|
|
|
December
22, 2004 - January 6, 2005
This internal publication contains information about recent coverage
of Carnegie Mellon that appeared primarily in national newspapers, magazines
and online publications.
Please send comments and suggestions to thomas@cmu.edu
The media coverage archive is available at www.cmu.edu/clips
From December 22 - January 6,
Carnegie Mellon Media Relations counted 305
references to the university in worldwide publications. Here is a sample.
National News Stories
The Wall Street Journal | January 6
The Chronicle of Philanthropy | January 6
The Seattle Times | December 29
The New York Times | December 28
Chicago Tribune (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | December
26
San Jose Mercury News | December 25
Student Experience
Tribune-Review | January 6
Tribune-Review | January 2
Tribune-Review | January 1
Tribune-Review | December 24
Arts and Humanities
The Chronicle of Higher Education | January
7
The Hartford Courant | January 4
Tribune-Review | January 2
Tribune-Review | January 2
Today's School Psychologist | January 1
The New York Sun | December 30
Post-Gazette | December 23
Information Technology
BusinessWeek | January 4
Buffalo News (KNIGHT RIDDER) | January 3
Technology Research News | December 29
Pittsburgh Business Times | December
27
San Diego Union-Tribune | December 27
Environment
Post-Gazette | January 3
Post-Gazette | January 2
ABC News (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | December 26
Regional Impact
Pittsburgh Business Times | December 27
Local News Stories
WTAE-TV News | January 5
Post-Gazette | January 2
Tribune-Review | January 1
Post-Gazette | December 27
Post-Gazette | December 26
Tribune-Review | December 22
International News Stories
Bloomberg (Radio) | January 2
Scripps Howard News Service | December 27
-
-
National News Stories
The Wall Street Journal | January 6
About 1 in 200 people who took Vioxx in one study had a heart attack
versus 1 in 1,000 for people taking naproxen. In another, there were
about 1 in 29 heart attacks or strokes among those taking Vioxx versus
1 in 52 for those taking a placebo. The pill was pulled from the market.
That risk was deemed too big to take. History suggests that the risk
of a tsunami in the Indian Ocean is extremely small. Yet the catastrophic
consequences of that once-every-century-or-so event are now evident.
Did we overreact to the Vioxx risk? Did we underprepare for tsunami
risk. If so, why? Despite the advance of science, education and communication,
understanding and responding wisely to risks -- particularly small ones
-- turns out to be very tough. Still, why do so many people persist
in accepting some large risks (shunning seat belts or motorcycle helmets)
while fretting about smaller ones (avoiding Celebrex or artificial sweeteners)?
Sometimes, it's warped self-perception. "Most people," says
Baruch Fischhoff, a Carnegie Mellon
University psychologist, "think of themselves as safer than average
drivers." Sometimes, it's a feeling of helplessness. "People
dislike small risk if they think others are imposing it on them,"
such as a hazardous-waste dump in the neighborhood, he says. Sometimes,
it's just dread.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB110496
947755818185-search,00.html | back to top
The Chronicle of Philanthropy | January 6
To Carnegie Mellon University's Graduate School of
Industrial Administration (Pittsburgh), $55-million, by donor David
Tepper, president of a hedge fund in Chatham, N.J., and his wife, Marlene
Tepper.
http://philanthropy.com/premium/articles
/v17/i06/06003501.htm | back to top
The Seattle Times | December 29
A half-dozen high-school math students tell a remarkably similar story.
