June 5, 2003

Vol. 13, No. 45

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.

The American Council on Education (ACE) has awarded Carnegie Mellon's Institute for Strategic Development an ACE/AT&T Award for Technology as a Tool for Internationalization. The award recognizes the innovative use of technology to promote international learning at U.S. colleges and universities. Only six institutions were selected nationwide to receive the honor. The program, which offers awards in the amount of $7,500, is underwritten by a grant from the AT&T Foundation.

—"Internationalization is a vital component of Carnegie Mellon's strategic plan," said Paul Goodman, director of the Institute for Strategic Development and professor of organizational psychology in the business school. "One part of this strategy is to create novel learning environments that will help our students operate in a global setting," he added. "We have focused on technology-enhanced learning to internationalize education."

—Carnegie Mellon's approach links students in Pittsburgh with students in other countries to facilitate global, educational dialogues and collaborate on problems in a real-time environment. In Engineering Design Problem Formulation, for example, taught by Professor of Chemical Engineering Arthur Westerberg, undergraduate students at Carnegie Mellon and Delft University in the Netherlands learned how to determine the scope of an engineering problem and how mathematical and other formal models can be used to articulate problems rather than their solvability. In four-person "virtual teams," two students in the Netherlands and two students from Carnegie Mellon experienced a technological educational environment using interactive video, a specially designed Web-based document system, videoconferencing, email, chat rooms and the telephone.

—Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases03/030522_intlearning.html

ONE-ON-ONE MENTORS HELP AWARD-WINNING MIDDLE SCHOOLERS

Two middle school students in the Carnegie Mellon/Milliones Physics Concepts Program were honored at the recent Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Science State Competition in Harrisburg. The students, from Milliones Technological Academy, a middle school in the Hill District, worked one-on-one with Carnegie Mellon student mentors. Charles Gipson, a seventh grader, worked with architect major Yu Hsien to construct chalk bridges with various support to test the concepts of tension versus compression, forces which must be considered when designing any structure. Gipson developed a chalk bridge that could withstand a load of more than 35 pounds and provided an explanation behind this remarkable phenomenon.

—The second student, Janthina Johnson, won a second-place award. Johnson teamed-up with physics major Denia Djokic to carry out a spectral analysis of the sun. By analyzing the spectra of known atomic systems and comparing them to the sun's spectrum, she could identify some of the major components of the sun.

—Gipson and Johnson were among a group of about 30 students who studied physics concepts and developed experiments to test related hypotheses as part of the Carnegie Mellon/Milliones Program, led since 1998 by Professor Leonard Kisslinger. Professor Thomas Ferguson is co-coordinator of the program, which receives support from the Buhl and Grable Foundations and relies on assistance from Principal Lecturer Barry Luokkala and Special Lecturer Stacey Benson for providing Physics Department facilities.

ENTRANCES TO MARGARET MORRISON BUILDING BEING RENOVATED

Facilities Management Services is renovating the front entrance of Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall. Two ramps will be constructed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The courtyard will also be redone. During this time, the contractor will make every effort to keep one of the three front entrances available for entry/exit. The ADA entrance/exit will be along the east/west walkway.

NEWS BRIEFS

—The university's annual staff picnic at Kennywood Park will be on Saturday, July 12. Additional information will soon be available on the official.cmu-news bboard and in the 8 1/2 x 11 News.

—Carnegie Mellon's Network Media, which produced the Web broadcast of three major events during this year's commencement weekend, reports that the total number of viewers increased from 55 last year to 429 this year. Brian Parker, Network Media's manager, attributes the increase to concerns about SARS and international travel, improvements in the streaming technology and earlier notice to the campus community about the broadcasts. Further information: official.cmu-news, June 3.

—On the weekends through Aug. 10, the East Campus Garage will close at 10:30 p.m. every Friday and reopen at 11:30 p.m., Sunday. It will be closed for the Independence Day holiday from 10:30 p.m., Thursday, July 3, through 11:30 p.m., Sunday, July 6. When the garage is closed, parking will be available in the following lots: Morewood Gardens, Doherty Apartments, Purnell Center, Hamburg Hall, Porter/Wean and the West Campus. If you have left your vehicle in the garage after closing, contact University Police at 412-268-2323, so you may exit the garage.

PERSONAL MENTION

—Professor Michael F. Scheier has been named head of the Department of Psychology. He has been a faculty member since 1975 and is an expert in health psychology. Among his ongoing research projects is a study of the impact of psychosocial interventions&$#151;such as discussion and education groups&$#151;on breast cancer patients. He is also co-director of the Pittsburgh Mind-Body Center, a research center operated by Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh.

—Joseph Sadecky, manager of the Mellon College of Science machine shop, has retired after 46 years of service.

—Yirng-An Chen, a 1998 graduate of the Computer Science Ph.D. program, along with Randy Bryant, his former advisor, have received the 2003 IEEE Circuits and Systems Society CAD Transactions Best Paper Award for their paper "An Efficient Graph Representation for Arithmetic Circuit Verification." They received the award at the Design Automation Conference in Anaheim, Ca. on June 3. Bryant had also received the award in 1987.

—At the NCAA Division III Track and Field National Championship Meet at St. Lawrence University, May 22 - 24, sophomore Nicole Gartner finished 16th overall in the women's 1,500 meter run. In the women's 3,000 meter steeplechase, recently graduated senior Katie Aerni finished 11th overall.

—Fifteen Navy Ensigns and three United States Marine Corps 2nd Lieutenants from the Carnegie Mellon Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps (NROTC) Unit received commissions as active duty officers at a May 17 ceremony in Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Oakland. The NROTC trains students from Carnegie Mellon, the University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University. The newly commissioned ensigns from Carnegie Mellon are Robert Bair, George Davenport, Nathaniel Ferrer, Nicholas Fleming, Justin Gerle, Elizabeth Higgins, John Jones, Michael Lopresti, Robert Milloy and Louis Trebaol.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Saturday, June 7: Annual Western Pennsylvania Scholastic Chess Championship hosted by Carnegie Mellon and the Pittsburgh Chess Club. 9:30 a.m. - 3:45 p.m., University Center (UC). The tournament is open to students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Highlights include a tournament for more than 250 local students and an appearance by chess champion Gregory Kaidanov. Information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases03/030529_chess.html

—Thursday, June 19: Information session for the Master of Science in Education Technology Management Program. 5:30 - 6:30 p.m. McKenna-Peter Room, UC. Snacks will be provided. RSVP to Amy George, ageorge@andrew.cmu.edu or call 412-268-2164. If you have questions, contact George via email or visit the Web at www.heinz.cmu.edu/metm

—Saturday, June 21: Dell is supporting the Environmental Protection Agency's "Plug-In To eCycling" campaign by organizing a free computer recycling event with Carnegie Mellon. Bring your unwanted computer equipment to the drop-off location from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Morewood Gardens parking lot for recycling. Accepted items include any brand of computer-related equipment&$#151;computers, computer monitors, keyboards, mice, printers and other peripherals. Not accepted are televisions, copiers, cell phones or other household electronics unrelated to your computer. Remove all data from your computer's hard drive and any removable media such as floppy disks or PC cards. Further information: www.dell.com/recyclingtour

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