December 5, 2002

Vol. 13, No. 21

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.

The College of Engineering has named its 2002-2003 Faculty Awards recipients. They will be honored at the awards banquet on Feb. 22. —Radu Marculescu, assistant professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), received the George Tallman Ladd Research Award in recognition of his research, professional accomplishments, and potential. His research focuses on analysis and synthesis of low-power VLSI systems and performance analysis of embedded systems.

—Mechanical Engineering Professor Jonathan Cagan received the Benjamin Richard Teare Teaching Award for excellence in educational innovation and leadership. For nine years, he has taught the Integrated Product Development course, elevating it to one of the top courses of its kind in the country.

—Vijayakumar Bhagavatula, professor, ECE, received the Philip L. Dowd Fellowship Award for his educational contributions and to support his educational projects, one of which includes writing a new textbook, tentatively titled "Pattern Recognition Theory."

—Andrzej Strojwas, the Keithley Professor, ECE, and Wojciech Maly, the U.A. and Helen Whitaker Professor, ECE, received the Outstanding Research Award for their pioneering contributions to yield management and prediction in semiconductor manufacturing and their impact on industry and academia. The winner of the Steven J. Fenves Award is still to be announced.

LTI TO IMPROVE PAT'S PHONE-BASED INFORMATION SERVICE

Scientists at the Language Technologies Institute (LTI) in the School of Computer Science have received a $650,000, three-year grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to work with the Port Authority of Allegheny County to make its phone-based information services more user friendly for elderly and non-native speakers.

—Systems Scientist Maxine Eskenazi and Research Computer Scientist Alan Black received the grant from NSF's Universal Access Program. They will be working with the Port Authority to build a scheduling information system that will enable these particular users and others to obtain bus and light rail schedules any time, day or night.

—The project, called "Let's Go," will explore how to make messages relayed over the telephone more understandable to the elderly while also looking at how to better understand non-natives when they speak.

—Further information: official.cmu-news, Dec. 3 and www.cmu.edu/PR/press_releases/021203_porta.html

STUDENT COMMENCEMENT SPEAKER APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Applications to become the 2003 Student Commencement Speaker are available. Any student, graduate or undergraduate, who is graduating in December of this year, or May or August of next year, may apply. Applications are available at www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/assistant-dean/commencement and at the Student Life Office in Morewood Gardens.

STAFF COUNCIL'S FOOD DRIVE COLLECTED 5,576 POUNDS FOR NEEDY

Staff Council has announced that 5,576 pounds of non-perishable items and $50 in donations were collected during its annual Food Drive and donated to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. "Because of the heartfelt concern of our campus community, we surpassed last year's total of 4,432 pounds and also collected our second highest amount ever," the announcement said. "As a result of the generous contributions from the Carnegie Mellon community, many people in our local area will have food on their tables for the holidays."

NEWS BRIEFS

—Undergraduate summer employment at Carnegie Mellon is available with the Pennsylvania Governor's School for the Sciences, a five-week summer school for extremely talented high school students from Pennsylvania. Teaching assistant/counselor appointments are available in the areas of biology, chemistry, physics, computer science and mathematics. Applicants should have completed their sophomore year by the start of the program. Further information: official.cmu-news, Dec. 2.

—"Treasures for Children" (formerly "Angel Tree") is a Salvation Army program that has made Christmas merry for thousands of needy children. You can help by purchasing a new toy for a boy or girl. For a child's name and age, contact Lisa Zirngibl, 8-6137 or lz@cmu.edu. Toys MUST be donated by Dec. 13. Drop off your new, unwrapped gift at Cyert Hall 191.

—Articles from the current issue of the Carnegie Mellon Magazine are online at www.cmu.edu/magazine/

—The Skibo Coffeehouse will be open 24 hours starting Monday, Dec. 9, and will close for winter break at 2 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 17. The coffeehouse will re-open Jan. 13 with a new menu, new specials and new hours.

—The Hunt Institute offers holiday shopping. Its illustrations of flowers and plants for cards, address books, guest books and journals were created from artworks by well-known botanical artists and illustrators. Its "Gifts of Winter" catalogue celebrates the season with plant images and poetry. There are also a number of exhibition posters, suitable for framing, and scholarly publications. Faculty, staff and students receive a 25% discount. Hours: Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1-4 p.m. Closed noon-5 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 11.

PERSONAL MENTION

—Zhaoyang Gu, assistant professor of accounting, received the Best Paper Award for "Cross-sample Incomparability of R-squares and Additional Evidence on Value Relevance Changes over Time" at the World Congress of Accounting Educators in Hong Kong, Nov. 14-16.

—Visiting Professor David J. Farber, the Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, Business and Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania, has been appointed to the NTT DoCoMo, Inc. U.S. Advisory Board. NTT DoCoMo, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is the world's leading mobile communications company with more than 44 million customers. Farber, former chief technologist for the Federal Communications Commission, is a world-renowned expert in high-speed networking. Earlier this year, Business Week recognized him as one of the top 25 people in the e-commerce field.

—Dana S. Scott, the Hillman University Professor of Computer Science, Philosophy and Mathematical Logic, will receive an honorary doctor's degree from the University of Ljubljana in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in mid-February for his "outstanding scientific achievements in the field of mathematics and computer science, and for his cooperation with the faculty of mathematics and physics at the university." Two former University of Ljubljana students, Marko Petkovsek and Andrej Bauer, earned doctor's degrees in computer science at Carnegie Mellon under Scott's tutelage in 1991 and 2000, respectively. Another Slovenian student, Jernej Barbic, is working on his degree in the Carnegie Mellon/CSD Theory Group.

—Lisa Kulick of the University Advancement Division, has been recently promoted to director of Marketing Communications for the university. She will be responsible for developing and directing programs that implement the Carnegie Mellon brand strategy and identity guidelines.

—William "Red" Whittaker, the Fredkin Research Professor in the Robotics Institute, has been named one of four recipients of a 2002 Engelberger Award, the most prestigious honor in the robotics industry. Whittaker was recognized for developing mobile robots to operate in natural terrain, including hazardous environments.

—Elias D. Towe, joint professor, Materials Science and Engineering and ECE, has been elected an IEEE Fellow, effective January 2003, for contributions to nanostructure optoelectronic technology.

—Zoltan Cendes, adjunct professor, ECE, has been elected an IEEE Fellow "for contributions to the application of finite element modeling to microwave guides, structures and circuits." Cendes founded Ansoft Corporation in 1984 and is the company's chairman and chief technical officer. He was an ECE professor from 1982-1996.

—Elizabeth Casman and Hadi Dowlatabadi of Engineering and Public Policy are editors of a new book, "Contextual Determinants of Malaria," (RFF Press, Washington, D.C.) The book discusses the variables that control the spread and control of malaria, how these variables are expected to develop in the next 50 years, and their relative importance in climate change impact projections.

—The World Economic Forum has included Kaigham Gabriel and Glen Meakem in its list of the top 40 Technology Pioneers for 2003. Gabriel is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon, and chairman and chief technical officer of Akustica Inc. Meakem is a member of Carnegie Mellonšs Board of Trustees and chairman and chief executive officer of FreeMarkets, Inc., a Web-based exchange that allows many types of businesses to post products they would like to purchase while suppliers compete for the business.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Friday, Dec. 6: School of Music Holiday Concert. Noon, CFA Lobby. The program is posted on official.cmu-news, Nov. 18.

-Back to the top-