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March 4
- 10, 2005
This internal publication contains information about recent coverage
of Carnegie Mellon that appeared primarily in national newspapers, magazines
and online publications. Please note that some sources may require registration
or a subscription in order to access their information online.
Please send comments and suggestions to thomas@cmu.edu
The media coverage archive is available at www.cmu.edu/clips
From March 4 - 10,
Carnegie Mellon Media Relations counted 698 references to the university in worldwide
publications. Here is a sample.
National News Stories
The Wall Street Journal (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
| March 8
Poughkeepsie Journal | March 8
The New York Times (REUTERS) | March 7
The Electricity Daily | March 7
Chicago Sun-Times | March 6
Science Magazine | March 4
Qatar Campus
The Peninsula, Qatar | March 10
The Peninsula, Qatar | March 8
Strategiy, United Arab Emirates | March 8
Al Bawaba, Jordan | March 8
The New York Times (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | March
6
Student Experience
Tribune-Review | March 8
The New York Times | March 7
Beaver County Times | March 7
Tribune-Review | March 6
Arts and Humanities
Post-Gazette | March 6, 2005
Information Technology
Detroit Free Press (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | March
10
Post-Gazette | March 7
Tribune-Review | March 7
The New York Times (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | March
6
Regional Impact
Tribune-Review | March 6
Local News Stories
Post-Gazette | March 9
Post-Gazette | March 8
Post-Gazette | March 6
-
-
National News Stories
The Wall Street Journal (ASSOCIATED PRESS) |
March 8
Harvard Business School will reject 119 applicants who followed a hacker's
instructions and peeked into the school's admission site to see if they
had been accepted, the school's dean said. An as-yet-unidentified computer
user posted instructions last week on a BusinessWeek online message
board that explained how to manipulate a popular piece of Web-based
admissions software used by several schools in order to find out the
status of applications. Applicants to at least six business schools
took advantage of the instructions, although most got only blank screens.
Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business has already
said it will reject those proven to have tried to peek at their files.
Other business schools, including MIT's Sloan School of Management,
Stanford's Graduate School of Business, Duke's Fuqua School of Business
and Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business, have not said if they will
reject applications.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1110
29921614173536-search,00.html | back to top
Poughkeepsie Journal | March 8
Local residents have been made more aware of the potential for chemicals
lingering inside homes to cause health problems in recent months, as
environmental agencies test the air in two neighborhoods in East Fishkill.
There, toxic vapors seeping into homes from polluted groundwater are
a concern. But many are unaware that experts are increasingly concerned
about the chemicals released by common household products and furnishings...Baruch
Fischoff, a Carnegie Mellon University professor
who studies risk analysis and is president of the Society for Risk Analysis,
said there are many potential risks we face in the modern world, and
people must make choices in the absence of definitive information. In
this case, it's possible using off-the-counter cleaners, for example,
pose no health problems. Fischoff advised considering sensitive people
at home -- pregnant women and small children, and senior citizens --
and the cost of alternatives.
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/tuesday
/localnews/stories/lo030805s2.shtml | back to top
The New York Times (REUTERS) | March 7
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan is drawing such withering political
fire for backing private Social Security accounts that his successor
may opt to steer clear of offering fiscal advice, analysts say. Greenspan,
due to step down in January after more than 17 years at the Fed's helm,
is usually an adept Washington hand. But the vitriolic comments directed
his way in recent days may serve as a shot across the bow to whoever
follows in his wake...Allan Meltzer, a professor at
Carnegie Mellon University who has written a history
of the Fed, said Greenspan was ``at the outside edge but ... not unique''
in how much he has commented on fiscal affairs. ``If I were his successor,
I would want to take a every different approach,'' he said. ``I don't
see how the Fed can over the long term protect its independence very
well if it comments on all kinds of political issues.''
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business
/business-economy-fed-greenspan.html | back to top
The Electricity Daily | March 7
Has electricity restructuring delivered on its promise of lower prices?
A new study from Carnegie Mellon University s Electricity
Industry Center concludes that it has not. Carnegie Mellon's Jay
Apt, executive director of the electricity center, took at
close look at industrial energy prices, pre-and-post restructuring.
