akhbar ‫أخبار‬
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar
Winter 2008/Spring 2009
A shared vision realized
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar’s
new building in Education City
HOSTED BY
ICTD
2009
3rd IEEE/ACM International Conference
on Information and Communication
Technologies and Development
April 17–19, 2009
Carnegie Mellon Qatar
Education City, Doha, Qatar
ICTD2009 will act as a focal point
for new scholarship as the premier
inter-disciplinary conference on ICTs
and international development.
CONFERENCE REGISTRATION
Registration will be open to all participants starting Feb. 1.
Early registration before February 28:
$200 General / $150 Student
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Standard registration from March 1 to April 19:
$250 General / $200 Student
WILLIAM (BILL) H. GATES III
PARTNERS & SPONSORS
Chairman of Microsoft Corporation,
Co-Chairman of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
CARLOS A. PRIMO BRAGA
Director, Economic Policy and Debt in the Poverty
Reduction and Economic Management Network (PREM)
at The World Bank
www.ictd2009.org
table of
akhbar‫أخبار‬
10
Features
A Shared Vision Realized
Carnegie Mellon’s new building in Education City is a
realization of Qatar Foundation and Carnegie Mellon’s
shared vision of education.
14
A Breathtaking New Idea
With the help of the CIEP, CliniPharma looks to take a new
Asthma medication to the market.
16
Sustainability in Qatar
Recycling efforts get underway.
18
Brick by Brick
Students take service-learning trip to Ghana. By Darbi Roberts
22
StuCo
Game Design is first student taught course in Doha. By Rachelle Emard
Page 18
Departments
Page 10
2
From the Dean
After five years, reflecting on our milestones and looking forward.
3
Qatar News
Read about all of the activities on campus.
24
Spotlight on Business Administration
As Seen on TV. Using television to teach Organizational Behavior.
26
Spotlight on Computer Science
Prestigious LPAR conference comes to the Middle East.
27
Spotlight on Information Systems
Ibtikar Qatar draws dozens of high school students.
29
Focus on Research
Lost in Translation: students translate traffic laws as
part of class project.
30
Alumni Corner
From the Ground Up. Alumni in Qatar are working to set up a Clan
Chapter.
32
Class Notes
Find out what’s happening with alumni and current students.
34
Pittsburgh Connection
Pipe Dreams. Carnegie Mellon is the only university in the
U.S. to offer an undergraduate degree in bagpiping.
36
Around Education City
Qatar Science & Technology Park welcomes its first tenants.
AS SEEN ON
TV
Page 24
from
akhbar‫أخبار‬
N
ow that Carnegie Mellon
has moved into its permanent home in Qatar, many of
us are taking time to reflect
on our milestones. Since joining Education City in 2004, Carnegie Mellon has
achieved more than we could have ever
imagined. We came here to offer undergraduate programs in business administration and computer science to students
in the Gulf Region. But that is just the
beginning of Carnegie Mellon’s role in
Qatar.
Soon after establishing our campus, we
welcomed our first class of students. In
the spring of 2005 we organized the first faculty symposium in Education City and held our formal inauguration ceremony. At the inauguration, Carnegie Mellon professor and Qatar Foundation advisor Raj
Reddy was named the Mozah Bint Nasser Chair of Computer Science
and Robotics.
Later that year the computer security team Q-Cert was launched.
Students in Doha and Pittsburgh enrolled in the first simulcast course
entitled U.S. Arab Encounters. Also in 2005 we captured the imaginations of hundreds of high schools students with the launch of the BOTBALL high school robotics competition. In 2006 we broke ground on
our new building and watched it take shape a little more each day. Our
students hit the business world that summer as interns for multinationals and government organizations.
We added a third undergraduate major, Information Systems, in
2007. We also began offering executive education programs and teaching entrepreneurship through the Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program. Undergraduates expanded their education by conducting research and taking part in Meeting of the Minds. In May 2008,
our first class of students graduated and set out to make their mark in
the work force. Then we moved into a magnificent new building and
welcomed our fifth class of students.
Taking time to look at how far we’ve come, reminds us of how
much further we can go. We are continuing to move forward with programs and initiatives that will continue to impact the future of Qatar.
We have more students; are conducting more research; planning more
outreach; talking of offering more degree programs; and always looking
to develop new partnerships.
More than a century ago, our founder Andrew Carnegie knew the
power of education. Today, Qatar Foundation shares that same vision
for Qatar and its people. By working in collaboration with Qatar Foundation, Carnegie Mellon is able to stay focused on its role in realizing
Qatar’s national vision of a knowledge-based economy. We’ve come a
long way in five years, but in many ways it seems as if we’re just
getting started.
My best wishes to you all,
Charles E. Thorpe, Dean
2 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
A publication of
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar
A member of Qatar Foundation
P.O. Box 24866 | Doha, Qatar
www.qatar.cmu.edu
Dean
Charles E. Thorpe, Ph.D.
Marketing & Public Relations Department
Director
D. Murry Evans
Media Relations Manager
Noha Al Afifi
Web Manager
Stephen MacNeil
Manager of Special Events
Kara Nesimiuk
Departmental Coordinator
Marie Weaver
Publications Manager
Andrea L. Zrimsek
Editorial Board
Chairperson
Lynn R. Carter, Ph.D.
Members
Khaled 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, Shanley E. Kane,
Tammy MacNeil, Darbi Roberts,
Andrea L. Zrimsek
Photographers
Shauki Alazzam, Khalid Ismail,
Stephen MacNeil, Andrea L. Zrimsek
Copy Editors
Rana El Sakhawy, Marie Weaver
Layout and design
Andrea L. Zrimsek
Mission
Akhbar 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.
Qatar
Out with the old
C
arnegie Mellon University in Qatar has unveiled a new logo. The
new art features the Arabic script in
a larger font and also emphasizes the
Carnegie Mellon word mark.
“We wanted to make the Arabic more prominent and at the same
time highlight our global branding,”
says D. Murry Evans, Director of
Marketing and Public Relations at
Carnegie Mellon Qatar.
The Arabic type was changed
to a modified version of the classical
Arabic calligraphy called Kufi. Perfected during the 8th Century, Kufi
has a geometric construction with
long horizontal lines and wide letters.
It’s a classical font that better reflects
the traditional feel of the Carnegie
Mellon wordmark.
lege Preview Program at Carnegie
Mellon University in Qatar.
The program is designed to introduce intelligent and academically
motivated students to the demanding
curriculum of selective American universities such as the ones in Education City.
expected of them if they are to succeed. Each student also had a mock
college admission interview with a
Carnegie Mellon admissions counselor. This gave students a chance to
see what would be expected of them
in the highly competitive admission
process.
High school students
from all over Qatar
attended the second
Summer College
Preview Program.
The original logo (above) prominently featured the words Qatar
Campus, however the Arabic type
was difficult to read.
For even more visual impact,
the words Carnegie Mellon remain
in red, while the rest of the logo
is in gray scale. The word campus
was eliminated from the new logo
because the whole of Education City
is considered a campus, and Carnegie
Mellon is just one part of it.
Carnegie Mellon Qatar worked
with Hend Zainal, VCU graduate,
graphic designer and former Carnegie Mellon Qatar employee, to
design the logo. Zainal created the
unique Kufi script and new look after
receiving input from faculty, staff and
students.
A taste of university life
T
hirty-seven high school seniors
and 14 juniors spent three weeks
fully immersed in the life of a college
student in the second Summer Col-
The Summer College Preview
Program gives high school students
some exposure to college-level teaching and teaches students to think in a
different way.
During the rigorous program,
students took daily courses in English, math and SAT Exam preparation. They also attended personal
development workshops and worked
on a project in business administration, computer science or information systems.
Through this, the 34 women
and 17 men learned first-hand how
heavy a college course load can be
and what caliber of work will be
The students also got to act as
an admission counselor and review
applications so they could see what
other students’ applications may look
like. “This makes the whole admission process more real for them,”
says Bryan Zerbe, Admission Director at Carnegie Mellon Qatar. “Many
of the students tell us the mock interviews and serving on a fake admission committee are some of the most
beneficial parts of the program.”
This was the second year for
the Summer College Preview Program and Zerbe says the number of
students accepted into the program
was a direct reflection of the high
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬3
Qatar
quality of the students who applied.
“We initially increased enrollment
from 35 students last year to 40 this
year. Then when we saw that we had
such a highly qualified pool of applicants, we increased it even more.”
Four of the students who took
part in last year’s program came back
for a second year. Additionally, one
student came from Saudi Arabia and
one student came from Kuwait.
Thirteen instructors came
from the United States to teach the
courses. Current Carnegie Mellon
staff and students served as peer tutors and counselors, helping students
with coursework, special projects
and answering questions about life at
Education City.
Mellon University and Qatar Science & Technology Park. Carnegie
Mellon teamed up with Qatar Science & Technology Park to offer the
program in Doha because QSTP is a
hub for international companies and
an incubator of start-up technology
businesses and Carnegie Mellon is
consistently ranked among the top
business schools in the world.
“Corporate innovation plays
a very important part in transforming societies into knowledge-based
economies,” says Mohamed Dobashi,
program director and associate
teaching professor at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.
