April 20, 2006

Vol. 16, 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)

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Carnegie Mellon's annual Spring Carnival officially begins today (April 20) at 3 p.m., when the Midway in the Morewood Gardens parking lot will open to visitors. Carnival activities will be held until 11 p.m. today; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. tomorrow (April 21); and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday, April 22. Student groups, ranging from small independent organizations to fraternities and sororities, have put the final touches on ornate booths created around the theme "Another Time and Place" and will be judged on their internal and external appearance, originality, space planning and circulation, craftsmanship, theme creativity, name integration, appeal to adults and children, entertainment value and aesthetic appeal. Another spring tradition, the Buggy races, will be held on Tech and Frew streets, and Schenley Drive from 8 a.m. to noon tomorrow (April 21) and Saturday, April 22. If you can't catch the races from the course this year, you can watch live at http://www.cmutv.org/. Other Spring Carnival festivities include student musicians, fire breathers, improv groups, comedians, musical groups and a fireworks show Saturday night in Gesling Stadium. For more on Spring Carnival, visit www.andrew.cmu.edu/org/carnival/.

DEMOLITION BEGINS MONDAY TO PREPARE FOR NEW GATES CENTER

To prepare for the new Gates Center for Computer Science, demolition of the Planetary Robotics Building will begin Monday, April 24, according to the latest reports. In the next several months, three existing structures will also be razed: the Campus Printing and Publications Building, the Row Garages and the Old Student Center. The Printing and Publications Building and Row Garages will come down between May 1 and June 1, and the Old Student Center between June 1 and August 1.

UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSION MATERIALS EARN SEVERAL AWARDS

Carnegie Mellon's Undergraduate Admission marketing materials are being recognized on a regional, national and international scale. The Pittsburgh chapter of the American Institute for Graphic Arts recently placed the Admission Web site (www.cmu.edu/admission) among its top 100. On a national level, Carnegie Mellon earned several awards at the 21st Annual Admission Advertising Awards, including Best of Show (newsletter), gold medals (newsletter and Pre-College brochure) and a bronze medal (liberal arts/business search piece). On the international front, the Admission Web site has been nominated for the prestigious Webby Awards in the Best School/University Web Site category. Time magazine has called the Webby's the "online Oscars." Winners will be announced May 9. The Admission marketing materials were created by the Office of Admission in collaboration with Marketing Communications, Computing Services and Wall-to-Wall Studios.

ROBOT HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCES NEW INDUCTEES

Five robots, ranging from an iconic female humanoid in a classic silent film to a ubiquitous industrial robot that helped make electronics inexpensive and commonplace, will be inducted into Carnegie Mellon's Robot Hall of Fame® during a ceremony this June. The third class of inductees includes Maria, the art deco star of Fritz Lang's 1927 film "Metropolis"; Gort, the metallic giant from an alien world in the 1951 sci-fi thriller "The Day the Earth Stood Still"; David, the boy-like android that stole his adoptive mother's heart in Steven Spielberg's "Artificial Intelligence: AI"; AIBO, Sony's dog-like robot pet that is also a robust research and teaching tool; and SCARA, a widely used type of industrial arm with motions especially suited to the assembly of consumer products.

—The inductees were announced Wednesday evening during a reception at the Entertainment Technology Center, which marked the beginning of CS50, a four-day celebration of Carnegie Mellon's first 50 years of computer science education and research. James H. Morris, former dean of the School of Computer Science, founded the hall of fame in 2003. Past inductees include the Mars Pathfinder rover, Honda's ASIMO walking robot and the "Star Wars" duo of R2-D2 and C-3PO. For more on the Robot Hall of Fame visit www.robothalloffame.org/.

—Further information on CS50 is available at www.cs50.cs.cmu.edu/.

NEWS BRIEFS

—President Cohon will hold an open student office hour at 4 p.m., Wednesday, April 26. Students interested in meeting with Dr. Cohon should contact Jennifer Church, Dean of Student Affairs, at jcdg@andrew.cmu.edu.