The title of his paper reveals his conclusion: Competition Has Not Lowered
U.S. Industrial Electricity Prices...He and colleagues Lester
Lave and Seth Blumsack in the October 2004
issue of The Electricity Journal looked at reasons why electricity costs
have tended to rise, including markets that are free but not competitive,
the practice of paying market clearing prices for all generation, incomplete
markets for essential services, the costs of RTOs and other new institutions,
and increased capital costs driven by uncertainty.
http://www.electricity-daily.com
/FDC/Daily/TED/TOC.htm | back to top
Chicago Sun-Times | March 6
The leaders of Chicago's two premier private universities were awarded
$500,000 each Friday for their academic leadership. The Carnegie Corporation
of New York said it was honoring Henry Bienen, president of Northwestern,
and Don Randel, president of the University of Chicago, as the first
recipients of the "Academic Leadership Award'' because of innovative
programs they oversee at the two schools. Jared Cohon,
president of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh,
also will receive the award. "They all believe in a tradition of
academic excellence and have proven that presidential leadership and
faculty quality are the critical elements that distinguish one university
from another,'' said Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation,
in a statement.
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news
/cst-nws-carnegie06.html | back to top
Science Magazine | March 4
"We've arrived at a strange place in mathematics," says David
Goldschmidt of the Institute for Defense Analyses in Alexandria, Virginia.
"When is a proof really a proof? There's no absolute standard."
Goldschmidt thinks the traditional criterion--review by a referee (or
team of them)--breaks down when a paper reaches hundreds or thousands
of pages. The computer--which at first sight seems to be part of the
problem--may also be the solution. In the past few months, software
packages called "proof assistants," which go through every
step of a carefully written argument and check that it follows from
the axioms of mathematics, have served notice that they are no longer
toys. Last fall, Jeremy Avigad, a professor of philosophy
at Carnegie Mellon University, used a computer assistant
called Isabelle to verify the Prime Number Theorem, which (roughly speaking)
describes the probability that a randomly chosen number in any interval
is prime. "It's finally getting to the stage where you can do serious
things with these programs," says Avigad.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content
/full/307/5714/1402a | back to top
Qatar Campus
The Peninsula, Qatar | March 10
A team from NASA will visit Doha in two weeks to explore the possibility
of testing a robot that it has developed for space explorations. This
was disclosed by Charles Thorpe, Dean, Carnegie
Mellon University in Qatar, when giving a presentation on robots
at the leadership symposium held at the Diplomatic Club yesterday. The
two-member team will comprise a NASA expert and another from the Robotics
Institute at Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, Thorpe later told The Peninsula.
He said the deserts in Qatar can provide an ideal situation to test
the functioning of the robot, which is named Hyperion. NASA plans to
use this robot in future experiments pertaining to solar energy. The
team is coming to identify a suitable location and the robot would be
brought later, Thorpe said.
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_
s.asp?StoryId=83421 | back to top
The Peninsula, Qatar | March 8
The Carnegie Mellon University Qatar is organising
a leadership symposium and evening gala as part of its inaugural celebrations
on March 9 and 10. The event hosted by Qatar Foundation will bring together
several experts from the reputed Carnegie Mellon University and top
business leaders from Qatar. "We hope that by bringing together
the best minds in IT and industry under one roof, both on the Carnegie
Mellon side and from Doha's leadership base, the knowledge that is shared
will create the kind of collaborative, interdisciplinary programming
and research centre that is the hallmark of our university," said
Charles E Thorpe, dean of Carnegie Mellon Qatar. A
musical performance titled "Fanfare for the Future: Celebrating
the Vision of Education City" will be presented at the evening
gala. The music has been composed especially for Sheikha Mozah by Alan
Fletcher, professor and head of Carnegie Mellon's School of
Music.
http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_
s.asp?StoryId=83112 | back to top
Strategiy, United Arab Emirates | March 8
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar is pleased to announce
a leadership symposium and evening gala as part of inaugural celebrations
being hosted by Qatar Foundation March 9 and 10, 2005. The inaugural
celebrations honor the opening of Carnegie Mellon Qatar, the first international
branch campus of one of the world’s top-ranking universities.
"The inaugural gala pays tribute to the far-sighted vision of Her
Highness Sheikha Mozah and recognizes the honor bestowed on Carnegie
Mellon in being invited to join with other institutions at Education
City to create a world-class center for education and learning,"
said Jared L. Cohon, Ph.D., president of Carnegie Mellon.
