QU Ranked among Top 100 Universities Worldwide in Computer Science (THE 2023)
Qatar University has been ranked among the top 100 universities worldwide in Computer Science, according to Times Higher Education (THE) World University Ranking of 2023 that was just released. This is indeed a big achievement for our department. It is surely a result of years of active and hard work in planning, teaching, and research. Congratulations to all members!
QU’s rank has jumped this year over about 25 positions in THE CS subject ranking. With a steady progress over years, here are the CS ranks of QU since 2018:
- 2018: 251-300
- 2019: 201-250
- 2020: 201-250
- 2021: 101-125
- 2022: 101-125
- 2023: 95
CSE Faculty Awarded QRDI Grant to Advance Food Security Innovations
Congratulation to Dr. Cagatay Catal and his team for securing a grant through Qatar Research, Development and Innovation Council (QRDI) for food security call.
The granted project is titled “Artificial Intelligence-Empowered Aquaponics: Empowering Food Security for a Sustainable Future”.
The Project team includes:
- Prof. Dr. Cagatay Catal (Lead PI) (Department of Computer Science & Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University)
- Prof. Dr. Nader Meskin (PI) (Department of Electrical Engineering, College of Engineering, Qatar University)
- Prof. Dr. Ahmed Khalifa (PI) (Department of Finance and Economics, College of Business and Economics, Qatar University)
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohammed Hussain S A Alsafran (PI) (Agriculture Research Station, Qatar University)
- Dr. Yamine Bouzembrak (PI) (Information Technology Group, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands)
- Assoc. Prof. Dr. Turker Bodur (PI) (Department of Aquaculture, Faculty of Fisheries, Akdeniz University, Türkiye)
Project Abstract: The objectives of this project are to advance the efficiency, scalability, and reliability of aquaponics systems through the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Computer Vision (CV), and Internet of Things (IoT) solutions. The project aims to address key challenges in aquaponics, including fish health monitoring, plant disease detection, and environmental monitoring. The project team, in collaboration with Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands and Akdeniz University in Türkiye will develop Qatar’s first comprehensive research setup for aquaponics. This research setup will be deployed at the Agricultural Research Station of Qatar University. The expected outcomes of this project are two-fold. Firstly, it will result in the development of novel prediction models and innovative technologies that address the challenges in aquaponics. These models and technologies will contribute to enhanced fish health, optimized crop production, and improved overall system efficiency. Secondly, the project aims to empower sustainable food security by minimizing the environmental impact of agriculture. By reducing water usage, nutrient runoff, and pollution, AI-empowered aquaponics will offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional farming methods.
The QRDI and the Ministry of Municipality (MoM) have launched the Food Security Call to support research that aligns with Qatar’s National Food Security Strategy, fostering collaboration among experts to develop solutions for the country’s food supply challenges.
CSE Department Welcomes Students for a New Academic Year
The Department of Computer Science and Engineering hosted an orientation event titled “Welcome to CSE” on September 9th. The event was an excellent opportunity to commence the new academic year for both new and returning students. It was organized in collaboration with the newly established ACM Student Chapter, providing students with a glimpse of what awaits them in their Computer Science and Computer Engineering journeys.
Dr. Amr Mohamed the head of department presented an overview of the Computer Science and Engineering department, detailing what students can expect from the university in terms of facilities. He emphasized the significance of Computer Science and Computer Engineering in the job market, as well as current trends in career opportunities related to both fields.
This was followed by insightful presentations from Dr. Abdelkarim Erradi and Dr. Elias Yaacoub, who provided a deeper understanding of the myriad opportunities available to students at Qatar University in their respective disciplines.
Following that, one of our CSE alumnus, Mohamed Saria Allaham (currently a PhD candidate in Queens University), shared practical advice on current trends and career opportunities, offering a thoughtful analysis of market demands and future prospects that resonated with all attendees.
The event culminated in the unveiling of the department’s own ACM Student Chapter, where Chairman Muhammad Khan introduced the chapter and highlighted exciting opportunities for students interested in joining.
The event concluded with a social gathering featuring catering and engaging activities such as typing races and robot football, facilitating a smooth transition into the academic year and marking a successful orientation event for the Computer Science and Engineering department.
CSE faculties and students awarded at CENG 2024 End of Year event
The College of Engineering held its End of Year event on May 28, 2024, where several CSE faculty members and students were honored with awards.
