DOHA, QATAR – September 12, 2026 –Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) has announced a new research grant program to support high-impact, competitive faculty research. Accelerator grants are poised to transform the campus research landscape, providing long-term faculty members the support to expand their scopes of inquiry and scholarly output. CMU-Q is a Qatar Foundation partner university.
The new Accelerator grants mark a major milestone in the university's internal research ecosystem. Accelerator grants will be the cornerstone of faculty research support, with competitive annual cycles to consider new proposals in any discipline.
"This expanded scope for research provided by Qatar Foundation will have a lasting impact on Qatar," said Michael Trick, dean of CMU-Q. "This country has a deep commitment to knowledge and inquiry, with a burgeoning research community. We look forward to contributing more robustly, and doing our part to foster a collaborative, innovative research ecosystem in Qatar."
The seven inaugural Accelerator grants span a wide range of disciplines, including humanities, physics, software systems, and cancer research. The projects foster both cross-disciplinary collaboration and Education City partnerships, driving high-impact research across CMU-Q.
The Accelerator grant is part of a broader expansion of research support mechanisms across CMU-Q, as the university builds a strong internal funding pipeline. A new Incubator grant will provide smaller awards for faculty to develop early-stage research concepts. The university will also offer start-up funding packages to new faculty members.
Jennifer Bruder, associate dean for research, and an associate teaching professor of psychology, led the restructuring of the research program: "The CMU-Q faculty includes exceptional scholars in a wide variety of disciplines. This new grant program will give them the resources to explore their research questions in more depth, and to make meaningful contributions to the body of knowledge in their fields, and to the research community in Qatar."
The expanded scope of research will extend to students. The new Exceptional Undergraduate Researcher Award is for students who demonstrate a remarkable work ethic, curiosity, and engagement during a CMU-Q summer research program. Students are nominated by their research mentors, and the selected students can continue their work for up to 10 hours per week for one academic year. The award will provide support for research-focused students as they continue their summer work or expand on it.
Carnegie Mellon University focuses on research that delivers real-world impact. At the Qatar campus, this research mission also shapes the undergraduate experience. Students receive dedicated, personalized mentorship that is unparalleled at the undergraduate level, and many go on to careers in academia and research.
Accelerator grants, Cycle 1
The matrix: Extracellular matrix-dependent regulation of the TGF-β pathway in metastatic breast cancer
● Lead PI: Mohamed Bouaouina, associate area head and associate teaching professor, biological sciences
Vector-valued free boundary problems
● Lead PI: Layan El Hajj, associate teaching professor, mathematics
Morshed: A personalized and multimodal ubiquitous indoor navigation system
● Lead PI: Eduardo Feo-Flushing, assistant teaching professor, computer science
● Co-PI: Khaled Harras, senior associate dean for faculty, teaching professor, computer science
A multi-platform proteomic approach to understanding PARP inhibitor resistance in colorectal cancer
● Lead PI: Adviti Naik, assistant teaching professor, biological sciences
An interdisciplinary investigation of the representation of science in science fiction
● Lead PI: Jeffrey Squires, associate teaching professor, English
● Co-PI: Nesrine Affara, associate teaching professor, biological sciences
Functional targeting of aberrant splicing of cancer-related genes for personalized therapy across breast cancer subtypes
● Lead PI: Ihab Younis, teaching professor and area head, biological sciences
Quantum materials under high pressure
● Lead PI: Mohamed Zayed, associate teaching professor, physics
● PI: Anas Abutaha, scientist, Hamad Bin Khalifa Universit