By Noura El-Moughny

When I was a little child, I used to play X/O with my elder sister and most of the time she would win. I remember every time she won, I got more determined to win the next game we played. I used to sit at home for hours practicing while she was in school at the morning. Winning the X/O game was the most challenging thing for me back then.

Years passed, and I joined the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. I joined the school without really knowing what computer science is about. My first two years at the university were fun but I wasn’t challenged or excited about the field the same way I used to be when I played X/O with my sister. I wasn’t sure how computer science would be beneficial to myself and my region. I wasn’t sure because I hadn’t applied the knowledge I learned in classrooms to real applications. I lacked the determination and excitement I had for winning the X/O game. I needed a lightning bolt to activate that excitement about the field.

This lightning bolt came through working with the TechBridgeWorld program in my junior year — more specifically, working on the Braille Tutor project. Eventually, I did my senior thesis on the Braille Tutor, focusing on adapting the device to Arabic culture. I worked closely with the Al-Noor Institute, a school for blind children in Qatar, to enhance the Braille Tutor. My interaction with the blind children and teachers at the school made me appreciate all the knowledge I had gained and made me realize how valuable computer science could be in my region.