Carnegie Mellon Qatar Graduates Largest Class

By Angela Ford

Maher Khan earned degrees in both computer science and information systems from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, which celebrated graduation on May 1.

Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) celebrated its milestone 10th graduation with its largest class to date: 109 students were recognized in the presence of family, friends, faculty and alumni.

Ilker Baybars, dean and CEO of CMU-Q, reminded students how far they have come since arriving at the university.

"You worked hard from the start, learning to use creativity, collaboration and tenacity to solve problems," Baybars said. "You have learned that leadership cannot exist without teamwork. Every one of you has added to the Carnegie Mellon community."

This year's graduating class consists of 41 business administration students, 33 information systems students, 19 biological sciences students and 16 computer science students. This is an accomplished class academically, with 70 percent completing a minor and 53 percent received University Honors for earning a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.5.

Commencement speaker and CMU President Subra Suresh, sent the students forth with a charge to participate in the Fourth Industrial Revolution that involves bringing together the digital, biological and physical worlds.

"Our challenge is to continuously strive to understand the far-reaching implications of this Fourth Industrial Revolution," Suresh said. "I am confident that you are supremely prepared to take up this task and guide humanity to a more prosperous future."

The student speaker for the Class of 2017 was Ibrahim Soltan, an information systems graduate with a business administration minor.

"While it is true that individual classes taught us math and science and programming and rhetoric, and biology, the overall CMU-Q experience has taught us how to identify and solve problems," Soltan said. "From small puzzles to grand challenges like autonomous cars or robotic limbs, we are at the forefront of entrepreneurship and innovation. And that is because we are taught how to solve problems."

The class of 2017 raises the number of CMU-Q alumni to 679; they join a worldwide Carnegie Mellon network of more than 100,000 graduates.

Watch the ceremony.