akhbar, summer/fall 2009

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Summer/Fall 2009

akhbarأخبار

Microsoft founder visits Doha as ICTD

keynote speaker

Bill Gates

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FeaturesICTD 2009Bill Gates delivers keynote address at the 3rd International Conference on Information and Communication Technology and Development (ICTD).

Outdoor EducationA unique and effective way of learning. By Darbi Roberts

EducQuestEducation assessment by Qatar, for Qatar.

Between Memory, Desert and Sea A Mural by artist Doug Cooper is a gift for Sheikha Mozah.

Special FeatureThe teachings of Islam help women challenge the practices of patriarchal Muslim societies. By Amal Mohammed Al-Malki

Carnegie ClubA catalyst for Qatar’s progress as a global business leader.

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DepartmentsFrom the DeanCollaborative teamwork is one of Carnegie Mellon’s core values.

Qatar NewsRead about all of the activities on campus.

Focus on ResearchSaving Time, Saving Lives. Senior thesis project aims to shorten ambulance ride.

Spotlight on Business Administration22 Tepper MBA students visit Doha.

Spotlight on Computer ScienceCarnegie Mellon part of cloud computing initiative.

Spotlight on Information SystemsIS students continue their global focus.

Alumni Corner36 new graduates become alumni. Plus two Alumni Spotlight features.

Class NotesFind out what’s happening with alumni and current students.

Pittsburgh ConnectionSpring Carnival is a century old tradition in Pittsburgh, and still everyone’s favorite activity. By Darbi Roberts

Around Education CityNorthwestern University is moving into the Carnegie Mellon Building.

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C ollaborative teamwork is one of the core values of Carnegie Mellon

University. When you bring together a group of people with different areas of expertise and different backgrounds and ideas, magic happens. Ever since we came to Qatar in 2004, Carnegie Mellon has been part of the Education City team. We’ve worked with Qatar Foundation and our sister institutions on developing quality edu-cational programs. The universities in Education City also work together on the admission road show and student activities such as Leadershape.

But Education City is not an island. We’re here to be part of the Doha community and Carnegie Mellon is here to use its global exper-tise to aid in the development of Qatar and the Gulf Region. Over the past few years Carnegie Mellon Qatar has formed countless mutually beneficial partnerships all over Doha, and, for that matter, the world. We’ve partnered with dozens of local and multina-tional companies to provide internship and career opportunities for our students. These companies all attend our annual Professional Day not only to meet students, but also to network with our faculty, staff and alumni. Our Carnegie Club engages industry leaders and faculty experts in discussions on current topics and identifying possible solutions, while our Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program engag-es Qatar Science & Technology Park, local businessmen and women as well as our colleagues from Pittsburgh. This semester we’ve also forged partnerships that will have a lasting impact on Qatar. Together with Microsoft, ictQATAR and TechBridgeWorld, Carnegie Mellon Qatar hosted the 3rd International Conference on Communication Technology and Development (ICTD). Keynote speaker Bill Gates focused the eyes of the world on Qatar and the Gulf Region. Carnegie Mellon Qatar also partnered with IBM, Texas A&M and Qatar University on the Qatar Cloud Computing Initiative that aims to develop a cloud solution to help solve industry problems. Ad-ditionally, faculty from Carnegie Mellon, Virginia Commonwealth and Texas A&M all lent their expertise to budding entrepreneurs as part of Qatar Foundation’s Stars of Science reality television show. Partnerships are a key component for the success of Qatar and everyone who is invested in its future. We hope to nurture the part-nerships we’ve developed thus far, and continue to cultivate more as we more forward. As Winston Churchill once said, ‘if we are together nothing is impossible. If we are divided all will fail.’

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My best wishes to you all,Charles E. Thorpe, Dean

akhbarأخبارA publication of

Carnegie Mellon University in QatarA member of Qatar Foundation

P.O. Box 24866 | Doha, Qatarwww.qatar.cmu.edu

DeanCharles E. Thorpe, Ph.D.

Marketing & Public Relations DepartmentDirector

D. Murry Evans

Media Relations ManagerNoha Al Afifi

Web ManagerStephen MacNeil

Manager of Special EventsKara Nesimiuk

Departmental CoordinatorMarie Weaver

Publications ManagerAndrea L. Zrimsek

Editorial BoardChairperson

Lynn R. Carter, Ph.D.

MembersKhaled Harras, Ph.D.,

Starling Hunter III, Ph.D., Gloria Khoury, Selma Limam Mansar, Ph.D.,

Robert Mendelson, Charles E. Thorpe, Ph.D.

Writers Rachelle Emard, Darbi Roberts,

Andrea L. Zrimsek

PhotographersShauki Alazzam, Saleh Al Khulaifi,

Khalid Ismail, Stephen MacNeil, Heather Mull, Sylvie van Roey

Copy EditorsNoha Al Afifi, Marie Weaver

Layout and designAndrea L. Zrimsek

MissionAkhbar is the official publication of

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. The mission of the magazine is to share the interesting and innovative stories that

highlight the university and its role in the Gulf Region and the world.

For editorial inquires or reprints contact the Marketing & Public Relations Department

at +974 454 8492

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.

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A Royal Opening

Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, chairperson

of Qatar Foundation, and Jared Co-hon, President of Carnegie Mellon, together cut the ceremonial ribbon at the official opening of Carnegie Mel-lon University in Qatar’s building in Education City in February. The entire Carnegie Mellon Qatar student body and 2008 alumni joined Her Highness and President Cohon on stage for the official ribbon cutting. Her Highness then called her husband, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, to the stage to join in the excitement and the photographs. “I was extremely proud to represent my university in today’s ceremony. When Her Highness was on the stage with us, I felt it was a very unique moment where she was sharing the opening of our home with us. It made me feel how humble she is and how we belong to her campus, Education City. This was an outstanding and lifetime event for me,” says Noor Al-Jassim (TPR 2009). In the Scottish tradition of Carnegie Mellon, a bagpiper clad in full Scottish regalia led a procession

into the outdoor Ceremonial Court in Education City. The whole Carnegie Mellon Qatar, community along with guests from Pittsburgh, distinguished guests from Doha, and Qatar Foundation representatives enjoyed an evening of emotive videos featuring students, keynote remarks and the virtual ribbon cutting. The event then pro-cessed to the building for a reception

and self-guided tours. Carnegie Mellon Qatar pre-sented Her Highness with a gift of thanks for her visionary leadership that laid the foundation for the rich partnership between Qatar Founda-tion and Carnegie Mellon University. The gift is a mural that depicts the history of Qatar as well as the

evolution of Doha into the modern day city it has become. The mural - created by Doug Cooper, Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer - is installed in the Carnegie Mellon building so that it can be viewed by anyone who visits Education City. Qatar Foundation provided this facility to Carnegie Mellon so the university can deliver its world-class programs in a state-of-the-art setting.

Designed by renowned Mexi-can architects Legorreta+Legorreta, the building is located on Educa-tion City’s East-West Walkway. This design was purposeful to foster a greater sense of community and col-laboration among students, staff and faculty throughout Education City. “Carnegie Mellon Univer-

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sity has already made a substantial contribution through its teaching programs,” says Mohammed Fathy Saoud, President of Qatar Founda-tion. “Its first graduates are now participating in building Qatar’s new knowledge-based economy. Carnegie Mellon has shown itself to be an important partner in Qatar Founda-tion’s mission to lead the country into the ranks of the world’s most advanced societies.”

History of Clothing

Do clothes really make the man…or woman? It probably depends

on what you’re trying to find out. However, longtime Carnegie Mellon professor Barbara Anderson thinks clothing and the history of clothing can teach us a lot. This spring, she taught the elective History of Cloth-ing to a small, yet enthusiastic, group of students in Doha.

“This course is really about teaching students to learn to see. When they look at books and see what people are wearing, they can determine if sources are an accurate reflection of that period. They can understand how clothing reflects peo-ple, places and time,” says Anderson.

History of Clothing begins in Greece around 300 or 400 BC and takes students on a journey of west-ern world costume up through 1900. Students trace shapes, what they do and what they meant to the people who wore them. Anderson points to the toga as a good example. The toga was important to Romans. Fabric was draped carefully around the body in a way that allowed freedom but also had restrictions to movement. “If you disarrayed the folds of someone’s toga, it was considered a slap in the face,” Anderson says. As years passed, clothing began to get more complex and have a greater impact on daily life. The Eliz-abethan era was full of rich, heavy and bejeweled garments Anderson likens to being trapped in a piece of furniture. In the 1770s, women wore huge headdresses that required them to kneel in their carriages. Jewelers made gold nets for women to put over their heads while they slept to keep out mice and rats. Anderson, who in addition to teaching has designed costumes for productions at numerous the-aters and five original musicals, also brought many of her own books on art, painting and sculpture to help students gain a further understanding of the role of clothing in history and in modern day.

