CMU-Q opened doors to a career in research, says computer science grad Omar Khattab

As we approach Graduation 2019, we are looking at just a few of the 78 graduating seniors who are finishing their undergraduate degrees, beginning careers in business, science and technology, or going to graduate school. Today we look at Omar Khattab, who is graduating with a degree in computer science.

Graduating senior Omar Khattab says Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar has provided him with a unique experience that has opened doors to a career in research.

“With the opportunities here at CMU, I was able to find challenging research beginning in my first year,” said Omar, who has been accepted into four of the top five computer science schools in the United States. He has decided to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University, which tied for the top ranking in the 2018 US News and World Report’s list of best graduate programs in computer science.

“I have always been interested in computer science, and during my orientation week I asked my professors about doing research,” said Omar. Later in his freshman year, Omar began working with Mohammad Hammoud, assistant teaching professor of computer science, who is now his senior thesis advisor. “Faculty members assigned me responsibilities and I felt they trusted me from the very beginning.”

Research has been a focus for Omar throughout his education. On April 30, he received the Best Project award for “IRg: A distributed graph-based framework for information retrieval.”

“I am so thankful for all of my professors and mentors who have guided me during my undergraduate education,” said Omar, “and I am especially grateful to Qatar Foundation for providing this educational opportunity in Doha.”