January 9, 2003

Vol. 13, No. 24

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.

2001 Editions are available online.

2002 Editions are available online.

Previous editions are available online.

Carnegie Mellon and NASA have reached agreement on a long-term lease under which the university will renovate 19,000 square feet of space for its growing West Coast campus in Buildings 23 and 24 on the historic Shenandoah Plaza at Moffett Field, Calif.

—The plaza is adjacent to NASA's Ames Research Center and is part of a 213-acre research park the agency is developing. The agreement states that the university may lease the buildings for 15 years and exercise additional options to increase the term of the lease up to 48 years. It also gives the university the right of first refusal to lease buildings 17 and 20 on the six-building quadrangle. The university's West Coast campus has been housed in Building 17 since 2001. Expanding educational and research programs require additional space. Building 20 was used as an officers club on the former naval base and could house 50 - 60 people, including students, visiting faculty and short-term visitors.

—"This agreement with NASA shows our commitment to our West Coast campus and the value we believe it brings to the Silicon Valley community," said President Jared Cohon.

—"We are delighted to sign this lease agreement with Carnegie Mellon University, one of the world's premier institutions of higher education, especially in the area of computer science," said NASA Ames Center Director G. Scott Hubbard. "The combination of Carnegie Mellon University's high dependability computing research focus and its new information technology graduate program will serve to advance NASA's mission as well as set the stage for broader collaboration with Silicon Valley's high tech community."

—Carnegie Mellon's West Coast campus opened for classes in September 2002, with 56 students enrolled in two programs leading to a master of science degree in information technology. The course of study is built around unique hands-on, project-oriented, apprenticeship-based and individually mentored activities that emphasize teamwork and collaboration.

—The campus also has a research agenda based on high dependability computing. Carnegie Mellon received $23.3 million from NASA in January 2002 to lead the High Dependability Computing Project, a research consortium of five universities. For more information on the West Coast campus, see west.cmu.edu

UNIVERSITY CELEBRATES MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY ON MONDAY, JAN. 20

The university will host a series of events on Monday, Jan. 20, to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Classes will be cancelled from 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. to allow students, faculty and staff to participate in the programming.

—Afternoon activities begin with President Jared Cohon's address on the state of diversity at the university.

—The complete schedule of events is posted on the Web at www.cmu.edu

—At 4:30 p.m., members of the university community will participate in a candlelight procession from the Purnell Center to the University Center, where Dr. Michael Eric Dyson will deliver the keynote address, "Why We Can't Wait: The Need for Social Transformation." Dyson, a noted scholar, award-winning author and ordained pastor, is widely recognized for his insight into urban black popular culture.

—All events will be held in the University Center and are free and open to the public.

NEW SHUTTLE SERVICE TO PITTSBURGH TECHNOLOGY CENTER (FORMER CMRI)

Thanks to the assistance and support of the Provost's Office, University Police has announced a new shuttle service to the Pittsburgh Technology Center (PTC) on Technology Drive to better meet the needs of the university community.

When: Beginning Monday, Jan. 13. Mperating hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. on the hour and half-hour. Last run leaves PTC for campus at 4 p.m. No service from noon-12:30 p.m. (driver on break). Where to board: The Morewood circle, Morewood Avenue, in front of Morewood Gardens; Frew Street, in front of Scaife Hall. —The shuttle will only make stops or pickups at the designated boarding points. For last-minute changes in the service due to weather conditions, traffic, construction, etc., check the shuttle-escort bboard at official.shuttle-escort. More information is posted on the official.cmu-news bboard.

RESEARCHERS PARTICIPATE IN $2.6 MILLION DIGITAL GOVERNMENT AWARD

The National Science Foundation has announced a four-year $2,560,000 award from the Digital Government Program for a project entitled "Data Confidentiality, Data Quality and Data Integration for Federal Databases: Foundations to Software Prototypes." Organized through the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS) in North Carolina, the project is jointly funded by NSF and five federal agency partners.

—Stephen E. Fienberg, the Maurice Falk University Professor in the Department of Statistics and the Center for Automated Learning and Discovery (CALD) is the co-principal investigator for the project, which also involves faculty and students in CALD, Statistics and the Heinz School. Other participants are drawn from NISS, the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the University of Maryland, the University of Michigan, Purdue University and Southern Methodist University, as well as the federal agency partners.

—The research addresses a broad set of statistical problems with special application to unique problems faced by federal government agencies—especially the necessity, in an electronic world, to balance privacy and confidentiality against user access to high-quality statistical data. The project will create effective, credible ways to ensure data confidentiality in the face of strong, even competing, concern about data quality and the growing need and capability for data integration.

—The project builds on an earlier Digital Government Award, entitled "A Web-Based Query System for Disclosure-Limited Statistical Analysis of Confidential Data," in which Carnegie Mellon was a principal participant. Achievements under that project ranged from new theory and methodology for protecting confidentiality in tabular data releases to prototype software for safe Web-based dissemination of tabular and geographical data.

NEWS BRIEFS

—The dates for Spring Carnival 2003 are April 10 - 12.

—President Cohon will hold student office hours on Wednesday, Jan. 15, beginning at 4:30 p.m. Students who wish to meet with the president should send email to Dean of Student Affairs Michael Murphy at mm1v@andrew.cmu.edu.

—Telecom began distribution of the Verizon white and yellow pages to the main campus on Tuesday, Jan. 7. The main campus distribution is expected to take between one and two weeks. Inclement weather conditions may extend this time.

—Now that you have received your 2003 Carnegie Mellon Faculty and Staff Directory, you can dispose of your 2002 directories by placing them in the paper recycling bins in your office. (Public phone books may also be recycled, but should be set aside, next to your recycling bins.) There is no need to remove the cover.

PERSONAL MENTION

—Dan J. Martin, associate professor, drama, and director of the Master of Arts Management Program, was in Northern Italy last month teaching in the cultural management training programs of two collaborators. He lectured for three days on budgeting and financial management for the Fitzcarraldo Foundation's "Management and Artistic Innovation of Cultural Organizations" in Turin, followed by a presentation on Information Technology in the Marketing Process for the University of Bologna's Cultural Management Program. Martin will return to Bologna in April to teach a three-week course in fundraising.

—David Dzombak, professor, Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been elected a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Monday, Jan. 13: Architecture. "Architect as Artisan & World Citizen." Lecture by Steve Badanes, Howard S. Wright Endowed Chair, University of Washington, and partner, Jersey Devil Design/Build Firm. 3:30 p.m., McConomy Auditorium, University Center.

—Tuesday, Jan. 14: Academy for Lifelong Learning (ALL) Lecture. "The Vulnerablities of Non-Traditional Families," by Maureen Cohon of Buchanan Ingersoll, Attorneys. 7:30 p.m., Connan Room. RSVP by Jan. 10 to ALL at x8-2131.

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