Champion Programmers

T wo teams of students captured first and second place in the

National Programming Competition held in the United Arab Emirates. In existence since 2001, the contest provides an excellent opportunity for students majoring in computer engineering, computer science, management information systems, information technology and IT related subjects to show their skills in programming and also meet students from other institutions. “It was challenging to compete against the other teams. Nonetheless, it was a rewarding experience to ap-ply the knowledge we gain from Car-negie Mellon’s faculty and courses to a real-life situation, and to actu-ally win the top two positions in the competition,” says Hatem Alismail, a senior computer science student who was on the first place team. “The victory was due to team work and the ability to stay focused for extended periods of time, which were some of the important skills we learned at Carnegie Mellon.” The first place team was made up of Hatem Alismail, Alexander Silverstein (CS2010) and Tessa Eng Yi Luen (CS2009). Second place went to the team of Samreen An-jum (CS2011), Rishav Bhowmick (CS2010) and Keghani Kristelle Kouzoujian (CS2010). Each of the 32 teams was given


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Computer Science students took home first and second place in the National Programming Competition in the United Arab Emirates.


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nine problems. Both teams from Carnegie Mellon solved seven problems. The third place team solved only six. “This great accomplishment has been a result of a lot of hard work by the students and many others at Carnegie Mel-lon who have contributed to this success,” says Khaled Har-ras, Ph.D., computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

A Journey Inward

Inward Odyssey is an elective course that examines travel

logs as historical documents. It’s based on the idea that travel logs are better historical documents than most others because when people travel their real views come out clearly. “You learn more about the writer than people being described,” says Ben Reilly, history professor who teaches the course. “When people travel, they are constantly examining novel and unusual ideas based on their own set of presumptions. They do mirroring, which is projecting themselves on to the people they meet.” This is the third time Reilly has taught the class in Doha, but it’s the first time he taught it as a simulcast course with students at Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh. The change prompted him to drop some logs that did not cross cultures and bring in new ones that did. Among the 20 logs were the writings of Egyptian Sayyid Qutb who wrote a log after returning from his education in America as Homer’s epic The Odyssey and Mourid Bargh-outi’s I Saw Ramallah. By studying logs where Arabs or Muslims were traveling in the west or Westerners were traveling in the Islamic world, Reilly created a classroom experience that mirrored many of those logs. “Basic differences between the classes would come up and everyone

would want to pursue the discus-sion and learn more about the other group.” Both classes quickly realized that neither side was monolithic, rather that there were various opin-ions on each side. Thirteen students in Doha enrolled in the course, along with five students in Pittsburgh. Teaching assistant Peter Gilmore ran the class from the Pittsburgh side. Reilly does plan to teach the course again but is not sure which se-mester it will be. In the meantime he is encouraging other liberal arts and sciences professors to teach similar classes. “I believe this type of class is vital at Carnegie Mellon Qatar in part because it’s an extraordinary experience for students that broadens their personal and educational hori-zons. Also because teaching a course to students on both campuses at the same time helps legitimize our degree here in Doha,” Reilly says. The greatest benefit of the class is clearly that of students commin-gling and getting face to face with

people they’d never meet in the regu-lar course of events. Reilly is confi-dent these encounters will prove long lasting, and points to the Facebook page that has been created for the class as proof.

Pop Quiz

P rofessor Ben “Brainmaster” Reilly served as the Official

Quizmaster for the first Education City Quiz Challenge.

Fifty-seven students from seven Education City institutions formed teams for the general knowledge quiz. Such competitions are popular at many universities, but none have ever been held in Qatar or Education City. “The event was an effort to bring trivia quizzing to Education City as sort of an entertainment sport,” says Varun Arora, Carnegie

Students in Pittsburgh and Qatar studied together in a simulcast course entitled Inward Odyssey. Taught by Ben Reilly, the course examines travel logs as historical documents.


Mellon sophomore who served as Quiz Assistant. “We took the opportunity to get young trivia buffs together and give them a platform to challenge each other. Surprisingly, the response and also the level of quizzing exceed-ed our expectations.” Virtually no subject was off limits during the quiz. Geography, science, sports, entertainment, inter-national affairs, IT, lateral thinking and even the world of YouTube were just a few of the topics covered. Though 19 teams started the competition, only 8 teams - made up of three members each - qualified for the final round. Weill Cornell Medi-cal College in Qatar walked away with first place, however Carnegie Mellon secured the runner up slot. “I think we learned a lot about bringing the Education City commu-nity together by understanding how different university students interact with each other and how a lot of unidentified potential can be tapped. We found enormous potential in E.C. students, and were spellbound by the level of intellect of these students.”

Professional Day

R epresentatives from 41 top or-ganizations in Qatar talked with

students about potential career and internship opportunities at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar’s third annual Professional Day career fair. Held every spring, Professional Day gives students a chance to meet and network with industry represen-tatives, and it gives organizations an opportunity to meet a large pool of young talent.

“I wanted to be the one to come and talk with students,” says Noura El-Moughny, a document and records management coordinator at ConocoPhilips and 2008 Carnegie Mellon Qatar graduate. “Being a Carnegie Mellon graduate, I know how well the university prepares its students for the workplace. I know the quality of students who are here and I know what these students can add to ConocoPhilips.” El-Moughny was one of nine Carnegie Mellon Qatar graduates who attended Professional Day to re-cruit new talent and share a bit about their experiences in the work force with current students. Having company representatives recruit from their alma mater is common practice for many organizations.

Robots on the Move

A lternative energy and a green environment were the chal-

lenge at hand for high school students who took part in the annual Botball® robotics chal-lenge. The autonomous robots, which were created and built by the students, had to construct wind turbines and hydro electri-cal power stations, and recycle all the waste as well as reduce the use of fossil fuel. “It was amazing,” says Jad Knayzeh, the main programmer for The Al Mawakeb School – Al Garhoud in the UAE. “We didn’t expect to win. My advice for other teams in the future is to test, test and test the robots!” More than 200 students from 26 schools around the

Middle East participated in the challenge with schools from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar compet-ing. During the tournament, teams face off against each other with their robots scoring points for completing specified tasks during a two-minute round. “Building a robot and getting it to work is a challenging task that requires a combination of creativity and technical skill in science, engi-neering and mathematics,” says Brett Browning, Ph.D., Senior Systems Scientist at Carnegie Mellon. “We use Botball to create an environment where high school kids

More than forty companies attended the third annual Professional Day to talk with students about internship and career opportunities. Several Carnegie Mellon 2008 alumni attended the event as recruiters for the companies for which they work. This was the first Professional Day to be in the new Carnegie Mellon Qatar Building in Education City.

The Botball high school robotics competition expanded farther around the Gulf Region this year to include schools from Saudi Arabia. Twenty-six schools in total took part in this year’s challenge.

together with an idea to promote education, technology and col-laboration,” says McGinnis. “When folks from Carnegie Mellon, Texas A&M and Virginia Commonwealth are gathered in one place doing the things they do best, interesting syner-gies happen that you might not anticipate.” Texas A&M fac-ulty members worked with the budding entrepreneurs on the engineering phase of the com-petition; VCU on the design phase; and Carnegie Mel-lon on the busi-ness and marketing phase. Researchers Wael Ghazzawi and Imran Fanaswala; Computer Science professors Majd Sakr; and Tepper professors George White, Starling Hunter and J. Patrick McGinnis all worked with the contestants on vari-ous aspects of their ideas. Some of the ways in which Carnegie Mellon professors assisted the competitors was with flushing out their ideas, creating business plans and learning how to pitch ideas to various audiences. Over

several weeks, each of the 16 con-testants received personal assistance and had access to a specially de-signed workshop fitted with state-of-the-art tools and equipment. But unlike many reality-type competitions, Stars of Science is

non-eliminating. So when a contes-tant is eliminated, he or she joins of one of the survivors as a team member. This allows for a stronger, more focused busi-ness idea for the remaining competitors. From 16 can-didates and 16 projects at the beginning, the show ends

with two teams of eight students in the finale that will air June 26 in more than a dozen Arab countries. “Stars of Science is all about promoting the idea of entrepreneur-ship, technology and the power of good ideas being brought to frui-tion, and harnessing the intellectual power of the Arab-speaking world,” says McGinnis. “Carnegie Mellon is proud to contribute our expertise to the program and we look forward


are engaged and inspired by the challenge of the task and the com-petitive element to learn the techni-cal skills and apply their creativity to solve a difficult problem.” This year, Botball kicked off with workshops in Qatar and Egypt. The participants received informa-tion about the competition and were given robot kits to build their own Lego© Mindstorm robot. The teams then had eight weeks to create and perfect their robots. The regional participation and interest in the robotics tournament has increased significantly since Carnegie Mellon brought Botball to the region in 2005 with four teams taking part in the inaugural event. This year’s competition was truly regional with the final four teams representing the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The winning team received a trip to Leesburg, Virginia in July to attend the 2009 Global Confer-ence on Educational Robotics and compete in the 2009 International Botball Tournament. Additionally, Al Jazeera Children’s Channel is air-ing a 14-episode series on Botball.