The graduation projects competition of all engineering senior students was part of the CENG End of Year event. The competition included two categories: Best Project Design and Best Project Marketing Presentation. The first place in the Best Project Design category was awarded to the project titled “Vaultexe/OSS Zero-knowledge Self-hosting Password Manager” from the Computer Science program. This project was created by students Ahmed Abdou, Husam Snober, Mohammed Saqallah, and Walid Ben Ali, under the supervision of Dr. Moutaz Saleh.
In the Best Project Marketing Presentation category, the third place was awarded to multidisciplinary graduation project titled “Q-SAR: Drone Swarm for Disaster Management”. The team included students Ali Yasser Ali Abdolwahab , Abdalla Mostafa Shaaban , and Assem Malek Alnajjar from Computer Engineering Program. Moslem Yaser A Al- Qawasmi, and Yaman Yasser Kutmawi from Computer Science Program, Khaled Abdelrazak Khaled, Khaled J L Barakah, Omar Hakam Ahmad, and Abdullah Khalid AL Mawed from Electrical Engineering Program. The project is supervised by Prof. Amr Mohamed, Dr. Wadha Labda, and Prof. Ahmed Massoud.
The Dean’s Awards for the academic year 2023-2024 were also presented. Prof. Junaid Qadir received the Dean’s Award for Research, and Dr. Saleh Al-Hazbi was honored with the Dean’s Award for Teaching. Additionally, Dr. Mohammed Saleh and Prof. Elias Yaacoub were recognized as internal judges for the Best Prototype and Most Creative Design competition.
Lastly, Dr. Hazem Kemal was acknowledged by the College of Engineering for the completion of his tenure as a visiting professor in the CSE department.
Congratulations to all of the awarded CSE students and faculties!
Project to Enhance ‘Digital Citizenship’ in Qatar
Dr. Osama Halabi an associate professor in Computer Science and Engineering department is one of the leads of a project titled “Future of Digital Citizenship in Qatar: A Socio-Technical Approach”.
The project is a four-year research initiative done by Msheireb Museums and Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) as a significant step towards promoting responsible digital citizenship and enhancing positive online community engagement in Qatar.
The project is funded by the Qatar Research, Development, and Innovation Council (QRDI). The initiative comprises six sub-projects led by experts in their respective fields, bringing together more than 60 researchers.
The project’s tangible outputs include web interfaces for public analysis of social media, detection of hate speech, discrimination, and propaganda, as well as training materials and ambassadors to educate students on digital literacy, propaganda detection, safety, well-being, and social inclusion.
Dr. Osama Halabi, highlighted the importance of social media literacy and the project’s focus on assessing public attitudes towards social media in Qatar. The project’s findings, which will be primarily presented in Arabic, are expected to provide deeper insights into the variations between Qatar, the Arab world, and Western countries regarding technology and social media acceptance.
Msheireb Museums and HBKU’s commitment to integrating technology with academia and emphasis on sharing research findings with the public through events, exhibitions, and community engagement activities demonstrate their dedication to fostering a more sustainable and inclusive digital environment in Qatar.
This collaborative effort between academia, museums, and the community is a promising endeavor that has the potential to impact digital citizenship and online community engagement in Qatar significantly. The initiative’s focus on responsible digital citizenship and positive online engagement sets a commendable example for other regions and countries.
QU Wraps Up the 2024 AI Competition for High Schools
Qatar University (QU)’s College of Engineering has successfully concluded the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Competition for High Schools 2024. This event aimed to elevate secondary school students’ awareness of the crucial role AI plays in addressing contemporary challenges. The competition sought to inspire creativity and innovation among students in devising AI-based solutions across various fields.
Dr. Khaled Kamal Naji, Dean of the College of Engineering at QU, emphasized the competition’s importance in enhancing AI awareness among students, fostering local capacity building, and providing a platform for idea exchange and application sharing.
Prof. Amr Mohamed, Head of the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the College of Engineering at QU, highlighted the competition’s objective of igniting student interest in AI to prepare them for future careers. Participating teams were tasked with developing solutions such as computer programs, mobile applications, or embedded systems tailored to address environmental, health, and accessibility challenges, using user-friendly tools suitable for school-level students.
This year’s competition saw the participation of 35 teams from 22 schools, including 13 boys’ teams and 22 girls’ teams. At the event’s conclusion, the winning schools were honored. In the boys’ category, Qatar School of Science and Technology for Boys secured both first and second place, while Musab Bin Omair Secondary School for Boys won third place. In the girls’ category, Qatar Technical School for Girls won first place, followed by Umm Ayman Secondary School in second place, and Umm Hakeem Secondary School in third place.
