for them because it combines all aspects of business into one small event,” she said.

On: Science

Crime Scene Investigators Students become forensic analysts at the Biotechnology Explorer Program It’s a dark September evening.

Samer Mohammad’s secretary logs off her computer and steps into her boss’s office. She’s hoping she can persuade him to call it a night. Instead, she finds him lying on the floor – he’s been strangled to death.

The police come quickly and examine the scene. The only evidence is a rope used to commit the crime. Since skin cells found on the rope don’t belong to the victim, they might help police locate Mohammad’s killer.

After interviewing friends and co-workers, the police identify five suspects.

In addition to his secretary – the last person known to have seen him alive – they home in on his wife, his gardener, a childhood friend, and his main business competitor. Each of the suspects is asked to provide a DNA sample for testing.

With the scene set, this year’s Biotechnology Explorer Program engaged secondary school students through a hands-on laboratory experience during which they learned how to match a suspect to a crime scene using his or her unique genetic blueprint – DNA. The students first broke the DNA samples into fragments using specific proteins called restriction enzymes and then used a technique called DNA gel electrophoresis to determine the size of their fragments, creating a unique DNA profile for each of the suspects. In a November workshop, students discovered that DNA

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

from the crime scene matched Mohammad’s gardener, indicating that he was the killer.

Sixty students from 12 schools across Qatar participated in programs held during fall semester. In addition to getting a hands-on experience, students were introduced to Carnegie Mellon’s programs in biological sciences and computational biology, and learned about future career options.

“My primary goal is to get high school students in this region excited about biology. This activity gets them interested in the problem they are trying to solve, and they forgot that they are learning a lot,” said Kenneth Hovis, assistant teaching professor of biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar.

“My second goal is to help teach and prepare students to be successful as they enter the university setting to study sciences. The techniques they learn during the course of this program are basic techniques they will use in nearly any biology or pre-med program they might enter.”

Israa Al-kamali, a student at the International School of Choueifat, enjoyed the opportunity to get involved in something that had real-world applications.

“I love biology. This program attracted my interest because I wanted to get experience in dealing with situations close to reality and learn how to use different tools in the lab,” she said.

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On: Student Life

Food for Thought Students experience hunger at interactive banquet

By Devika Hastak, TPR’15 To most people, the word “banquet” conjures up images of a feast fit for a king. So it seems a little ironic to have a feast to discuss hunger.

But this fall, Carnegie Mellon and Texas A&M collaborated to host an unusual kind of banquet to address local and global hunger.

At the Hunger Banquet, only six out of 50 attendees – representing the 15 percent of the world who are considered high-income – were given a king’s meal, while the majority of participants received a much more modest supper.

Faculty, staff and students were invited to participate in the dinner.

As each guest entered, they randomly drew a card that decided which income group they belonged to, where they sat, and what kind of meal they received. The low-income group sat on carpets on the floor and dined on rice and water; the middle-income group helped themselves to a slightly more nutritious meal of rice and gravy at simple wooden tables; and the high-income group was served a three-course meal at a lavishly decorated table. Since nobody

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expected this, the surprise element was what ultimately succeeded in delivering the evening’s message: to encourage people to actively participate in addressing hunger.

According to Dalia Rehal, student development coordinator, the Hunger Banquet concept was first used by the charity Oxfam to highlight how a lack of public policy, education and access to resources can all contribute to hunger.

With the help of eight student facilitators, participants from the two universities sat together in their income groups, talked about hunger and provided different perspectives on how to tackle it.

Among the figures highlighted were that a child dies from hungerrelated causes every 8 to 12 seconds and that one in seven people in the world go to bed hungry each night. During the discussion, members of the high-income group hesitantly picked at their food, asking permission to share with the others, while the low-income group openly complained about their dissatisfied appetites.

issue. “I definitely plan on actively helping with this issue when I go back home,” Al-Husseiny said.

During the discussion, members of the high-income group hesitantly picked at their food, asking permission to share with the others, while the low-income group openly complained about their dissatisfied appetites.