Stars of Science

S ixteen young men and women from the Arab world have

been selected from a pool of more than 5,000 applicants for a chance to turn their original idea into a marketable product and take home more than $300,000 as part of the new Stars of Science initiative. But winning a reality television competition takes more than just a good idea: it also requires a lot of planning, preparation and guidance. Enter the world-class universities at Education City. Since the Stars of Science program is an initiative of Qatar Foundation, faculty mem-bers from Virginia Commonwealth, Texas A&M and Carnegie Mellon universities were tapped to lend their expertise. “Stars of Science is a very natural extension of the Education City concept. Bring the right people

On the Shelves

In his new book Disaster and Human History: Case studies in nature, soci-

ety and catastrophe, Carnegie Mellon Qatar professor Ben Reilly examines the relationship between humanity and the natural environment through the lens of natural disasters. A place where Reilly says the interaction comes into sharpest focus. Reilly spent two years studying how disasters have played an integral role in human history from the dawn of civilization to present day. This book shows how natural disasters pose at least as much of a threat to human life as terrorism does. This is Reilly’s second book. His other work is Topical Surge, an environmental history of Southern Florida. You can buy both books from Amazon.com.


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to the success that many contestants will have with their ideas.” McGinnis says many of the Stars of Science contestants have come up with interesting and innova-tive ideas and products. However, a non-disclosure agreement precludes him for talking about any of them. Tune in to the program to find out who wins. Learn more at www.star-sofscience.com.

Second Bill Brown Ride

C yclists of all ages and skill levels turned out at the Doha

Golf Club Friday, April 10, to take part in the Second Bill Brown Ride. Held each year in honor of long-time Carnegie Mellon professor Bill Brown, who passed away in 2007, the bicycle ride starts in Doha and heads up the North Road toward the coastal community of Al Khor. Each rider had the option of pedaling a 16-mile loop to Lusail; a 28.5-mile loop to Simaisma; or a 42-mile loop to Al Khor. Nearly half of the 85 cyclists chose the full Al Khor loop. A strong tail wind from Doha helped cyclists reach their northern destinations rather quickly, but made

the ride home a bit more grueling. The last cyclist to complete the loop, an undergraduate student at Carn-egie Mellon Qatar, clocked in at four hours and 15 minutes. Qatar Traffic Police kept a tight patrol on the cyclists and the streets, blocking roundabouts as groups approached and ensured every rider was a safe distance away from speeding vehicles. After the ride concluded, riders, volunteers and sev-eral members of the Carnegie Mellon Qatar community enjoyed a relaxing BBQ lunch at the golf course. In addition to the Bill Brown Ride being a day of fun and exer-cise in memory of professor Brown, it was also an opportunity to raise money. With a suggested donation of QR 100 ($27.40), the ride raised nearly QR 10,000 ($2,683) for the William E. Brown Scholarship Fund. To learn more about the fund or to make a donation, visit www.cmu.edu/campaign/.

CS4Qatar on Steroids

F or countries such as Qatar that seek to become a knowledge-

based economy, technological aware-ness is an inevitable cornerstone that must be achieved, according to Khaled Harras, Ph.D., computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. “It is also becoming a reality

that advancements in most, if not all, areas of sciences, engineering and medicine heavily rely on the constant breakthroughs in computer sciences and engineering.” To that end, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar is continuing its wildly popular CS4Qatar program. The two-day developmental work-shop is designed to teach high school students about computer science and how it is applied to all aspects of life. More than 300 high school students from Qatar applied for the 120 seats in the weekend program. “Our goal in CS4Qatar is to help spread this awareness among the younger generations. We do so by reaching out to the students and exposing them to technological and computer science basics. Through this work, we hope to plant a seed that continues to grow via the stu-dent’s interest, motivation and excite-ment that result from attending these workshops,” says Harras. CS4Qatar consisted of three sessions. Solving computer science puzzles was the focus of the first ses-sion. In the second, students learned to devise solutions to problems and then programmed and tested their solutions using a programming platform called Becker’s Graphical Robots. During the third session, students learned how to program real mobile robots to achieve some

This year’s CS4Qatar was the biggest and best yet. More than 300 students from Qatar applied for the 120 spots.


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predefined tasks. They also were in-structed on how Artificial Intelligence works, and were given the opportu-nity to program a robot to complete a complex task. “CS4Qatar introduced me to a new way of thinking, I learned to simplify problems,” says Nazar Salim Nazar, a senior at Doha Independent Secondary School. “The teachers were friendly and supportive, and worked with us step by step. I encourage students to participate in this workshop be-cause they will have fun and learn new things about programming and robots.” Since beginning in 2007, CS4Qa-tar has been held twice for high school teachers. This is the third time the event was offered to the students directly. Additional computer science workshops for both students and teachers will be held in the future.

The Class of 2009

If you are looking for your dream job, you will find it at the intersec-

tion of your passion and your skills. And if your passions change during the course of your life, don’t worry: Go with it. If you’re short of skills to match your dream job, learn some more. There is a reason that days like this are referred to as commence-ment. It’s because this is a beginning, not an end. Her Excellency Sheikha Hanadi Bint Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani offered this poignant advice to the Carnegie Mellon Qatar Class of 2009 at the commencement ceremo-ny. Sheikha Hanadi is a leading and influential businesswoman in Qatar and across the Middle East. Recognized for her significant contribution to developing Qatar’s economic and social presence in the Arab world, she is the founder and

chairperson of Amwal, CEO of Al Wa’ab City and Deputy CEO of Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani & Sons Group. Sheikha Hanadi spoke to the 36 members of the graduating class as well as more than 500 family members, friends, faculty, staff and members of the Doha community. The 36 seniors - 28 in Busi-ness Administration, seven in Com-puter Science and one in Information Systems - received diplomas Mon-day, May 4, in the first graduation ceremony held in Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s new building. “The Class of 2009 is our second graduating class, but they are not a class who are second at anything. They have a lot of firsts – first to occupy the new building, first to go to places like Ghana on a humanitarian mission and first to have a Phi Beta Kappa scholar,” said Chuck Thorpe, Dean. “Graduation is a significant passage to a new phase in your life. Wherever your life leads you, we’re proud of you and proud to have you as part of the Carnegie Mellon family.” The graduation celebration commenced the evening before with the Senior Celebration – an evening of awards, accolades and remem-brances. Awards were given out to students for their accomplishments as undergraduate students both for their academic achievement and work in student affairs. In the Scottish tradition of Car-negie Mellon University, a bagpiper clad in full regalia led the formal procession of graduating students, Carnegie Mellon faculty, deans, the university provost, keynote speaker and university president into the re-markable three-story walkway. After receiving their diplomas, graduates along with their families and friends enjoyed a reception marking the end of their four-year journey. The Class of 2009 has stu-dents from 14 nationalities including Algeria, Egypt, France, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, USA and Ye-men as well as Qatar. Half of the

Her Excellency Sheikha Hanadi Bint Nasser Bin Khaled Al Thani gave the keynote address at the Class of 2009 commencement. A role model for many young people in Qatar, Sheikha Hanadi is a successful business woman and entrepreneur.

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graduating class had minors across a spectrum of disciplines from Business Administration and Computer Sci-ence to Psychology, Mathematics and History.

Meeting of the Minds

T hirty undergraduates showcased posters on research and course

projects at the third annual Meeting of the Minds symposium. Meeting of the Minds is part of Carnegie Mellon University’s Undergraduate Research Initiative, which is a program that supports and encourages undergrad-uate students to participate in inno-vative research and project work. Some projects grow out of coursework, while others typify Carnegie Mellon’s emphasis on in-terdisciplinary collaboration to solve real-world problems. At Meeting of the Minds, students use posters, video presentations and demonstra-tions to explain their work to a wide audience.

“Research is in the Carnegie Mellon DNA. We pride ourselves on being a problem solving institution. It is great when students are taking classes but it is even greater when we give them real world problems to solve” said Chuck Thorpe, Dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar. Students demonstrated 24 post-ers on topics including Dynamic Path Planning and Traffic Light Coordina-tion for Emergency Vehicle Rout-ing; making use of a camera’s image sequence to convert photos into 2D

images; and studies on domestic and migrant workers in Qatar. Other posters focused on the structure of covert networks in Doha; the translation of safety and security messages between English and Arabic to reach the broadest au-dience possible; and Hala the robot receptionist. A committee of industry experts and representatives from universities in Qatar and North America reviewed the presentations and selected the best projects and posters. Rashid Alkaabi’s project on technology solutions to tackle communications issues faced by im-migrant workers in Qatar won best overall project. “The aim of my project is to address immigrant workers with lim-ited or no computer skills. I searched for interviews in Bahrain and Doha. I went to Q-Tel offices to interview laborers and their families,” said Alkaabi. “Last year I was dream-ing about being a Carnegie Mellon student and today I’m competing against seniors and winning.” In addition to getting students involved in research, Meeting of the Minds also reaches out to members of the Qatar community and shows them the importance of research and

its benefit to society. Meeting of the Minds has been held at the end of the spring term at Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh for 20 years, and has become an annual tradition in Doha as well.

New Venture Competition

C arnegie Mellon University in Qatar is teaming up with the

Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) to organize the second New Venture Competition May 27-28 at Education City. In the competition, university students will have the op-portunity to present their business plans to a panel of judges who are venture capitalists, successful entre-preneurs and leading educators.