CSE SDP Contest Day 2024: All Winners
The highly anticipated senior projects’ presentations took place on May 6th at the state-of-the-art new engineering building H07. These remarkable projects, the culmination of tireless efforts by talented students, were subjected to rigorous evaluation by industry examiners. After careful deliberation, outstanding projects from each program, Computer Science (CS) and Computer Engineering (CE), emerged victorious. Exceptional teams of these winners will be chosen to proudly represent our department in the upcoming college contest. We eagerly anticipate the success that awaits our representatives as they compete at the college level, confident in their abilities, to make our department proud once again.
Winning Projects in CSE-SDP23 Contests Day
CE Rank 1
Project title: Q-SAR: Drone Swarm for Disaster Management
Students: Ali Elmancy, Abdalla Ahmed, Assem Alnajjar
Supervisor: Dr. Amr Mohamed
Abstract:
- SAR operations face difficult environments.
- Drones offer faster and more effective SAR missions.
- Design a drone system to enhance SAR missions.
- Radar sensors are used for under-rubble survivor detection.
- Leverage autonomous smart drones.
- Drone assembly and sensor integration.
- Design a wireless charging stations for drones.
- Develop a backend for ground control and monitoring.
CE Rank 1 (equally-ranked)
Project title: Marathon Monitoring System
Students: Aly Okasha, Mohammad Rayyan, Ibrahim koubeisi
Supervisor: Dr. Noora Fetais
Abstract:
The challenges in marathon organization, in particular participant safety and data collection. We’ve evolved a product to track participant positions, detect cheating, identify fainting, and easily transmit data to event administrators.
CE Rank 2
Project title: NABATEQ: Plant Health Monitoring System
Deep Learning Classification Approach
Students: Amro Moursi , Mohamed Tahar, Malek Hamad, Hamad Alansi
Supervisor: Dr. Uvais Qidwai
Abstract:
This project focuses on the development and implementation of an advanced plant health monitoring system. Our approach involves addressing the critical environmental factors essential for preserving plants’ well-being, including temperature, soil moisture, water levels, humidity, as well as the presence of essential nutrients like Nitrogen, Phosphorus, and Potassium.
Central to our methodology is the utilization of computer vision technology with Artificial Intelligence to provide health ranks for the plants under monitoring. By leveraging this data-driven approach, our system aims to provide precise and timely insights into the overall health and well-being of plants, offering a valuable tool for effective plant care and management.
CE Rank 3
Students: Abeer Madyar , Kawther Ahmed, Leen Alinsari, Razan Abdelgalil
Supervisor: Dr. Mohammed AlSada
CS Rank 1
Project title: Vaultexe/OSS Zero-knowledge Self-hosting Password Manager
Students: Ahmed Ashraf, Husam Snober, Mohammed Saqallah, Walid Ben Ali
Supervisor: Dr. Moutaz Saleh
Abstract:
In this digital age, we rely on passwords to protect our online presence on the web. With so many passwords to memorize, we experience password fatigue and easily fall into the trap of reusing weak passwords across different sites. This is a serious security risk, as a single compromised password can give attackers access to many other accounts. To address this issue, we introduce Vaultexe, an open-source self-hosted zero-knowledge password manager.
CS Rank 2
Project title: PassGuard
Students: Youssef Aly, Essa Ahmed Kamel Abou Jabal, Mohamed-Dhia Abdaoui, Khalifa Yousuf
Supervisor: Dr. Mohammad Saleh
Abstract:
The importance of a password in today’s world cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, a large number of people falls victim to data breaches because of their reliance on weak passwords, default passwords, reused passwords. It can be explained by a simple reason: it is more convenient for the general public to use predictable passwords and reuse them.
Here comes PassGuard, an offline password manager application, whose sole purpose is to provide password security and user convenience.
CS Rank 3
Project title: ReWisely: a ChatGPT-based comprehensive revision platform for generating user-personalized study materials
Students: Amani Mamiche, Asma Bahabarah, Khadija Khedr, Taqwa Ellabad
Supervisor:Dr. Moutaz Saleh
Abstract:
Our project aims to modernize the creation of revision material by integrating AI into a comprehensive, interactive, customized, and user-friendly web application. It focuses on developing a platform capable of handling vast amounts of data and offering assistance through text summarization, flashcards, question extraction, the Feynman technique, and mind-mapping functionalities.