Although the Hunger Banquet proved an interactive way of spreading awareness about hunger, Rehal said she doesn’t plan to make it an annual event. “The event is made more significant by the fact that the guests did not know what to expect. Once the element of surprise is gone, it is difficult to deliver the message as strongly,” Rehal said, adding, “However, I would like an annual way to address hunger issues and encourage those who came to the Hunger Banquet to initiate such events.”

“The way the Hunger Banquet was conducted – instead of just sitting around and discussing – felt much more real,” said Muna Al-Husseiny, a freshman in business administration and a member of the vastly outnumbered high-income group.

Despite knowing already that some people are less fortunate than others, the attendees agreed that this was a wake-up call, with many students deciding to create service projects and clubs to address the

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

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On: Research

Connecting with Qatar Carnegie Mellon Qatar researchers recognized for work on mobile devices

Imagine you’re at a meeting and you need to download a video on your phone. Instead of choosing between wireless and 3G, what if you could combine them to download the clip in half the time?

Or, what if you’ve written an email, hit the send button, but don’t want to pay for it to go out through 3G? Perhaps your smartphone could wait until you’re connected to free Wi-Fi before mailing it out.

These are some of the technologies being developed by Khaled Harras, an assistant professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. Harras’ project, which is in collaboration with Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology in Egypt, won the Best Computing and Information Technology Research Program at Qatar Foundation’s third Annual Research Forum. The prestigious award comes with a $100,000 prize for future research.

Titled “OPERETTA: An Optimal Deployable Energy Efficient Bandwidth Aggregation System,” Harras’ research builds on previous attempts to improve multi-interface mobile devices – like smartphones – by allowing users to concurrently connect to the Internet in different ways, such as 3G, 4G, WiFi and Bluetooth.

Currently, users choose between interfaces based on factors like speed, energy consumption and cost. But Harras’ work would allow users to combine interfaces for optimal speed, or to choose 3G for a time-sensitive task while postponing another task until a cheaper option, such as Wi-Fi, opens up.

Even better, Harras said, is the system’s independence from relying on changes in existing infrastructure. In other words, OPERETTA tells YouTube how best to download a video, rather than YouTube having to make changes to accommodate his technology.

Harras wasn’t the only Carnegie Mellon researcher recognized at the Annual Research Forum, which took place at the Qatar National Convention Centre in October. Dania Abed Rabbou, a 2012 graduate in computer science, received the Best Student Computing and Information Technology Research award and a 20,000 Qatari Rhyals cash prize for a senior thesis project titled, “SCOUT: Extending the Reach of Social-Based Context-Aware Ubiquitous Systems".

Her research was co-supervised by Harras and Abderrahmen Mtibaa, a postdoctoral research associate at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

Building on previous research in the field, SCOUT leverages personal information from applications like Facebook and combines it with a person’s location to offer real-time services in a variety of ways. For example, a shopper who plays tennis might learn of racquets on sale in a mall they just entered. Or a student might locate their friends through an app showing who’s having lunch where.

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Khaled Harras receiving his award from Faisal M. Al Suwaidi, President of Research and Development, Qatar Foundation

The study adds to previous research by developing a way to share information with users who aren’t even hooked up to the Internet, Harras said.

If such technology sounds invasive, don’t worry.

“It’s a service that you’d sign up for – and if you no longer want that service, you just turn it off,” Harras said, adding that he believes it would be popular in Qatar, where mobile penetration runs at about 3.9 devices per household, according to ICTQatar.

More than 180 national, regional and international institutions submitted 658 abstracts to the 2012 Annual Research Forum symposium, during which four researchers and eight students were formally recognized for their excellence in research that supports the nation’s development. The winning projects were reviewed and selected by a committee of international scholars, academics and researchers.