Last year they didn't understand algebra. They came to class, listened
to the teacher, tried to do the homework and failed. This year, using
a computer-based program called Cognitive Tutor, these students are
progressing steadily and staying engaged...Algebra is where many students
lose their way because the mathematics begins to get abstract, said
Steve Ritter, the head of research for Carnegie Learning, a private
educational-technology company that markets Cognitive Tutor. He said
the math program tries to make the subject more concrete by bridging
from students' life experiences to problems that can be solved by algebraic
equations. The Cognitive Tutor program also differs from traditional
algebra classes in that it provides immediate feedback. Instead of making
the same mistake on a dozen homework problems, a student finds out right
away if his or her approach is wrong. Developed by learning theorists
at Carnegie Mellon University, Cognitive Tutor is one
of the few math programs to be included in the national What Works Clearinghouse,
which identifies programs and products whose effectiveness is backed
by scientific evidence.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education
/2002133046_cognitive29n.html | back to top
The New York Times | December 28
Many Americans who have relied for pain relief on pills believed to
be safe say their faith has been eroded in the system intended to protect
them. Some doctors say they are concerned their patients may be overreacting,
but psychologists who study how people evaluate risks say the widespread
anxiety, raft of lawsuits and feelings of broken trust are neither surprising
nor, necessarily, unwarranted. "Based on what we know so far, it's
understandable that people are worried that any risk that emerges with
these drugs is probably the tip of the iceberg," said Dr. George
Loewenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie
Mellon University...Studies show that most people, learning
of a drug's potentially deadly side effects or some other potential
hazard, will accept a certain amount of danger if they feel they have
unfiltered information and can properly weigh the risks. But in the
last few months, the bad news trickling out of drug companies and from
federal health officials has been murky and confusing, psychologists
say. "It's not like there's good information and people don't understand
it," said Dr. Baruch Fischhoff, a professor of
decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon. "There's lousy information
and people are frustrated and acting appropriately."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/28
/health/policy/28pain.html | back to top
Chicago Tribune (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | December
26
Some call it Big Blue, a state so reliably loyal to the Democratic candidate
in recent presidential elections that Republicans don't campaign too
vigorously here, even though its 55 electoral votes make California
the biggest prize of all. But two Republican state legislators are trying
to change the status quo by ending California's winner-take-all system
and replacing it with one that would award electoral votes proportionate
to the popular votes received...Some think the proposal is motivated
by partisan politics. "I'll bet these are Republican legislators,"
said William Keech, a professor of political science
at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Indeed
they are.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0412260361dec26,1,7103112.story?coll=chi
-newsnationworld-hed | back to top
San Jose Mercury News | December 25
If humans ever gain the ability to crawl up walls like geckos, you can
bet that it might have something to do with nanotechnology research.
Creating an artificial version of the tiny fibers on geckos' toes is
just one research project among many at Nanosys in Palo Alto. "When
we looked at the gecko, the question came up as to whether we could
do it," said Bob Dubrow, Nanosys' director of product development.
"We came up with a way to make something similar and was practical
for some applications." Dubrow's team created nano fur by finding
a way to put millions of tiny hair-like fibers on a surface. Those fibers
attach themselves to a wall through van der Waals forces when they come
into close contact with the surface. Researchers at Carnegie
Mellon University in Pittsburgh and Manchester University in
England have conducted similar research on how to recreate the stickiness
of a gecko's toes.
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews
/business/10496864.htm | back to top
Student Experience
Tribune-Review | January 6
Local colleges are trying to contact hundreds of students from tsunami-ravaged
countries to determine their safety. Efforts to survey the impact on
students is hampered at Duquesne and Carnegie Mellon
University because their classes do not resume until Monday. "We've
contacted all the graduate and undergraduate students from that part
of the country by e-mail, asking if there's anything we can do,"
said William Elliott, vice president for enrollment
at Carnegie Mellon. "To my knowledge, we haven't had any response."
The university also is trying to contact its many alumni in the region.
The University of Pittsburgh has 279 students from eight of the 11 countries
struck by the tsunami Dec. 26. There are no reports of students missing,
said Pitt spokesman John Fedele, but Wednesday was the first day of
classes.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/trib/regional/s_290328.html | back to top
Tribune-Review | January 2
Many universities have Jan. 1 application deadlines, which means the
week before Christmas break is a busy time for high school guidance
counselors, as well as students...Lori Giarnella, assistant
director of admissions for Carnegie Mellon University,
said she's seen an increase in online applications. The admission counselors
association found that almost half of students submitted online applications
in 2003. Many schools accept the Common Application, a standard form
that students can send to more than one school. (See www.commonapp.org
for more information.) Giarmella said Carnegie Mellon began using the
"common app." exclusively last year. "It would be great
if all schools accepted it, but I think some students worry that a common
app. is somehow lesser than another application," Bethel Park's
Kennedy said. Carnegie Mellon and some other schools that accept the
common app. require supplements. "We ask students to be specific
about which college at Carnegie Mellon they want to attend and answer
questions specific to that college," Giarmella explained.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/trib/regional/s_289014.html | back to top
Tribune-Review | January 1
More than a million college students across the nation will be getting
less financial help from the federal government next school year. The
U.S. Department of Education has updated the Pell Grant formula in a
way that reduces the amount of money that 1.3 million low-income students
will get in the fall and disqualify about 90,000 more, said Terry Hartle,
senior vice president for government and public affairs for the American
Council on Education, a group based in Washington, D.C...Federal education
officials could not be reached for comment. William Elliott,
vice president for enrollment at Carnegie Mellon University,
said it was too soon for his staff to estimate the impact there. Earlier
this month, Congress passed a spending bill that increased the amount
of money for Pell Grants and the number of students who receive them.
