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Research Faculty research Most faculty members contribute to the CMU-Q body of work through studies funded by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) and internal seed research funds. Funded projects fall within the core disciplines of Biological Sciences, Business Administration, Computational Biology, Computer Science and Information Systems, as well as complementary areas like mathematics, languages, environmental science and social sciences.
The National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) Qatar Foundation established the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) in 2006 as part of its ongoing commitment to establish Qatar as a knowledge-based economy. The QNRF’s most important funding program, the NPRP, supports the mission to advance knowledge and education with an emphasis on the four pillars of the Qatar National Research Strategy: • Energy and Environment • Computer Sciences and ICT • Health and Life Sciences • Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities
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CMU-Q awards from the eighth NPRP cycle • “Development of Novel Antibiotic, Antiparasitic, and Anticancer Agents,” Gordon Rule, professor of biological sciences • “Towards Mobile Opportunistic Cloud Computing: Enabling Generic Computational Offloading to Extreme Heterogeneous Entities,” Khaled Harras, associate teaching professor of computer science, in collaboration with Mostafa Ammar and Ellen Zegura of Georgia Institute of Technology • “SLATE-Q: Scaffolding Literacy in Academic and Tertiary Environments: The Case of Communication in Information Systems,” Silvia Pessoa, associate teaching professor of English, in collaboration with Ahmar Mahboob of University of Sydney and Ryan Miller of Kent State University • “New mathematical models for the large strain swelling response of biological tissues: Applications to Edema, Inflammation, and Pregnancy,” Hasan Demirkoparan, associate teaching professor of mathematics, in collaboration with Thomas Pence of Michigan State University • “Testing English Reading Comprehension through Deep Text Analysis and Question Generation,” Kemal Oflazer, associate dean of research, teaching professor of computer science, in collaboration with Teruko Mitamura of Carnegie Mellon University Language Technologies Institute For a complete list of NPRP-funded projects, see Appendix 6.
Khaled Harras, associate teaching professor of computer science (left), demonstrates his research on cyber-physical systems that use unmanned aerial vehicles
The NPRP typically supports research projects performed collaboratively with local and international institutions. CMU-Q submitted a total of 24 proposals to the eighth cycle of the NPRP. Of these, five proposals with a combined budget of approximately 4.5 million USD were awarded grants, for an acceptance rate of 21 percent. This compares favorably to the 14 percent acceptance rate for this cycle across institutions. Since the inception of NPRP, faculty from Carnegie Mellon Qatar have submitted 212 proposals, of which 48 received funding.
of faculty development and enhances the environment for undergraduate research. Sixty-six awards have been granted since the program began in 2004. Seed grants • “Sequencing of bacteriophages specific to ecology in the region,” Annette Vincent, assistant teaching professor of biology
Seed research projects
• “Growth, Risk and Basel III: Implications for Islamic and Conventional Banking in the Middle East,” John O’Brien, associate dean, associate professor of accounting
Research seed funds encourage long-term faculty members to explore new areas of research and obtain preliminary data that can develop into NPRP proposals. Our high success rate in obtaining NPRP awards attests to the importance of seed funding. As well, this program is an important component
• “Green Information Systems for Smarter Cities: Opportunities and Challenges for Sustainable Development,” Chadi Aoun, associate teaching professor of information systems
• “Acquisition of a Flow Cytometry Analyzer,” Mohamed Bouaouina, assistant teaching professor of biological science