CMU-Q STUDENT WINS GOOGLE SCHOLARSHIP
By Raynald Rivera

Peninsula On-line
ews.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+Ne ws&month=August2009&file=Local_News2009080 522055.xml
Aug 5 2009
Qatar

DOHA: The student of Carnegie Mellon University-Qatar (CMU-Q) who
was declared one of the winners of the prestigious Google Anita Borg
Memorial Scholarship said women have a very important role to play
in the advancement of technology in today’s society.

"I don’t believe that women can do better than men or otherwise but
I think having a diverse group generally makes every team better
because of the different ideas generated that people look for,"
Keghani Kristelle Kouzoujian, who will enter her senior year under
the CMU-Q Computer Science programme, told The Peninsula yesterday.

Founded in 2003, the Google scholarship was designed for women studying
Computer Science in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
who are either Master’s or PhD students or Bachelor’s students about
to step into their final year.

Kouzoujian is the only student from Qatar who was chosen as one of
the 21 winners out of hundreds who applied for the scholarship coming
from 37 universities in 19 countries.

"Having women would bring out a different perspective in any team
working in a project. Both men and women from different backgrounds
can generate a wealth of ideas," she said, adding that at CMU-Q more
women are enrolled in Computer Science which is "quite unusual in a
technical field".

A dean’s lister who traces her roots to Armenia, Kouzoujian said much
of the motivation for her to apply for the scholarship came mostly
from the encouragement of her professors, but she never thought
about winning.

"I did not expect to win, I just did what I was supposed to do
submitting all the requirements especially my proposal which was
about music enhancer," she said.

"Apart from getting the Google scholarship known in the computer
science community, the grant also aims to encourage women and other
minorities to engage in the field of computer science," she observed.

With the belief that technology affects all aspects of life,
Dr. Anita Borg (1949-2003), after whom the scholarship was named,
fought to ensure positive impact of technology to the world and
was responsible for involving women as active participants in the
technological revolution.

"I hope to get another scholarship in Pittsburgh for further studies
and take up Music as minor," Kouzoujian said of her plans after
graduation.