But Hartle said his group is disappointed that Congress froze the maximum
grant at $4,050 for the fourth straight year. "Students and families
are falling behind," he said.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/trib/regional/s_288817.html | back to top
Tribune-Review | December 24
For many other foreign national students, researchers and workers in
the Pittsburgh region who are here on temporary visas, being home for
Christmas is proving to be possible only in their dreams. Under tighter
rules put into effect after the 2001 terrorist attacks, visas that used
to take only a few days to issue are in some instances taking from six
to eight weeks or longer to obtain. In addition, visas that previously
could be obtained before an applicant left the United States, now must
be applied for in person in the applicant's home country. The result,
local experts say, is that fewer foreigners are returning home at all
times of the year, but especially during the Christmas and New Year
holidays. And such travel issues could be a factor reducing the number
of foreign applicants for graduate programs at Pittsburgh's major universities...Lisa
Krieg, director of the Office of International Education at
Carnegie Mellon University, said the travel restrictions
could be a partial explanation for a decline in foreign graduate student
applications. Carnegie Mellon has 2,076 international students enrolled
in its undergraduate and graduate programs. Nationwide, according to
a recent report, foreign applicants to U.S. graduate schools fell 28
percent this year.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/business/s_286640.html | back to top
Arts and Humanities
The Chronicle of Higher Education | January 7
The American Dream died young and was laid to rest on a splendid afternoon
in May 1862, when blooming apple trees heralded the arrival of spring.
At three o'clock, a bell tolled 44 times, once for each year of a life
cut short. Dismissed from school, 300 children marched to the funeral
under the bright sun. Those with luck and pluck would grow up to transform
American capitalism during the Gilded Age. But on this day the scent
in the air was not wealth, but wildflowers. Violets dotted the grass
outside the First Parish Church. The casket in the vestibule bore a
wreath of andromeda and a basket of flowers that perfumed the sanctuary
with the sweetness of spring...by Scott A. Sandage,
associate professor of history at Carnegie Mellon University,
in Born Losers: A History of Failure in America, published by Harvard
University Press
http://chronicle.com/prm/weekly
/v51/i18/18b00401.htm | back to top
The Hartford Courant | January 4
It was nearly 20 years ago when journalist Robert MacNeil last traveled
the country to report on the use of language in America, sampling its
regional permutations. Since then, it may seem that the prevailing non-accented
voices heard among the national news media are representative of a bland
United States - a nation now void of any unique, distinguishable language
differences. But MacNeil's leisurely cross-country trip for this week's
follow-up, "Do You Speak American?," found just as many regional
differences, from the usual "ayuh" of Maine to the "yins"
of Pittsburgh to the remaining ethnic strains of Cajun or Gullah...MacNeil
has a linguist at his side at nearly every turn, such as Barbara
Johnstone, professor of rhetoric at Carnegie Mellon
University, who explains the dialect of Pittsburgh, where old terms
survive as a manner of civic pride and identity.
