CMU-Q celebrated Sustainability Week by participating in Qatar Foundation’s Park and Plant Initiative. Members of the CMU-Q community helped plant 109 trees around the building as part of QF’s multi-phase plan to restore Qatar’s rich indigenous landscape.

CMU-Q works closely with Qatar Foundation to promote green practices in Education City. For instance, CMU-Q has joined the partner universities in reducing single-use plastics on campus. Every member of the community has a CMU-Q water bottle that they can refill at water stations around campus, and plastic bags are no longer offered at the CMU-Q cafeteria. In August, students started the Tartans Going Green club to promote recycling on campus.

Director of facilities management, Elissar Hajjar is a strong promoter of sustainability awareness at CMU-Q: “We encourage everyone to make an impact and be part of this green transformation.”

Changing campus environmental awareness is part of CMU-Q’s larger commitment to tackle the questions surrounding sustainability. Faculty research projects include developing biomonitoring tools for water quality measurements and developing teams of aquatic/aerial robots for marine environmental monitoring. Faculty members speak regularly within CMU-Q and in the Qatar community about smart cities and green practices, and each year they lead a trip for students to explore how different parts of the world are addressing sustainability concerns.

Last month, Carnegie Mellon University announced a new, university-wide Sustainability Initiative to improve coordination of the global community’s education, research, and practices.