April 25, 2002

Vol. 12, No. 40

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.

FAMED VIOLIST TOBY APPEL JOINS SCHOOL OF MUSIC FACULTY

Toby Appel, a respected educator and one of the world's foremost violists, has accepted an appointment to the School of Music faculty. His appointment as an artist lecturer in viola begins in fall 2002. In addition to training students individually in the studio, he will coach chamber music. "Appel has distinguished himself in great solo repertoire, chamber music, new music, jazz and especially as a brilliant, insightful and caring teacher," said Alan Fletcher, head of the School of Music.

—Appel currently teaches on the viola and chamber music faculties at the Juilliard School in New York City. He will continue serving his Juilliard faculty appointment while at Carnegie Mellon. He has been on the Juilliard faculty since 1990.

TUITION GRANT FOR STAFF DEPENDENT CHILDREN INCREASED TO $2,175

Jeff Bolton, vice president for business and planning, has announced that the staff grant benefit for dependent children attending an institution other than Carnegie Mellon will be increased to $2,175 per semester, effective the fall 2002 semester. The grant is for tuition charges only. (The current staff grant is $2,050.) "The staff grant program is designed to provide financial assistance to our staff employees whose children are attending college or universities elsewhere, and we're pleased to be able to increase the amount we provide" said Bolton.

GSIA HONORS EIGHT STAFF MEMBERS FOR EXCELLENT WORK

Jackie Cavendish, administrative assistant to the Graduate School of Industrial Administration (GSIA) Ph.D. chairman, received the Staff Excellence Award at the school's recent Staff Recognition ceremony. The Team Award went to the GSIA Executive Education staff: Carolyn Carnes, Christine Cato, Karen Fleischman, Karen Myres, Debbie Shank and Jean Zadeh. Carol Salerno of the Work Processing Group received the First-Year Star Award. The awards are given to staff who demonstrate excellence in the workplace and exhibit qualities such as teamwork, innovation, initiative, flexibility and dedication.

LOFTNESS MADE PRESENTATION TO CONGRESS ON "GREEN" BUILDINGS

Vivian Loftness, head of the School of Architecture and a fellow of the AIA, was one of four presenters to the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Green Building Roundtable in Washington, Wednesday, April 24. The presentations helped to inform members of Congress and their staff members about green building design and the effectiveness of current federal sustainable building design initiatives. Loftness focused on technology and research initiatives. The School of Architecture is a national leader in environmental research and education.

—The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee has jurisdiction over both federal environmental programs and infrastructure. The committee oversees the use of all federal buildings managed by the General Services Administration, including federal courthouses, agency headquarters and various federal facilities in every state.

NEWS BRIEFS

—University Libraries has announced that the poems, papers and books of English Professor Ann Hayes, (1943 - 2000) are now available for study in the Hunt Library Fine & Rare Book Room, 4th floor. A poetry reading-celebration, 4 - 5 p.m., Thursday, May 2, in Baker Hall's Gladys Schmitt Wing will mark the opening of the Ann Hayes Collection. The university community is invited. The collection includes all of Hayes' poems in published and draft versions, correspondence with fellow poets and publishers, class teaching notes and her lectures on Shakespeare.

—A new session of Weight Watchers at Work begins Tuesday, April 30 (note corrected date). Anyone interested must preregister using the form at www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~jm5h/ww-top Times and locations are on the Web site, along with instructions for pre-registering and information about costs. If you have other questions, contact Joyce Moore, 8-2838 or jm5h@andrew. See official.cmu-news, April 23.

—The University Libraries invite members of the campus community to nominate library faculty or staff members for outstanding achievement awards in 2002. Award categories are: customer satisfaction, productivity, library citizenship, reference and instruction, and innovation. Winners gain campus recognition and receive cash awards. Nominations are due by May 13. The nomination form and library award policy/procedures are available at www.library.cmu.edu. Send completed nominations to Valerie Wadyko, HL Admin, or fax nominations to her at 412-268-2793.

PERSONAL MENTION

—Milton L. Cofield, executive director of undergraduate business, GSIA, has been appointed a regent of the University of the State of New York by vote of the state legislature for a five-year term that began April 1. The 16 unpaid regents serve as New York's chief educational policy-making body for schools and oversee higher education, libraries and the licensing and entrance regulations for 40 professions including law, medicine and dentistry.

—Stephen E. Cross, director of the Software Engineering Institute, was honored as a distinguished alumnus of the University of Cincinnati in a ceremony on April 18. He graduated in 1974 with an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering.

—Sridhar Seetharaman, assistant professor, Materials Science and Engineering, has received the Friedrich Wilhem Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung/Foundation in recognition of his accomplishments in research and teaching.

—Keith Angstadt, a senior in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences majoring in creative writing, was named the Carnegie Mellon Student Employee of the Year at the Student Employee Appreciation Lunch on April 17. He received a $100 U.S. savings bond and a plaque.

—Ben Janesko and Audria Stubna, graduate students in the Department of Chemistry, have received NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Awards for the 2002 - 03 fellowship year. Janesko is a student of Professor David Yaron and Stubna of Professor Eckard Munck. The stipend for Graduate Research Fellows is $21,500.

—David Sholl, assistant professor, Chemical Engineering, has received a prestigious Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award for 2002. The award recognizes him for his "commitment to education and an independent body of scholarship that has the promise of continuing outstanding contributions to both research and teaching."

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Monday, April 29: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Seminar Series. "A Framework for the Representation and Integration of Multimedia Content and Context Information." ECE alumnus Radu S. Jasinschi, senior staff member, Philips Research, Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., 3 - 4 p.m., Hamerschlag Hall, Rm. 1112. Refreshments begin at 2:30 p.m. Further information: amp.ece.cmu.edu.

—Thursday, May 2: Department of Chemical Engineering Distinguished Research Lecture. "Engineering of Synthetic Gene Delivery Systems." Mark E. Davis, California Institute of Technology. 10:45 a.m., Doherty Hall 1112.

—Thursday, May 2: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Seminar Series. "Applying Informed Coding and Embedding to Design a Robust, High Capacity Watermark." Ingemar Cox, NEC Research Institute, Princeton, N.J. Cox's research is jointly with M. L. Miller and G. Doerr, NEC Research Institute. 4 - 5 p.m., Scaife Hall Auditorium, Rm. 125. Refreshments begin at 3:30 p.m. See amp.ece.cmu.edu.

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