Campus News in Brief
New IS major on Qatar campus
Undergraduate students at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar will now be able to earn a bachelor of science in information systems. Previously, the university only offered undergraduate degrees in computer science and business administration.
Students in the information systems (IS) program will develop technical, decision-making, and problem-solving skills applicable to both computing and business. Once students complete the program, they will be qualified to enter a variety of professions, from software engineering to entrepreneurship.
Qatar, with its growing economy and information technology sector, has increasing job prospects for IS majors, which is a factor in the program’s growing popularity.
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar was the first university in Education City, the city where the campus is located, to introduce the new major. Randy Weinberg, director of the information systems program on Carnegie Mellon’s Pittsburgh campus, expects that the program will establish the university’s reputation as a source of successful IS graduates ready to apply their skills to developing the national and regional economies.
The IS major is “an obvious and welcome addition” to the two existing programs and “it is the natural bridge between computer science and business administration,” said Charles E. Thorpe, dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar, in a Sept. 18 university press release.
For more information on the information systems program at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, visit (www.qatar.cmu.edu/is/).
Thought accepting submissions
Thought, Carnegie Mellon’s undergraduate research journal, is seeking scientists and staff for its 2008 issue. Thought gives students the opportunity to share their ideas and independent research with the Carnegie Mellon community by having their work published in a scientific journal. Students can also take part in the editorial, design, and business aspects of producing the journal.
The staff of Thought has yet to announce when it will begin to accept submissions; however, the deadline for submissions will be in early March 2008. For those who are interested in submitting, submission guidelines and selection criteria can be found on the journal’s website,
(www.cmuthought.org). Each student whose work is chosen for publication will receive a monetary prize.
Thought was conceived by a group of students in 2005. The journal’s first issue was published in spring 2006 and featured four different research projects conducted by Carnegie Mellon undergraduate students.
Thought is looking for editors to read and edit submissions, designers to assist in layout and design fliers and posters, and business-minded students to manage the budgeting, marketing, and fund-raising aspects of the journal.
Students who are interested in becoming a part of Thought should contact Ashley Nelson, chief editor and director, at nashley@ or Laura Willey, assistant director, at lwilley@.