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Qatar National Research Fund awards three exceptional research projects worth $10.4 million

Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) has awarded funding to three major research projects that will expand the Qatar Exoplanet Survey, improve solar power conversion systems and evaluate a novel weight management programme for Qatari school children.

The winning project, which examined the effects of ultra-high pressures and temperatures on oil–based drilling mud, was one of five undergraduate projects competing at the QNRF event on March 27, held under the patronage of Mr Faisal Alsuwaidi, President of Research and Development at Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.

Student representatives presented their research, which had been selected through an extensive review process from 88 UREP projects completed in 2012, to a panel of seven judges. They were ranked on the quality of their presentations and the relevance of their data for Qatar.

Dr. Thomas Zacharia received a PhD in Engineering from Clarkson University in the field of computational materials science. Prior to his new role at Qatar Foundation, he served as Deputy Laboratory Director and Chief Research Officer of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, overseeing annual expenditures of $1.6 billion throughout a range of sectors, including energy and engineering sciences, computing and computational sciences, life and environmental sciences, and national security.

QNRF announces results for the 13th cycle of its Undergraduate Research Experience Program

Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) today announced the winners of its 13th Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP), with participation from 68 Qatari students, the highest number to date.

Over the past six years, UREP has provided more than 2,000 undergraduate students in Qatar with the opportunity to gain significant experience in team-based research collaboration with faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students, and other undergraduates or research staff. The program promotes learning by doing and hands on mentorship activities as effective methods for undergraduate research education.

 

Dr Somaya Al-Ma’adeed received her BSc in computer science from Qatar University in 1994. She received her MSc in mathematics and computer science from Alexandria University, Egypt, in 1999 and went on to get her PhD in computer science from Nottingham University in 2004. Since 1994, she has worked on research based at Qatar University, specializing in character recognition, writer identification, speech recognition, tendering systems and document management. Dr Al-Ma'adeed has published around 20 papers in these areas and is currently an assistant professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at Qatar University.