The goal of the competition is to help students who have a great idea for a new venture move it from the classroom to the boardroom. The competition also creates an environ-ment that helps bring new businesses to life, thus contributing to a more vibrant entrepreneurial culture in Qatar. “This is a wonderful initia-tive for Qatar Foundation and for

Information Systems freshman Rashid Alkaabi explains his winning poster to judges at the third annual Meeting of the Minds undergraduate research symposium.


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the Qatari society. The ideas we have come across are fresh, new and innovative,” says Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, Chairman Al Faisal Holding and Aamal Holding, who judged the competition last year. “It is a new milestone for Qatar. We hope to see more and more exciting projects in the future that will con-tribute to Qatar’s national vision and mission.” The New Venture Competition is an initiative launched by Carnegie Mellon Qatar in partnership with the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) and with support from Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP). The inaugural competition took place in May 2008. The first prize of QR 100,000 was awarded to CliniP-harma for its plan to introduce a new treatment for asthma to the market. CliniPharma also won the Best New Technology prize, which entailed a year of mentorship to support tech-nology and business development, offered by QSTP. A second place prize of QR 15,000 was awarded to KlearGreen, a façade cleaning robot for buildings. Third place and a cash prize of QR 10,000 went to QALAM, a project that aims to develop educational software infrastructure for schools.

Service Learning

A fter final exams, most students would welcome a break from

their college workload. This year, 15 students excitedly packed their backpacks once again for a week of physical construction work in the jungles of Thailand. These students were selected from a competitive pool of applicants to participate in the annual service abroad opportunity offered by the Division of Student Affairs. In Chiang Mai, in a small rural hill tribe village in the Pang Mapa district of Northern Thailand, students took on the ambitious task of constructing a four-walled kitchen and dining area for the village com-munity. Students spent hours build-ing the kitchen that will be used for

the entire village to cook and host meaningful events such as funerals and weddings. Before the trip, the students raised $2,000 in donations to make their building project a reality. The money was used to pay for the much-needed tools and construction mate-rials. Leftover money will be used to continue to buy materials to continue to improve on their building.

“The whole team was so moti-vated and really had a lot of energy. We were determined to get the job done, and at the end of each day we had accomplished so much,” says Nasreen Zahan, a junior Information Systems student. She recalls working against the clock as the team raced to get piles of sand and rock under shelter before the heavy rains came in. “We formed an assembly lined; pushing each other to move the materials as fast as possible. It was incredible.” Throughout the week, students worked alongside Thai people and staff turning out buckets of manually mixed cement and moving hundreds of cinderblocks to the construction site. Also filtering sand, nailing to-gether latticework made of bamboo and setting the tile for the flooring. On the last day of work, the women of the village came to show their

gratitude by decorating students with fragrant jasmine flower garlands. “We could tell how genuine and grateful they were to have had us there. I am never going to forget my experience in Thailand,” says Zahan.Aside from the intensive service work, students also got the opportu-nity to immerse themselves in Thai culture. Students explored the hills of

the district and interacted with the people. They enjoyed the fascinat-ing caves of the area and embarked on a 9-hour uphill trek through the Thailand jungle in the pouring rain. Service Learning is an impor-tant component to the philosophy of Student Affairs as the University works to develop students who are engaged in and contribute back to their communities. -Rachelle Emard

Students built a kitchen and dining area in the small, rural village of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. The entire community will use the new kitchen.


“Poverty is bad for us all. It wastes human potential,” says Gates. “Helping the poorest people is the most important thing we can do. Technology is a tool for achieving that goal.” ICTD, the International Conference on Information and Communication Technology and Development, is the premiere conference for innovating technology accessible and relevant to developing economies. It is a multidisciplinary forum for academic researchers and practitioners to present the latest developments in informa-tion and communication technology. Carn-egie Mellon Qatar hosted the conference at its new building in Education City. “ICTD is all about using the power of high-tech computing and communications to help the people in the neediest parts of the world build better lives,” says Chuck Thorpe, Dean, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. “Hosting this conference at Carnegie Mellon gives us a chance to show the world all that Qatar brings to this area: the technol-ogy of a rapidly-developing knowledge based society, combined with the heart to reach out to less fortunate people.” The conference expanded in several dimensions this year with the addition of workshops, panels and demos to comple-ment the oral and poster presentations in the program. The diversity and number of participants increased significantly compared to past years due in part to the generous sponsors that enabled ICTD to offer a large

number of scholarships. “The two notable keynote speakers also raised the prominence of the conference sig-nificantly,” according to M. Bernardine Dias, Ph.D. Carnegie Mellon Robotics Professor and ICTD 2009 Conference Chair. Carlos A. Primo Braga, Director, Eco-nomic Policy and Debt in the Poverty Reduc-tion and Economic Management Network at The World Bank, delivered the second keynote address. This was the first time the conference was held in the Middle East. Qatar is an ideal location for this conference because it is committed to transforming itself into a modern country that relies on sustainable development and becoming a regional leader in science, technology and research. As an emerging leader in the knowledge economy, Qatar wants to use technology in a way that can help the entire region by increasing meaningful access to developing communities. Hosting the 3rd ICTD confer-ence will help enable Qatar to achieve that vision. “We look forward to the discourse at ICTD 2009 leading to significant outcomes that meaningfully impact the lives of people in developing communities through the in-novative use of ICTs,” said Dias. Carnegie Mellon University was the hosting organization for the ICTD 2009 con-ference, with the TechBridgeWorld research group at Carnegie Mellon taking the lead organizing role.


“Technology is not for the richest, but for everyone in the world.” This was the message delivered by Bill Gates, Chairman of Micro-soft Corporation and Co-chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foun-dation, to an audience of more than 800 at the ICTD 2009 conference that was held at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar in April. Gates addressed more than 350 technology researchers, scholars, practitioners and social scientists who attended ICTD as people who are “invested in the future” and who came together from all around the world to ask questions, identify problems and measure progress.

Bill Gates delivers keynote address at ICTD conference


Outdoor education is not a new phenomenon at Car-negie Mellon and most other American colleges and universities. Centers, departments, student organizations and even

academic degrees have popped up all over the United States in the last couple of decades due to the high demand for this unique and effective method of teaching. It involves a high amount of personal chal-lenge and risk, coupled with team building activities and group support in an outdoor environment. Because the activities involved – ranging from camping and hiking to rock climbing and mountaineering – are intended to put students outside of their comfort zone, the potential for personal growth is great.

outdooreducationA unique and effective way of learning

By Darbi Roberts

By Darbi Roberts


The opportunities for outdoor education in Qa-tar, however, have been limited – at least until this past academic year. Many students participate in sports and go camping in the desert now and then, but these ac-tivities don’t offer the same kind of boundary-pushing opportunities for learning and development. The Division of Student Affairs realized this was a missing yet integral piece of the student experience puzzle in the fall of 2008 after putting out a survey to the students asking about interest in participating in outdoor educational activities. The response was overwhelming – this was clearly something that the students wanted. Thus, outdoor education at Carn-egie Mellon Qatar was born. The first attempt was through a series of weekly paddling les-sons taught out of one of the local athletic clubs by a certified life-guard. The first try got the students hooked, and the same group showed up for six consecutive weeks to gain competence in their paddling abili-ties. “I never thought that I could have paddled but in the moment I was able to push myself farther than I thought,” says Keghani Kouzoujian (CS 2010). The lessons were continued into the spring semester for another four consecutive weeks. But it was soon clear students were still hungry for more. An initiative was started through connections with Qatar Academy tutoring program to be involved in their “School Without Walls” program held north of Doha. For almost two straight months in early spring, Qatar Academy sets up a mini tent village in the desert just outside of the community of Al Khor in hopes of emulating a camp environment to teach outdoor skills and environmental awareness to primary and second-ary students. Carnegie Mellon Qatar students trekked to School Without Walls to share Qatari culture with the Qatar Academy students through traditional games and storytelling. While this was another step in the right direction, the opportunities were still limited and left students wanting more. During spring break this March, the Office of Student Activities took 12 students to Morocco for outdoor education. The group spent very little time in the city, traveling only briefly through Casablanca and

Marrakech. Rather they spent most of their time far from the hustle and bustle of life. The trip started out with a daylong, 40-km cycle in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains just outside of Marrakech. The group spent the next three days in the High Atlas Mountain Range hiking up to 8 hours a day up mountains and down into fertile green valleys. Even though this was the most grueling physical feat of the trip, students appreciated the challenge and learned about how much they could push themselves and each other.

One key aspect was the home-stay experience, in which students stayed in the home of a Berber family who lived steps from of the highest mountain peak in all of North Africa. Students interacted with the fam-ily, even helping bake bread for breakfast each morning. Later in the week everyone hiked into a Berber nomad family camp to spend the night in caves carved out from the earth. On the edge of the Sahara in the Dades and Todra Gorge regions, students did more hiking and tried rock climbing. None of

the students had ever been rock climbing before – not even on an artificial indoor wall – yet every single one tried climbing at least once. The amount of group support was beyond what any of the students had experienced, even those play-ing on sports teams. They poured out encouragement in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenge and cheered each other on in their triumphs. That’s the crux of what outdoor education is all about – learning about yourself and others by pushing to your limits. While these initiatives are only a few small steps towards a broader student experience at Carnegie Mellon Qatar, they’ve begun to pave the way for more programs and more interest from students. The kind of transformation students experience through outdoor education is obvious in their changed attitude towards adversity and that alone justifies wanting to increase the number of opportunities for students in Qatar. By the end of the next academic year, the hope is to increase the number and variety of activities both in and out of Qatar. In so doing, increase participation in outdoor education to more of the student population.

