January 6, 2005

Vol. 15, No. 24

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)
  Bruce Gerson, 412-268-1613 (bg02@andrew.cmu.edu)
  Susan Cribbs, 412-268-7521 (cribbs@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.

2003 Editions are available online.

2004 Editions are available online.

Previous editions are available online.

Carnegie Mellon will host a daylong series of speakers and events to celebrate the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on Monday, Jan. 17. Classes will be cancelled after 12:30 p.m. so that all members of the campus community may participate.

—President Jared L. Cohon will begin the day's programming at 12:30 p.m. with his State of Diversity address. The president, chairman of the university's Diversity Advisory Council, will review the progress the university has made toward increasing diversity across campus and outline next steps in the process. Following the president's address, winners of the Martin Luther King Jr. Writing Awards will read their entries. The awards, sponsored by Carnegie Mellon's Creative Writing Program, are given to local high school and Carnegie Mellon students who submit poetry or prose about their experiences with racial difference and discrimination. At 5 p.m., Dr. Darlene Clark Hine will present the keynote address, "Freedom Is Our Business: Black Professionals Before the Modern Civil Rights Movement." A noted historian and author on the subject of African American history, Hine is the Board of Trustees Professor of African American Studies and Professor of History at Northwestern University. Other activities include programs for children, a panel discussion on civil rights and the Community Collage, during which students and staff will pay tribute to Dr. King through artistic expression.

—For more on the day's activities, visit http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/first-year/mlk/2005/

CHINESE SOFTWARE COLLEGES PARTNER WITH CARNEGIE MELLON

A partnership between a group of Software Colleges of the People's Republic of China and iCarnegie, Inc., a Carnegie Mellon subsidiary, will provide state-of-the-art software development curriculum and education to students of the Software Colleges. At a ceremony in Beijing, China, on Dec.18, officials from iCarnegie, the Software Colleges and the China Ministry of Education initiated the formal curriculum delivery arrangement and discussed plans for the future. Provost Mark Kamlet represented Carnegie Mellon at the ceremony.

—The partnership will pair American teaching methods and content with dedicated Chinese instructors, who will provide attention and expertise in the classrooms and labs at the Software Colleges. iCarnegie provides curriculum developed by Carnegie Mellon faculty to schools worldwide.

—Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases04/041221_icarnegie.html

PAPER BY ASTROPHYSICIST IS ONE OF THE MOST CITED BY SCIENTISTS

A research article by Jeff Peterson, professor of physics, was recently noted by ISI® as one of the most highly cited papers in space science. The paper, "High-resolution Observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectrum with ACBAR," was published in Astrophysics Journal/600 in January 2004. Peterson's article presents the most descriptive, sensitive images to date of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation, which carries information from the earliest moments of the Big Bang. Most recently, Peterson has been assembling the PrimevAL Structure Telescope (PAST) in Xin-Jiang, China. PAST will map the earliest structures of the universe. Further information: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04362/432803.stm

GOODMAN HOSTS PREMIERE OF "ESCOLA DE SAMBA" DOCUMENTARY

Tepper School of Business Professor and film director Paul Goodman, a nationally recognized authority on the design and function of effective organizations, will host the premiere of "Escola de Samba," a one-hour documentary about how 4,000 Brazilians work to create the country's annual carnival at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Jan.16, at The Carnegie Art Museum Theater in Oakland. Admission is free."Escola de Samba" follows the work of a Brazilian group called "Camisa Verde e Branco" (Green and White Shirts) over a 10-month period, in which they selected a theme, prepared music, costumes and three-story-high floats, and conducted rehearsals to compete against other Brazilian groups in the annual grand festival in San Palo.The film is the second documentary created by Goodman focusing on how developing countries use human and social ingenuity to create complex, efficient and reliable work systems without technology and modern management practices.

NEWS BRIEFS

—Effective Jan. 10, login will be required to use public Internet workstations in the University Libraries. Carnegie Mellon students, faculty and staff will login with their Andrew ID and password. Campus visitors may login with a temporary ID and password, obtained by showing photo ID at any circulation desk. No login will be needed to use the Carnegie Mellon library catalog at dedicated workstations in the library.

—Effective Jan. 1, the Occupation Tax increased from $10 to $52 per year. The tax, renamed the Emergency and Municipal Service (EMS) Tax, will be withheld in its entirety from employees' paychecks effective with the first pay in January. Employees earning less than $12,000 per year may be eligible for a $42 refund, but must provide proof of earnings and apply for the refund from the City of Pittsburgh directly.

—A new Weight Watchers at Work session begins Jan. 11. The meeting will be held in the Dowd Room in the University Center (UC) from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. The cost for the new session--12 weeks plus 1 free week--is $144 (or $132 for Lifetime Members 5 lbs. over goal). Fifteen paying members are needed for the new meetings to begin. If you plan to join but have not signed up, contact Amber Vivis (albrown@andrew.cmu.edu) as soon as possible. Anyone signing up for the new session will receive a free gift.

—The Fall 2004 edition of Polyglot, the Department of Modern Languages' undergraduate journal, is available online at http://ml.hss.cmu.edu/ml/studentservices/polyglot.html. Students of all languages, including English as a Second Language, are invited to contribute essays, poems and critical works.

PERSONAL MENTION

—Edmund M. Clarke, FORE Systems professor of computer science and professor of electrical and computer engineering, has been elected a Fellow of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a technical professional association with more than 360,000 members in 175 countries. The grade of Fellow recognizes individuals who have demonstrated outstanding proficiency and have achieved unusual distinction in the profession. Clarke was honored for his contributions to model-checking methods for verification of digital circuitry. Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/041217_clarke.html

—The Tepper School of Business has announced that it has established a full-tuition scholarship for a qualified MBA student who is a citizen of France. The scholarship is named for Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber, a former professor and international chairman at Carnegie Mellon, French freedom fighter, French government official and founder of the French news weekly, l'Express.

—Sridhar Seetharaman, associate professor of materials science and engineering, has been appointed editor of AIST Transactions, a technical journal that publishes articles on research in the manufacture of iron and steel.

—The Safety and Health Division of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) has selected Gary Powers, chemical engineering professor, as the recipient of the 2005 Norton H. Walton / Russell L. Miller Award in recognition of outstanding chemical engineering contributions and achievements in the areas of Loss Prevention, Safety and Health. The award, which will be presented at the 2005 AIChE Meeting in Atlanta, is for Powers' pioneering research in process risk assessment and process synthesis.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Thursday, Jan. 13: Art Lecture. Joyce Kozloff, media artist, writer, activist and alumna. 5 p.m., McConomy Auditorium, UC.

—Thursday, Jan. 13: Steinbrenner Institute Leadership in Environment Series. Peter J. Davoren, president and CEO of The Turner Corporation, will discuss "Green Construction and its Effect on the Construction Industry." 10:30 a.m., Margaret Morrison Hall, A14. The campus community is invited.

—Friday, Jan. 14: Opera. "Death of Columbus" by Leonardo Balada. Robert Page, conductor. Carnegie Music Hall,Oakland. Ticket info: 412-268-2383.

—Friday, Jan. 14: Opening reception for "The Happiest Day," a collaborative work by Associate Professor of Art Suzie Silver and local artist Hilary Harp. 7 p.m., Pittsburgh Filmmakers Galleries. The exhibit runs Jan. 7 - Feb.13 and is free and open to the public. Further information: 412-681-5449 or www.pghfilmmakers.org.

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