“The CIEP program provides
corporate leaders with the tools
organizations including ictQatar, Qatar Foundation and Qatar Financial
Centre, are sponsoring employees in
the program.
The CIEP program is comprised
of four 7-week courses. Each course
begins with one week of intensive
hands-on classes called “fast weeks.”
A network of successful entrepreneurs and managers give the lectures,
discuss case studies and provide students with valuable personal advice.
The remaining six weeks are
comprised of independent student
work and video conferences with the
Tepper School of Business in Pittsburgh. The video conferences are
held at Carnegie Mellon in Education
City in Doha, outside of business
hours. Subsequent “fast weeks” are
held in January, February and May.
The CIEP program wrap ups in June.
Carnegie Mellon Qatar and
QSTP have a five-year agreement
to run the program. To learn more
about the CIEP, visit www.qatar.cmu.
edu/exed.
Immigrant labor awareness
A
Art Boni, Director of the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship, talks to
the second intake of students in the Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Program in Doha.
Entrepreneurs wanted
F
orty-five budding entrepreneurs
– 18 of whom are women – have
enrolled in the second Corporate
Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Program.
CIEP, formerly the Executive
Entrepreneurship Certificate Program, is a nine-month, part-time
course that encourages entrepreneurs
to follow their dreams by giving
them the skills needed to transform
an idea into a marketable business
venture.
The program is offered in Doha
as a partnership between Carnegie
4 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
necessary to assist in growing their
organizations and turning them into
knowledge leaders in the marketplace. Corporate Innovation is certainly a critical success factor in the
ever-growing global market which
Qatar is certainly a participant.”
Twelve nationalities are represented in this class, and nearly half of
the participants are Qatari. Forty-one
students enrolled in the inaugural
session, which ran from Aug. 2007 to
May 2008. Several start up companies formed from that program and
are working to take their ideas to the
next level. Additionally, several local
lejandro Portes, Ph.D., Professor
of Sociology and Director of the
Center for Migration and Development at Princeton University, visited
Carnegie Mellon Qatar as part of the
Distinguished Lecture Series.
Portes is a leader in the field
of immigration. He is the author of
some 220 articles and chapters on
national development, international
migration, Latin American & Caribbean urbanization and economic
sociology.
“Dr. Alejandro Portes is a
world expert on immigration from
whom our students and the Qatar
community will learn a great deal
about the opportunities and challenges of immigration internationally,”
says Silvia Pessoa, Ph.D., Carnegie
Mellon faculty member.
Portes held three events. The
first was a Panel on Immigrant Labor
in Qatar. Several human rights activists and ambassadors joined Portes
on the panel. The second event was a
discussion on “Migration and Social
Qatar
Three events to raise awareness of immigrant labor took place as part of the
Distinguished Lecture Series.
Change: A Conceptual Reflection.”
The final event was a student
conference entitled “Educating
student leaders who can make a difference.” At this event students from
Carnegie Mellon and Georgetown
universities presented their research
on immigration issues in Qatar. All
research projects were performed as
part of the Undergraduate Research
Experience Program (UREP), which
is sponsored by the Qatar National
Research Fund (QNRF).
“These events shed light on
important issues in Qatar and promote awareness in the community,
especially among our students, about
the challenges experienced by the
thousands of immigrant workers
who greatly contribute to the development of Qatar,” Pessoa says.
The Apprentice 2.0
S
tudents put their skills, instincts
and business sense to work in
the university’s second version of the
American reality show The Apprentice.
“The Apprentice is all about
teamwork, collaborative planning
and finding the individual strength
of each team member and using it
for the greater good of the team,”
says Saad Al-Matwi, junior business
administration major who served on
the board of directors for the competition.
Forty-five students were split
into nine teams, given QR 300 in
gift vouchers and told they had three
days to earn as much money as they
could. Once the teams turned the
vouchers into cash, they quickly set
out to make their fortune.
A perceived need for lunch options led many of the teams to set up
food stands in the atrium of Carnegie Mellon’s building. Booths were
hocking everything from ice cream
and karak to falafels and candy bars.
“Food is an easy way to
make quick money,” says
Al-Matwi. Other teams
sold customized T-shirts,
created unique laptop covers, charged to play video
games and sold advertising.
At the end of Round 1, the
teams raised a collective QR
30,000: more than double the
amount that was raised in the
2007 competition.
But unlike last year, the game
did not end there. A second round
was added to make it more challenging. The top four teams made it to
Round 2, where they had to produce
a television commercial to market
chewing gum to the business community.
Five professors judged the commercials on points such as creativity,
brand recall, positioning, reaction
and context.
“We added the second round
to make The Apprentice about more
than just raising money. It’s about
marketing, planning and strategy,
and it gives the students a chance to
apply what they learn in the classroom,” says Omar El Zoheery, a
sophomore business student on the
board of directors.
Team Synergy’s commercial for
a new ‘stick-free’ gum that opted for
comical acting and the Pink Panther sound track in lieu of dialogue
captured first place. The video also
secured the team a victory in the
overall competition.
Instead of awarding all of
the money to the winning team,
the board decided to split the cash
among the four teams that made it
to Round 2.
Team Synergy took home QR
15,000; the second place team took
home QR 6,500; the third place
team took home QR 4,000; and the
fourth place team took home QR
2,500. The Photography Club and
the AV Club were each given QR
400 for their support.
The Apprentice is one of the
activities organized by the Carnegie
Mellon Business Association.
CMBA is a student organization that aims to cultivate the
strongest business students in the
region, immerse business minds in a
business culture and establish longterm relationships with the business
community.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬5
teachers and students we are able
to increase our educational reach,
and make a greater contribution to
Qatar as a whole.”
Takeo Kanade wows
R
More than 100 high school teachers attended the latest CS4Qatar professional
development workshop.
CS4Qatar
T
eachers from high schools all
over Qatar attended the most
recent CS4Qatar. The professional
development workshop, taught
by the computer science faculty at
Carnegie Mellon Qatar, is designed
for educators who want to broaden
their horizons in the ever-expanding
and broad-reaching field of computer science.
“The number of teachers who
sign up for CS4Qatar shows just
how eager they are to learn about
the latest technologies and share
what they learn with their students,”
says Khaled Harras, Ph.D., computer science professor.
“As soon as the workshop is
over, teachers begin asking when we
are offering the next one. By holding
new and innovative sessions each
time, the same teachers can keep
coming back and keep learning.”
The daylong workshop was
comprised of seminars on two topics: Programming in Becker’s Robots
and Competitive Computer Programming and its role at the intersection of technology and sport.
CS4Qatar is a derivative of the
Computer Science for High Schools
(CS4HS) program at Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh. Carnegie Mellon
Qatar began holding the CS4Qatar
workshops in June 2007. More
6 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
than 100 participants attended the
first one and expressed a desire for
additional workshops. Now, one
workshop for teachers and one for
students are held each academic
year. Both events are so popular that
space is now at a premium.
“CS4Qatar maps well with
Qatar’s vision of building a knowledge-based economy. To achieve
that goal, we have to start educating
young people as soon as possible.
Any career path they choose will
involve computers and technology,”
says Harras.
“By holding events for both
enowned researcher and robotics professor Takeo Kanade,
Ph.D., engaged a large audience at
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar
in a lively talk entitled “Research on
robotics and vision.”
Kanade visited Qatar as the
fourth speaker in Carnegie Mellon
Qatar’s Distinguished Lecture Series.
Kanade spoke at length on his ‘moment of fame’ as a researcher. This
moment came in 2001 when the
CBS television network contracted
with Kanade to test new technology
he was co-developing.
EyeVision, as CBS called it,
involved shooting multiple video images from multiple cameras placed
at different angles during the Super
Bowl XXXV game. Computers then
combined the video streams from
the cameras, and the resulting images gave viewers the feeling they
were flying through the scenes.
The similar feeling of rotating
around the scene was used in the
major motion picture The Matrix.
The unique EyeVision technology
was proven to be more than just hitech entertainment when it was used
Takeo Kanade engages a crowd in a talk
about his work and his ‘moment of fame.’
Qatar
to decide a crucial play near the end
of the game.
Kanade also spoke of his work
on the analysis of facial images and
video to recognize people and understanding human expressions. He
showed dynamic videos of how he
conducts his research, and emphasized how much fun he has had over
his long and unparalleled career.
DOHA
Lights, Camera, Action!
E
rik Helin, Silvia Pessoa, Ph.D.,
and Fabiana Sacchi held a
teaching workshop entitled: Lights,
Camera, Action! Using Film in the
Foreign Language Classroom.
Based on their experience
using student-made films in the
Spanish classes at Carnegie Mellon
Qatar, Helin and Pessoa showcased
some of their students’ best produced films and demonstrated the
process of making films in which
students use the language and content learned in class in a creative and
meaningful way.
Afterwards, using the Spanish
textbook Más allá de la pantalla:
El mundo hispano a través del cine
(Beyond the Screen: The Hispanic
World through Film) Pessoa and
Sacchi demonstrated activities on using authentic films to teach culture
and history in the foreign language
classroom.