The trip started out with a daylong, 40-km cycle in the foothills of the Atlas Mountains just outside of Marrakech. The group spent the next three days in the High Atlas Mountain Range hiking up to 8 hours a day up mountains and down into fertile green valleys.

EducQuest


Education assessments by Qatar, for Qatar


O ver the past six years, the educational landscape of Qatar has dramatically and rapidly changed. The entire education system is undergoing massive re-

form to transform it into a modern, world-class structure. Part of the aggressive reform move-ment is assessing and measuring progress. “We’re at an interesting space in the edu-cational arena,” says Hisham Nafie, founder of EducQuest, an educational services and solutions provider that grew out of the Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. “Testing has been around for a long time in Europe and the United States, but is relatively new in the Middle East.” Nafie spent many years working in the field of educa-tional assessment and says he always had visions of doing it better. A feeling that has inspired many entrepreneurs. He joined the CIEP in 2007 so he could turn his idea into a viable business. While in the CIEP, Nafie met Mohammed Khalil, who also had a passion for developing education in Qatar. Together they took Nafie’s idea, created a business plan, developed a sup-port network and launched EducQuest. Multinational companies that offer assess-ments and measurement tools have existed for years, typically spending short spates of time in a region conducting standardized testing and assessments. Nafie says the strong suit of Educ-Quest is that it is a locally grown company that is invested in Qatar, its students and their future. “No other company in this field is born out of the Middle East. Because we’re based in the region, we know our clients. And we possess capabilities in Islamic Studies, Arabic Language and Social Studies, all of which are subject areas which multinationals fail to accommodate.” While it’s a tough market to break into, Nafie says many of their clients were open to the idea of a company created in Qatar. By special-izing in the development of educational solutions for government clients in the K‐12 arena, Educ-Quest is targeting the rising student population in the MENA region as well as the rising trend of education reform and investment currently

being adopted by a number of countries in the region. A key factor in the success of EducQuest is the partnership with local schools and their teachers. Changes and improvements take time, and having teachers involved in the testing pro-cess is crucial to achieve over arching goals. By having this local involvement, tests are tailored to the students in Qatar. In other words, students in Doha will not be taking a test written in an Egyptian dialect

of Arabic. Nor will they take tests designed by a company in the United States for stu-dents in the United States. “What’s great about what we do is that we are the first company to measure and test solely in the Middle East. We don’t test to other standards from overseas. We test to the national cur-riculum standards of Qatar,” Nafie says “We hold kids and

schools accountable to what we ask them to be accountable for.” Once the testing cycle is complete, is when Nafie says EducQuest begins its real work. The test results, typically the outputs of a testing program, EducQuest regards as inputs. EducQuest can conduct various psycho-metric studies of student results to produce com-parisons and group analyses, and even analyze test results by students’ backgrounds, geographi-cal location of the school and socioeconomic levels. By analyzing the data, EducQuest is able to gauge the education systems and determine where it is improving and identify areas for im-provement. EducQuest began with Nafie and Khalil but has expanded over the past year to seven employees in office space provided by clients. It is currently working on a project with grade 12, and has since been asked to expand to grades 10 through 12. Though now focused solely on Qa-tar, Nafie says the plan is to expand EducQuest to other countries in the Gulf Region, most of which are undergoing similar education reforms. “As we like to say, EducQuest is by Qa-tar for Qatar; by the Gulf for the Gulf; and by MENA for MENA. This is our home and we are invested in it and its future.” To learn more, visit www.educquest.com.

We test to the national curriculum standards of Qatar, We hold kids and schools accountable to what we ask them to be accountable for.” -Hisham Nafie

Mural by Doug Cooper is a gift for Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned

Memory, Desert and Sea

Between


It is said that place fixes memory. But what happens when a place changes rapidly or utterly? In the mural Be-tween Memory, Desert and Sea, art-ists Doug Cooper, Sarah Cooper and Nina Gorfer have set memories and recounted stories of people in Qatar

into portals made up of modern architecture and cranes we see across the country today. By peering between what is changing, this art piece looks back at the pre-history between the desert and the sea and fixes these memories into a more eternal landscape. Like a jigsaw puzzle caught in a moment of frantic assembly, the foreground layers of cranes and buildings show the energy and ambition of this active moment, of this Qatar now. They unfold serially, edge over edge, sliding over the background geography. This is a vision in flux: a metaphor for Qatar itself.


“Wearerightnowbuildingthecityofourdreams,”saidaQatarimantotheartistsinearly2008whentheybeganinterviewingstudentsandlocalsamidstthecranes,roadbuildingequipment,bluesuitedandshroudedworkersandwindblownsandthatmarkDohainthismomentofhyper-change. ThemuralisCarnegieMellonQatar’sgifttoHerHighnessSheikhaMozahbintNasserAlMissnedforhervisionaryleadershipthatledtotherichpartnershipbetweentheuniversityandQatarFoundation.ThemuralispermanentlydisplayedonthegroundflooroftheCarnegieMellonQatarbuildinginEducationCity. Thelocationwaspurposeful,saysDougCooper.“Thisspacehastremendousimpact.Theproximitytoadmissionisagoodstrategicdecision.ProspectivestudentscanwalkbyandgetafeelforthebreadthofCarnegieMellon.Thentheycandecideifthisistheplaceforthem.” Thereisaclearrelationshipbetweenthemuralandthearchitectureofthebuilding.Themuralspanssixadjoiningsectionsofwall.Thelargestsectionisslightlycurvedandworkslikeastagewithaseriesofanglesthatarepresentedtoviewersastheywalkby.Somefeatures,suchasastaircase,seemtocomerightoffthewall.Thecornersanddifferentsizesofthewallsmakeadoorfeellikeitisretreatingbackinspace. “Themuralengagesyouspatially.Imagesslideopticallyonyoureyeasyoumove,mak-ingitunfoldlikeafreighttrain.Exceptyouaremovingandthemuralisstationary,”saysCooper. AprofessoratCarnegieMellonformorethan30years,Cooperhasbeencreatinglargepanoramicmuralsfornearlytwodecades.Thecombinationofstory,historyandcollectivememoryhasbecomeageneralthemeofCoo-per’swork.The200foot-longmuralatCarn-egieMellon’sUniversityCenterinPittsburghshowsthecityandtheCarnegieMelloncampusinthreedifferenttimeperiods. TheQatarmural,whichwaspaidforbyaCarnegieMellontrustee,usesimages,nar-rativesandportalstotelltherichstoryofthesmalldesertpeninsulaofQatar.Itcombinesgeographicandnarrativecontentpasseddownthroughgenerationswithamodernbustlingcity. Cooper,SarahCooperandNinaGorferfirstcametoDohainMarch2008.Theytook

nearly5,000photos,talkedwithdozensofpeopleanddroveallaroundthecountrylearn-ingaboutDoha’spast,presentandfuture. CooperthenreturnedtohisstudioinPittsburghandbeganconstructingthepor-talsoutofmediumdensityfiberboardthathecoveredinpaperandsketchedon.Atthesametime,SarahCooperandNinaGorferworkedintheirofficeinSwedenmeshingimages,memo-riesandscannednotesintovibrantstoriestofillthoseportals. Thethreeworkedtogethertoweavesto-riesandimagesofBedouins,immigrantlaborersandexpatriatesalongsidesanddunesandsky-scrapers.Trafficjams,oilpipelinesandfalconsalongwithmosques,modernarchitectureandtraditionaldhowboats.ThesimplerootsofasmallArabianpeninsulawiththemodernizationthatcomeswithtransitoryoilandgaswealth. MuchlikeDohain2009,themuralisoldandnew.Traditionalandtechnological.Simpleandmodern.Differentandyetthesame.AsCoopersays,“it’saboutthesepeople,inthisplace,atthistime.”

Long lines of immigrant laborers waiting for buses are depicted in the mural. Below left, a staircase in the mural seems as if it is three dimensional. Above left, artist Doug Cooper puts the finishing touches on the mural.



How is it that Islam seems capable of undermining women and promoting them at the same time? Anyone attempting to take stock of the position of women in the Mus-lim world cannot help but be confused. One finds stories in the media all the time about injustices committed against Muslim women, such as “honor” kill-ings, child marriage and unequal legal judgments in matters of divorce, custody and inheritance. On the other hand, one also comes across stories about the remark-able strides made by Muslim women in education, career development and political activism in countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Morocco and Turkey. How can we make sense of such a dichotomous picture? The answer is simple: by distinguishing the religion of Islam from the Muslims who practice it. Those who study the Quran know that Islam elevated the rights of women be-yond anything known in the pre-Islamic world. Muslim women were granted rights in the 7th century, such as prop-erty ownership, inheritance and divorce, not granted to European women until the 19th century,

The teachings of Islam help women challenge the practices of patriarchal Muslim societiesBy Amal Mohammed Al-Malki, Ph.D.

