February 7, 2002

Vol. 12, No. 29

The "8 1/2 x 11 News" is published each week by the Department of Public Relations. News of campus interest should be sent to
Ed Delaney, 412-268-1609 (ed47@andrew.cmu.edu) or Bruce Gerson, 412-268-1613 (bg02@andrew.cmu.edu). The newsletter is available on the official.cmu-news and cmu.misc.news bulletin boards.

Last year's editions are available online.

Previous editions are available online.

PRESIDENT BUSH PRAISES CARNEGIE MELLON, PITT COLLABORATION

President George Bush visited Pittsburgh on Tuesday for a briefing on the work of the Biomedical Security Institute (BMSI), a collaboration between Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh, and to speak in support of his plan to increase national spending for homeland security efforts.

—Carnegie Mellon President Jared Cohon, Pitt Chancellor Mark Nordenberg and UPMC Health System President Jeffrey Romoff were part of a group that informed Bush about BMSI's Real-time Outbreak and Disease Surveillance System, a computer-based program that monitors about 1,200 patient visits per day in 17 western Pennsylvania hospitals. The computer program recognizes patterns of infectious disease and looks for outbreaks of cases involving flu-like symptoms, respiratory illnesses, diarrhea and paralysis. Public health doctors are notified if a pattern develops and they in turn notify the proper authorities.

—"I want to thank both Chancellor Mark Nordenberg of the University of Pittsburgh and Jerry Cohon of Carnegie Mellon for my informative briefings today," Bush said. "To me, it was fascinating, and I appreciate the people who have worked so hard to come up with a critically useful tool for America. You know, I've come to realize having spent some time in Pittsburgh‹particularly after hearing the briefings today‹that while Pittsburgh used to be called 'Steel Town,' they need to call it 'Knowledge Town.'"

—The BMSI recently received a $755,563 grant from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention for its work. Victor Weedn, M.D., principal research scientist in Carnegie Mellon's Science and Technology Center, is co-scientific director of the BMSI.

AN ALTERNATIVE SPRING BREAK: AIDING HABITAT FOR HUMANITY

Carnegie Mellon students are invited to join a spring break community service trip to Leesburg, Fla. (March 30 - April 7) where they will work with Habitat for Humanity and the future homeowners to build homes for the needy. Homeowners and volunteers build together with the help of professional licensed subcontractors.

—Habitat for Humanity is an ecumenical Christian ministry dedicated to building simple, decent, affordable housing for people living in substandard and overcrowded conditions beyond their control. It is not a give-away program, but Habitat makes no profit on the sale and charges no interest.

—If you are interested, contact Becca Albrecht, coordinator for Student Development, 8-9510 or ra2v@andrew.cmu.edu. A deposit is due to hold your space for the trip. Preparation meetings will begin in the next two weeks. Information is posted on official.cmu-news for Feb. 5.

SURG AND SUMMER FELLOWSHIP PROPOSAL DEADLINE IS MARCH 13

Carnegie Mellon's Undergraduate Research Initiative (URI) is accepting proposals for Summer and Fall 2002 Small Undergraduate Research Grants (SURG) and Summer 2002 Fellowship Awards. Application packets are available at the URI offices (outside 404 Warner Hall). They can also be downloaded at www.cmu.edu/adm/uri/. The URI strongly recommends that you review a draft of your proposal with the director, Janet Stocks, prior to the March 13 deadline. For further information, contact Stocks at stocks@andrew.cmu.edu.

PERSONAL MENTION

—Jose M. F. Moura, professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been appointed for a two-year term to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Periodicals Committee. He has also been appointed chair of the IEEE Transactions Committee with oversight of the 70 IEEE transactions that span most of the areas across the electrical, electronics and computer technologies.