More than 50 language
teachers from the local community
attended the event. “They were all
very enthusiastic about using film in
their own classrooms,” says Pessoa.
lence for the company. The modules
were built around the Qatargas leadership framework and high-growth
business context according to the
company’s fast-changing business.
Executive Education
F
ifty top executives from Qatargas completed the first cycle of
an innovative leadership training
program at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.
The Tepper School of Business at
Carnegie Mellon University and
Carnegie Mellon Qatar created the
Qatargas Leadership Program curriculum tailored to the unique needs
of Qatargas.
The program was specifically
designed to support the realization
and achievement of leadership excel-
An executive from Qatargas takes
notes during an executive education
course.
“Qatargas has committed to a vision
of becoming the world’s premier
LNG company. We have the resources and the will to make this a
reality,” says Faisal Al Suwaidi, Chief
Executive Officer of Qatargas.
“In the next three to four years
we will have four times our current
operating capacity exporting gas to
three continents. During the same
period, it is also becoming clear that
the world economy will experience
unprecedented stresses and strains.”
The program consisted of seven
modules including global competitiveness, smart value creation, team
collaboration, strategic cost management, leadership networks and
international business building.
“To enhance our business
position in the current economic
situation and deal successfully with
the challenges ahead, our company’s leaders need to be exposed to
cutting-edge thinking and best business practices. We value our relationship with Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper
School of Business in helping Qatargas achieve that level of readiness.”
The second cycle of the Qatargas Leadership Program will commence in 2009, expanding knowledge to a new class of corporate
leaders.
Corporate Responsibility
Carnegie Mellon University in
Qatar hosted the 4th Conference on
International Corporate Responsibility, which centers on the theme of
globalizing business decisions that
are sensitive to political, economic
and cultural differences.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬7
Qatar
Dr. Sheikha Abdulla Al Misnad, President of Qatar University, delivered the keynote
address at the ICR conference.
Organized every other year by
Carnegie Bosch Institute, ICR 2008
brought together a small but diverse
group of 18 scholars, business
people and other interested persons
to exchange views on corporate
responsibility.
As part of an effort to be truly
international, the ICR is held on a
different continent every two years.
“So far, we’ve met in Pittsburgh, Amsterdam and Hong Kong.
We looked to the Gulf Region for
our 2008 meeting, partly because of
its dynamic business environment
and a distinctive cultural viewpoint
that can enrich the global discussion of corporate responsibility,”
says John Hooker, Carnegie Mellon
faculty member and ICR organizer.
“Our participants are even
more diverse than our locations,”
says Hooker. “The reason for this
diversity is to allow a small group of
participants of very different backgrounds to engage in intense and
friendly dialog, so as to understand
each other’s point of view.”
Dr. Sheikha Abdulla Al-Mis8 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
nad, President of Qatar University,
delivered the keynote address. She
sees education as key to economic
development and addressed the role
that business can play in developing
educational infrastructure.
“Businesses in Qatar and
around the world have learned that
they can no longer focus only on the
bottom line when making corporate
decisions. Consumers and investors
alike are beginning to judge them
based on how they conduct themselves in non-financial areas such as
business ethics, environmental policies, workplace conditions and other
issues,” Al Misnad says.
“From local economic development concerns to international
human rights policies, companies
are being held accountable for their
actions and their impact. They must
consider the footprint they are leaving behind.”
Community Iftar
S
tudents, staff, faculty and even a
few alumni from Carnegie Mellon Qatar gathered together for a
Community Iftar during Ramadan.
Iftar is the evening meal for breaking the daily fast during the Islamic
holy month of Ramadan.
Student Affairs organizes the
Iftar every year as a way to bring
together the growing community in
Doha.
“This is the only time throughout the year that all faculty and
staff - along with their families - and
students sit down together to enjoy
a meal,” says Dave Stanfield, Director of Student Activities.
Iftar is done right after
Maghrib (sunset) prayer time, and
is often done as a community
with Muslims and
non-Muslims
gathering together to break
their fast. Traditionally, a date
is the first thing
consumed when
the fast is broken.
Though nonMuslims are not
required to fast during Ramadan,
everyone was encouraged to fast on
the day of the Iftar to experience
Ramadan and what it is about.
Building a Community
I
magine you are a primary school
student who gets to spend an hour
every week discussing your school
life with the head of the Mathematics Department at a premiere university.
Or imagine having Business
Administration majors at a top
business school teach you about
entrepreneurship, or Computer Science majors delivering activities on
robotics and programming.
These are some of the activities
that have been taking place as part
of a partnership between Carnegie
Mellon University in Qatar and
Qatar Academy, a pre-kindergarden
through 12th grade school.
Both schools are located in
Education City, which is a 14-square
kilometer site in Doha that hosts
branch campuses of some of the
Qatar
Professor Marion
Oliver mentors a
student from Qatar
Academy as part
of a community
building program
between Carnegie
Mellon Qatar and
Qatar Academy.
world’s leading universities, as well
as numerous other educational and
research institutions. This close
proximity is what led to the creation
of these unique partnerships over
the past two years.
The two schools have collaborated and produced programs that
have not only enriched QA students’
learning but also helped them become better world citizens. Individuals normally separated either socially or geographically are working
together and creating a unique and
inspired learning environment.
One of the programs is
mentoring in the Learning Assistance Program. Faculty and staff of
Carnegie Mellon have volunteered
their time to provide support for QA
students in a variety of ways such
as offering opportunities for accelerated learning, athletic or artistic
development or guidance for those
experiencing difficulties socially or
academically.
Carnegie Mellon’s students are
also playing a strong role in the collaboration. Undergraduate students
are running after school activities in
their area of study for primary and
secondary level students.
This environment of collaboration is allowing the children to
develop skills to empower them as
individuals and create change for
the betterment of all.
-Tammy MacNeil
Student Service
M
ohammed Abu Zeinab (TPR
09) recently accepted a 2008
Student Service Award from Carnegie Mellon University’s Alumni
Association.
Mohamad Abu Zeinab received the
prestigious Student Service Award from
Carnegie Mellon Alumni Association.
Abu Zeinab, who spent the
Fall 2008 term at the Pittsburgh
campus, was honored among 19
students, alumni, faculty and friends
of the university during Carnegie
Mellon’s annual Homecoming and
Reunion Weekend.
“Mohammed is an active and
respected member of the Carnegie
Mellon Qatar community, contributing with his enthusiasm and hard
work to the planning and execution
of various university events that are
integral to the personal and social
development of our students,” says
Silvia Pessoa, Ph.D., an English and
modern languages lecturer.
As a freshman, Abu Zeinab
was elected Student Government
Activities Coordinator, served on the
Student Advisory Board and established a record of personal academic
excellence. Since then, he founded
the Health and Fitness Club and
provided leadership for the first
student-run orientation program on
campus.
Abu Zeinab currently serves as
public relations director of Neomotion, a student organization that
engages regional leaders in corporate social responsibility initiatives.
Through Neomotion, he
helped to develop a computer literacy and information program for
35 security and janitorial staff, and
organized 85 volunteers to clean up
a deserted beach.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬9
Carnegie
Mellon
Qatar
celebrates
its new
building in
Education City
A
pproximately 6,930
miles from the flagship
campus in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.,
Carnegie Mellon University has a
new home. The 460,000-squarefoot facility in Education City is a
three-story architectural wonder
that features open spaces, water
features and a warm palette of
colors.
10 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬11
“The philosophy of the Carnegie Mellon building is connected to
the social experience of the university. Carnegie Mellon wanted to be
the heart of Education City,” says
building architect Ricardo Legorreta.
“Having two sides of the building
with a green spine in the middle was
the basis of the design. Similar to
buildings in other cultures, this design creates space for people to pass
through and circulate.”
An aerial view of the building shows something of an unusual
footprint with a half circle on one
side and a rectangle on the other, but
the abnormal design was purposeful.
By straddling the East-West Walkway, the building creates a spacious
breezeway that welcomes everyone
from Education City. Palm trees and
water features line the outdoor path
that leads into the three-story, glass
ceiling walkway.
Trees continue into the building, creating a space alive with
12 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
greenery and flooded with natural
light. Walls are made of geometric
mosaics of wood and stained glass,
while bridges across the walkway
join the two sides of the building.
The walkway opens up on the south
side into the food court. With comfortable seating, natural light and a
food servery, it’s always packed with
students studying, eating, hanging
out or sleeping.
“The heart of Carnegie Mellon is people coming together, to
teach, to study, to do research. We’re
blessed with a wonderful space that
encourages that kind of collaborative, active, cross-disciplinary learning,” says Charles E. Thorpe, Dean.
Beyond the food court is a large
assembly area that can hold in excess
of 400 people. Carnegie Mellon is
the only building in Education City
designed with a space that can accommodate such a large number of
people for an event. The assembly
area features colorful tiered Majlis-
style seating, a water feature and
a plinth with etched quotes from
Andrew Carnegie and The Emir of
Qatar.
The north side of the building
is home to the tranquil VIP courtyard. Open to two floors of offices
and classrooms, the focal point of the
space is a large water feature designed for easy drainage so the space
can be used for events. The open
ceiling, blue walls and rippling water
reflect light during the day and cast
inspiring shadows as night falls.