That said, Muslims who codified the Quran and the Hadith, sayings by the Prophet Muhammad, into Islamic law did not succeed in expunging the patriarchy of the pre-Islamic world from their practices. This distinction between the faith and the various manifesta-tions of its practice is a subtle but extremely important one. When a Westerner is trained to pick up on the distinction, he or she comes to recog-nize that the Muslim woman who criticizes Muslim practices is not usually rebuking Islam or her heritage in favor of Western ideals -- the kind of rebuke that hits best-seller lists in the West and that feeds Western stereotypes about Muslims -- but is instead summoning other Muslims who claim allegiance to the Quran’s teachings to live up to the holy book’s highest principles. This inward criticism and call to action is often called Islamic feminism, a promising paradigm which seeks change from within, as opposed to imported formulas. While adopting the Quran at its core, Islamic feminism challenges two main norms: the patriarchal cultural customs mistaken for Islamic teaching and patriarchal interpreta-tions of certain Quranic verses. The project of disentangling what is true Islamic teaching from cultural traditions historically practiced in some Muslim territories is an ongoing proj-ect for Islamic feminists. Arifa Mazhar, manager of gender issues for the Pakistan-based Sungi Development Foundation, which attempts to mobilize mar-ginalized local communities on behalf of their own development, declared at the Internation-al Congress on Islamic Feminism in Barcelona in 2008: “Instead of debating Islam, we should be debating culture and its impact ... There are a lot of social taboos and tribal traditions that oppress women, and they have little to do with Islam.” Islamic feminism’s second challenge is to attempt to reinterpret verses in the Quran -- especially in a modern context -- that have been misinterpreted or over-generalized. One example is the disproportionate weight given to the few Quranic verses giving men authority over women within families

vs. the many others that emphasize equality between men and women. Islamic feminism encourages women to study the words of the Quran for themselves, and to judge whether the misogyny and failure to take women seriously prevalent in some traditional customs is a matter of Islamic doctrine or, indeed, of cultural impositions on such doctrine. In this way, Islamic feminism provides the grounds for changing civil and national law in ways that prove progressive for women. Sisters in Islam, a leading Muslim women’s rights group in Malaysia, has been trying to tackle the issue of polygamy, for instance. Rather than calling for its abolition, the group calls only for it to be limited to certain situations -- such as when permission is obtained from a first wife and a court -- and is working on public surveys that would provide empirical evidence of the negative effects of polygamy on society. Rooted in Islam and the Quranic spirit of equity, Islamic feminism provides a credible political voice for women. It gives women’s organizations, women’s rights advocates and gender scholars in the Muslim world legiti-mate grounds for action while fulfilling their religious obligations.

This article first appeared in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and was written for the Common Ground News Service as part of a series on Muslim women and their religious rights. Sunday, March 15, 2009.


Amal Mohammed Al-Malki, Ph.D., is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. She was the first Qatari national to be appointed to the faculty.

special

Launched in the winter of 2007, Carnegie Club was created to promote the success of businesses in Qatar and the regional community through greater access to knowledge sharing.

This is done by helping identify common op-portunities and challenges faced by the industry, and identifying solutions through greater industry-indus-try and industry-academic collaboration. During the first year, Carnegie Club events featured a presentation by Carnegie Mellon faculty followed by a discussion and networking session. Dozens of business leaders across all sectors in Qatar were in attendance. The events raised common issues, exposed trends and identified resources at Carnegie Mellon that could benefit the community. “We originally designed Carnegie Club as a networking event because we wanted to enhance industry and academia interaction, and at that time

there were very few events in Doha,” says Anqi Qian, Ph.D., director of strategic initiatives at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. “Now we want to have more focus and give faculty one-on-one time with industry. We want to identify interesting problems, encourage discussion and unveil challenges,” Qian says. Carnegie Club was re-launched in the spring with a plan to bring together a smaller, more focused, group of industry leaders and faculty experts who can discuss a current business topic and the chal-lenges industry faces, and identify possible solutions through collaborations with industrial participants and academia. By limiting the size of the group to fewer than 12, Qian hopes people will feel close enough to share their experiences and gain a deeper understanding of the issues. “This format encourages knowledge shar-ing between Carnegie Mellon and industry, as well as among industry representatives,” says Qian.

Carnegie

ClubA catalyst for

Qatar’s progress as a global

business leader



Each semester, four or five topics will be selected based on what is of interest to the industry and what matches with Carnegie Mellon faculty expertise. Guests are selected through various network-ing channels and among those who express interest. Some modules will be repeated to track and reflect progress made collectively through industry-industry and industry-academia collaborations. The new Carnegie Club kicked off this semes-ter with four modules. First was Green Building Matters, hosted by Professor Stephen Lee and facili-tated by Professor Rami el Samahy. This module fo-cused on sustainable building design and challenges in Qatar and the region. Academic and industry experts in port opera-tions and shipping management gathered together for the second discussion Managing Scale and Com-plexity in LNG Supply Chains, hosted by Professor

R. Ravi and facilitated by Professor Starling Hunter. Strategic HR Management, hosted by Professor Mark Fichman and facilitated by Professor Star-ling Hunter, was the focus of the third and fourth sessions. Several Education City alumni and HR executives from cross industries joined these discus-sions on practices and policies that are critical to the success of certain firms. Qian says Carnegie Club is a vital part of Carnegie Mellon’s role in Qatar. “We’re here to be part of the community. So we need to understand what people want to accomplish in business and what their challenges are. From there we can decide how we can bring our relevant expertise to make the greatest contribution in Qatar and the Gulf Region.” Carnegie Club modules will resume in the fall. Discussion content and future sessions will be posted on the Web site during the summer. To learn more, visit http://carnegieclub.qatar.cmu.edu/.


savingsaving time,

lives

focus on

I n a medical emergency, a few seconds can mean the difference between life and death. What route is taken, how intersec-tions are navigated and how much traffic

congestion there is, can all affect the amount of time it takes an ambulance to reach the hospi-tal. But what if the ambulance knew the fast-est and least congested route? What if the traf-fic signals were all green before the ambulance approached? And what if traffic was cleared out of the way before the ambulance hit the intersection? These are all questions computer science graduate Hend Gedawy tackled in her senior thesis project. “Traffic is horrible in Doha. I’ve seen ambulances get stuck at intersections because there were so many cars and they could not get out of the way,” says Gedawy. “So I wanted to do something to help people who need medical care.” Gedawy’s project Dynamic Path Planning and Traffic Signal Coordination for Emergency Vehicle Routing builds on the state of the art in vehicle path planning to help save those pre-cious few seconds. She proposes to combine dynamic path planning with traffic signal preemption. Dy-namic Path Planning is when a path – in this case the path of an ambulance - is continually updated and changed as more information becomes available. Preemption is when an ap-proaching emergency vehicle overrides a traffic signal allowing that vehicle right of way. By using D*Lite, an informed search algo-rithm, Gedawy aims to create a system that will reduce emergency vehicle delay while maximiz-ing traffic flow through an intersection. How this works is, traffic signals would be responsive instead of timed, meaning the light would change when vehicles arrived at the intersection. This will keep intersections flowing

smoothly by giving green lights to the heaviest traffic side, thus alleviating possible congestion when an ambulance approaches. If an ambulance were en route to a hospital, it would have a continued stream of green lights with no vehicle congestion along the way. Signal emitters would be fitted to both the emergency vehicle and the traffic signals so when the vehicle was in range, the signals would automatically change. “Basic preemption is not even done here in Qatar,” says Gedawy. “Responsive traffic lights don’t exist so people sit at intersections and wait for a long time when there is no one even coming the other way. It’s worse if there is an ambulance because sometimes people try to move out of the way but there is nowhere for them to go.” Gedawy started working on her thesis in 2008 by looking into projects in the United States and Europe as far back as 1960. From there she looked at more recent projects and thought of ways in which to improve them. For example, some cities have used strobe lights to communicate between the vehicle and the traffic signal, but there were alignment problems. Others use radio signals so the driv-ers don’t need to take any action. The advancements in GPS technology have aided in this type of research by more accurately detecting locations. Dynamic path planning has also furthered this field by pro-viding up-to-the-second traffic conditions and suggesting an optimal path based on the traffic. Gedawy is hoping these advancements, along with her plan that is specific to the traffic situation in Qatar, will one day be the standard on roads all over Doha. Gedawy has applied for a research grant from Qatar Foundation’s Undergraduate Re-search Experience Program. Awards are expect-ed to be announced over the summer.

Senior thesis project aims to shorten ambulance ride



spotlight on

A group of 22 MBA students from The Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University in Pitts-

burgh, Pennsylvania, USA, visited Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi this spring to

become acquainted with both the culture and business environment in the Gulf Region. While in Doha, the students attended several panel discussions, met with local businessmen and toured select organizations such as

Qatar Science & Technology Park and Qatar Financial Centre.

