All-female Qatari team wins top award at Carnegie Mellon innovation competition

Coding and machine learning on display at the 2020 CMU-Q Hackathon, which was sponsored by Ooredoo

DOHA, QATAR – February 4, 2020: Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) has awarded an all-female Qatari team the top prize at the 2020 Hackathon competition. “Tapped” is the name of the winning app developed by CMU-Q students Maryam Al-Darwish, Haya Al-Kaabi, Haya Al-Kuwari and Buthayna Almulla.

The team’s invention takes accurate body measurements for tailoring by using the camera on a smartphone. They used a machine learning library called PoseNet to create the app. The team of graduating seniors is multi-disciplinary, with Al-Kaabi from the Biological Sciences Program, Al-Darwish and Al-Kuwari from the Computer Science Program, and Almulla from the Information Systems Program.

“The CarnegieApps Hackathon began in 2013, and since then, it has become an event that represents the true spirit of CMU-Q,” said Nui Vatanasakdakul, associate teaching professor of information systems and the faculty advisor for the event. “We use this event to showcase students’ abilities and innovation beyond the classroom boundary.”

There were 19 teams that competed at the eighth edition of the student-led competition, including innovators from CMU-Q, College of the North Atlantic – Qatar, Qatar University and Texas A&M University at Qatar. In an intense competition run over 24 hours, teams were asked to push their limits and harness their creative energy to produce a winning app.

Each year, CMU-Q alumni come back to campus for Hackathon as competitors or mentors

This year’s Hackathon was sponsored by Ooredoo Qatar, who provided prizes, judges and mentors for the competition. Ooredoo also sponsored a category, the Ooredoo Special Theme for Innovations in AI and 5G.

Ahmed Al Mohannadi, senior director, business development and innovation, at Ooredoo,  participated as a judge and presented the Ooredoo award. Manar Khalifa Al-Muraikhi, director, PR and corporate communications, at Ooredoo, said: “We gladly support CMU-Q by working with them on this Hackathon event. We are looking to help incubate technology innovations, and take this a step further to where we can bring several exciting applications to the market.”

Hackathon is an annual competition organized by the CarnegieApps student club. “As a team, our mission was to continue the legacy of CarnegieApps Hackathon, which was started as a platform for students to unleash their creativity and break all existing boundaries,” said Andrew Edward, an information systems student and president of CarnegieApps.

The event was judged by experts from Ooredoo, Qatar Business Incubation Center (QBIC), Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP), and Carnegie Mellon. In addition to the Best Overall App and Ooredoo Special Theme awards, teams were recognized in three other categories: Best Technical App, Best Design and Best Rookie Team.

The winning teams of Hackathon 2020

Full list of Hackathon 2020 winners

Best Overall App: The Group

• Maryam Al-Darwish
• Haya Al-Kaabi
• Haya Al-Kuwari
• Buthayna Almulla

Best Technical Award: 5Kobe G

• Sameer Ahmad
• Abdullah Khan
• Hari Krishna
• Abubaker Omer

Best Design Award: Rojo

• Noor Al-Dahneem
• Dona Ferdinando
• Muhammad Ahmad Khan
• Muhammad Nahin Khan

Best Rookie Team: Baba Johns

• Mohammed Al-Jawaheri
• Aman Haris
• Igli Mlloja
• Abubakr Mohamed

Ooredoo Special Theme for Innovations in AI and 5G: See#

• Stefan Baumann
• Daniil Kumok
• Hao Mei
• Vlad-Radu Vasilescu

Learn more about the student experience at Carnegie Mellon Qatar.