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March 3, 2005 Vol. 15, No. 32
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. 2004 Editions are available online. Previous editions are available online.
RESEARCHER SAYS THOSE WHO PERFORM LAST MAY FINISH FIRST Don't be surprised if the singers who advance to the next round of "American Idol" each week are those who perform at the end of the previous week's episode. Studies by Wändi Bruine De Bruin, a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, have found that participants who appear toward the end of juried competitions do better than those who perform at the beginning. —In her latest paper, published in the journal Acta Psychologica, Bruine De Bruin studied European figure-skating competitions and the Eurovision Song Contest, a pop song competition that has taken place in Europe since 1956, and which, like "American Idol," includes voting by fans watching at home. She found that participants who appeared near the end of the contests earned higher marks from judges than those who performed earlier. This phenomenon, known as the serial position effect, can be found in everyday evaluations such as job interviews and student exams. —Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050224_idol.htm. SCHEINES NAMED HEAD OF DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY Philosophy Professor Richard Scheines will become head of the Department of Philosophy, effective July 1. Scheines has been at Carnegie Mellon since 1988, and his work as a researcher and educator typifies the university's multidisciplinary approach and focus on real-world problem solving. His research concentrates on causal discovery from a philosophical, statistical and computational perspective. It led to the development of the TETRAD Project, a suite of computer programs for causal modeling that has been applied to many important scientific questions, including whether low levels of lead produce cognitive deficits in children. He succeeds Professor Wilfried Sieg, who has led the department to national prominence since 1994. —Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050301_scheines.html. MEN'S BASKETBALL TEAM ADVANCES IN POSTSEASON PLAY Led by three Tartans scoring in double figures and strong free throw shooting, Carnegie Mellon's men's basketball team defeated Gettysburg, 66-60, last night to advance to the semifinal round of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference South Region Basketball Tournament. The Tartans, who set a school record for most wins in a season with 19 (19-6), will face Catholic University Friday, March 4, at Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster, Pa. In the other semifinal F&M will play Scranton. The championship game will be played Saturday, March 5. — The Tartans had a banner year posting an 18-6 regular-season mark and finishing second in the University Athletic Association (UAA) with a 10-4 conference slate. They are led by led by junior forwards Clayton Barlow-Wilcox, (18.5 points/game) and Nate Maurer (17 points/game), and senior guard Michael Divens (14.2 points/game). Barlow-Wilcox and Maurer were first-team All-UAA selections and Divens was a second-team pick. Head Coach Tony Wingen was voted UAA Coach-of-the-Year. — For more visit http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/050301_basketball.html HEINZ SCHOOL STUDENTS AID TSUNAMI VICTIMS Heinz School students are turning the school's mission into entrepreneurial action. After the tsunami disaster, Public Policy and Management student and returned Peace Corps volunteer Kevin Griffith created the Tsunami Assistance Project (TAP) with a group of fellow students. The program has two objectives—to help tsunami victims rebuild their communities through small-scale reconstruction projects and to bring the struggle of the recovery experience back to people in the United States. Griffith is currently in Chenni, India, launching TAP, while the project management team is based in Pittsburgh. —"For the past two weeks, I have been in India assessing the situation on the ground and identifying local leaders who can organize and orchestrate reconstruction, and manage the project(s) selected," Griffith says. "Over the next three months my partners and I will work with these communities to help them implement small projects that specifically address their needs. With the local community, we have identified a village reconstruction project and will strive to build homes for over 200 families." —TAP hopes to raise $50,000 by March 20 to fund the reconstruction. NEWS BRIEFS —Due to Spring Break, buggy practices are cancelled for March 5, 6,12 and13. —In a series of programs during the spring semester, the university will examine German culture, with a particular emphasis on Goethe. The series includes a vocal concert of German art songs, a lecture entitled "Goethe and Globality," performances of scenes from "Faust" and a screening of the 1926 film "Faust: Eine Deutsche Volkssage." On Thursday, March 17, Clark S. Muenzer, associate professor of German at the University of Pittsburgh, will lecture on "Goethe and Globality" at 4:30 p.m., Breed Hall, Margaret Morrison. School of Drama students will perform scenes from "Faust," under the direction of Sven Miller, a graduate student in directing, at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m., March 23 - 25, Porter Hall 100. The events are free and open to the public. —Carnegie Mellon is participating in Recycle Mania 2005 through April 9. Your help is needed to reduce waste and increase the university's recycling rates. The Green Practices waste audit in the fall of 2004 identified that 39 percent of the materials found in our campus waste stream could be recycled. If you have questions or concerns about the recycling or waste management practices in your area, contact Barbara Kviz, Facilities Management environmental coordinator, at bk11@andrew.cmu.edu or 8-7858. The Recycle Mania results can be viewed at http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/ —The Carnegie Mellon Factbook 2005, published by University Planning, is now available on the University Planning Web site at http://www.cmu.edu/planning. PERSONAL MENTION —There was an error by the judges in the recent undergraduate poster competition. The corrected results are: Junior Eric Vanderson received first place for his poster "Deformation Behavior of Rolled Cu-Nb Micro and Nano Composites"; juniors Selina Brownridge and Diana Chan shared second place for their "Comparative Analysis of Processing Techniques on Y-Ba-Cu-O Superconductor"; and senior Jennifer Singelyn was awarded third place for "Gels for Tissue Engineering." —Three faculty members from the School of Computer Science have been named Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellows for 2005. Anastassia Ailamaki, Karl Crary and Anupam Gupta have been awarded two-year, $40,000 fellowships for their work in computer science. The Sloan Fellowship is a prestigious award intended to provide support and recognition to the very best young faculty members in specified fields of science. Past Sloan Fellows from Carnegie Mellon include Todd Mowry, Hui Zhang, Tuomas Sandholm, Avrim Blum and Jessica Hodgins. Further information: http://www.sloan.org. CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS —Friday, March 4: The MapHub project, created by STUDIO for Creative Inquiry fellow Nathan Martin and the Carbon Defense League collective, will launch a Web site designed to gather sounds of Pittsburgh at 8 p.m., at Edge Studio, 5411 Penn Avenue. MapHub encourages Pittsburgh residents to register at http://www.maphub.org to help create an audible map of the city featuring site-specific sounds of daily life. The interactive, multimedia map will be installed in an exhibit titled "Making Things Public - Atmospheres of Democracy" at the Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany, on March 18. Sounds may be contributed through August 2005. —Thursday, March 10: "Carnegie Mellon Open Forum: Facilities/Campus Space." Noon, Peter-Wright-McKenna Rooms, University Center. Do you have questions about campus space issues or campus construction projects? Send your questions in advance to Jarrin Nevel, jfn@andrew.cmu.edu. Questions may also be asked at the forum. Guests: Chris Gabriel, vice provost and chief technology officer; Marty Altschul, university engineer; Russ O'Lare, special projects planning analyst. —Monday, March 14: Lecture: "Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History." Norman G. Finkelstein. 5 - 7 p.m., McConomy Auditorium.
—Tuesday, March 15: Feynman Lecture Series. Feynman Lecture #2: "The Relation of Mathematics to Physics." 4:30 p.m., Doherty Hall 2210.
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