“Carnegie Mellon offers various spring break trips to give MBA students

an opportunity to explore a new region, visit companies and mingle with industry leaders,” says Yusra Bham, MBA student and one of the

trip organizers. “We wanted to come to Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi to see the opportunities that exist on this side of the world. And also to compare and contrast the two nations and how they are handling the pace of change,”

says Bham. The rapid pace of development in

Qatar, along with Carnegie Mellon’s campus in Education City, made Qatar

an ideal destination for the students. Previous MBA classes have taken trips

abroad, but never to the Middle East. Bham, who grew up in Abu Dhabi, came up with the idea to visit this region because of the unprecedented growth in the Middle East over the past decade. The visit kicked off with a reception

at Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s new building in Education City. Dr. Mohammed Fathy Saoud, President of Qatar Foundation, addressed the crowd and talked about the visions of Qatar Foundation and the State of Qatar. While on campus the students at-tended several panel discussions. The first was on business growth and opportuni-ties in Qatar and the Middle East. “Every market is completely different,” says panelist Grahame Maher, CEO of Vodafone Qatar. “You can’t take your values and force them on another country.” Fellow panelist Mohamed Dobashi, Director of the Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program and faculty member at Carnegie Mellon Qatar, ad-dressed the importance of relationships and trust when doing business in the Middle East. Panelist Bob Monroe, Associate Dean at Carnegie Mellon Qatar, talked about the rate of growth and the transformation from a natural resources-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. The MBA students also attended a panel discussion on entrepreneurship, which was led by Bowman Heiden, COO of Qatar Science & Technology Park, and George White, faculty member at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. This panel focused on the formal framework for introducing innovation and commercializing local products as well as local talent and imported talent. Shashank Srivastava, Director of Strat-egy & Planning at Qatar Financial Centre Authority, and Andy Robertson, CEO of MXV Advisors, led a third panel on the economic perspective of Qatar and the Gulf Region.

Tepper students visit Doha22 MBA students visit the Middle East to learn about the culture and business environment


spotlight on

C arnegie Mellon is one of three universities in the Mid-dle East taking part in IBM’s

Qatar Cloud Computing Initiative. Along with Qatar University and Texas A&M University at Qatar, Carnegie Mellon Qatar will collaborate with a community of industry experts, researchers and clients to develop a cloud solution to help solve industry problems. Cloud computing is a gen-eral term for anything that involves delivering hosted services over the Internet. The Qatar Cloud Comput-ing Initiative will open up its cloud infrastructure to local businesses and industries to test applications and complete various projects, including seismic modeling and the exploration for oil and gas. “We are very excited to be working with IBM on creating the

first cloud computing platform in the Middle East,” says Majd Sakr, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon professor. “This will help us realize our vision of develop-ing, evaluating and extending a cloud computing infrastructure in Qatar to target regional applications and projects to help advance research.” Among the many anticipated uses of the Qatar Cloud Computing Center for advanced research include search, data mining, scientific model-ing and simulation, computational biology and financial modeling and forecasting. In addition, five pilot applica-tion projects have been identified to focus on: Seismic modeling and ex-ploration for oil and gas; Integrating production operation solutions for oil and gas industries; an Arabic lan-guage web search engine; testing and migrating various applications using

Hadoop / MapReduce programming methods; and creating curriculum to teach cloud computing at universi-ties. The development of this center will be based on a phased approach. Initially, the universities will collabo-rate with IBM on building the infra-structure. Next, they will collaborate on developing applications that will leverage the Hadoop programming model as a first step in improving the local knowledge of this new pro-gramming model. In addition to the work IBM will do at the Qatar Cloud Computing Center and University of Pretoria, IBM is also working with The Higher Education Alliance for Leadership Through Health (HEALTH Alliance) in East Africa and Kyushu Univer-sity in Fukuoka, Japan to use cloud computing.

Carnegie Mellon part of cloud computing initiative


spotlight on

Planet Earth is 510-million-square-kilometers in size, yet new technology makes it seem smaller and smaller every day. Multinational companies, video conferences and the Internet

can bring people from all over the world to-gether in an instant. Through various courses that focus on global issues and global awareness, students in the Information Systems program at Carnegie Mellon Qatar are being readied for the global workplace in ways students at other universities are not. “By offering courses with a global focus, our students gain a better understanding of what’s happening outside of Doha,” says Selma Limam Mansar, coordinator of the Information Systems program in Qatar. “Most companies in Qatar are multi-national and have offices all over the world. By working as part of a team that is scattered around the globe, students are able to fully develop teamwork and communication skills.” The worldwide concentration of the IS program began in 2008 with the Global Project Management (GPM). In this course, students in Doha and Pittsburgh worked together on project management within the context of globalization. One project focused on designing the information systems new offices in Qatar, another project studied the feasibility of a high-tech kindergarten in Doha. The concept expanded this term to include four different classes that ensconce students in projects with various perspectives and diverse collaborators (In addition to the GPM course, Global systems delivery models, global informa-tion society and software development project). “By working with people from different cultural backgrounds, students have a greater learning experience and greater understanding

of the global working environment. They learn to compare and contrast different perspectives and not just rely on the perspectives in Doha,” says Limam Mansar. “Indeed, in the ‘Global systems delivery models’ students in Doha and in Pittsburgh used the very same survey with companies at both ends to compare information technology outsourcing practices.” The most important skill students learn to develop in these courses, according to Limam Mansar, is professional communication. “Com-munication is vital – especially when team mem-bers are not all in one place. Poor communica-tion can lead to a host of problems. And those problems are multiplied when team members are scattered around the world.” Some of the IS courses, such as the ‘soft-ware development course’, have team projects where half the team is elsewhere. For example, one team worked on developing a social net-work to connect Carnegie Mellon faculty and students on research projects. Other classes have globalization issues that require input from one specific group of people. “The conversations in these courses are amazing. Different people have different per-spectives and different ideas to bring to the table. It’s very eye opening for everyone. Even the professors learn,” says Faheem Hussain, IS faculty member who was teaching the Global information Society course and had students de-bating by video conference information technol-ogy global policies. One surprise advantage of some of the IS courses was learning to adapt to a situation and find quick solutions to surprise problems. “These courses teach students to communicate and adapt across technology. Sometimes tech-nology doesn’t work and you have to find other ways,” says Limam Mansar. “It’s a good lesson to learn.”

IS students continue their global focus

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The Carnegie Mellon Alumni Association has 36 new members. Twenty-eight students from Carnegie Mellon Qatar graduated with degrees in Business Administration, seven with degrees in Computer Science. Additionally, one Information Systems student from Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh spent the Spring 2009 term at Carnegie Mellon Qatar and decided to receive his diploma in Doha. Worldwide, Carnegie Mellon has more than 70,000 alumni.

Alumni SpotlightsLina El Menshawy (TPR 2008) Lina El Menshawy is a 2008 graduate from the Tepper School of Business. She works for Ernst & Young in Doha, Qatar. As an alum-na, El Menshawy has been instru-mental in the start up of the Qatar Campus Alumni group. She can often be found on cam-pus hosting professional development workshops and mentoring younger students. In particular, El Menshawy was the driving force behind “08 An-swers,” the first workshop offered by the alumni. The intention of “08 An-swers” was to give current students a glimpse into life after graduation. El Menshawy was one of sever-al alumni who came back to campus

for Professional Day 2009 to recruit new alums and current students to work and intern for Ernst & Young. Because of her dedication and genu-ine desire to prepare the next genera-tion of Carnegie Mellon students, El Menshawy is a shining example of what an alumna should be.Amer Obeidah (CS 2008) Amer Obeidah is a 2008 gradu-ate from the School of Computer Science. He has worked for Qatar National Research Fund, a part of Qatar Foundation, for the last year. As an undergraduate student, Obeidah was a standout in the Com-puter Science department as one of just two senior thesis students in the first graduating class. He has carried his love of the field of CS into his life

as an alumnus. Obeidah regularly comes to campus to tutor students in program-ming, is a strong advocate for stu-dent research and has been involved in various professional development initiatives. This year, he was accepted into Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh’s Masters in Human and Computer Interaction program, a significant achievement that brings recognition to the Qatar programs. He is a great example of an alumnus being an incredible am-bassador for the Computer Science program, with both his work ethic in the professional world as well as his role as mentor to current students. -Darbi Roberts


class

Maha Abdeen (CS) is working in Qatar with Shell.

Ameer Abdul Salam (CS) is a Research Program-mer at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar.

Noora Al Ansari (TPR) works with Standard Char-tered Bank.

Rooda Al Neama (TPR) is working at Shell as a business analyst in planning & support in the con-tracting and procurement department.

Noora Al-Saad (CS) works for Qatar Petroleum.

Maha Al-Shirrawi (TPR) is working as a learning & development coordinator at RasGas Company Limited.

Nora Al-Subai (CS) is a business analyst developing Qatar Petroleum’s SAP program.

Amna Al-Thani (TPR 2008) is at graduate school at the London School of Economics.

Anum Bashir (TPR) is pursuing a Masters Program in the English Department at Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh.

Lina El Menshawy (TPR) is a consultant in adviso-ry services at Ernst & Young. She is studying to be a certified associate in project management (CAPM).

Aysha Fakhroo (CS) is working with Exxon Mobil.

Mustafa Hasnain (TPR) works for the Admission Office at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.

Salma Kayali (TPR) works in the Admission Office at Carnegie Mellon Qatar

Mona Maher (TPR) lives in Canada and works as a consultant with Investors Group in Nova Scotia.