‫التواصل مع قطر‬ ‫تصور أنك في اجتماع وتحتاج إلى تنزيل مقطع فيديو على هاتفك‪ .‬بدال من‬ ‫االختيار بين االتصال الالسلكي والجيل الثالث‪ ،‬ماذا لو كان بمقدورك الجمع‬ ‫بينهما لتنزيل المقطع في نصف الوقت؟ أو ماذا لو كتبت رسالة إلكترونية‬ ‫وضغطت على زر اإلرسال‪ ،‬لكنك ال تريد دفع تكلفة إرسالها عن طريق الجيل‬ ‫الثالث؟ لعل هاتفك الذكي يمكنه االنتظار ريثما تتصل بشبكة واي فاي مجانية‬ ‫قبل إرسال الرسالة‪.‬‬ ‫هذه بعض التقنيات التي يجري تطويرها بمعرفة خالد هراس األستاذ المساعد‬ ‫لعلوم الحاسوب في جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‪ .‬فقد فاز مشروع هراس‪،‬‬ ‫الذي يُ َّ‬ ‫نفذ بالتعاون مع الجامعة المصرية اليابانية للعلوم والتكنولوجيا في‬ ‫مصر‪ ،‬بجائزة أفضل برنامج بحثي في علوم الحاسوب وتكنولوجيا المعلومات‬ ‫في منتدى مؤسسة قطر السنوي الثالث للبحوث‪ .‬وتشتمل الجائزة المرموقة‬ ‫على جائزة مالية قيمتها ‪ 100‬ألف دوالر لتمويل البحوث المستقبلية‪.‬‬ ‫يستند البحث الذي ينفذه هراس والمسمى «‪OPERETTA: An Optimal‬‬ ‫‪ »Deployable Energy Efficient Bandwidth Aggregation System‬إلى‬ ‫محاوالت سابقة لتحسين األجهزة الجوالة متعددة الواجهات البينية كالهواتف‬ ‫الذكية بالسماح للمستخدمين باالتصال فى الوقت نفسه باإلنترنت بطرق‬ ‫مختلفة كالجيل الثالث والجيل الرابع وشبكات البث الالسلكي «الواي‬ ‫فاي» وتقنية االتصاالت الراديوية « البلوتوث»‪ .‬و في الوقت الحالي يقوم‬ ‫المستخدمون باالختيار من بين الواجهات البينية استنادا إلى عوامل مثل السرعة‬ ‫واستهالك الطاقة والتكلفة‪ .‬لكن عمل هراس سيسمح للمستخدمين بالجمع‬ ‫بين الواجهات البينية لبلوغ سرعة مثلى أو اختيار الجيل الثالث لتنفيذ مهمة‬ ‫عاجلة مع تأجيل مهمة أخرى لحين توافر خيار أرخص مثل الواي فاي‪.‬‬ ‫وكما ذكر هراس فإن األفضل من ذلك هو استقالل النظام عن االعتماد على‬ ‫التغيرات في البنية التحتية القائمة‪ .‬بعبارة أخرى‪ ،‬يُخبر ‪ OPERETTA‬موقع‬ ‫‪ YouTube‬بأفضل طريقة لتنزيل مقطع فيديو معين بدال من اضطرار ‪YouTube‬‬ ‫إلجراء تغييرات الستيعاب هذه التكنولوجيا‪.‬‬ ‫لم يكن هراس الباحث الوحيد في كارنيجي ميلون الذي يتم تكريمه في‬ ‫منتدى مؤسسة قطر السنوي الثالث للبحوث الذي أقيم في مركز قطر الوطني‬ ‫للمؤتمرات في أكتوبر الماضي‪ .‬حيث حصلت دانيا عبدربه‪ ،‬خريجة ‪ 2012‬تخصص‬ ‫علوم الحاسوب‪ ،‬على جائزة أفضل بحث طالبي في علم الحاسوب وتكنولوجيا‬ ‫المعلومات وجائزة نقدية قيمتها ‪ 20‬ألف ريال قطري نظير مشروع أطروحة تخرّج‬ ‫بعنوان «‪SCOUT: Extending the Reach of Social-Based Context-Aware‬‬ ‫‪ .»Ubiquitous Systems‬وقد اشترك في اإلشراف على بحثها كل من خالد هراس‬ ‫وعبد الرحمن مطيبع الباحث المشارك في مرحلة ما بعد الدكتوراه في كارنيجي‬ ‫ميلون في قطر‪.‬‬ ‫استنادا إلى بحوث سابقة في هذا المجال‪ ،‬يستخدم ‪ SCOUT‬البيانات الشخصية‬ ‫المستمدة من تطبيقات مثل فيسبوك ويجمع بينها وبين موقع الشخص‬ ‫لتقديم خدمات في الوقت الحقيقي بطرق متنوعة‪ .‬فعلى سبيل المثال‪ ،‬يمكن‬ ‫ألحد المتسوقين ممن يلعبون التنس أن يعلم بأمر المضارب المعروضة للبيع‬ ‫ّ‬ ‫مخفضة في المركز التجاري فور دخوله له‪ .‬أو يمكن لطالب أن يحدّ د‬ ‫بأسعار‬ ‫مكان أصدقائه من خالل تطبيق يُظهر مَن يتناول الغداء وأين‪ .‬يقول هراس إن‬ ‫هذه الدراسة تضيف إلى البحوث السابقة بتطوير طريقة لتبادل المعلومات‬ ‫حتى مع المستخدمين غير المتصلين بشبكة اإلنترنت‪ .‬ال تقلق إذا بدا لك أن هذه‬ ‫التكنولوجيا تتعدى على خصوصيتك‪.‬‬ ‫يقول هراس‪« :‬إنها من الخدمات التي يلزم القيام بالتسجيل لالشتراك فيها‪،‬‬ ‫وإذا لم تعد لديك رغبة في المواصلة بها‪ ،‬فما عليك إال إغالقها»‪ ،‬مضيف ًا بقوله‬ ‫إنه يعتقد أنها ستحظى بشعبية في قطر التي تنتشر فيها الهواتف الجوالة‬ ‫بمعدل ‪ 3.9‬جهاز لكل أسرة وفق ًا لبيانات المجلس األعلى لالتصاالت وتكنولوجيا‬ ‫المعلومات في قطر‪.‬‬ ‫هذا وقد قدمت أكثر من ‪ 180‬مؤسسة وطنية وإقليمية ودولية ‪ 658‬ملخصا بحثيا‬ ‫إلى المنتدى السنوي الثالث للبحوث‪ ،‬حيث تم تكريم أربعة باحثين وثمانية‬ ‫طالب رسميا على تفوقهم في بحوث تدعم تطور األمة‪ .‬وتولت مراجعة‬ ‫المشروعات الفائزة واختيارها لجنة مؤلفة من علماء و أكاديميين و باحثين‬ ‫دوليين‪.‬‬ ‫وقد صرح إيلكر بايبرز عميد جامعة كارنيجي ميلون في قطر‪ « :‬أننا في غاية السرور‬ ‫بأن نشهد فوز كارنيجي ميلون في قطر بجائزتين من جوائز البحوث الحاسوبية‬ ‫الثالث في قطر‪ ،‬وذلك في ظل وجود كافة الجهات البحثية في قطر والكثير من‬ ‫علماء البحوث البارزين الذين تمت دعوتهم للحضور في إطار شبكة العلماء‬ ‫العرب المغتربين‪ .‬مما يقدم شهادة مؤكدة على جودة العمل الذي يُجرى في‬ ‫الجامعة»‪.‬‬