In addition to the large common spaces, Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s
new building features 11 state-ofthe-art classrooms, 5 computer
classrooms, 5 labs, 5 lecture halls, a
library, 12 meeting rooms, four study
rooms, two prayer rooms, 149 offices/workstations and two lounges.
“From the very beginning, the
plan has centered on the idea of making a place for learning and development of the highest order; a place for
teaching and research; and a community of teachers and students,”
says Kevin Lamb, Assistant Dean for
Planning.
“Qatar Foundation inspired
and supported a design that would
do all of this plus make an elegant
statement that the intention of
Education City is to be a world-class
place for teaching and learning, for
growth and development of students
from Qatar, the Middle East and
beyond.”
The building, which was provided to Carnegie Mellon by Qatar
Foundation, is situated in the 2,500acre Education City campus between
Weill Cornell Medical College in
Qatar and Texas A&M University at
Qatar. Other universities with branch
campuses in Education City include
Virginia Commonwealth University,
Georgetown School of Foreign Service and Northwestern University.
Ceremonial groundbreaking of
the Carnegie Mellon building took
The three-story
atrium is the
heart of the
Carnegie Mellon Building in
Education City.
With a food
court, Majlis
seating and
plenty of natural light, it’s the
place to be.
place May 17, 2006. Actual construction work began that summer.
Construction continued around the
clock for more than two years. Some
2,300 workers were on site at any
given time to meet the Aug. 1, 2008
move-in day.
Having this new building
means more to the students, staff
and faculty than having a permanent
place to unpack boxes and hang photos. After four years and two tem-
porary locations, this building gives
Carnegie Mellon a solid foothold
in Qatar, and as Thorpe says, somewhere for the university to call home.
“We’re far from the main
campus in distance, but we can bring
the same spirit to Qatar that Andrew
Carnegie first brought to Pittsburgh
when he wrote, ‘my heart is in the
work.’” View more pictures of the
building at www.qatar.cmu.edu/newbuilding.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬13
a breathtaking new idea
With the help of the Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program,
CliniPharma is looking to market a new treatment for Asthma
14 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
D
r. Nedaa Nassief is
one of the 300 million people in the
world who suffer from
asthma, a chronic disease involving the respiratory system where
the airways constrict, become
inflamed and are lined with excessive amounts of mucus.
“Asthma is a disease of
urbanization. It’s a worldwide
epidemic that is expected to grow
to 400 million by the year 2025.
It has a high rate of hospitalization with an increasing trend in
morbidity and mortality in the
urbanized world. There is major
need for new medications,” she
says.
As a medical doctor
who specialized in respiratory
medicine, Nassief began doing
research on the pathology of
asthma in Iraq in 1993. Her
research led to the finding that
Glycophosphopeptical (AM3), a
drug already on the market for
the treatment of viral hepatitis,
was an effective treatment for
asthma.
Nassief continued her
research until 1998 and obtained
a patent for AM3 in the U.K. in
1998. With no business background, she was unsure about
how to move AM3 forward,
which is why she signed up for
the inaugural Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program at Carnegie Mellon Qatar in
Aug. 2007.
The CIEP is a nine-month,
part-time course designed to provide people like Nassief with the
skills and resources to commercialize technology and take their
ideas to market.
Experienced entrepreneurs
and Carnegie Mellon professors
teach courses in entrepreneurship,
technology commercialization and
business planning. “I knew the
instructors in this program had
experience I could benefit from.”
Nassief partnered with
fellow CIEP student Dr. Pascal
Derde, a veterinarian at Al Shaqab
Stud Farm with years of experience running businesses, and
began working on a business plan
for CliniPharma. “Dr. Pascal has
an understanding of the business
side and the medical side so he
is able to explain our product to
non-medical people.”
CliniPharma’s patented new use of an existing
medication called AM3
looks to revolutionize the
way doctors treat and
control Asthma.
AM3 can transform a
dependence on a puffer
with a 10-day cycle of
AM3 tablets.
With the help of Car
Carnegie Mellon Qatar’s
Corporate Innovation and
Entrepreneurship Program, CliniPharma hopes
to bring AM3 to the mar
market.
With the classes as well as
the guidance and support of CIEP
instructors Art Boni, Tom Emerson, George White and George
Vector, CliniPharma has been
steadily moving forward with getting AM3 to the market.
In addition to the knowledge
gained from the course, CliniPharma won the CIEP business plan
competition, which came with a
prize of QR 100,000 and a oneyear mentorship at Qatar Science
and Technology Park.
Additionally, Nassief and
Derde were introduced to Dr.
David Skoner, an asthma specialist
based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
U.S.A., where Carnegie Mellon
has its flagship campus. Through
this partnership, Derde was able
to attend the Nemacolin Asthma
Conference and meet top researchers in the field of Asthma.
The duo have also been
introduced to potential investors
and connected with Pittsburgh
Life Sciences Greenhouse, a nonprofit organization that provides
capital investments and customized company formation and
business growth services to the
region’s life sciences. Similar to
QSTP, Pittsburgh Life Sciences
Greenhouse, is an incubator for
start ups businesses.
Nassief says CliniPharma
plans to set up an office at PLSG
and conduct clinical trials of the
drug in Pittsburgh. She also hopes
to secure office space at QSTP to
continue conducting research and
to maintain a global presence for
AM3.
The process of getting a drug
to the market can be long and
daunting, taking several years.
However, since AM3 is already an
existing compound, Nassief says
the process will be less involved
than if CliniPharma was starting
from scratch.
No matter how long it takes,
Nassief says she and Derde remain
focused on this growing health
crisis.
“The average annual cost
per Asthma patient is $4,912.
Every year in the U.S. alone there
are two million emergency room
visits; 500,000 hospitalizations;
and 5,000 deaths due to Asthma.
CliniPharma is dedicated to
becoming a leader in the development of new Asthma medication.”
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬15
Sustainability
in
16 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
Qatar
‘Go Green’
may be an odd statement in a country like
Qatar, where most of the desert terrain is
covered with beige sand. Yet no matter where
you live or what the climate, the sentiment is
the same: everyone needs to be more aware of
the environment and of the limited resources
available on the planet Earth.
Carnegie Mellon Qatar has taken the
first steps in beginning recycling and sustainability initiatives on campus and throughout
the community of Doha. Recycling bins have
been placed in the new Carnegie Mellon
building and sustainability is the focus of various course projects and outreach events such
as Ibtikar Qatar.
“There is a lot of interest especially
among the faculty from Pittsburgh who are in
the habit of recycling and want to continue it
here,” says Rosemary Lapka, adjunct professor and sustainability coordinator.
One major effort Lapka has taken on is
the formation of SustainableQatar. Formed in
March 2008, SustainableQatar is a group of
environmental and social educators who have
come together to share interests and start a
dialogue. Its goal is to share resources, foster
collaboration and make a real change in the
health and well being of the community, environment and development of Qatar.
There is no central point of information
for anything in Qatar, especially environmental issues. So we started a wiki as a way to get
reliable information in one place and hopefully increase awareness.”
Students are also showing a growing
interest in sustainability practices and living a
more green life. In 2008, a small group started
the LiveGreen club as a way to attempt to address environmental concerns in Doha with a
goal of influencing accustomed habits detrimental to our surroundings.
The student group works to raise awareness for local and global environmental issues
that may ultimately become a menace to the
planet. More and more students are joining
the club and actively engaging in its projects.
Lapka says that is due in part to the growing number of environmental programs in
secondary schools.
One unique aspect about sustainability
in Qatar and other Islamic countries is that
of the connection between religion and the environment. “Islam says don’t waste, use wisely
and share,” says Lapka. The Quran also talks
a lot about al mizan, or having nature in
balance. Focusing on the importance of the
relationship between man and nature is often
what sparks action among Muslims.
Recycling efforts may not seem like
something new to expatriates who live in Qatar, but for many local residents the concepts
are new. When compared to other parts of the
world, Qatar is far behind the curve on environmental programs and conservation efforts.
In U.S. for example, recycling bins
are ubiquitous, reusable shopping bags are
the norm and most communities have wellhoned recycling programs. Part of the lack of
programs in Qatar is due to the rapid urbanization of the country and influx of money,
as well as the lack of availability of recycling
facilities and awareness among the population.
Lapka says planning for large-scale sustainability efforts in Qatar are underway, but
such a large initiative will take time. Qatar
National Vision 2030, which was released in
2008, features environmental development as
one of its four pillars.
The document states that Qatar must focus on the “management of the environment
such that there is harmony between economic
growth, social development and environmental protection.”
Qatar Foundation has begun talks with
different organizations to secure free bins and
recyclable pick-ups throughout Education
City. Since nothing has been finalized yet, QF
has built an enclosed storage space in the operations area outside of Education City where
recyclables are being stored until a contract is
in place.
“Creating recycling programs is not a
quick process, and it’s not easy,” says Lapka.
“But with more and more focus on the topic
and with the foresight of Qatar officials, I’m
confident we’ll get there.”