—A new Weight Watchers at Work program starts Tuesday, April 25. Cost of the 12-week session is $144. The sessions are 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. on Tuesdays, usually in the Dowd Room, University Center. Fifteen paying members are needed for the new meetings to begin on this date. If you plan to sign up, or have questions, contact Rita Motor at rita@andrew.cmu.edu by April 24.

—Online Faculty Course Evaluations are open now and will be available until 8 a.m., Monday, May 8. Students should go to http://www.cmu.edu/fce/ to begin their evaluations.

—Looking for someone to help you finish your spring-cleaning? The Carnegie Mellon Rowing Club's "Rent a Rower" fundraising program might be the answer. Members of the club will come to your house and do most any task, from strenuous lifting to computer repair, for $12 an hour (four-hour minimum). Rowers are available through the end of the semester and into the summer. For more information, or to rent a rower, contact the Rowing Club at 727-804-8498 or fundraising@tartancrew.org.

PERSONAL MENTION

—Christa R. Romanosky, a senior psychology and creative writing major in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, has been named Carnegie Mellon's, Pennsylvania's and the Northeast Region's Student Employee of the Year. She was also one of four finalists for the National Student Employee of the Year Award. Romanosky received the awards for her outstanding contributions as an office assistant and tutor in the Leonard Gelfand Center for Service Learning and Outreach under Director Judith Hallinen.

—Jim Morris, dean of Carnegie Mellon's West Coast campus, publishes "Dean Morris's Thought of the Week" each Monday on the Web at http://west.cmu.edu/west_connect/events_news/news/2267266.html. In this week's offering, titled "Sell to the Long Tail," Morris talks about the benefits of online bookstores, which can stock 20 times as many titles as physical bookstores. "The Internet's lower selling costs allow more product diversity, larger customer bases and better target audiences for the advertisers," Morris says.

CALENDAR HIGHLIGHTS

—Friday, April 21: Faculty, staff and students are invited to the Grand Re-Opening of the Carnegie Mellon Advising and Resource Center (CMARC). 3 - 5 p.m., A64 Cyert Hall (formerly the Computer Store).

—Saturday, April 22: The Master of Software Engineering (MSE) Program will hold an open house and memorial service for its late founding director Jim Tomayko. The open house and service will be held in the MSE's new professional space at 300 S. Craig Street. The open house will begin at 9:30 a.m. and the memorial service at 10 a.m. RSVP to Ellen Saxon at ens@cs.cmu.edu.

—Wednesday, April 26: Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, will speak via video-conference from 4:30 to 5:45 p.m. The event is tentatively scheduled for the board room in the Posner Center. The title of his talk is "Abraham Lincoln and the Long War." It is sponsored by the International Relations Program and is open to the campus community.

—Thursday, April 27: A Celebration of Teaching. The Ryan Award will be presented to Design Professor Mark Mentzer and college teaching award winners will be recognized. 4:30 p.m., Rangos Hall, UC.

—April 27 - May 6: The School of Drama has announced the production of Shakespeare's "As You Like It" at the Philip Chosky Theater. Tickets are $22 - $25 with discounts for students, senior citizens and Carnegie Mellon faculty and staff. See http://www.cmu.edu/PR/releases06/060403_asyoulikeit.html

—Friday, April 28: New York Times obituary writer Margalit Fox will give the inaugural Giler Humanities Lecture at 4:30 p.m., in the Adamson Wing of Baker Hall. Fox's talk is titled "Come on Over to the Dark Side: The Obituary as Social History." Sponsored by the university's Humanities Scholars Program.

—Tuesday, May 2: Chemical Engineering Bayer Lecture Series. "Optimization in the Informatics Era." Professor Nikolaos Sahinidis, Department of Chemical & Biomolecular Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. 10:45 a.m., Doherty Hall 1112.

—Friday, May 5: Stewart O'Nan, whose award-winning fiction includes "Snow Angels," "The Names of the Dead" and "A Prayer for the Dying," will speak at 8 p.m., Adamson Wing, Baker Hall 136, during the Adamson Awards ceremony, which honors student writers for their work in fiction, poetry, screen writing and nonfiction.

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