Dr Watson addressing the graduates. RIGHT: Dr Weichold presenting the certificate to one of the graduates. PICTURES: Shemeer Rasheed

More than 100 students graduated from Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ) at its spring commencement exercise held at Qatar National Convention Centre yesterday.
The ceremony celebrated the university’s new spring graduates across four undergraduate engineering programmes and its chemical engineering graduate programme.
HE Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, chairperson of  Qatar Museums Authority, was the guest speaker on the occasion.
The occasion marked an achievement for the university as over 500 engineering degrees have been awarded since TAMUQ’s inception. More than 200 of the graduates are Qataris.
VIP guests on the occasion included HE the Minister of Energy and Industry Dr Mohamed bin Saleh al-Sada, Texas A&M University provost and executive vice-president for academic affairs Dr Karan L Watson and Doha Aggie Club member Neal Wood. The student speaker on the occasion was Aisha Mohamed F S al-Qahtani, who graduated with a degree in electrical engineering.
In her remarks, HE Sheikha Mayassa observed that the new graduates join the orbit of excellence that Texas has produced over the years. “You leave one world to enter a new one so different from what you are used to, but equally challenging and filled with opportunity. The sky is your limit and nothing; absolutely nothing can stop you now.
“Every single one of you is capable of change - significant change – whether in your own society, family or nation. All roles matter. Hold on to your dreams and do not lose sight of them. It takes effort, it takes focus, it takes dedication and it takes determination.”
Dr Mark H Weichold, dean and CEO of TAMUQ, said: “Texas A&M at Qatar graduates are the most visible example of our success and we join them in celebrating tonight’s achievement. They are a unique class for TAMUQ as they represent our first graduating class of TAMUQ’s second decade of operations at Education City. Their accomplishments have certainly helped make TAMUQ the development success story and community partner that we see today.”
“As these graduates go forward to new and exciting challenges, I would like to remind them to dedicate themselves to lifelong learning and strive to accomplish something they can be proud of and that contributes to the greater good. Aggies are leaders of character and I hope they never forget that,”
he added.
The May 2014 graduating class is diverse, with nine graduate and 16 undergraduate chemical engineers, 38 electrical engineers, 23 mechanical engineers and 22 petroleum engineers. The graduating class is 37% female and represents 20 countries.