Amna AlZeyara (SCS’14) sits among 4,000 conference-goers in a crowded auditorium in Minneapolis, Minn. The audience profile skews young and is mainly female. In fact, most of the women in attendance are still enrolled in college, studying science and technology.
The computer science major has traveled more than 7,000 miles, from her home in Qatar, to the 2013 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing conference, one of the most prominent technical conventions for women in computing. She is there to network, learn, and, most importantly, participate in the undergraduate research competition. Her work on Hala—a 3D animated robot with Arabic facial features that interacts with visitors to CMU-Q— is poised for an award this year. The challenge was to translate culturally specific facial expressions so both Arab and non-Arab visitors could understand and interact with the robot successfully.
The CMU-Q senior says she has always had a passion for programming: “It’s the best way to apply all that you are learning in the classroom.” That’s why she enrolled in the computer science program at CMU-Q. During her undergraduate studies she says she has been immersed in research and experimentation.
Her hard work is about to culminate into a single moment as the judges announce the young researcher from Qatar as first-place winner of the undergraduate competition. It’s a global honor, and AlZeyara is aware that this is another step toward her dream of becoming a noted researcher. On the flight home to Qatar, she plots her next steps, setting her sights on attending graduate school in the United States. She says Carnegie Mellon is high on her list.
—Lisa Kay Davis (DC’09)