"We share with Her Highness the firm belief that knowledge can
bridge cultures and promote peace and prosperity." Carnegie Mellon
Qatar will announce the donation of a faculty-endowed chair by the Qatar
Foundation at the inaugural gala. Endowed chairs are the highest honor
a university can bestow on its faculty. The Mozah Bint Nasser Chair
of Computer Science and Robotics will be bestowed upon Raj Reddy,
Ph.D., the Simon University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics
at Carnegie Mellon’s School of Computer Science.
http://www.strategiy.com
/inews.asp?id=20050308054543 | back to top
Al Bawaba, Jordan | March 8
Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar announced a leadership
symposium and evening gala as part of inaugural celebrations being hosted
by Qatar Foundation March 9 and 10, 2005. The inaugural celebrations
honor the opening of Carnegie Mellon Qatar, the first international
branch campus of one of the world’s top-ranking universities.
The March 9 symposium will bring together a panel of distinguished Carnegie
Mellon experts in computer science and business with Qatar’s top
business leaders. The delegates at the symposium, all world leaders
in their fields, will share with business leaders in Qatar their latest
research and insights in presentations and discussions, offering unparalleled
access to the latest thinking and developments in business management
and computer science.
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Qatar/181083
| back to top
The New York Times (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | March
6
Qatar is ruled by the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and his
tribe, the Al Thani...Sheikh Hamad has plans to turn Qatar into an important
regional hub, a kind of Arab version of Switzerland: rich, neutral and
secure. The massive airport that is currently being built, capable of
carrying forty-five million passengers a year, shows that he is thinking
big and long-term...By the 1980s, when Qatar had become a seriously
wealthy country, its Gulf neighbours, Dubai, Bahrain and Abu Dhabi,
had already had a chance to establish themselves in the region as regional
banking and commerce capitals. Unlike the other Emirates, Qatar traditionally
had never been a trade hub, so the American-educated first lady, thinking
laterally, decided that rather than compete with them she would concentrate
on developing Qatar as a regional leader in education. Education has
since become an obsession for both the Emir and his wife. Buying wholesale
into the American university system...Sheikha Moza has identified a
regional demand for quality educational facilities. Virginia University,
Carnegie Mellon, Texas A&M University and the prestigious
American think tank the Rand Corporation have all recently opened branches
in Qatar. According to one Qatari academic I spoke with, this has already
had a positive effect far beyond anyone's hopes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/06
/books/chapters/0306-1st-miles.html | back to top
Student Experience
Tribune-Review | March 8
Allison Harris didn't seem to be having much luck at the Students for
Peduto table. In her second week of volunteering for City Councilman
Bill Peduto's mayoral campaign, the Carnegie Mellon University
graduate student was spending Thursday afternoon handing out absentee
ballots and offering pamphlets to students wandering by at the University
Center. There weren't a lot of takers, but Harris was undeterred. "People
are starting to realize that local politics is where you can make a
real change," Harris, 24, said. "Your vote really does matter
at this level." Whether Harris' enthusiasm will translate to more
younger voters to the polls for the primary May 17 remains to be seen.
"It will remain until election day the question of this race,"
said Peduto, 40, of Point Breeze. "These are not the regular voters.
They will not be called for polls. The question mark is how big is this
underground swell. We won't find out until election day."
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/trib/pittsburgh/s_310753.html | back to top
The New York Times | March 7
This year's North American College Bridge Team Championship began on
Feb. 19, with preliminary play on Bridge Base Online. Twenty-five teams
from 18 institutions competed, with 8 moving forward to the final, to
be contested July 22 and 23 at the American Contract Bridge League's
Summer Nationals in Atlanta. The qualifiers are Harvard, M.I.T, Stanford,
U.C.L.A., University of Michigan, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University
of Toronto and Yale. The defending champions are from M.I.T., and they
did well on this deal against Carnegie Mellon University.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/07
/crosswords/bridge/07card.html | back to top
Beaver County Times | March 7
This year marks the [SATs] first makeover since 1994, and one of its
most dramatic. The new version is 45 minutes longer than its predecessor
and includes Algebra II-level math questions and an essay-writing section...What
are colleges doing? In February, The Times surveyed eight area colleges
and universities regarding their policies for the new SAT. All eight
- Carnegie Mellon University, Clarion University, Duquesne
University, Geneva College, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Penn
State University, Robert Morris University and Slippery Rock University
- will be accepting both the old and new versions of the SAT for fall
2005 admission. Officials at each school said the policy was only fair
to students in this transition year. Only three of the schools surveyed
have concrete plans for the revamped test. At highly competitive Carnegie
Mellon, the new test is basically a wash. In years past, when the SAT
had only two fill-in-the-bubble sections, the university required its
applicants to take the separate SAT writing subject test to measure
writing ability. Now that the essay is included in the reasoning test,
the university will drop that requirement. "For us, the essay is
just a shift from the subject test to the reasoning test," director
of admissions Mike Steidel said. "We'll get them
one way or another."
http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm
?newsid=14094550&BRD=2305&PAG=461&
dept_id=478569&rfi=6 | back to top
Tribune-Review | March 6
Beginning this May, California [University of Pennsylvania] will offer
a master's degree in legal studies with a track in homeland security.