Rasha Mkachar (TPR) is working for Qatar Finan-cial Centre.

Maha Obaidan (TPR) is employed as a learning consultant for Qatar Shell.

Amer Obeidah (CS) was accepted into Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh’s Masters in Human and Com-puter Interaction program.

Wesam Said (TPR) is working as a marketing strat-egy analyst at Vodafone Qatar.

Keghani Kouzoujian (CS 2010) has been selected as one of the Scholars in the 2009 Google Anita Borg Memo-rial Scholarship: Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Through the scholarship, Google aims to encourage women to excel in computing and technology, and become active role models and leaders. Dr. Anita Borg (1949-2003) de-

voted her adult life to revolutionizing the way we think about technology and dismantling barriers that keep women and minorities from entering computing and technology fields. Borg’s combination of technical expertise and fearless vision continues to inspire and motivate countless young women to become active participants and leaders in creating technology.

2008

2009

Hatem Alismail (CS) is attending Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to pursue a master’s degree in computer science.

Najwan Al-Borshid (TPR) will be working for Qatar Foundation.

Khulood Al-Farsi (TPR) has accepted a position in the IT Department at Q-Chem.

Maha Al Hanzab (TPR) is working for the commer-cial and shipping department at Qatargas.

Fatima Al Rumaihi (TPR) works for Qatar National Bank (QNB).

Dana Hadan (TPR) has accepted a position work-ing in the public relations department of Qatargas.

Bayan Taha (TPR) will work for the human re-sources department at Qatargas.

CS Senior Keghani Kouzoujian wins Anita Borg Memorial Scholarship

Keep your classmates up to date, send your class notes to [email protected].


class

Keghani Kouzoujian (CS 2010) has been accepted into Car-negie Mellon’s Fifth Year Scholar Program. This program was founded at Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh in 1991 in response to a proposal from several student leaders and faculty members. It offers an opportunity for a small number of exceptional students to remain on campus for one full year following the comple-tion of their normal course of study. Fifth Year Scholars are sup-ported by free tuition and a $7,000 fellowship. Each student must develop and work on a project that will continue their personal and professional growth and also benefit the community of Carnegie Mellon in a unique way. Kouzoujian plans to bring LeaderShape to the Pittsburgh campus. LeaderShape is an interac-tive, energizing and unique experi-ence that builds leadership skills. The non-profit organization seeks to improve society by inspiring, devel-

Keghani Kouzoujian accepted into Fifth Year Scholar Program

Carnegie Mellon Qatar gets first Phi Beta Kappa

Hend Gedawy (CS 2009) is the first Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar student to gain membership into Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest and most recognized academic honorary society in America.

Gedawy earned the honor through her strong overall academic record in Computer Science and the high quality of her research work. “Hend is a leader and an exceptional student because of her thirst for knowledge, her academic prowess, her determination and her positive influence on many other students,” says John Robertson, As-sistant Dean for Academic Affairs. Among her many accomplish-

ments are her ongoing senior hon-ors thesis “Dynamic Path Planning and Traffic Signal Coordination for Emergency Vehicle Routing” and her significance as a role model for many other students; especially as a woman in computer science. Phi Beta Kappa accepts only students demonstrating excellence and integrity in the pursuit of a degree in the arts and sciences. Traditionally, membership has been limited to students in the top 10 percent of their graduating classes. Many notable figures have been ini-tiated into Phi Beta Kappa includ-ing 17 U.S. presidents. In addition, nearly 100 mem-bers of Carnegie Mellon’s faculty are members of Phi Beta Kappa, as well as more than 700 alumni including John Nash, Nobel Prize winner and subject of the book and film A Beautiful Mind.

Hend Gedawy named Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s first Phi Beta Kappa

oping and supporting young people who are committed to leading with integrity. “I went through LeaderShape as a participant and an on-sight co-ordinator,” says Kouzoujian. “It had a big impact on me. It helped shape me. So I want students in Pittsburgh to have the opportunity to experi-ence it also.” Since its founding in 1985, more than 25,000 university students

in the United States have graduated from the program. Carnegie Mellon Qatar began holding LeaderShape in the Spring 2007 term. Kouzoujian will spend time during her senior year in Doha working on her plan. She will then head to Pitts-burgh for the 2010-2011 school year to work as a Fifth Year Scholar and also attend classes in hopes of earn-ing a minor in music.


Pittsburgh

A sk any Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh graduate his or her favorite campus tradi-tion and the answer will

undoubtedly be the same – Spring Carnival. Spring Carnival is a three-day event held in the middle of April that involves different events across cam-pus including concerts, comedians, reunion gatherings, award celebra-tions, the annual Mobot competition and, most notably, Midway (also called Booth) and Buggy Sweep-stakes. Carnival as it’s usually called, is Carnegie Mellon’s oldest tradition dating back to the beginning of the

university. In the early 1900s, there was “Campus Week,” which involved various events across campus such as the “pushmobile races” (a 1920s predecessor to Buggy). Unfortunately, one of the early presidents of the university thought that a full week of events was too much distraction from classes and the festivities were cancelled. Carnival, however, came back in full force as a shorter version of Campus Week, this time as a student-run organization and it has stayed that way ever since. Carnival kicks off with an Opening Ceremony on Thursday at which time the carnival grounds of Midway are then open to

the public until Saturday night. This allows members of the surrounding Pittsburgh community to play games, ride carnival rides, listen to student musical performances and walk through the booths painstakingly made by student organizations. “Carnival was exciting to say the least,” says Siddharth Arora (TPR 2010), who experienced Carnival first hand while spending the spring 2008 term in Pittsburgh. “I helped out with one of the booths, which people spent a lot of time and money building. Many people didn’t sleep at all the night before the booths had to be ready.” Arora also noticed that in the

Spring Carnivala century old campus event

remains a student favorite

By Darbi Roberts


Students in the Buggy Sweepstakes build

small, aerodynamic vehicles and race them around campus during

the annual Spring Carnival at

Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh.

weeks leading up to Carnival stu-dents were practicing for the Buggy Sweepstakes at 1 a.m. Buggy Sweep-stakes is a competition involving small aerodynamic vehicles designed and built by student groups in hopes of having the fastest one on race day. The buggies are pushed around a well-established course of more than 1350 meters around campus by a team of “pushers” and driven by very small but intrepid “driver” at speeds of up to 35 miles per hour. One of the newer additions to Carnival is the celebration of Holi, the springtime Hindu festival of colors. Partakers in the festival throw colored powder and colored water

at each other. Students of all cultural heritages are given the same white T-shirt just before the powders and water are unleashed in hopes of cre-ating the most colorful T-shirt. The celebration traditionally ends with a big Indian food buffet catered by one of the local restaurants. Arora cites this as his favorite moment of Carnival. “Holi was the highlight of Carnival. People from all different ethnic backgrounds enjoyed it,” he says. That’s the beauty of the celebration – anybody can partici-pate. As the fledgling Qatar campus becomes more mature and develops its own set of traditions, the need to

transplant traditions from Pittsburgh lessens. The idea of establishing a Qatar version of Carnival has been brought up by numerous students groups over the years. Arora thinks bringing Carni-val to Doha might not be such a bad idea. “Something along these lines should definitely be brought to Qatar. Instead of keeping it restricted to just Carnegie Mellon, we could extend it to an inter-college level.” Plans aren’t certain for the im-mediate future, but what is certain is that Qatar students studying in Pitts-burgh in the spring enjoy Carnival every bit as much as the Pittsburgh students do.


around

C arnegie Mellon Qatar led something of a nomadic existence when first ar-riving in Doha. The University spent

3 1/2 years occupying space in the Weill Cor-nell Medical College Building and one year in the Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) Building before taking occupancy of its own building in August 2008. This summer, Carnegie Mellon will return the favor by offering space in its new building to one of its Education City sister in-stitutions. Northwestern University in Qatar will move in to the Carnegie Mellon Building this summer and stay for approximately three years, depending on the construction schedule of its building. “Everyone at Northwestern is really excited to be moving into Carnegie Mellon Qatar,” says Susan Dun, Associate Dean Ad-missions and Student Affairs at Northwest-ern. “We have enjoyed our time in TAMUQ and have found the Aggies to be excellent hosts. At the same time, as our program

grows we obviously need more space and the Carnegie Mellon building is a beautiful place into which to expand.” Around 45 faculty and staff members, along with approximately 80 students will occupy 31,000 square feet on the third level of the building. Northwestern has 38 return-ing students in the fall and expects to have an incoming class just under 40. Twenty-two of Northwestern’s return-ing students are studying communications and the other 16 are studying journalism. The incoming class will likely have a fairly similar split. The plan is for Northwestern to have its own teaching space on the third level, However if space is not complete by August, classes may be held in some of Carnegie Mel-lon’s classrooms. Many of Northwestern’s events and activities will most likely take place in the atrium and East/West walkway. Learn more about Northwestern University in Qatar at www.qatar.northwestern.edu.

Northwestern University is moving into the new Carnegie Mellon Qatar building

A Member of Qatar FoundationP.O. Box 24866Doha, Qatarwww.qatar.cmu.edu

akhbar, summer/fall 2009

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