Learn more about SustainableQatar and
recycling at http://sustainableqatar.pbwiki.
com/.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬17
18 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
brick by
brick
Service trip to Ghana
teaches more than
how to build houses
Few students at Carnegie Mellon Qatar had ever been anywhere
in Africa except Egypt. Even fewer
had done anything even remotely
close to building a house. But that
didn’t stop eight students from signing up to spend eight labor-intensive
days under the scorching sun in the
small rural village of Breman Asikuma of Accra, Ghana.
“We made bricks. We carried
the bricks. We made load after load
of mortar for the bricks. We worked
four hours in the morning, had a
break for lunch and worked another
four hours in the afternoon,” says
Darbi Roberts, Student Development
Coordinator and trip chaperone.
Laying brick was how the
group spent most of its time in
Ghana, but the trip wasn’t just
about building houses: It was about
learning from others.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬19
T
Carnegie Mellon
Qatar students
quickly learned
the ins and outs of
building a house
in Ghana. They
had to make the
bricks and mortar
by hand. Long and
hot days of work
were followed by
icy cold bucket
showers and
meals with people
who lived in the
remote village.
20 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
his wasn’t the first time
a group from Carnegie
Mellon Qatar worked
with Habitat for Humanity International.
During the Fall 2007 semester a
group went to Jordan for the same
reason. Habitat for Humanity is an
international not-for-profit organization whose primary mission is
to provide affordable, standardized
housing for those who are currently
living in sub-standard conditions.
Habitat does not give handouts. Rather, houses are built
through a combined effort of
volunteers dedicating their time and
the sweat equity of the future homeowner’s.
The organization’s philosophy
requires that all future home-owners
put in a certain number of hours
of work on their own house. Often
times volunteers work alongside the
future owners of the house, providing deeply impactful experiences for
both volunteer and benefactor.
The Carnegie Mellon group
went to Ghana through Habitat for
Humanity’s Global Village program.
Students Saleh Al Khulaifi,
Omar Alouba, Basheera Banu, Omar
El Zoheery, Dana Hadan, Maha
Mahmoud, Bayan Taha and Khaled
Ziyaeen, along with chaperones
Dave Stanfield and Darbi Roberts
boarded the flight for Ghana with
little knowledge about the people
with whom they would interact and
the culture in which they would live.
Yet their enthusiasm was palpable.
Additionally, they knew little
about the work they would be doing, other than that they would be
building houses. As is the norm with
trips of this nature, the students
spent the previous few months preparing for their adventure in “predeparture meetings” where they read
books and documents given to them
by Habitat and talking with a Carnegie Mellon home campus student
who grew up in Accra.
However, nothing could have
prepared them for the unforgiving
building schedule they would face.
Accra, the capital city of Ghana, has a metropolitan population of
nearly 3 million. Breman Asikuma,
where the group was headed, is the
capital city of the Asikuma-OdobenBrakwa District within Ghana.
It is located in the north-central
part of the Central Region of the
country. It’s a 60-mile, slow and
bumpy minibus ride from Accra that
takes four hours.
The population of the entire
885-square-kilometer region is a
scant 87,796 of Ghana’s total population of 23 million. With an economy almost entirely based on local
agriculture, Breman Asikuma is a far
cry from Doha, or most other places
the students had ever been before.
“How come they are happy
with this simple life?” wondered
sophomore Saleh Al Khulaifi as he
arrived. Yet as the week wore on,
he began to see just how happy the
simple life can be – and learned to
appreciate it.
Most of the trip was spent constructing a single house. This form
of construction was unlike anything
the students had experienced before.
Scaffolding was made out of mere
bamboo shoots collected from the
nearby forest.
They had to make the bricks
they needed, and the concrete and
mortar used to lay the bricks didn’t
come out of a mixer, rather it was a
carefully mixed pile on the ground
next to the construction site. A local
woman skillfully carried a big basin
on her head that held the water for
the mixture.
After a long day of work, the
group would head back to refreshingly cold bucket showers and a
hot meal of a variety of homemade
local fare. Dinner consisted of
fresh bananas and pineapples from
the backyards of the families they
stayed with, palm oil-based dishes
of chicken or sometimes beef, salad,
fried plantains, rice, pasta and yams
the size of a human head.
“Being able to travel
thousands of miles
and interact with people from a completely
different culture than
your own – or different
from any you’ve ever
even experienced before – has an incredible way of connecting
us to others.”
Al Khulaifi says it was the
experience of living like the locals
that changed his perspective. “The
entire week we stayed in the houses
of Habitat home owners, built by
Habitat volunteers in the past.” The
students shared close quarters, four
people to a room with simple bunkbeds for sleeping and used a bathroom that had no running water.
During work breaks, students
played football with local kids and in
the evenings they gathered with them
to play board games. These connections made senior Basheera Banu feel
not just welcomed into the community, but as if she wasn’t a stranger or
outsider at all.
“Being able to travel thousands
of miles and interact with people
from a completely different culture
than your own – or different from
any you’ve ever even experienced
before – has an incredible way of
connecting us to others,” Banu says.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from
or what your religion is. It’s just
humanity.”
For other students, such as
sophomore Khaled Ziyaeen, simply
seeing others less fortunate than him
led to self-reflection. “It made me
ask ‘who am I, who do I want to be,
and how do I get there?’ It made me
appreciate more around me. It’s important to know that no matter what
situation you’re in, there’s always
someone who is worse off than I am,
and they’re not complaining about
it.”
Senior Maha Mahmoud’s experience centered on what she learned
from the Ghanaians themselves.
Throughout the week, the group
had a chance to meet people from
all walks of life – college students in
Accra, Habitat staff members, shop
owners in the markets of Breman
Asikuma and children in the Habitat
housing development.
“One of the most striking commonalities was the extent to which a
sense of spirituality infiltrated every
aspect of their lives. They lived out
their faith in how they treated others
fairly, in their thankfulness, in their
hospitality, humility, and generosity.
It wasn’t about what religion they
practiced, but how they practiced
that religion in every aspect of their
life,” Mahmoud says.
What was originally a trip to
build houses for others was ultimately a time for everyone to build their
identity as global citizens. Mahmoud
summed it up for the group when she
said of the Ghanaians, “They made
me feel like I could be better.”
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬21
Shahriar Haque
(CS 10) took on
the role of professor in the first
StuCo in Qatar.
Haque taught
Game Design dur
during the Fall 2008
semester.
22 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
StuCo
Game Design is first student taught class in Doha
D
uring the Fall 2008 semester, game design became
more than just a hobby for
Shahriar Haque (CS 10).
After watching a video of
Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch’s
last lecture and learning about the creation
of the Entertainment Technology Center,
Haque felt inspired to bring more exposure
of game design to Qatar.
While trying to find a professor to
teach a course, Haque stumbled across Carnegie Mellon’s StuCo program and thought
he could give the professor role a try.
The StuCo, or Student College
Program, was founded at Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh in 2001 with a mission to
“provide members of the Carnegie Mellon
community with the opportunity to share in
educational course-based experiences that
are not available through regular university offerings, as led by Carnegie Mellon
students.”
Haque’s first task for his StuCo was
to develop a syllabus. “I really modeled
toward the structure of commercial video
game development. This includes story
creation, designing characters, creating the
code and a lot of group work,” Haque says.
“In the end I wanted my students to have
something to show for it.”
Haque thought it was crucial to
have the class taught in Java, which is the
programming language in which all of the
introductory programming courses at Carnegie Mellon are taught. He hoped that by
putting the gaming twist in his course, he
would inspire others just like gaming had
inspired him to further develop his programming skills.
Pausch referred to game design as a
‘head fake,’ meaning students think they
are having fun but in reality they are being
tricked into learning programming. This
proved to be a positive venture as Haque
witnessed a tremendous improvement in the
basic programming skills of his students.
Because StuCo is offered through the online
enrollment system, other Education City
campuses are able to take advantage of the
course. This allowed one student from Weill
Cornell to sign up, which added even more
diversity to the classroom.
Haque admits that teaching this
course has given him a new perspective on
the logistics of what it takes to be a professor. “It’s really difficult to come up with
course materials and make sure everyone
understands the concepts you’re trying to
relay.” Haque spent the summer before he
taught working on the framework that
students could use as a boilerplate for the
games they would make in his class.
When looking to the future, Haque
does not see himself as continuing the
course as a StuCo, but instead branching
out and creating a club for game design,
where students can create games for fun,
and can do it year round with a more
flexible schedule. Still, he encourages the
development of additional StuCo’s from his
peers at Carnegie Mellon.
“We have such a diverse and talented
campus, I know there is a lot of knowledge
and experiences that we can share with
each other.”
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬23
spotlight on
Using television shows to
learn Organization Behavior
I
f you’ve ever watched the American
version of The Office, you’ve no doubt
cringed at something Dunder Mifflin Regional Manager Michael Scott
said or did. With a knack for inappropriate
comments, offensive language, immaturity
and a desperate desire to be liked by his
employees, most people would consider
Scott a shining example of failure.
But Business Administration professor
Starling Hunter, Ph.D., sees quite a different
picture. “Michael Scott does a lot of things
wrong, but he does some things right. We
can definitely learn a lot from him.” Which
is why Hunter uses the popular show, along
with many other hit American television
programs, as the basis for his Organization
Behavior course.
