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July 7, 2005 Vol. 16, No. 1
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.
HEALTH PSYCHOLOGIST SHELDON COHEN GARNERS $3 MILLION NIH GRANT Sheldon Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty Professor of Psychology, has received a $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to continue his cutting-edge research into the connection between physical health and social factors, such as relationships and family upbringing. Cohen is one of the world's leading health psychologists and one of the architects of Carnegie Mellon's highly regarded health psychology program. In 1997, he published a groundbreaking article in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrating that people with diverse social networks and greater sociability have better health practices and increased resistance to disease. —The NIH grant will help Cohen and his colleagues to build on this work by exploring two major questions. One, what is the impact of a person's social environment on their health and well being? The researchers will take into account study participants' childhood experiences, including the safety of their home and neighborhood, their activities as children and their parents' social networks as well as the nature of their current social activities and relationships. Next, the researchers will try to determine which biological factors are influenced by social well being to impact health. Cohen already has established, for example, that people with numerous and diverse relationships are less susceptible to infection than others. —"What we don't know is how our social environment gets 'under the skin' to influence our health," Cohen said. Cohen's co-investigators are Margaretha L. Casselbrant, William J. Doyle and Eillie Mandel at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh; Anna Marsland and Bruce S. Rabin at the University of Pittsburgh; and Ronald B. Turner at the University of Virginia. NEUROSCIENTIST RECEIVES $1 MILLION TO UNDERSTAND NEURAL INTEGRATION Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences Nathan Urban and two international collaborators have received $1 million from the Human Frontier Science Program to work on resolving how a particular "cluster" of neurons contributes to odor perception in the mouse brain. Their proposed research will be the first ever to manipulate brain systems at this intermediate level, a single neuronal module. —By manipulating the tightly coordinated group of neurons that make up a module, the researchers also expect to analyze, for the first time, how the neurons' properties are affected at the cellular level and how their integrated activity affects a mouse's behavior. "Connecting the dots from cell activity to animal behavior will have a profound impact on our ability to understand the brain and to diagnose and treat neural diseases in humans," Urban says. —Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050705_neuroscientist.html SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNOUNCES 2005 SUMMER NEW PLAY FESTIVAL The School of Drama's Summer New Play Festival begins Thursday, July 21. Six new plays will be presented at 8 p.m. over two weekends in the Helen Wayne Rauh Theatre at the Purnell Center for the Arts. The New Play Festival will showcase three new works in progress each weekend by performing the work of alumni and students in the School of Drama dramatic writing program. Through moderated feedback sessions following each performance, the audience will get the opportunity to share its opinions about the works presented. Tickets are free to the public and will be available one half-hour prior to curtain at the box office. For tickets, call 412-268-2407. Seating is limited. Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050705_drama.html NEWS BRIEFS —Carnegie Mellon spin-off Carnegie Learning, an online math curricula provider for middle school and high school students in more than 600 school districts across the country, has received the 2005 CODiE Award for its online Algebra I Cognitive Tutor. The Tutor, developed by researchers at Carnegie Mellon, identifies students' weaknesses, customizes prompts to focus on areas where the student needs help and provides teachers with reports on students' progress. —The results from the Summer One 2005 Faculty Course Evaluations are now available. To access results, go to http://www.cmu.edu/fce and select "View FCE Results." PERSONAL MENTION —William L. Alba has been named the first director of the university's Science and Humanities Scholars (SHS) Program, effective Aug. 1. SHS, a multidisciplinary program that enables students to develop an undergraduate course of study that builds upon their interests and achievements in the humanities, natural sciences, mathematics or social sciences, is run jointly by the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Mellon College of Science. Alba has been the associate dean of studies at Bard High School Early College in New York City, a cutting-edge institution that allows high school students to complete two years of college while they earn their high school diploma. Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases05/050705_shs.html —Colin O'Donohoe, a student in the Heinz School's Master of Arts Management Program, has been selected to receive the Volunteer in the Arts award from WQED and the Dominion Foundation in recognition of his volunteer work to create Pittsburgh's only Chinese Orchestra, the New Moon Orchestra. O'Donohoe has a strong background as a performer and conductor of world music and has the rare ability to translate original Chinese scores into Western scores so modern musicians can read them. —Silvia Borzutzky, a teaching professor in the Heinz School and the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, recently met with Republican and Democratic members of the Senate and House, and members of the House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee to talk about the findings contained in her book, "Vital Connections: Politics, Social Security and Inequality in Chile." The meetings included a discussion of what Congress should be cognizant of with regard to Chile's experience in moving to a private social security system in 1980. She will continue to serve as a resource to policy makers as they move forward with developing related legislative measures. —Associate Teaching Professor Ananda Gunawardena and his colleagues in the Computer Science Department have made such significant progress using 25 tablet PCs to foster education that their donor, Hewlett-Packard Corp., has awarded them a second HP Technology for Teaching Higher Education "Leadership" grant that provides 50 additional tablets, other equipment and more than $150,000 in research funding to continue the work. Gunawardena received the initial award last year to study the educational applications of tablet PCs along with a $100,000 grant. Gunawardena believes tablet PCs can significantly change the way students and teachers interact by allowing real-time digital collaboration between students and teachers, as well as the ability to use "digital ink" to draw, animate, write notes or highlight text directly on the screen and share them with others. Gunawardena will travel to Carnegie Mellon's Qatar campus this fall to study how students there can use tablet PCs to communicate and exchange data with students at the Pittsburgh campus. —Sarah Shomstein, a postdoctoral fellow in the Psychology Department, was a key collaborator in a Johns Hopkins University study that reinforces the danger of talking on a cell phone while driving a vehicle, even if using a hands-free cell phone device. The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, suggests that the brain can't simultaneously give full attention to both the visual task of driving and the auditory task of listening. —William Hefley, associate teaching professor in the Institute for Software Research International, has been elected to the Association for Computing Machinery's Executive Committee on Computers and Society. —Claire M. Tomesch, a junior Sciences and Humanities Scholar, received a Homeland Security Scholarship, which provides tuition and fees, a $1,000 monthly stipend for nine months and $500 weekly for a summer internship at a Department of Homeland Security-designated facility between her junior and senior years. CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS —Monday, Aug. 1: Annual Carnegie Mellon Football Alumni Golf Outing, Longue Vue Country Club, Verona. The $200 entry fee includes greens fees, golf cart, prizes, lunch and dinner. Registration deadline is July 15. For registration forms and further information, contact Rich Lackner at 412-268-2216.
—July 15-16: The Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble will perform a new work, "Feedback," by Roger Dannenberg, associate research professor, School of Computer Science and School of Art. 8 p.m., The City Theater (13th and Bingham Streets on the South Side). "Feedback," for violin and real-time computer music and animation, uses computer-controlled resonance to turn the concert hall into a giant electro-acoustic instrument. Interactive computer animation, also generated by a feedback process, accompanies and responds to the sounds. The work will be performed by violin virtuoso Marc Levine. Further information: http://pnme.org/
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