‫‪33‬‬

‫)‪Dania Abed Rabbou (CS’12‬‬

‫‪Selected ARF presentations by‬‬ ‫‪Carnegie Mellon researchers‬‬ ‫‪A flexible and concurrent MapReduce‬‬ ‫‪programming model for shared-data applications‬‬ ‫‪Fan Zhang, Qutaibah M. Malluhi‬‬ ‫‪Carnegie Mellon Qatar and Qatar University‬‬ ‫‪Track me to track us: Leveraging short range wireless‬‬ ‫‪technologies for enabling energy efficient Wi-Fi-based‬‬ ‫‪localization‬‬ ‫‪Mohamed Abdellatif, Abderrahmen Mtibaa, Khaled Harras‬‬ ‫‪Carnegie Mellon Qatar‬‬ ‫‪Non-destructive visual pipe mapping for inspection‬‬ ‫‪Peter Hansen, Brett Browning, Peter Rander, Hatem Alismail‬‬ ‫‪Carnegie Mellon Qatar and Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh‬‬ ‫‪Identifying, implementing and recognizing Arabic accents‬‬ ‫‪in facial expressions for a cross-cultural robot‬‬ ‫‪Amna Alzeyara, Majd Sakr, Micheline Ziadee‬‬ ‫‪Carnegie Mellon Qatar‬‬