http://www.ctnow.com/entertainment/tv/hc-nationspeak
.artjan04,1,2724159.story?coll=hc-headlines-tv&ctrack
=1&cset=true | back to top
Tribune-Review | January 2
Local authors were active in 2004, producing books of quality and substance:
* Jane McCafferty's "Thank You for the Music"
(Perennial). McCafferty, a professor at Carnegie Mellon
University, uses music as a metaphor in these short stories about people
whose fragile existences are in peril. * "Last Stands: Notes from
Memory" (SMU Press) is a reissue of Carnegie Mellon professor Hilary
Masters' memoir first published in 1982. It remains a vital
work of the American experience.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/entertainment/books/s_288532.html | back to top
Tribune-Review | January 2
Listen carefully when I say this because it's not something you're likely
to hear often from me: As years go in Pittsburgh theater, 2004 was a
very good year... Theatergoers usually side with Hamlet in agreeing
-- rightly -- that "the play's the thing," whether their interest
lies in catching the conscience of the king or just enjoying an evening
of intellectual and aesthetic stimulation. Taking a page from that book,
the following are my subjective and biased Bravo awards for the 12 high
points of the 2004 Pittsburgh theater year. The first and biggest Bravo
goes to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, the Carnegie Mellon
School of Drama and curator Elizabeth Bradley for having
the vision to plan and implement the Pittsburgh International Festival
of Firsts, which filled three weeks of October with seven international
companies performing nine U.S. premieres. Bravo to Carnegie Mellon University's
School of Drama for the year's best college production -- "Serious
Money," a brutal but funny satire about London's banking and investment
communities following a mid-1980s deregulation.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/entertainment/arts/carter/s_287934.html | back to
top
Today's School Psychologist | January 1
In contrast to people who do not have autism, people with autism remember
letters of the alphabet in a part of the brain that ordinarily processes
shapes, according to a study from the National Institute of Child Health
and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health. The study,
conducted by Marcel Just, professor of psychology at
Carnegie Mellon University, and Nancy Minshew, professor
of psychiatry and neurology at the University of Pittsburgh School of
Medicine, and their collegues, supports the theory that autism results
from a failure of the various parts of the brain to work together.
Text
available through Lexis-Nexis | back to top
The New York Sun | December 30
More than 8,000 teachers of modern language and literature descended
on Philadelphia for the Modern Language Association of America's 120th
annual convention. At one of the conference sessions, three scholars
spoke on a panel entitled "Reforming the Ph.D." An English
professor from Carnegie Mellon University and the editor
of the Minnesota Review, Jeffrey Williams, argued for
"A Ph.D. Job Corps" or Academic Works Administration. "The
Ph.D. system we have is not working," he said, "It is unacceptable
as a de facto labor policy because it turns out half of those trained,
not to mention encumbering them with debt for the right to work."
Mr. Williams said that the average humanities graduate student completes
his or her Ph.D. at age 40 - burdened by "considerable debt,"
which has been steadily rising. "Ph.D.'s who have landed appropriate
work might justifiably feel indentured under the weight of these loans,"
he said.
http://www.nysun.com/article/6972
| back to top
Post-Gazette | December 23
If all of Pittsburgh north of the rivers were still the City of Allegheny,
that municipality would itself boast a large and important group of
cultural and educational institutions from the Manchester Craftsmen's
Guild, through the Science Center, the National Aviary, CCAC (surely
called Alle- gheny University by this time), the Children's Museum,
the Mattress Factory and The Andy Warhol Museum, to the most recent
addition to this roster, Artists Image Resource. Founded only in 1996,
AIR set out to provide a locus for print making in all its techniques,
from simple intaglio and relief media to the most advance electronic
imaging. AIR's resident artists for 2004 have been Emory Biko, James
Duesing, Sergio Soave and Mary Tremonte...Duesing, on the faculty
at Carnegie Mellon University, is well known for his
work in computer-generated animation. As a resident artist at AIR, he
has been investigating the production of books that would offer an alternative
type of animation; these have taken the form of "flip books,"
certainly one of the simplest and, I expect, earliest means of creating
the illusion of movement in a static image.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04358/431099.stm
| back to top
Information Technology
BusinessWeek | January 4
Some of the best inventions are inspired by frustration. That was certainly
the case with Raul Valdes-Perez' search-engine technology.
While watching an academic presentation of video-search technology at
Carnegie Mellon University six years ago, Valdes-Perez,
then a full-time computer-science professor, became exasperated with
screen after screen of seemingly nonsensical results. "Wherever
we looked, information seemed to be disorganized," says Valdes-Perez.
So, along with two other Carnegie Mellon researchers, he set out to
come up with a smarter way to return search results. Armed with their
research in using artificial intelligence to help organize scientific
discovery, the three computer scientists founded a search startup four
years ago. Called Vivisimo, it provides search technologies for organizing
the computer networks of government agencies such as NASA and companies
including Johnson & Johnson (JNJ ) and Cisco Systems (CSCO ).
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content
/jan2005/tc2005014_2937.htm | back to top
Buffalo News (KNIGHT RIDDER) | January 3
What's remarkable about this computer game [The Sims 2], which was released
worldwide Sept. 14, is that the domestic drama is not scripted. The
characters act the way they do because that is what naturally unfolds.