“A lot of our students have never had
summer jobs or after-school jobs, so unlike
in the U.S. I can’t use working in fast food
or in a store at the mall as an example of
organization behavior, leadership or teamwork,” says Hunter. “When I found out
the amount of American TV our students
watch, it was a natural fit.”
Television shows and movies allow
students to be a fly on the wall of many different companies, families or social groups
they otherwise have no experience with. In
doing this, students are able to take concepts learned in the classroom and apply
them to what they are watching.
Each TV show presents a unique situation involving basic frameworks such as
leadership, communication, power, motivation, politics and stress.
“Michael Scott is a great character to
learn from. He means well and genuinely
likes his employees, but is blundering in execution. If you watch the show, you know
he was a top salesman for many years,
which means he understands the firm and
the products it sells,” says Hunter.
24 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
“Seeing him as a manager poses the
question of whether an organization’s best
performer in a functional position will
make a good leader. That’s a valuable concern for any company, and one our students
need to understand.”
The Office is just one of the shows
Hunter has weaved into his syllabus. He
uses the pilot episode of Lost to show crisis
leadership; episodes of CSI to show conflict
and organizational structure; and episodes
of Grey’s Anatomy to show interpersonal
nature, stress and role conflict.
After a friend won The Apprentice,
Hunter also began incorporating reality
TV into his classes because of the different
models involved. Extreme Makeover Home
Edition shows sequential interdependence
and reciprocity; Deadliest Catch shows job
design, decision making and teamwork;
American Chopper shows interpersonal
conflict; and Hell’s Kitchen shows stress,
leadership and teamwork.
Since most of the concepts in these
shows were originally designed in North
America, Hunter’s class gives students in
Qatar a chance to learn about the concepts
and discuss how to apply them to the local
business environment.
“Students will say ‘that won’t work
here’ and I have them explain why. This
gives me a chance to engage them in discussion about what happens when you apply a
concept to a different market. And it gives
me a chance to learn from them.”
Showing American television programs also gives Hunter a chance to expose
his students to some Americana. “The
programs open up avenues to talk about
pop culture, geography, fast food and turns
of phrase.”
Hunter first came up with the idea to
use television and movies to teach Organization Behavior while teaching the course
AS SEE
N ON
TV
as a graduate student at Duke University. He had his students pick a movie or
TV show that featured one style of leadership and analyze it. Due to limited availability of DVDs in the late 1990s, male
students overwhelmingly picked Braveheart
while the females chose the TV show Ally
McBeal.
He quickly realized that watching
programs that featured the dry, and somewhat boring concepts he was teaching
helped students really understand them.
“Books are very academic and conceptual,
watching TV gets students to pay attention
and look deeper,” says Hunter.
And his method must be working.
He says many students come and talk to
him about basic business concepts that are
featured in their favorite shows. They also
tell him that after taking his course, they’ll
never watch TV the same again.
Surprisingly, Hunter says he is unaware of anyone else who uses this method
to teach an entire course on Organizational Behavior. Some professors use a few
examples in their teaching, but not to the
extent Hunter does. Therefore he is building a video library and teaching notes that
he plans to make available to the broader
academic community.
“This method of teaching shows our
students that organizational behavior is
broader than just a business concept; it’s
everywhere.”
And with so many TV shows and
movies to pick from, Hunter says he could
teach the course for 30 years and never
teach it the same way twice.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬25
spotlight on
LPAR conference held in the
Middle East for the first time
Ninety computer science scholars
from all over the world converged in Doha
last week to attend the 15th Annual Logic
for Programming, Artificial Intelligence and
Reasoning Conference.
LPAR is an annual forum where
many of the most renowned researchers in
the areas of automated reasoning, computational logic, programming languages and
their applications gather together to present cutting-edge results, discuss advances in
these fields and exchange ideas.
As an itinerant event, each year LPAR
selects a scientifically emerging part of the
world to hold the conference. This is the
first time this conference has been held in
the Middle East.
“LPAR is one of the two most prestigious conferences in this discipline. We
wanted to bring it to Doha to establish
Carnegie Mellon Qatar and Education
City as a center for education and research.
One of the best ways to do that is to bring
well-known scientists here,” says Iliano
Cervesato, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon computer science faculty member and LPAR
organizer.
“In addition to gathering at the conference sessions, attendees can meet and
26 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
interact with Carnegie Mellon faculty and
students to learn more about the research
being conducted here in Qatar.”
The caliber of LPAR 08 is evident in
its invited speakers. They included Edmund Clarke, 2007 Turing Award recipient (scientific equivalent to a Nobel Prize)
and Carnegie Mellon professor; Michael
Backes, Saarland University professor;
and Thomas Eiter, Technical University of
Vienna professor.
Since its inception, LPAR has grown
each year and is now one of the most
sought-after meetings in computational
logic on the conference circuit. More than
150 authors submitted scholarly papers
from 42 different countries including
France, Switzerland, Estonia, South Africa
and Japan.
LPAR attendee Luigi Liquori of
France was highly impressed with the stateof-the-art facilities at Education City as
well as the rate of construction and growth
around Doha.
“The Education City campus is
unforgettable. Carnegie Mellon’s building
is magnificent. And the hospitality of the
people here in Qatar is amazing. This was
a great choice for LPAR 2008.”
spotlight on
‫إبتكار قطر‬
Ibtikar Qatar
New competition for high school
students meets with success
Seventy-five high school students
in Qatar were given a task: Use Information Systems to improve awareness about
environmental challenges in Qatar. The
task was the focus of the new Ibtikar Qatar
competition at Carnegie Mellon University
in Qatar.
Ibtikar Qatar was created by the
Information Systems faculty at Carnegie
Mellon Qatar as a way to get high school
students involved in an environmentally
focused competition, while at the same time
peaking their interest in the field of Information Systems.
“Since we just launched the Information Systems major, we wanted to find a
way to inform students about the program
and the field of IS,” says Selma Limam
Mansar, Ph.D., Information Systems faculty
member.
“Instead of just holding an information session, we thought a competition
would be fun and more engaging for the
students.”
A team from Al Bayan Educational
Complex captured first place with a project
that proposed a solution to raise awareness among the Qatari population of the
benefits of recycling.
Their plan consisted of an information system that used an online news center
as well as a searchable database on Qataribased recycling centers and repair shops. It
would guide the public as to the best ways
of recycling or reusing obsolete equipment
such as mobile phones and computers.
“This team came up with a great idea,
something that is totally new to Qatar.
And they did a great job presenting it and
defending it to the judges,” says Limam
Mansar.
Ibtikar (Arabic for innovation) Qatar
began with a kickoff workshop in November where the teams learned the rules of the
competition, as well as the role innovation
and Information Systems play in the marketplace. They also learned how to design
a poster to explain their project, and began
brainstorming about ideas.
Each year the
competition will
focus on a different topic. This
year’s theme was
the environment,
which is a topic
already on the
minds of many of
the students.
Teams were
judged on the novelty
of their idea; whether
it used Information Systems
effectively; its economic feasibility; its impact on raising environmental
awareness; poster design; and how well
they presented their ideas.
“The teams were very enthusiastic,
and keen to win. We could feel the tension
as the day went on,” Mansar says.
Current students in Carnegie Mellon’s
Information Systems program mentored the
participating teams throughout the twomonth event. Additionally two Carnegie
Mellon Qatar 2008 alumni volunteered
their time to assist with the competition.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬27
Human Rights Club
holds dinner for
campus workers
In the spirit of Ramadan, the Human Rights Club
wanted to show its appreciation for the migrant workers,
primarily from South Asia, who tirelessly work on the
construction of Carnegie Mellon’s new building. Since
most of the workers were fasting for Islam’s holy month,
the club decided to hold an Iftar, which is the traditional
breaking of the fast at sundown for Muslims during Ramadan.
“The first order of business was to convince the
contractors to let us hold an event. Once they agreed, we
had to negotiate a feasible time,” says Wadha Al-Adgham
(CS 09), club president. When told the work schedule
didn’t allow for this, the group reconvened and decided
to hold a surprise charity feast.
Since the Human Rights Club did not have the budget to put on even a small dinner, Olympia Datta (CS 10)
and other members began going door to door in hopes
of raising QR 1,000. Club members quickly found they
underestimated the generosity of the campus. In only a
matter of days they raised more than QR 7,000. With the
surprise influx of resources, the club expanded the event
from a modest meal to a hot dinner with beverages and
desserts.
More than 300 workers attended on the way to
or from their shift. Club members connected with the
construction workers, as the workers exchanged their
gratitude in their native tongues of Urdu and Hindi.
“We wanted to let them know that all of their work
is essential to our building, and that we appreciate them
creating this new home for our university,” Datta says.
The Human Rights Club has held awareness events
on Darfur and the microfinance initiatives, but AlAdgham explains that the club wanted to make a difference in its own community.
“We wanted to remind our campus to appreciate
those who have contributed so much of their physical
labor to build this University that has given students in
Qatar so much opportunity.”
The group’s service initiative sparked the members
to want to do more. The club is planning other initiatives
to show appreciation for the workers.
- Rachelle Emard
28 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
focus on
s
translation
in
lost
students translate traffic laws as part of class project
G
etting a traffic violation is
enough to ruin anyone’s day.
