Photos: An evolving high-tech center
The spike in natural gas and oil prices has kicked off a massive construction boom in downtown Doha, Qatar.
Photos: An evolving high-tech center
The spike in natural gas and oil prices has kicked off a massive construction boom in downtown Doha, Qatar. More buildings like these, which house offices for Shell Oil and Al Jazeera, are going up on the sand dunes that cover a large part of the country. Photo: Michael Kanellos
Photos: An evolving high-tech center
Nightlife in Doha. Qatar's population is about 860,000, but the vast majority of residents come from Pakistan, India, Iran and the West. Pakistanis and Indians fill most of the working-class jobs, while westerners hold the engineering and management positions. The fact that comparatively few native Qataris work in the private sector has become a major concern of the government. Photo: Michael Kanellos
Photos: An evolving high-tech center
Want a TV or a VCR? The electronics industry is small but growing in the Middle East, and many residents still rely on the repair shops that have begun to die out in the West. PC penetration is around 20 percent in the Middle East, and Internet traffic is monitored by the government in most countries in the region. Nearly everyone, however, has a cell phone. Photo: Michael Kanellos
Photos: An evolving high-tech center
Students at Carnegie Mellon University at Qatar hang out in the student lounge. Note the number of female students. One of the goals of Education City, overseen by Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned, is to get more women in the work force. By going to college, women can also defer the issue of marriage. Photo: Michael Kanellos
Photos: An evolving high-tech center
Bernadette Dias, a robotics professor, splits her time between CMU's Doha and Pittsburgh campuses. "E-mail is incredible. I run a seminar series in Pittsburgh, but no one realizes I am here. It is interesting how you can have a presence and not be there," she said. For a lecture in Pittsburgh, she works from 11 p.m. to midnight, Qatar time. Photo: Michael Kanellos
Photos: An evolving high-tech center
Unlike in the West, construction projects move quickly in Qatar and the rest of the Middle East. The country is currently building a new $5.5 billion international airport, and 50 million passengers are expected to pass through it when complete. About 17,000 workers will live on site during the peak of construction. Photo: Michael Kanellos
Photos: An evolving high-tech center
The Weill Cornell Medical Campus in Qatar looks a lot different that the main one in New York. The Qatar Foundation will next build a research hospital that will be associated with the university and provide it with an $8 billion endowment, according to Daniel Alonso, dean of Weill Cornell at Qatar. Photo: Michael Kanellos
Photos: An evolving high-tech center
These Apple Computer Macintoshes at Weill Cornell sink into the desk once a student is done using them. The universities have used a number of distance learning techniques. At Cornell, the university has created a library of images of microscope slides at the main campus. The students then use the virtual slides to study tissue samples.
"If you think about it, it is even better than having a microscope. With a student microscope, you have three different levels at most. With virtual microscopy you get eight," said Daniel Alonso, dean of Weill Cornell at Qatar. Photo: Michael Kanellos