It's a quality dubbed "emergence," based on the history of
the characters' relationships and their own artificial, or preprogrammed,
intelligence. Electronic Arts, which is publishing the sequel to the
best-selling "The Sims," believes this leap forward in artificial
intelligence is what will keep gamers by the millions entranced with
their virtual Sims...The player acts as a kind of god-like figure. The
Sim will function on its own, but the player can interrupt the Sim's
"life." If you know your Sims well, you can make them happier
by helping them achieve their life-long goals. If you constantly interrupt
them with tasks they don't want to do, the Sims can rebel. Lucy Bradshaw,
executive producer of the game, consulted researcher Brenda
Harger and her artificial intelligence students at Carnegie
Mellon University to find out how people really behave.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050103/1060027.asp
| back to top
Technology Research News | December 29
A researcher from Carnegie Mellon University is using
a grid of light-emitting diodes, which are widely used as light sources,
as an input device. The ability of light-emitting diodes to sense light
is a well understood but little-used property. In fact, existing light-emitting
diode displays can be made touch-sensitive without adding appreciably
to the cost of the display, according to the researcher. In some cases
a simple circuit change is needed, and in others only a software change.
The researcher's prototype acts as a touch button. Because it is also
a display, it is also capable of showing prompts. The advantages to
using light-emitting diodes as switches are the ability to combine prompting
with input and being able to do so in a sealed device that has no moving
parts. Many existing appliances already sport light-emitting diode arrays.
In these cases it is relatively easy and extremely inexpensive to add
simple input and interactivity to the device, according to the researcher.
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2004/122904/
LED_array_turned_into_touch_button_Brief_
122904.html | back to top
Pittsburgh Business Times | December 27
A subsidiary of Carnegie Mellon University is teaming
with a Chinese company to provide software develoment courses to Chinese
students, it was announced Monday. The partnership between iCarnegie
Inc. and Software Colleges pairs American teaching methods and content
with dedicated Chinese instructors, according to a news release. Five
Software Colleges are involved: Northwestern Polytechnical University
in Xi'an; Wuhan University in Wuhan; Nankai University in Tianjin; Northeast
University in Shenyang, and Sichuan University in Chengdu. iCarnegie
provides curriculum developed by Carnegie Mellon faculty to schools
worldwide.
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh
/stories/2004/12/27/daily8.html | back to top
San Diego Union-Tribune | December 27
The nation chuckled four years ago when Texan Mitch Maddox changed his
name to DotComGuy and sealed himself in an empty Dallas house for a
year, buying all his food, clothing and furniture online. But the joke's
on us as we slide down the slippery slope to DotComGuyville. We can
buy almost anything from home, no human contact required. Online dating
sites allow us to shop for potential mates as if they were used cars.
With Internet casinos, it's possible to lose your shirt without ever
leaving the house...Others think the automation offers more of a mixed
blessing. Robert Kraut, professor of human-computer
interaction at Carnegie Mellon University, says life
can be better without some, but not all, of the human contact. "A
lot of those interactions are a real annoyance," Kraut said. "It's
possible that there's a real benefit by automating them. Are those fleeting
interactions with the toll-taker or the bank teller really meaningful?
At the same time, automation is not always an improvement over the human
alternative, he said. Automated customer-service telephone systems,
for example, often cannot match human problem-solving abilities, Kraut
noted.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business
/20041227-9999-mz1b27isolat.html | back to top
Environment
Post-Gazette | January 3
A National Academy of Sciences report scheduled for release this week
will make recommendations on how hundreds of municipalities in 11 counties
can cooperate to halt the sewage pollution that is fouling southwestern
Pennsylvania's rivers and streams. A major component of the report will
address how that cooperation could trim millions from the estimated
$10 billion cost -- $3 billion in Allegheny County alone -- of repairing
aging, broken sewer systems that spill raw sewage every time it rains
and threaten the region's public health, environment and image. The
almost 300-page report of the 14-member committee [which included Carnegie
Mellon president Jared L. Cohon, a nationally
recognized authority on environmental and water resource systems analysis,
Joel A. Tarr, Richard S. Caliguiri University Professor
of History and Policy, and Jeanne VanBriesen, an Assistant
Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and Biomedical and
Health Engineering] will be released at 10 a.m. Thursday on the Carnegie
Mellon University campus.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05003/436284.stm
| back to top
Post-Gazette | January 2
The PG's "national security writer" Jack Kelly apparently
views societal concerns about the impact of human activity on Earth
resources (and hence people) as a security threat, as he periodically
feels compelled to write about the dark, conspiratorial motives of folks
expressing or promoting such concerns. Such was the case with his Dec.
