August 8, 2002

Vol. 13, No. 5

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.

GRACE (Graduate Robot Attending ConferencE), a six-foot-tall, socially adept autonomous talking robot developed by a team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon, the Naval Research Laboratory, Metrica, Inc., Northwestern University and Swarthmore College, successfully completed the mobile robot challenge at the American Association of Artificial Intelligence's national meeting in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada on July 31.

—The challenge required Grace, which has a digitally animated face on a flat computer screen, to find the registration booth in the Shaw Conference Center, register and find "her" way to the conference room where "she" gave a PowerPoint presentation about "herself" and answered questions.

—"Grace rocked!" said Reid Simmons, principal research scientist in the Robotics Institute who has been coordinating the Grace team for the past year. "She completed all her tasks. It took a little longer than we thought. It was a little rough around the edges, but everything worked in the end. There were about 200 people following the robot while she did her thing. It was a phenomenal experience! We exceeded expectations! Everyone is psyched!"

—Carnegie Mellon students and postdoctoral fellows involved in the project include Dani Goldberg, Brennan Sellner, Chris Urmson, Nick Roy, Adam Goode and Mike Montemerlo.

ARTS ORGANIZATIONS TO SPONSOR SERIES OF 9-11 ANNIVERSARY EVENTS

Carnegie Mellon's Center for the Arts in Society and its STUDIO for Creative Inquiry will sponsor a lecture and a panel on Sept. 11 featuring art historian and activist Robert Atkins. Both events are designed to explore and examine artistic commemoration of the attacks on America. The center and the STUDIO have issued a call for "commemoration" or artistic displays from the Pittsburgh community. Submissions will be displayed on campus during the week of Sept. 11.

—Atkins will present a lecture titled, "The Arts, Community and Activism: A Meditation Inspired by the Events of 9-11," at 4:30 that afternoon in the Singleton Room of Roberts Hall. The lecture will focus on the role of artists in crises as well as media representations of Sept. 11 and community activism. At 7:30 p.m., Atkins will moderate a town meeting in McConomy Auditorium in the University Center. The panel will feature discussions on the range of responses, artistic and otherwise, to the attacks on America a year ago. Participants will include representatives from the university community and Pittsburgh professionals, including Tova Tarr, a clinical psychologist, Gwen Elliot, a former commander of the Pittsburgh Police, and Robert Bloise, the new head of the Pittsburgh International Airport.

— Atkins is the founder of 9-11-The September 11 Project: Cultural Intervention in Civic Society and is media-arts editor of The Media Channel. He is editor-producer of Artery: The AIDS-Arts Forum and an instructor at the Rhode Island School of Design. Atkins was a Microsoft Research Fellow at the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon in 1999-2000.

BLACKBOARD WORKSHOPS OFFERED IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER

The Office of Technology for Education is offering a series of hands-on workshops to faculty, teaching assistants and staff who are preparing to use Blackboard, a course management system to develop, manage and deliver instructional materials online.

—The complete schedule of workshops is posted on official.cmu-news, Aug. 6. See also www.cmu.edu/blackboard/help/calendar/

ALUMNI OFFICE ANNOUNCES PA/CARNEGIE MELLON LICENSE PLATES

The Alumni Office has announced that an official Pennsylvania Carnegie Mellon license plate is available from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for a one-time plate fee of $20. A replica of the plate is is posted on the alumni homepage (www.cmu.edu/alumni). For more information and an application for your official Carnegie Mellon license plate, call the Alumni Office at 800-226-8258 or email alumni-house@andrew.cmu.edu.

NEWS BRIEFS

—Equal Opportunity Services is in need of volunteers to read books onto audiotape for students who are learning disabled or visually impaired. Supplies such as tapes and recording equipment will be delivered and picked up. If interested, contact Larry Powell at lpowell@andrew.cmu.edu or 8-2013.

—The Carnegie Mellon Bookstore reports that the final, revised version of this year's university calendar is now available in the Carnegie Mellon Bookstore, lower level. A revised version was necessary due to several inaccuracies in the initial run. This year's calendar is double-sided and the cost is $2. If you already purchased inaccurate calendars, the stationery department will exchange them for the corrected versions. If you were mistakenly charged $1 for the earlier calendars, you will have to pay an additional $1 for the new ones.

PERSONAL MENTION

—The National Sigma Tau Gamma Foundation has announced that the following students have received the foundation's academic achievement awards: David Howard, junior, Mellon College of Science; Kevin Litwack, sophomore, School of Computer Science; Aadik Shekar, junior, School of Industrial Administration; Michael Wenske, sophomore, Carnegie Institute of Technology. Each received a certificate and a monetary award in recognition of superior achievement as an associate member of Sigma Tau Gamma Fraternity.

—Joe DeCarolis, a doctoral student in the Department of Engineering & Public Policy (EPP), received an award for the most innovative research paper at the International Doctoral Consortium on Technology, Policy and Management at the Delft University of Technology in Holland. The paper, "Is the Answer to Climate Change Mitigation Blowing in the Wind?," co-authored by EPP Professor David W. Keith, addresses the long-term economic and technical feasibility of large-scale wind power.

—Cathy Silver will join the university on Aug. 15 as associate director of the Master of Arts Management (MAM) Program, a joint graduate-degree program of the Heinz School and College of Fine Arts. She will lead the MAM professional development efforts and assist Associate Professor Dan J. Martin, director, with MAM alumni relations, internship and apprenticeship placement, and in managing the expanding international collaborations. She also will teach a course in exhibitions management. "Cathy comes to Carnegie Mellon with a rich and varied history encompassing significant experience in museum management, public broadcasting, arts outreach programs and the performing arts," said Martin.

—Thelma Sheafer, who worked in the university's Facilities Management Services until her retirement in the early '90s, died on Monday, Aug. 5. Following her retirement, she was active as a volunteer with the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh. "Thelma was a staunch advocate for hard work," says Neal Binstock, assistant vice president for business affairs. "A woman who genuinely cared about others and was available to listen. A woman of ethics and high moral standards. A dedicated employee of Carnegie Mellon."

—Matthew Hughes, director of development for the School of Computer Science, will leave the university on Aug. 23 to lead the Pittsburgh Public Theatre's fund-raising effort. Hughes has been a member of the university community since 1993.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Wednesday, Aug. 14: Human Resources (HR) hosts the "How Do You Manage?" lunchtime discussion group. Noon - 1:30 p.m., Peter/Wright Rooms. You are invited to bring your lunch, questions and ideas to this informal session entitled "Leading Meetings for Results ­ Strategies That Work." HR will provide sodas and cookies.

—Sept. 19 - Feb. 28: The Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation will present the exhibition "Anne Ophelia Todd Dowden: A Blossom on the Bough." Dowden is a 1930 graduate of the College of Fine Arts. The exhibition, celebrating the artist's 95th birthday, will present an overview of Dowden's career as it progressed from textiles to botanical art and illustration. It will include finished watercolors, layouts, research paintings and originals along with their publications and magazines. A full-color, illustrated catalogue will be on sale at the institute on the fifth floor of the Hunt Library building.

The Web editions of the "Carnegie Mellon Magazine," the "Carnegie Mellon News" and the "8 1/2 x 11 News" are available at www.cmu.edu/news/index.html

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