‫‪Carnegie Mellon Qatar‬‬ ‫‪researchers recognized for‬‬ ‫‪work on mobile devices‬‬

‫‪Transnational labor migration in Qatar: An empirical‬‬ ‫‪sociological analysis‬‬ ‫‪Silvia Pessoa, Andrew Gardner, Laura Harkness‬‬ ‫‪Carnegie Mellon Qatar and University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, USA‬‬

‫‪“We are very pleased to see Carnegie Mellon Qatar win two out of‬‬ ‫‪the three computing research prizes in Qatar in the presence of‬‬ ‫‪all research constituents in Qatar and many prominent research‬‬ ‫‪scientists who were invited as part of the Arab Expatriate Scientist‬‬ ‫‪network. This is certainly a testament to the quality of the work‬‬ ‫‪being done at the university,” said Ilker Baybars, dean of Carnegie‬‬ ‫‪Mellon University in Qatar.‬‬

‫‪Winter 2012 / Spring 2013‬‬

Feature

Did Andrew Carnegie like chocolate cake? We’re not sure, but we still celebrated our founder’s birthday with cake and a giveaway for students. Carnegie, a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist, founded the university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1900. He would have turned 177 on November 25, 2012.

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Feature

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The Qatari Student Association organized a community event for Qatar National Day, which is celebrated on December 18 each year.

Qatari students enjoyed the chance to remember their past, while international students learned about the country’s heritage and traditions.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

37

On: Pittsburgh

Clockwise from left: Aboude Cheweiky, Jaasim Polin, Mohamed Soudy, Houssain El Marabti, Amal Osman, Firas Bata, Layal Al-Alami and Khadeejah Al-Husseiny

First Stop Pittsburgh; Next Stop theWorld

By Lana Kahaleh, TPR’15 Layal Al-Alami, a senior in business administration, doesn’t want to use her degree to get rich – she wants to use it to help other people.

Layal, who spent fall semester studying on the main campus, was nominated to represent both Carnegie Mellon and her home country of Jordan at the One Young World Summit 2012, which took place in Pittsburgh in November.

Participants from more than 180 countries attended the event, sharing different views and perspectives in an effort to identify unique solutions to important global problems.

“The main goals of this conference were to improve the world that we live in today in terms of global issues such as education, human rights, food security, and many others,” Layal said.

In addition to the 1,200 young adults, the conference drew chief executive officers, diplomats, and former heads of state, such as Bill Clinton, Kofi Anan and Muhamad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker and Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

“Muhamad Yunus, who has transformed the idea of banking toward helping the poor, enriched my whole perspective on how businesses can help people,” Layal said.

My goal is to be a delegate speaker for next year, and be the first female to represent the issues of the Middle East.

LAYAL AL-ALAMI Business administration student, Carnegie Mellon Qatar

At the end of the conference, each attendee wrote his or her goal on a ribbon that was collected to form a huge ball – emphasizing the essence of the conference, which was to amalgamate the views of people from all around the world.

“My goal is to be a delegate speaker for next year, and be the first female to represent the issues of the Middle East,” Layal said.

Layal said she enjoyed her semester on the main campus, particularly adapting to new experiences like the cold weather, the bus system and a more independent lifestyle.

“It’s going great! I’m with a group of friends that I cherish and love. We are exploring Pittsburgh and trying to attend most of the events and activities on campus,” she said.

There are some things she misses about Doha, though.

“The friendships I built in Qatar with professors, faculty, and other students are some of the reasons why I can not wait to be back there.”

38

On: Class Notes

Eye-opening Research Graduate focuses on artificial vision Think about your morning routine – like getting dressed, making coffee and driving to work.

The ability to see the world around us is something most of us take for granted, but for people who are blind or severely vision impaired, these daily tasks become much more difficult.

