July 17, 2003

Vol. 14, 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.

2001 Editions are available online.

2002 Editions are available online.

Previous editions are available online.

Barbara Lazarus, associate provost for academic affairs, died on Tuesday following complications from cancer.

—Winner of the university's Doherty Prize, awarded for "sustained contributions to excellence in education," Lazarus touched the lives of hundreds of students and staff through her efforts to promote access by women to non-traditional occupations, particularly in Asia. Her efforts to promote women and minorities in science and engineering and to create Carnegie Mellon's Undergraduate Research Initiative have had an impact on campus and beyond.

—Most recently, she championed the Girls Math and Science Project as it developed Explanatoids‹short lessons explaining the science behind everyday phenomena from Kennywood roller coasters to curve balls at PNC park.

—Lazarus is the author or editor of several books, including "Changing Lives: Life Stories of Asian Pioneers in Women's Studies," "The Equity Equation: Fostering the Advancement of Women in Science and Engineering," "Journeys of Women in Science and Engineering: No Universal Constants" and "The Woman's Guide to Navigating the Ph.D. in Engineering & Science."

—Services will be held at 3 p.m. Thursday, July 17 in Levy Hall, Temple Rodef Shalom, Fifth and Morewood. Memorial contributions may be made to Carnegie Mellon for the Small Undergraduate Research Grant Program (SURG).

—A message from Indira Nair, vice provost for education, recalling Lazarus' "compassion, understanding and spirit of activism" is posted on official.cmu-news for July 16.

—A celebration of Barbara Lazarus' life and work will be held at the university in the fall.

CONFERENCE ON ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE HONORS FIVE FACULTY MEMBERS

Faculty members Scott Fahlman, Reid Simmons, Manuela Veloso and Pradeep Khosla will be named American Association of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) fellows at the Eighteenth International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI), which takes place Aug. 9 - 15 in Acapulco, Mexico. The fellows program honors AAAI members who have made significant, sustained contributions to the field of artificial intelligence and are recognized as having unusual distinction in the profession. Of the seven fellows named this year, four are from Carnegie Mellon. Takeo Kanade, the Robotics Institute's U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor, will be the conference's keynote speaker. His topic is "Computer Vision: AI or Non-AI Problem."

—The IJCAI Computers and Thought Award, given bi-annually to an outstanding young scientist working in the field of artificial intelligence, will go to Tuomas Sandholm, associate professor of computer science. Sandholm is being recognized for his contributions to computational economics and the theory and practice of negotiation and coalition formation‹techniques used in electronic commerce. He will deliver the Computers and Thought lecture on Aug. 12. His topic is "Making Markets and Democracy Work: A Story of Incentives and Computing." Sandholm is the second Carnegie Mellon faculty member to receive the Computers and Thought Award. Tom Mitchell received it in 1983.

—The robot Grace will also be attending the conference, along with her mental twin, a robot named George.

STATISTICS RECEIVES GRANTS FROM NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION

The Department of Statistics has received a five-year, $2 million grant from the National Science Foundation to fund the Vertical Integration of Research and Education in the Mathematical Sciences (VIGRE), a training program for undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows that helps meet America's burgeoning need for statisticians who are trained to do interdisciplinary scientific research.

—The overriding objective is to train students to solve a scientific problem by translating it into a statistical question, then explaining the results so they can be understood by the scientific community.

—The program also prepares graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to be university-level statistics instructors. The long-range goal of VIGRE programs nationwide is to increase the number of U.S. citizens who pursue the mathematical sciences.

—Statistics has also received a two-year, $50,000 grant from the Eli Lily Foundation to fund its Summer Undergraduate Research Internship Program. In partnership with Morehouse College in Atlanta, the department brings undergraduate minority students to Carnegie Mellon, where they spend eight weeks engaged in hands-on biostatistics research projects. Previous projects have included an analysis of time trends in sexually transmitted diseases, a study of the effects of socioeconomic status on hypertension and an analysis of the firing rate of neurons. The summer program grew out of the department's concern about the scarcity of minorities in statistics, biostatistics and epidemiology. The grant will fund the program this summer and in 2004.

UNPAID PARKING FINES WILL PREVENT YOU FROM RECEIVING NEW PERMIT

Parking Services Coordinator Debra Hamlin reminds the campus community that the distribution of parking permits for the upcoming year will soon be taking place. If you have any unpaid fines or other monies owed to the Parking Office, they must be paid by Aug. 5 or you will not receive a parking permit. Further information is posted on official.cmu-news, July 11.

STAFF URGED TO TAKE PART IN CAMPUS JULY 21 BLOOD DRIVE

A staff and community blood drive will be held from 8 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. on Monday, July 21 in the University Center's Connan Room. The blood drive is open to the entire campus community.

—Summer activities and injuries have placed a high demand on the already critically low supplies of blood in Western Pennsylvania. If you have never given blood, or gave at one time but haven't recently, now is the time to become involved.

—Donors wishing to make an appointment can email Susan Stonick at the Central Blood Bank at sstonick@itxm.org. Walk-ins are also welcome.

NEWS BRIEFS

—Information about recent coverage of Carnegie Mellon that has appeared in national newspapers, magazines and online publications is available at http://www.cmu.edu/clips/v50.html

—A new session of Weight Watchers At Work will be held on Tuesdays, 11:45 a.m.- 1 p.m., July 22 through Oct. 7. The first meeting is in the Dowd Room, University Center. Anyone interested must preregister so that enough program material is available. The preregistration form is at http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/~jm5h/ww-top.html. Meeting times and places are also on the Web site. Weight Watchers will only start the session when 15 paying members are pre-registered. Further information: official.cmu-news, July 7.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—July 17 - 20: The School of Drama presents "2 Gentlemen of Verona," one of Shakespeare's most intriguing and raucous romantic comedies. Directed by Don Wadsworth. The performance is at 7:30 p.m. in the Helen Wayne Rauh Theatre, Purnell Center for the Arts. Tickets are $5.

—Saturday, July 26: The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble premiere of Roger Dannenberg's "The Watercourse Way." 7 p.m., the Hazlett Theatre (formerly the Pittsburgh Public Theater) on the North Side, Six Allegheny Square East. Admission is $16, $8 for students and seniors. "The Watercourse Way" features a chamber orchestra, computer-generated and processed music, a dancer, computer animation, water, lights, video and wearable lighting systems. Dannenberg, senior research scientist and artist at Carnegie Mellon, is known internationally for his computer music research. His work on computer accompaniment forms the basis of SmartMusic, used by thousands of music students around the world. Further information: official.cmu-news, July 16.

—Wednesday, July 30: Orientation 2003 Information Session. 2 - 3 p.m., Rangos 3, UC. Learn what will be happening when Orientation 2003 takes place Tuesday, Aug. 19 through Sunday, Aug. 24. An overview of the program will be offered and your questions will be answered. For more information, contact the Office of Orientation at 412-268-4886 or go to
http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/first-year/

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