26 column ("An Educational Good Read"), in which he buys into
the notion, put forward in a novel, that concern about global warming
is a scare tactic disseminated by "environmentalists" to boost
fund raising. He advises his readers to buy and read the novel, which
"is a valuable education in the guise of entertainment." **The
writer [David A. Dzombak] is a professor in the Department
of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Carnegie Mellon
University.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05002/435037.stm
| back to top
ABC News (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | December 26
From the outside, it looks like just another house on an upscale residential
street outside Barcelona. But inside this "smart house," its
creators say, is the most advanced domestic technology in Europe. The
home can clean itself, adjust to changes in the weather and cut energy
consumption...Most of these technologies have been used for a decade
or more in the United States or Japan. But Europe's smart house industry
has caught up rapidly in recent years, and experts say European companies
have an edge on helping homes conserve energy. "Though smart houses
are more widespread in the U.S., Europe is far ahead in terms of researching
and commercializing energy-efficient practices," said Volker
Hartkopf, a professor of architecture at Carnegie Mellon
University and an expert in smart house technologies.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=361306
| back to top
Regional Impact
Pittsburgh Business Times | December 27
Vying for top talent in a competitive marketplace is prompting many
U.S. employers to include domestic partner benefits in their package
of perks...Domestic partner health benefits were introduced at Carnegie
Mellon in July 2000, although the university had previously
offered access to campus facilities and certain discounts for individuals
in this category. Barbara Smith, assistant vice president
for human resources, said 1.5 percent of the full-time work force is
now taking advantage of the benefits. This percentage includes 40 opposite-sex
partners and 21 same-sex partners. "We offered domestic partner
benefits to same and opposite-sex domestic partners because we thought
it was the right thing to do and because it provided us with a competitive
advantage in attracting talented faculty and staff," said Ms. Smith.
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh
/stories/2005/01/03/focus1.html | back to top
Local News Stories
WTAE-TV News | January 5
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have designed a soft,
huggable pillow that uses sensing and wireless phone technology to provide
a physical touch, and thus better social and emotional support, for
distant family members. The pillow, called the Hug, was developed after
the researchers studied how robotics could improve products the elderly
use every day. The research team, financed by a grant from the National
Science Foundation, came up with 53 different ideas for products. They
decided to begin by designing what eventually became the Hug because
their research found that what older people often needed most was emotional
support... **Please note that a story about the hug was broadcast during
the 11 p.m. news broadcaston WTAE; transcripts are not currently available
from this sement. The Hug will also be featured on a segment of Good
Morning America's Around the Watercooler which airs Friday, January
7.
back to top
Post-Gazette | January 2
By Mark DeSantis. Most of my friends in Pittsburgh
believe everyone else here hates change. I used to think that too, but
now I'm not so sure. I think Pittsburghers view change no differently
than anyone else: a large percentage fear and therefore oppose it; an
even larger percentage are ambivalent about it; and a very, very small
percentage embrace it. What perhaps sets Pitts- burghers apart from
the rest of the world is that most of the important, local changes have
been bad, in some cases very bad. Why shouldn't they fear change? After
all, continuous job and population loss has been an on-again and off-again
fact throughout the lifetime of most us here. I suspect what some Pittsburghers
fear and therefore reflexively oppose is not change but change that
inevitably always seems to bring more bad things. **Mark DeSantis is
a management consultant and adviser and an adjunct professor at Carnegie
Mellon University.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05002/434544.stm
| back to top
Tribune-Review | January 1
On the morning of Dec. 26, I [M. Bernardine Dias, special
research scientist at Carnegie Mellon University's
Robotics Institute] woke up in a beautiful hotel room 20 minutes from
the ancient kingdom on the rock, Sigiriya, a United Nations World Heritage
site in Sri Lanka. My brother Frederick, his girlfriend Cosmina, my
boyfriend Brett Browning, a systems scientist at the
Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, and I had arrived
for a short vacation in my homeland -- fondly referred to by tourists
as the Isle of Paradise. We had traveled inland from Colombo, Sri Lanka's
capital, on Christmas evening to visit some of the ancient ruins. We
got into our car after breakfast and were headed toward Sigiriya when
our driver got a phone call on his mobile phone from one of his friends.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/trib/regional/s_288875.html | back to top
Post-Gazette | December 27
This is a tale of three men who traveled a long distance to follow a
star. Sure, it sounds familiar, but this tale doesn't end with men kneeling
before the Christ child. Rather, this has to do with three astronomers
whose quest landed them in a remote valley of northwestern China. Instead
of gold, frankincense and myrrh, they brought with them 10,000 television
antennas ---- the makings of a revolutionary radiotelescope that they
hope will reveal the universe's very first stars. "It's a fishing
expedition," said Jeff Peterson, an astrophysicist
at Carnegie Mellon University and one of the three
principal investigators for the new telescope. "That's one of the
fun parts of this project ---- we really don't know what we're going
to see."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04362/432803.stm
| back to top
Post-Gazette | December 26
Once again, US Airways dominated business news this year, but it wasn't
the only unresolved issue on the radar of local executives and employees.