That’s why Carnegie Mellon researchers are developing artificial vision, which could enable people with sight deficiencies to see through a computer.

One of those researchers is Hatem Alismail, who graduated from Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s computer science program in 2009 and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in robotics on the main campus. Hatem’s work focuses on three-dimensional perception in robots, but he hopes it will also help people with vision impairments.

Like many research problems, artificial vision is “still very difficult and far from being solved,” Hatem said. Fortunately, he got an introduction to the “slow and steady” nature of scientific research as an undergraduate on the Qatar campus.

“I was lucky to have been part of the computer science community at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. I had several opportunities to work one-on-one with faculty members on research topics, and it was always rewarding and eye-opening to explore these topics and learn as much as I could,” Hatem said.

While Hatem’s doctoral work focuses on a very specialized topic, he is broadening his research experience through TechBridgeWorld, a Carnegie Mellon initiative that finds technological solutions for problems in developing countries. This isn’t his first experience with the organization; in 2009, Hatem participated in TechBridgeWorld’s first iSTEP internship program, where he created an educational game for children in Tanzania.

Serving on TechBridgeWorld’s executive board, Hatem helps to encourage students and community members to participate in the organization’s activities. He also gets to see how his research can make a difference in people’s lives.

“As a robotics student with computer science background, all TechBridgeWorld projects are related to my graduate work. On some occasions, they are directly related to my work on perception and image processing, which is very exciting, because I can see the importance of my work in the real life.”

2008 Wesam Said (TPR) is industry coordinator at Doha Tribeca Film Festival.

Rasha Mkachar (TPR) is project manager & research associate, FIKRA Consulting and Research.

She earned a master’s in Islamic finance from Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies.

Noora Al Ansari (TPR) is assistant relationship manager at HSBC Bank.

2009 Rana El Sakhawy (TPR) is founder and managing director of UrbanSouq Digital Media. She is pursuing an MBA with a specialization in Digital Marketing at IE (Instituto de Empresa) in Madrid.

Qabbas Al-Ward (CS) is a software developer at Qatar Mobility Innovation Center.

2010 Iyed Jouini (TPR) is a financial consultant at Silatech; Graduate School. He earned a master’s in corporate finance from EDHEC Business School in Nice, France.

Amna Al-Sultan (TPR) is pursing a master’s in technology entrepreneurship from University College London.

Dolly Al-Qatami (TPR) is a corporate research analyst at Qtel.

2011 Hira Ahmed (TPR) is project coordinator for Digital Communications Literacy at ictQatar.

Samreen Anjum (CS) is pursuing a master’s in computer science at the University of California, Irvine.

Fatima Mujahid (IS) is student development coordinator at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar.

2012 Mohammed Fahad Kamal (TPR) is senior business planner at Qatar Petroleum.

Mohammed Janahi (CS) is a project analyst at Sidra.

Winter 2012 / Spring 2013

39

Feature 2012 Bilal Al Kadhi (TPR) is a financial planner and analyst at General Electric.

Sara Abbas (TPR) is an audience marketing executive at Microsoft.

Batoul Khalifeh (TPR) is a banking specialist at Commercial Bank of Qatar.

Maria Khan (TPR) is a junior associate at Enterprise Qatar.

Waleed Ali Khan (TPR) is a finance intern at General Electric.

Edmond Abi Saleh (TPR) is an analyst at Ernst & Young.

Raggi al Hammouri (CS) is a computer scientist, simulator systems, at Williams F1.

Zaid Haque (IS) is a lead desktop publishing officer at Qatar Airways/Doha International Airport.

Abdulrahman Al-Mudahka (TPR) is a commercial and planning analyst, at Nakilat.

Muna Abu-Holayqah (TPR) is a contract analyst at Qatargas.

Belal Al Kadhe (TPR) is part of General Electric’s Financial Management Program.

Abdallah Darwish (TPR) is at Qatar Petroleum International.

Salwa Al-Mannai (IS) is pursuing a master’s in Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

40

Alumni joined Dean Ilker Baybars and his wife ÇiÄ&#x;dem for a special reception at their home in Doha.

41

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

Andrew Carnegie, Founder