April 21, 2005

Vol. 15, No. 39

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.

Officials at the Tepper School of Business have announced that some of the school's computers were compromised. The computers contained sensitive personal information about the school's graduate students; graduate degree alumni from 1997 to 2004; applicants to the school's MBA program from September 2002 to May 2004; applicants to the school's Ph.D. program from 2003 to 2005, participants of a conference being facilitated by the school and the school's administrative staff.

—Student laptop computers were not breached, and, at this time, school officials believe that current undergraduate business and economics students were not affected. In addition, the overall university community was not affected.

—No evidence of unauthorized use of personal information included on the Tepper School computer system has been discovered. However, potential risks associated with identity theft are serious, and the school's administration has taken precautionary steps to inform all affected students, graduate alumni, faculty, staff and others whose information may have been contained on the system about safeguarding measures aimed at protecting privacy.

—More information can be found at http://www.tepper.cmu.edu/idalert. Affected individuals also can call 1-800-226-8258 or send email to tepper-idalert@andrew.cmu.edu for more information.

CARNEGIE MELLON CREATES NEW NANOTECHNOLOGY CENTER

A multidisciplinary team of Carnegie Mellon researchers will work to create and design new technologies at the Center for Nano-Enabled Devices and Energy Technologies. Under the direction of Elias Towe, professor of electrical and computer engineering and materials science and engineering, the new center will harness nanoscale research under way at both the College of Engineering and the Mellon College of Science. Initially housed at the Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, the center will primarily focus on nanoscale research that enables the design of innovative systems for sensing and on future energy generation and storage technologies.

—Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050414_nano.html

DRAMA AND MUSIC TO PRESENT LEONARD BERNSTEIN'S "CANDIDE"

The schools of Drama and Music will collaborate to present Leonard Bernstein's musical "Candide," April 21-23 and 26-30, in the Philip Chosky Theater in the Purnell Center for the Arts. Gregory Lehane, professor of directing in the School of Drama, will direct this production, and Robert Page, professor of music and director of choral studies, will be the conductor and music director. "Candide" tells the story of a young man who must circle the globe trying to find his lover. His adventures take him all over Europe and South America as he tries to secure happiness and maintain a ridiculous optimism in the face of cruelty and oppression.

—Performances are 7:30 p.m., Tuesdays - Thursdays; 8 p.m., Fridays; and 2 and 8 p.m., Saturdays. To purchase tickets, call the box office at 412-268-2407. Information: http://www.cmu.edu/cmnews/extra/050420_candide.html

NEWS BRIEFS

—Fortune Magazine has selected "Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and the Gender Divide" by James M. Walton Professor of Economics Linda Babcock and Sara Laschever (Princeton University Press, 2003) as one of 75 books to teach you everything you need to know about business. According to Fortune, this is "the first book to adequately explain the dramatic differences in how men and women negotiate and why women so often fail to ask for what they want at work (starting with equal pay). Every male manager in America should read it."

—Members of the Carnegie Mellon community are invited to nominate library faculty or staff for excellence in any of the following categories: Satisfying Customers, Increased Productivity, Library Citizenship, Forwarding the Instructional and Research Mission the Library, or Innovation. Deadline for nominations is May 13. The award nomination form is posted at http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries/AchievementNomination.html

—The New Weight Watchers at Work session begins April 26 in the Dowd Room, University Center (UC), 11:45 - 1 p.m. The cost is 12 weeks plus one free for $144. Fifteen paying members are needed before April 26 for the new meetings to begin. If you plan to sign up, contact Amber Vivis at albrown@andrew.cmu.edu prior to April 25.

PERSONAL MENTION

—Philip LeDuc, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has won the prestigious Beckman Foundation Young Investigator's Award for leading-edge biomedical engineering research. He joins an elite class of 24 Beckman awardees selected in 2005 for opening up new avenues of research in the chemical and life sciences.LeDuc is using his $264,000 Beckman award to study the diversity in the mechanics, structure and function of the cell. Information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050419_beckman.html/

—Carnegie Mellon has appointed William G. Rosenberg, a senior fellow at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, to head a new university research initiative designed to help develop strategies to implement new coal technologies that could result in lower natural gas prices. Rosenberg will direct a new gasification initiative co-sponsored by Carnegie Mellon's Engineering and Public Policy Department and the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Kennedy School. He will also be working closely with the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center.

—Saeed Aldosari, a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, won a best student paper award at the IEEE ICASSP'05 (the premier Signal Processing Conference) with the paper, "Saddlepoint Approximation for Sensor Networks Optimization." The paper was coauthored with his advisor, Jose M. F. Moura.

—Robert D. Tilton, professor of biomedical engineering and chemical engineering, has been appointed by the Institute for Surface Chemistry (Ytkemiska Institutet AB, or YKI) in Stockholm, Sweden, as a YKI Ambassador. The YKI Ambassadors program was started this year to engage international academic researchers to promote the YKI scientific program and to expand YKI's opportunity to establish new collaborations worldwide. YKI is an internationally leading industrial research institute that serves 85 member companies.

—Malvern Instruments, Limited (UK) has purchased an option on a technology created as a byproduct of research by Chemical Engineering professors Dennis Prieve and Paul Sides and Chemical Engineering graduate students James Hoggard and Jeffrey Fagan. The invention is an apparatus and method for measuring the apparent surface charge of planar solid surfaces. Malvern is supporting the building of a prototype, which is to be available for testing around June 1.

—Kevin Hutchinson, senior information systems major in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, has been selected as the Carnegie Mellon Student Employee of the Year and the 2004-05 Student Employee of the Year for the State of Pennsylvania. This is the first time that a Carnegie Mellon student has received the Pennsylvania award. Hutchinson is a Web developer for the Heinz School. See official.cmu-news, April 21.

—Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Head Ed Schlesinger delivered the keynote address at the 22nd IEEE - 13th NASA Goddard Conference on Mass Storage Systems and Technologies. He spoke about the future of information storage, the integration of storage and processing, and the technological and societal impacts of these developments.

—Benjamin Reilly, professor of history at Carnegie Mellon in Qatar, has written an article entitled "Ideology on Trial: Testing a Theory of Revolutionary Political Culture" that will be published in the spring issue of the French History Journal. The article uses the opinions produced during the trial of King Louis XVI as a means of testing established theories about the role played by revolutionary ideology on events during the French Revolution.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Sunday, April 24: The Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic performs Gustav Mahler's Symphony #6. 8 p.m., Heinz Hall. For ticket information, contact Amy Stabenow at 412-268-2383.

—Thursday, April 28: Education Awards Ceremony. 4:30 p.m., Rangos Hall, University Center. Associate Professor of Philosophy Peter Madsen will receive the Doherty Award for Excellence in Education; Chemistry Professor Karen Stump, the Ryan Award for Meritorious Teaching; and Associate Director of the Information Systems Program Stephen Pajewski, the Academic Advising Award. Doctoral students Victor Cohen (English) and Ipek Ozkaya (Architecture) will receive Graduate Student Teaching awards, and Adam Wierman (Computer Science), an honorable mention citation.

—Friday, April 29: Adamson Awards to honor student writers. 8 p.m., Adamson Wing, Baker Hall. Guest speaker will be Poet Alice Fulton. Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050419_adamson.html

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