No. 1: US Airways' bankruptcy. No. 2: Merger roadblocks. No. 3: Children's,
UPMC feud. No. 4: Glass woes, steel grows. No. 5: FreeMarkets becomes
Ariba. No. 6: Downtown down, South Side up. No. 7: More energy, chemicals.
No. 8: Native name on school. Carnegie Mellon University's
business school became the Tepper School of Business in March, when
Wall Street investor and Peabody High School graduate David Tepper came
home to donate $55 million to Carnegie Mellon -- the largest donation
in the school's history. Tepper, who grew up in Stanton Heights, earned
his bachelor's degree at the University of Pittsburgh, and his master's
from Carnegie Mellon, said he was donating the money to repay the school
and the city for his education. The school will use $5 million of the
gift to attract and retain faculty and market its highly ranked program,
while $50 million will go into the school's endowment.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04361/432249.stm
| back to top
Tribune-Review | December 22
Mayor Tom Murphy is out, so the big question is, who's in? Political
wags say the candidates hoping to replace Murphy, who announced yesterday
that he will not seek a fourth term, face monumental challenges as the
city struggles with insolvency. Robert Strauss, a public
policy professor at Carnegie Mellon University, say
that management and leadership skills will be crucial to any mayoral
hopefuls. "It takes a wonderful manager to fashion downsizes and
minimize human calamities and find positives," Strauss said. "A
successful mayor would have to be a person who had very strong management
skills and could learn quickly."
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/trib/newssummary/s_286020.html | back to top
International News Stories
Bloomberg (Radio) | January 2
World Bank President James Wolfensohn said he expects to leave his job
after his term expires in June. "I've had 10 years, and I think
that's probably enough," Wolfensohn, 71, said on ABC's "This
Week" show earlier today. "But if the need is there, I'll
do whatever the shareholders want. My understanding and my belief is
that probably during the course of this year, I'll give over to someone
else." Bush is seeking to scale back some of Wolfensohn's projects,
overhaul the bank's $20 billion a year lending operation and taper a
roster of more than 10,000 employees scattered in 109 nations, Carnegie
Mellon University economist Allan Meltzer
said. "The Wolfensohn era is over,'' said Meltzer, who led a congressional
commission evaluating the bank's performance in 2000. "I don't
think that his way of going about economic development fit with the
Bush administration."
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=
10000103&sid=afMPtg0lLRc0&refer=news_index | back
to top
Scripps Howard News Service | December 27
Sure, it sounds familiar, but this tale doesn't end with men kneeling
before the Christ child. Rather, this has to do with three astronomers
whose quest landed them in a remote valley of northwestern China. Instead
of gold, frankincense and myrrh, they brought with them 10,000 television
antennas -- the makings of a revolutionary radiotelescope that they
hope will reveal the universe's very first stars."It's a fishing
expedition," said Jeff Peterson, an astrophysicist
at Carnegie Mellon University and one of the three
principal investigators for the new telescope. "That's one of the
fun parts of this project -- we really don't know what we're going to
see." Peterson, who returned a couple of weeks ago from his most
recent visit to China, is directing the project along with Ue-Li Pen
of the University of Toronto and Xiang-Ping Wu of China's National Astronomical
Observatories in Beijing. And he'll be off to the South Pole in February
to evaluate it as a site for a possible future version of the telescope.
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?p
k=RADIOASTRONOMY-12-27-04&cat=II | back to top
|