It’s even worse in Doha when
you get a violation for something you know you definitely weren’t
doing such as ‘loading a vehicle in a way
that causes danger.’ After ranting about
the ticket, most people find out the real
reason for this violation: speeding.
So how does speeding turn into
dangerous loading? Poor translation
from Arabic to English, according to
Amal Mohamed Al-Malki, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon Qatar faculty member. Either
that, or another English word is simply
substituted.
Recognizing that Qatar’s 2007
Traffic Laws were incomprehensible in
English, students in Al-Malki’s Bridging
Civilizations class decided to work on a
complete translation as a class project.
During the Spring 2008 term, business
administration seniors Amna Al-Thani,
Noor Al-Athirah, Lulwah Al-Thani and
Maha Obaidan along with junior Fatima
Al-Rumaihi took on the daunting task.
“I called the Traffic Department
and begged them not to accept that
translation. I told them I have five students willing to translate the document
for them,” says Al-Malki, who holds a
master’s degree in English/Arabic applied linguistics and translation. Since
the Traffic Department received lots of
complaints from English speakers, it took
Al-Malki up on her offer.
However, the project was not as
simple as literally translating every word
from Arabic to English. The group first
had to decide what type of English - the
Queen’s English or American English.
British English was chosen because it’s
more common in Qatar.
Next the students had to find a way
to preserve the precise legal content while
reproducing it in an acceptable English
form. In some cases where an Arabic
word had no specific English equivalent,
they had to find terms that accurately
conveyed the meaning.
“Translation is not as easy as
people think. Everyone assumes if you’re
bilingual you can translate,” says AlMalki. “That’s not the case. The
two languages are very dissimilar. They have different
sentence structures and
dialects, and words
don’t always
translate. All
of that has
to be taken
into consideration.”
Yet the
students were
able to create an English
version that
Al-Malki herself
was proud of.
At the end of the
course, the students
presented their work
to the Traffic Department, which is currently
considering using it as the
official translation.
The students enjoyed the
work, and were so skilled at it,
that a few of them are now being
offered freelance translation work.
“Translation is a great skill to have
in this market. There is so much need,”
says Al-Malki, who is teaching the course
again in the Spring 2009 term.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬29
from
the
ground
up
Alumni in Qatar
are working
to set up a
Clan Chapter
-Darbi Roberts
30 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
F
ew people, if any, associated
with universities can remember a
time when there weren’t alumni.
Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh
has had alumni for more than
100 years and the vibrancy and
activity of its Alumni Association reflects that
history.
Every year at Homecoming, Graduation, Carnival and other events where alumni
are encouraged to come back, the interaction
between those alumni and current students is
crucial in educating the future alumni about
what role they are expected to play in the university post-graduation.
The Office of Alumni Relations forms
student committees to help plan these events,
and encourages giving back financially through
the Senior Gift Committee even before students leave the university. When students at
Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh graduate, there is
no question as to what is expected of them as
alumni.
In Qatar, the situation is a bit different.
As is well known, Carnegie Mellon Qatar
graduated its first class of alumni this past
spring. The few alumni in Qatar who can help
model what it means to be alumni do so under
the radar of students’ consciousness because
they show their dedication to their alma mater
by working for her.
Few members of the Class of 2008 were
fortunate to study at the Pittsburgh campus,
and even fewer alumni from Pittsburgh have
come here to educate graduates about being
alumni. Nonetheless, recent Qatar campus
alums have made significant efforts toward the
development of alumni organizations for both
Carnegie Mellon Qatar and the Middle East
Region.
During the frenzy of the first graduation,
Judy Cole, Associate Vice President for University Advancement and Director of Alumni
Relations, made time to sit down with the
Class of 2008 to talk about starting an alumni
presence of their own here in Qatar.
The alumni had a chance to talk to
several members of the Board of Trustees, and
in touch with
discuss what it meant to be an alumna or alumnus of Carnegie Mellon.
While the Class of 2008 wanted to be
connected to the Pittsburgh campus Alumni Association, they felt there were certain aspects of
their shared experience in Qatar that set them
apart from alumni of the Pittsburgh campus. It
was then that they decided to form their own
Qatar Campus Alumni Association with the 34
graduates of 2008.
Almost all of the graduates have sought
employment here in Qatar, while a few have
moved abroad to go to graduate school or
work. The fact that all but two of the 34
alumni have taken jobs in Qatar makes it easy
for them to continue to be involved in the life
of the university.
Several of them have chosen to work for
the university and others have stayed to work
for Qatar Foundation. Some alumni have come
back to the university as recruiters for summer
internships and future jobs for current students.
Some have come back to share their perspective
on the transition from university life to the real
world. Still others have decided to be directly
involved in the current student life of the university as coaches for sports teams.
The biggest challenge for the Class of
2008 hasn’t been staying involved in the life of
the university, but rather organizing themselves
into an official alumni organization because
they’ve started from scratch. They don’t have an established organization of which to become a part. They’re
establishing their own organization. They can’t
look at the Pittsburgh campus for insight into
starting an alumni organization because the
home campus started theirs a century ago. And
they can’t look at other universities in Education City because the other schools have yet to
establish their alumni organizations as well.
But the Class of 2008 isn’t the only group
of alumni in this region trying to establish
themselves as an organization. A handful of
alumni, mostly from the Pittsburgh campus,
have been diligently trying to organize a regional clan chapter under the umbrella of the
Alumni Association based in Pittsburgh.
The Alumni Association calls all of its
chapters “Clans” after the tradition of family
structures called “Clans” for the Scottish Highlanders. There are currently 10 Clan Chapters
outside of the United States – three in China,
three in India and one in Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan. As a guideline, Clan Chapters can be established wherever there are 250
alumni in any given city.
There is no city in the Middle East that
has 250 alumni, but the number of alumni in
the Middle East region totals well over 250,
even more if you consider Turkey part of the
geographical area. And these statistics are
based on often outdated information from
the alumni database, whereas the real count
of alumni in financial capitals such as Dubai
probably greatly surpasses the numbers that
are “in the books.”
The vast geographical expanse of the
Middle East regions, compounded by the ambiguity of this geo-political term, makes communication between alumni in the region quite
difficult. That’s why the group has resorted to
various other methods of communication like
Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Groups. However, the establishment of the Clan
Chapter as an official entity within the Alumni
Association is still unsure because of previously
set guidelines. What’s clear is that there is a
critical mass of alumni in the region and that
there is significant interest in making this fact
known to the broader community.
The growing number of alumni from
Qatar coupled with the growth in expatriate
employment opportunities in the Middle East
region present some interesting and exciting
opportunities for Carnegie Mellon to have a
presence in this area of the world.
The time is rich with the possibilities for
Carnegie Mellon to be an ambassador both
for the U.S. in the Middle East as well as the
Middle East in the U.S., both of which are
significant voids that need to be filled because
of the nature of our world today. If you would like to be involved in these
initiatives, you can contact alumni@qatar.cmu.
edu for more information.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬31
class
2009 Qatar Campus Scholars named
H
atem Alismail (CS 09), Hicham Nedjari (TPR 09) and Mohamad Abou
Zeinab (TPR 09) will be the three recipients
of the Qatar Campus Scholar awards in
May.
“The three students in 2009 exemplify
the finest traditions of Carnegie Mellon.
They all have excellent academic records
and while mastering one of the hardest
curriculums in the world, they are at the
same time pushing limits in and out of the
classroom,” says John Robertson, Assistant
Dean for Academic Affairs.
Selection of Qatar Campus Scholars is
based on embodying “high standards of academic excellence combined with multi-dimensional characteristics such as volunteerism, involvement in student organizations,
participation in sports or the arts” with an
emphasis on those who “demonstrate strong
leadership skills.”
This is the same selection criteria given
for the Andrew Carnegie Society Scholar
(ACS Scholars), a prestigious university
award on the Pittsburgh campus given to
one student per department throughout the
entirety of the university, producing 36 such
scholars every year.
“Hatem does this through his work
with exciting projects such as the Roboreceptionist; Hicham through his work
with cmBA and other organizations; and
Mohamed through his leadership in the
fitness club and other activities. In addition,
they have all given back to the community
through official efforts such as peer tutoring
and charity work and unofficial ones including being shining examples to their classmates. They are leaders in Carnegie Mellon’s
Class of 2009 and will be leaders for their
generation in Qatar after they graduate,”
Robertson says.
After the three Qatar Campus Scholars
were chosen, they were put into the broader
Pittsburgh campus pool for the ACS Scholar
award, for which Alismail was chosen.
Jinanne Tabra, Mona Maher and Yasmine Abdulrahman, all Tepper grads, were
the three Qatar Campus Scholars in May
2008.
Hatem Alismail named
Andrew Carnegie Scholar
Computer Science Senior Hatem Alismail
is the recipient of the ACS Scholar Award for the
2008-2009 school year. He attributes his award to
the philosophy of hard work that’s been instilled in
him since he started at Carnegie Mellon University
in Qatar.
“It is hard to find the words to describe how
much this award means to me, but what I know
for sure is that it is a great responsibility as well
as a great motivation to keep working harder and
harder. When your heart is in the work, it always
pays off,” says Alismail.
