January 20, 2005

Vol. 15, No. 26

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.

Sony Electronics Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer Hideki "Dick" Komiyama will visit Carnegie Mellon on Friday, Jan. 28, to introduce QRIO, the company's two-and-a-half-foot tall, autonomous, interactive humanoid robot. QRIO will be demonstrated to the campus community at 12:30 p.m. in the University Center's (UC) Rangos Hall. QRIO, whose name is a play on the word curiosity, combines cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) and dynamics technologies. It can move on its own accord, gather information, recognize people's faces and voices and carry on conversations. This will be QRIO's first appearance on an American college campus.

—The event recognizes Sony's strong relationship with Carnegie Mellon AI and robotics researchers, in particular Computer Science Professor Manuela Veloso and her students, who have worked with Sony's AIBO four-legged entertainment robots since 1998, honing their soccer-playing skills to demonstrate teamwork and multi-agent learning. Carnegie Mellon teams have participated in the International RoboCup Legged competition since its inception in 1998, winning two world championships (1998, 2002). They also were champions in the first two U.S. Opens (2003 and 2004).

—Following the demonstration, which will be conducted by Sony software developer John DeCuir and sales and marketing manager Ken Orli, the two will give a robotics lecture at 3:30 p.m. in 3305 Newell-Simon Hall.

—Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050118_qrio.html

FORTUNE MAGAZINE ARTICLE FEATURES ROBOTICS INSTITUTE

Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute is featured in the Jan. 24 issue of Fortune Magazine sent to subscribers. The seven-page spread focuses on the work of Fredkin Research Professor William "Red" Whittaker and the Red Team's robotic Humvees—Sandstorm and H1ghlander; Principal Systems Scientist Hagen Schempf and Explorer, a robot developed to inspect underground gas lines; Assistant Mechanical Engineering Professor Metin Sitti and his tiny six-legged robotic water strider; and Associate Research Professor Sanjiv Singh, who helped create an autonomous lawn mower for Toro Co. The piece also includes the work of Carnegie Mellon scientists who helped build a robot that strips old paint from the hulls of large ships.

—"University researchers are developing industrial robots that . . . require significant ability to make independent decisions. They include inspecting an underground pipeline as natural gas flows through it (Explorer), navigating rugged desert terrain without a driver (Sandstorm and H1ghlander) and even walking on water while testing for pollutants. For a glimpse at what's coming in mobile robotics, Fortune visited a place that's always hopping with wild ideas: the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh," says writer Stuart F. Brown.

CENTER FOR ARTS IN SOCIETY RECEIVES $500,000 GRANT

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has given Carnegie Mellon's Center for the Arts in Society a $500,000 grant that will fund the center's operations for the next three years. Launched in 2000 with a grant from the foundation, the center is a multidisciplinary research and education institution that brings together scholars who are interested in studies of culture and society and the history and production of the arts. The center sponsors a regular series of events including panel discussions, faculty presentations and guest lectures. It also brings visiting scholars to campus each year and sponsors the university's arts in society minor. The center is a collaboration of the College of Fine Arts and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and is a part of the university's Humanities Initiative.

—"In its four years, the center has markedly influenced the university community, contributing to the enhancement of humanities on campus, exploring the changes in scholarship that result from collaboration between artists and humanists, and introducing new theories and practices in the arts and humanities through programs and events," said Judith Schachter Modell, director of the center.

—Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050114_cas.html

PERSONAL MENTION

—During the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration last Monday, President Jared L. Cohon presented Vice Provost for Education Indira Nair with this year's Barbara Lazarus Award for Culture and Climate. The award honors an individual for making major contributions in support of the university's efforts to create a supportive and nurturing campus environment for everyone. Among her many activities, Nair was recognized for her leadership in the "greening" of undergraduate education. Funded by the Luce Foundation, Nair led the development of several new courses on environmental issues and practices for freshmen and sophomores. The award is named in memory of Barbara Lazarus, former associate provost for academic affairs, who worked to give women and minorities equal access to the fields of engineering and science. Lazarus, who died on July 15, 2003, led the creation of the Undergraduate Research Initiative, now called the Undergraduate Research Office.

—The Pittsburgh Savoyards' Jan. 14 - 30 production of Gilbert & Sullivan's comic operetta "Gondoliers" includes Jack Mostow, research professor in the Robotics Institute; Meighan Lloyd, proposal and business coordinator in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department; Jesse Schell, assistant professor in the Entertainment Technology Center; and Nils Hammer, a researcher in the Language Technologies Institute. Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2:30 p.m. Sundays, at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, 300 Beechwood Avenue in Carnegie. Ticket prices range from $6 to $15 and can be purchased at the door.

—Jeff Roberts, Tepper School doctoral student; Il-Horn Hann, former Tepper faculty member; and Sandra Slaughter, associate professor in information systems at Tepper, won the Best Conference Theme Paper Award at the recent International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) in Washington, D.C. Their paper is entitled "Why Developers Participate in Open Source Software Projects: An Empirical Investigation." The ICIS conference is the premier conference in information systems. This year's conference attracted more than 500 paper submissions of which two were selected for awards.

—Jure Leskovec, a first year doctoral student in the Center for Automated Learning and Discovery, has received a Slovenian Academy of Sciences award. The annual award is presented to three doctoral students based on academic excellence. Each awardee receives a $5,000 prize.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Jan. 21- 22: Jill Watson Distinguished Lecture Series. Craig Hodgetts, principal and co-founder of Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture, 6:30 p.m. Jan. 21, Kresge Recital Hall, CFA. First American performance by Japanese multimedia group Maywa Denki, 3 p.m. Jan. 22, McConomy Auditorium. For more, visit http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050112_watson.html

—Friday, Jan. 21: Information seminar. "Web Services: Implications for Software Engineering." Kostas Kontogiannis, associate professor, University of Waterloo, Canada. 11 a.m. - Noon, Jordan Auditorium, SEI.

—-Monday, Jan. 24: Doctoral Career Paths Seminar. "Faculty Appointments, Part 2: Public Universities, Small Private Colleges, Research Universities and Community College." Speakers: Bopaya Bidanda, co-director for the Manufacturing Assistance Center at the University of Pittsburgh; William Breslove, associate professor of business management at Point Park College; and Lisa Lambert, associate professor of Biology at Chatham College. Noon, Rangos 2. Lunch will be served. Register at http://gposerver.as.cmu.edu/registration/multiregis.html/

—Jan. 27 - 30: The School of Music presents Gioachino Rossini's opera "L'Italiana in Algeri" ("The Italian Girl in Algiers") in four performances at the Philip Chosky Theater. Proceeds from the opening performance at 8 p.m.on Jan. 27 will benefit the Carnegie Mellon Tsunami Relief-Rebuild effort. The opera will feature School of Music students under the direction of Robert Page, the Paul Mellon Professor of Music, and Gregory Lehane, professor of drama and music. "The Italian Girl in Algiers" will be the first Carnegie Mellon opera production to feature English translations of the Italian libretto, projected above the stage.

—Friday, Jan. 28: Graduate Women's Gathering. "Women and Negotiation." Speaker: Linda Babcock, professor of economics at the Heinz School. 12:15 p.m., Connan Room, UC. Lunch will be served. To register, go to http://gposerver.as.cmu.edu/registration/multiregis.html/

-Back to the top-