July 18, 2002

Vol. 13, No. 2

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.

Carnegie Mellon's snake robot, developed by a research team led by Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Howie Choset, and its millibot research team, headed by Pradeep Khosla, professor and head of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, recently participated in the 8th Annual Department of Defense Hill Day in Washington, D.C.

—Sponsored by the Association of American Universities and the Coalition for National Security Research, the event gives congressional legislators and staffers an opportunity to see defense-related research conducted by universities.

—The snake robot is designed for search and rescue operations and to help assess waste contamination sites.

—Millibots are small, specialized, adaptable robots that are able to work together as a team to provide critical mission support such as search and rescue, hostage reconnaissance, covert surveillance, and military and firefighting assistance. Their small size allows them to be carried by a mobile operator and rapidly deployed into inaccessible or dangerous areas.

PARKING PERMIT APPLICATIONS DUE FRIDAY, JULY 26

The deadline for 2002-2003 Parking Permit Applications is 4 p.m., Friday, July 26. Applications received after the deadline will not be included in the initial allocation process. Applications must be submitted through the Parking Services Web site, www.cmu.edu/ba/parking/

—If you have been issued a new license plate number, the new information needs to be updated in the database.

—Direct questions to Parking Services at parking@andrew.cmu.edu.

ENGINEERING STUDENTS TO DISPLAY CAR IN VINTAGE GRAND PRIX SUNDAY

A team of mechanical engineering students will showcase their Formula SAE 1 type racecar at the Vintage Grand Prix Race in Schenley Park, Sunday, July 21. The team, which built the racecar this past semester, will participate in the pre-race parade and display the vehicle on Flagstaff Hill.

—The display will also feature the off-road vehicle built by the students last semester. John Wiss, an adjunct professor in mechanical engineering, is the students' adviser.

DRAMA PRESENTS SUMMER 2002 "NEW PLAYS READING SERIES"

—The School of Drama and its pre-college program for high school students is presenting its Summer 2002 New Plays Reading Series, through July 22, at the Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theater in the Purnell Center for the Arts. The new plays, written by master's degree candidates and alumni of the school's dramatic writing program, are in a seated-reading format. The plays, performance dates and times are:

—"Bottom of Nine," by Andrea Lepcio (A '00). A dark comedy about loss, guilt, love and the eternal hope that "next year" brings. 8 p.m., Friday, July 19, and 2 p.m., Saturday, July 20.

—"Forever the Oldest," by J.P. Lavin (A '02). A fractured family realizes that the one who can bring them back together is no longer there. 8 p.m., Saturday, July 20, and 2 p.m., Sunday, July 21.

—"Hadrian's Favorite," by Drew Sachs (A '00). A graduate student learns the struggles of becoming a playwright. 8 p.m., Sunday, July 21, and Monday, July 22.

—The readings are free and open to the public.

HEINZ ARCHITECTURAL CENTER OFFERS "DESIGNING OAKLAND"

Carnegie Mellon's Architecture Archive has loaned numerous items for "Designing Oakland," a new exhibition at the Carnegie Museum of Art's Heinz Architectural Center. Drawings, photographs, publications and a 16mm film provided by the archives document Oakland institutions and projects including Carnegie Mellon, the Mellon Institute, the Pittsburgh Technology Center, the Panther Hollow Project, Montefiore Hospital, Schenley Farms, viaducts on the Boulevard of the Allies and Forbes Field. These and many other exhibits are on display through Sept. 22.

PROGRAM OUTLINES EFFECTIVE ORIENTATION STRATEGIES

The first few days and weeks are critical to a new employee's future success at Carnegie Mellon. To learn about effective orientation strategies, Jill Diskin, director of Human Resource Services, and Gloria Gruber, Temporary Employment Services supervisor, will host the Learning and Development Program, "Orienting for Success." The program can help implement an effective orientation program in your department that can increase employee satisfaction and retention. The session will be held 9 -11 a.m., Tuesday, July 30, in the McKenna/Peter rooms, University Center. Register at hr.web.cmu.edu/learning/registration1.htm

HOUSING SERVICES ANNOUNCES SALE OF SURPLUS FURNITURE

Housing Services invites the campus community to a one-time sale of surplus furniture items from its inventory. The sale will be held 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., Saturday, July 27, at the warehouse facility at 6555 Penn Avenue. The inventory consists of various furniture pieces, including desks, chairs, bedframes and drawer units at reduced rates. The sale is cash and carry, with no refunds or returns.

NEWS BRIEFS

—Chemical Engineering and Chemistry have received a $583,000 grant from the Bayer Foundation for graduate fellowships over the next five years. These funds will be used to support two Ph.D. students doing interdisciplinary research in chemical engineering and chemistry, and one Ph.D. student doing research in process systems engineering. The fellowships also involve industrial internships.

—The "8 1/2 x 11 News" is posted on the Web at www.cmu.edu/PR/weekly/ Issues published over the past two years are available.

PERSONAL MENTION

—Priya Narasimhan, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, has won an IBM Faculty Partnership Award of $40,000 for her research on developing secure dependable Web services. For this project, she is collaborating with IBM's Advanced Enterprise Middleware research group in Hawthorne, N.Y.

—Fereshteh Hamidi-Toosi, a first-year graduate student in the School of Art, has received the Jacques and Natasha Gelman Travel and Study Grant. Her project will take here to London where she will study Farsi at the School for African and Oriental Studies and research carpet and textile collections and the textile import industry. She will then proceed to Iran, traveling from Tehran to weaving villages in Esfahan, Yazd and Kerman before visiting the Niatak camp near the Afghanistan border.

-Back to the top-