Having students from Qatar win awards
where they compete against students in a much
larger pool made their accomplishments feel more
substantial and gave them more credit than they
had previously given themselves.
Each ACS Scholar is awarded $1,500 that
they can put toward any endeavor of academic or
personal growth. In addition, the group as a whole
is given a sum of $200 per student to contribute
back to the university in whatever manner they
deem fit.
32 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
class
The '08 Answers....so come with questions
Members of the Class of 2008 came back to campus in November for the ‘08 Answers event.
The goal of the event was to give current students some valuable alumni advice and perspective. Recent
grads were on hand to discuss job hunting, expectations when entering the real world and the differences
between professional life and university life.
Maintaining connections, networking events and using the Office of Professional Development
were hot topics. As were having a well structured resume, paying attention to course details and knowing
the career path you truly desire pursuing.
2008
Hala Abbas (TPR) is working as a rela-
tions officer in the corporate department at
QNB.
Mohamed Al-Mahmeed (TPR) is working as
a treasury coordinator at Qatari Diar Real
Estate Investment Company.
Lina El Menshawy (TPR) is working as a
consultant in advisory services for Ernst &
Young.
Noor Al Athirah (TPR) is working as a strategy officer in the business development of
Q-Tel International.
Fatima Al-Mansoori (TPR) is working as a
business analyst in the human resources
division of the ITSS department of Qatar
Petroleum.
A word...from the alumni association
The Alumni Association is
a means to give back to Carnegie Mellon, the university that
helped us grow personally and
professionally. Our goal as the
first alumni in Qatar is to form a
framework for future alumni.
The Alumni Association
holds frequent meetings to discuss possible opportunities that
would benefit the Alumni Association. Through these meetings,
we are working on establishing
the fundamentals and foundations for our future graduates.
We plan to host events that
will include current students to
help enlighten them about real
life experiences. This will open
doors for future alumni and give
them an opportunity to benefit
and learn from our experiences. We used our entrepreneurial skills to develop the Alumni
Association. Of course, every big
journey starts with a simple step.
We’ve taken the first step toward
becoming an association that
will encompass all future graduating classes of Carnegie Mellon.
- Lina el Menshawy
Qatar Alumni Association
Executive Board
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬33
Pittsburgh
Pipe
Dreams
Carnegie Mellon
offers the only
degree program in
bagpiping in the
United States
-Shanley E. Kane
34 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
A
s a freshman at Carnegie
Mellon, Nick Hudson
gained international
attention in a venue
usually reserved for the
most urgent political and commercial
news of the day: the front page of the
Wall Street Journal. Hudson would
go on to be featured on CNN and
the CBS Evening News as a phenomenal rarity in the world of music and
higher education - he was the sole
bagpipe major in the nation.
Two years later, joined by two
other students in the country’s only
college degree program for bagpipers, Hudson seems both ambivalent
and slightly amused by his fame.
“All the business guys reading the
paper are like, here’s this punk from
the College of Fine Arts on the front
cover of the Wall Street Journal.”
Despite the national fascination,
the story of Nick Hudson is, at its
core, the story of a unique musical
passion and the only university in the
country with the desire and capability to foster it.
Carnegie Mellon’s dedication to
the instrument is rooted in part in its
founder’s Scottish heritage. A proud
Scotsman, Andrew Carnegie was an
aficionado of bagpiping. In his honor,
Carnegie Mellon has long incorporated bagpiping into campus life, and
the school’s Pipe and Drum band is
often seen performing in university
ceremonies.
For Hudson, the draw to the
instrument is more artistic than
cultural, rooted in the instrument’s
unique qualities, its shrill, haunting
notes and deceptive simplicity. While
having only 9 notes, the bagpipes are
capable of a surprising range of tone
and genre.
Hudson can play everything
from old Irish folk music to AC/DC
covers. “It’s my instrument now,”
Hudson says, “Musicians have an
interesting thing with their instru-
Nick Hudson is one of three students
who major in bagpiping at Carnegie
Mellon’s home campus in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
ments. It becomes an extension of
you.”
Fellow bagpiping majors Roberta Sefcik and Andy Bova share
Hudson’s love of the instrument. “I
don’t think there’s any other sound
like it. Everyone recognizes the sound
right away,” says Bova.
The bagpipers also share the
unequivocal support of their parents
in an extremely unusual career path.
“My mom has known that I was a
musician since I was a little girl,”
Sefcik says. Bova has been playing
since 12. “My parents have always
been 100% supportive.”
In the degree program’s 18 year
history, only 9 students have pursued
the bagpiping major. Of those, three
are still enrolled and three dropped
out, hinting at how long and hard
the road is for bagpipe students who
want to achieve mastery.
Despite the instrument’s challenges and obscurity, Hudson has
been drawn to the bagpipes since
youth. “I remember in elementary
school, they’d have band workshop days. They’d pass out cards to
check which instrument you wanted
to play. They had a card that said
‘other.’ I always filled in bagpipes.”
Unfortunately, bagpiping was
never offered as part of the curriculum. Still, Hudson pursued his passion, taking classes offered through
his local community and eventually
finding a personal instructor.
Now, Hudson has been playing
since he was 13 and owns his own
bagpipe, a 1910 instrument with real
ivory keys and African blackwood
with the dark luster of ebony.
Hudson has become a highly
regarded piper and provides instruction to Carnegie Mellon’s Pipe and
Drum band and the McDonald Pipe
Band and is also working with local
firefighters, police and EMS teams
to help them assemble their own
groups. Long a staple at funerals and
weddings, the bagpipes are increasingly associated with the police and
firefighters who have established
their own piping bands, many in the
wake of the 9/11 tragedy.
Hudson will graduate with a
B.F.A. in Bagpipe Performance and a
Music Education certification, giving
him the credentials needed to serve
as an advocate and teacher. Like his
fellow bagpiping majors, his plans
for the future involve both teaching
and performance.
Bova plans to get further
degrees in conducting or ethnomusicology, while Sefcik wants to teach
full time. Graduates of the program
have gone on to become renowned
bagpipe performers and instructors
of music, spreading the instrument
to a new generation of players and
listeners.
After all, it always comes back
to the music. Hudson struggles to
explain: “Your fingers are playing
the instrument… the interaction is…
it’s…” but he can’t seem to finish.
Sometimes passion is a thing that
can’t be put in words - you have to
hear it in music.
Winter 2008/Spring 2009 akhbar‫ أخبار‬35
around
Qatar Science & Technology Park opens for business
T
he contemporary, if not futuristic, Qatar Science & Technology Park has welcomed the first
tenants to its 45,000-square meters of
space. Multinationals such as Shell,
ExxonMobil, Microsoft, Fuego and
Cisco have already moved in, and more
companies are seeking to lease space.
The 35-hectare piece of land is
home to three functional buildings, all
designed by Australian architectural
firm Woods Bagot.
In the middle is the Innovation
Centre, which is a business incubator
for start up and small companies. It
consists of fully-furnished, ready-to-occupy offices as well as meeting rooms,
business services and access to expert
advice.
The Innovation Centre is flanked
on either side with state-of-the-art Tech
Centers. These research centers are
made up of open spaces that can be
customized to fit each tenant’s unique
needs. “Big companies that already
have a presence in Doha are taking
36 akhbar‫ أخبار‬Winter 2008/Spring 2009
advantage of this space to bring their
research folks here,” says Ben Figgis,
Director of Marketing for QSTP. “These
spaces are suitable for hard-core sciences; they can be fit with wet labs and
hoods and anything else a research team
needs.”
The three buildings are joined
together by a large ‘veil’ of roofing that
cascades out of the Innovation Centre
over the tops of the Tech Centers. This
creates a shared area for people to meet
and enjoy the outdoors while at the
same time be protected from the sun.
Multiple water features that reflect the
silver buildings and a banning of all
motor vehicles to garages enhance the
tranquil outdoor space.
The design and use of space is
just one way in which QSTP is different
from other science parks. “We’re more
strict than most parks. This is not a business park. You must be doing research
to have occupancy in the research
centers,” says Figgis.
“Also we’re non profit. We exist
to help create the knowledge-based
economy of Qatar.”
By being under Qatar Foundation’s umbrella, QSTP is able to take
advantage of the links with the six
universities that have branch campuses
in Education City. This allows for collaborative research projects, available
interns and potential employees. Many
of the companies housed at QSTP now
employ recent Education City graduates.
Construction of QSTP began in
2005 and was completed in the summer
of 2008. Work is currently underway on
a facility General Electric is building
for its own research work. Additionally,
QSTP plans to add creature comforts
such as a bank, travel agency and coffee
shop.
By fall 2009 Figgis expects 15-20
companies will be on site. Over the
next four years he anticipates another
900 jobs will be created at the start up
companies and research centers. Learn
more at www.qstp.org.qa.
Excellence. At Carnegie Mellon.
+ Business Administration
+ Computer Science
+ Information Systems
Phone + 974 454 8400
Fax
+ + 974 454 8410
Web
www.qatar.cmu.edu
A Member of Qatar Foundation
P.O. Box 24866
Doha, Qatar
www.qatar.cmu.edu