—Byungjoon Yoo, doctoral student, industrial administration, received the Best Paper award, among 148 entries submitted, for his paper, "Neutral vs. Biased Marketplaces: The Comparison of Electronic B2B Marketplaces with Different Ownership Structures," with professors Vidyanand Choudhary and Tridas Mukhopadhyay at the International Conference on Information Systems, New Orleans, December 2001. —The Convergys Corporation, a global company providing outsourced, integrated billing and customer care services, has awarded $5,000 academic achievement scholarships to business majors Sue Hsin Yeh and Jennifer C. Liu.

—Keith Piper, assistant professor of art, exhibited in "Unpacking Europe," at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam. His commissioned essay and project, "A Fictional Tourist in Europe," is included in "Unpacking Europe: Towards a Critical Reading" published in conjunction with the exhibit.

—Elaine A. King, professor of the history of art, has been awarded a short-term research fellowship from the Hungarian Research Institute For Art History of the Hungarian Academy in Budapest. She will give several talks at the institute as well as study the evolution of post-communist portraiture in Hungary. Her work is a continuation of the research begun as a senior fellow at the Smithsonian Institute.

—Michael Schellhase, junior, Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been awarded an IBM ThinkPad laptop running Linux applications as a winner of IBM's first Linux Scholar Challenge. From a field of 1,400 entries, Schellhase was among 25 students from 14 countries who were awarded ThinkPad laptops for developing the most innovative open-source applications. Schellhase's winning entry was an application designed to improve software testing.

—School of Art master's degree student Semi Ryu has been selected to screen her film installation "Hungboga" in the student animation section of the International Festival of Animated Film in Stuttgart, Germany, March 22 - 27.

—School of Drama seniors Jaime St. Peter and Michael McMillian star in the City Theater production of "The Credeaux Canvas," through Feb. 10. Also cast is Drama's Associate Professor of Acting Ingrid Sonnichsen, making her Pittsburgh debut. Before Carnegie Mellon, Sonnichsen taught at Harvard's Institute for Advanced Theater Training at the American Repertory Theatre.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Sunday, Feb. 10: Concert. Carnegie Mellon Chamber Orchestra. Andres Cardenes, conductor. First Unitarian Church, Morewood at Ellsworth Ave., Shadyside. Tickets at the door. Broadcast live on WQED-FM 89.3

—Monday, Feb. 11: Graduate Women's Gathering Luncheon. 12:15 - 1:15 p.m., Rangos 3, University Center (UC). Lunch will be provided to those who register at http://uri.web.cmu.edu/gradprograms/multiregis.html

—Monday, Feb. 11: Lecture. "Beethoven's Pulse." Stephen Junker. Junker will demonstrate Manfred Clynes Superconductor Software, Beethoven's "pulse" and encoding of Beethoven's symphonic works. 6:30 p.m., Adamson Wing (136 A Baker Hall). Free and open to the public. Further information: official.cmu-news, Feb. 6.

—Tuesday, Feb. 12: Professional Development Seminar. "Project Management in the Academy and Industry: Resources, Scheduling, Supervising and Delivering." 6 - 8 p.m. Rangos 3, UC. Dinner will be provided to those who register at http://uri.web.cmu.edu/gradprograms/multiregis.html

—Tuesday, Feb. 12: Blood Drive. 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Rangos 3, UC. Sponsored by the ROTC. Giving blood is safe and simple. The entire donation process takes approximately 1 hour.

—Friday, Feb. 15: Mechanical Engineering Seminar. "Constitutive Models for Soft Tissues." Michael Sacks, associate professor, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pittsburgh. 2:45 p.m., Scaife Hall 125.

—Saturday, Feb. 16: The Student Alumni Relations Council (SARC) is sponsoring "Slice of Life," a conference that brings back alumni from every college to help students with issues that will matter to them after graduation. 10:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m., UC. Interactive sessions will be held on topics ranging from "How to buy a car" to "Finding Your Place in a New City"' to even "How to Pay off Your Student Loans." The topics are based on feedback from students. Registration: 10 - 10:30 a.m. The conference schedule is posted on official.cmu-news, Feb. 6.

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