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June 24, 2004 Vol. 14, No. 48
The "8 1/2 x 11 News" is published each week by the University Advancement Division. News of campus interest should be sent to one of the following editors:
Ed Delaney, 412-268-1609
(ed47@andrew.cmu.edu) 2001 Editions are available online. 2002 Editions are available online. 2003 Editions are available online. Previous editions are available online.
REMOTE-CONTROLLED, THROWABLE ROBOTS TO BE TESTED IN IRAQ Carnegie Mellon robotics researchers, in conjunction with the U.S. Marine Corps' Warfighting Laboratory, have developed a small, throwable, remote-controlled prototype robot designed for surveillance in urban settings. Several of the robots are being sent to Iraq for testing. The robot, known as Dragon Runner, has the ability to see around corners and provide real-time imagery to Marines while keeping them out of danger. — The architect behind Dragon Runner is Hagen Schempf, a principal research scientist in the Robotics Institute. During his career, Schempf has designed robotic systems for asbestos removal, nuclear waste remediation and cleanup of underground storage tanks containing toxic materials. Schempf emphasized that after testing is complete, the university will not be involved in developing a military version of the system, which the Marine Corps may wish to procure through its military acquisition channels. Further information: www.cmu.edu/PR/releases04/040623_dragonrunner.html TAKEO KANADE ELECTED TO AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES Takeo Kanade, the U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics and former director of the university's Robotics Institute, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The academy honored Kanade for his achievements in the fields of computer vision, visual and multi-media technology, and robotics. Founded in 1780, the academy is a very prestigious international academic society composed of the world's leading scienitists, scholars, artists, business people and public leaders. Election to the academy is reserved for those who have made major contributions to society. Past members have included Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell and Albert Einstein. — Carnegie Mellon faculty who are academy members include Manuel Blum, Dana S. Scott and Raj Reddy in the School of Computer Science and John Robert Anderson, Robyn M. Dawes and Teddy I. Seidenfeld in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Information: www.cmu.edu/PR/releases04/040623_kanade.html ECE PROFESSOR NAMED HEAD OF DATA STORAGE SYSTEMS CENTER The university has appointed Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Ed Schlesinger to head its Data Storage Systems Center (DSSC). With more than $4 million in government and corporate funding, the DSSC is pioneering theory and research that will lead to the next generation of data storage technology. Under Schlesinger's leadership, Carnegie Mellon is helping industry design nanometer-scale technology that will ultimately lead to fast, low-cost and compact information storage devices. "Conventional storage technology, at best, falls nearly 10 times short of this goal," Schlesinger said. "There is no way we can obtain industry's storage density goals without significant breakthroughs in nanotechnology." Further information: www.cmu.edu/PR/releases04/040617_dssc.html CONFERENCE INCLUDES WORKSHOPS ON BIOTERRORISM & COVERT NETWORKS Over 100 representatives from government, industry and academia will gather at the Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS) in the School of Computer Science (SCS), June 27-29, for a conference that will include workshops on bioterrorism, covert networks, organizational structures and project management. Kathleen M. Carley, professor of computation, organization and society in the Institute for Software Research International in SCS, is the center's director. The conference's goal is to advance the state of science in formal reasoning, analysis, and system building to develop new theories that explain and predict the behavior of complex adaptive systems, new computational models and technologies.
— Because of the annual year-end postal services inventory, the main post office in the University Center will be closed Monday, June 28, and will reopen at 8 a.m., Tuesday, June 29. The Mellon Institute post office will be closed Friday, June 25, and reopen at 8 a.m., Monday, June 28. For the July 4th holiday, the postal offices will be closed on Monday, July 5. Further information: official.cmu-news, June 22. — Nominations for this year's Andy Awards are due July 12. Awards are open to all non-faculty university employees. The university-wide staff recognition program honors staff for innovation, enthusiasm, citizenship, dedication and culture. Nomination forms are available on the Web at www.cmu.edu/andyawards/ PERSONAL MENTION — John Robertson, director of undergraduate business administration at the Tepper School, has been named director of the undergraduate business program at the Carnegie Mellon campus in Qatar, effective July 1. — George Stetten, research scientist in the Robotics Institute and assistant professor of bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh, has won the University of Pittsburgh's Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award in the Junior Scholar category for 2004. Awards in the junior scholar category are given to Pitt faculty members who, by virtue of the exceptional quality of their early contributions, have demonstrated great potential as scholars and have achieved international standing. — The Alumni Office has announced the promotion of Holly Gordon to assistant director of alumni relations - reunions. For the past four years, she had been project manager for reunions. In her new role, she will work with alumni volunteers on reunion and class programming, as well as special interest alumni groups like the Scotch 'n' Soda and swimming clans. — Jia-Yu (Tim) Pan, a Ph.D. graduate student in the Computer Science Department, has won the Best Student Paper Award at the 2004 Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. The paper, "AutoSplit: Fast and Scalable Discovery of Hidden Variables in Stream and Multimedia Databases," was co-authored with Christos Faloutsos, Masafumi Hamamoto and Hiroyuki Kitagawa. Jia-Yu's advisors are professors Christos Faloutsos and Howard Wactlar. — Patricia Li, a master's student in the School of Music, won second prize at the IV Lee Biennial National Piano Competition at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D. — Kimberley Kinder has won the Teresa Heinz Scholarship for her research topic "The Lost Life of Water: Reintroducing Streams and Wetlands Into the Urban Environment." Kinder is a student in the School of Architecture and is working on her thesis for a master's degree in urban design. — Ralph Vituccio, a faculty member at the Entertainment Technology Center, won three international festival awards at the 36th Annual Media Communications Association International Media Festival. He won a Golden Reel Award for the video, "Dino Mite Days at the Carnegie" in the External Communications category; a Silver Reel Award for the "Carnegie Mellon Carnegie Corp" video in the External Communication category; and a Bronze Reel Award for "Robot Hall of Fame" in the Public Service Announcement category. The latter is a 30-second TV commercial announcing the creation of the Robot Hall of Fame. The "Carnegie Mellon Carnegie Corp" video, an overview of Carnegie Mellon, was presented to the Carnegie Corporation's board of trustees in New York City. — Carnegie Mellon junior Chris Pearson, winner of the NCAA Division III swimming championship in the 200-yard freestyle last March, has been named to the 2003-04 First Team Academic All-American Men's At-Large Team by the College Sports Information Directors of America. Also receiving recognition was junior tennis player Boris Sofman who earned second team honors, and senior golfer David Korpi who received third team recognition. Carnegie Mellon was the only school to place three student-athletes on the three teams. CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS — Wednesday, June 30: Book discussion. "Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? And Other Conversations About Race," by Beverly Daniel Tatum. 9 - 10:30 a.m. Free. Connan Room, University Center. Gloriana St. Clair, dean of university libraries, will lead the discussion, which is limited to 20 participants. Register at http://hr.web.cmu.edu/default.asp?sectopmID=664 |
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