The state university along the Monongahela River in Washington County
joins the growing ranks of higher education institutions that have been
expanding program offerings to meet the needs of a post-9/11 nation...At
some schools, individual courses deal with aspects of homeland security.
Students in the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Public
and International Affairs can take courses such as "Intelligence
failures and strategic surprises," "Peacemaking and peacekeeping,"
and "Liberty and security in the age of information and the war
on terror." Expanding education programs in homeland security sometimes
come from the research arm of a university. Pradeep Khosla,
cofounder of Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab, said
the initiative's research into cybersecurity started well before 9/11.
"After Sept. 11 (2001), it accelerated what we were going to do,"
Khosla said. "We need trained manpower faster than what we were
predicting before." Carnegie Mellon spun off of CyLab's research
and began offering a master's program in information security technology
and management in the fall of 2002.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/trib/regional/s_310388.html | back to top
Arts and Humanities
Post-Gazette | March 6, 2005
Hilary Masters' memoir received rave reviews when it
was first published in 1982. The Boston Globe called it "an American
classic" that "belongs on everyone's bookshelf." Critic
Jonathan Yardley pronounced it "a luminous, consequential book."
Publishers Weekly judged it "a quiet, evocative memoir that cuts
back and forth through time, revealing the complexities and ambiguities
of one family's life." Now, after being out of print for several
years, "Last Stands" has been reissued by SMU Press, with
a new introduction by essayist Phillip Lopate and a new afterword by
the author, who teaches English and creative writing at Carnegie
Mellon University. Lopate, an astute critic, writes that the
book "holds up brilliantly" more than 20 years after it first
appeared. Unlike authors of many recent memoirs, Hilary Masters has
both a fascinating story to tell and great skill as a writer.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05065/466451.stm
| back to top
Information Technology
Detroit Free Press (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | March
10
The state Senate unanimously approved legislation Wednesday aimed at
barring the unauthorized spread of spyware, pesky software that can
track Internet users' personal information without their knowledge.
The legislation, which passed 37-0, heads to the House. The three bills
would bar anyone from willfully copying software onto a computer and
using it to collect personal information without the user's permission.
They also would make it illegal to modify Internet settings or disable
antivirus, anti-spyware or other security programs...Some experts say
legislation won't do much to curb spyware, noting that federal legislation
didn't prevent e-mail boxes from being flooded by spam. Pradeep
Khosla, dean of engineering at Carnegie Mellon
University in Pittsburgh, said it's extremely difficult to find out
who's installing some forms of spyware. "What legislation does
is acknowledge the fact that we are aware," he said. "It will
reduce it some but not stop it totally."
http://www.freep.com/money/tech
/spy10w_20050310.htm | back to top
Post-Gazette | March 7
One year ago, the Red Team was scrambling...And the team is still scrambling
today. "The game is on," said William "Red"
Whittaker, the famed Carnegie Mellon robotocist
and Red Team namesake. Last year, "you could win just by finishing,"
he said, but the size and strength of this year's competition suggests
several teams likely will finish the 175-mile race within the 10-hour
limit set by DARPA. So that means Whittaker, a former Marine, is keeping
the pressure on his team of roughly 50 people -- ranging from student
volunteers to full-time professional engineers -- as it attempts to
field two vehicles for the Oct. 8 race.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05066/467297.stm
| back to top
Tribune-Review | March 7
Whether because of indifference, or because they are overwhelmed by
the technology -- or because a computer and an Internet connection seem
impossibly expensive -- seniors came in last in Internet use in a 2004
Pew Internet and American Life survey. Young adults, age 18 to 29, ranked
first...Robert Kraut, of Carnegie Mellon
University's Human-Computer Interaction Institute, said seniors -- the
timid ones at least -- shy away from new technologies because, like
the rest of humanity, they are creatures of habit. "People have
established ways of doing things," he said, "and it's very
hard to break the mold."
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/trib/regional/s_310648.html | back to top
The New York Times (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | March
6
Israeli troops are now sporting gear that Dick Tracy would be proud
of: tiny video screens, worn on the wrist, which display video shot
by unmanned airplanes. Similar screens have been in use for close to
a year in the Israeli military's attack helicopters, helping pilots
identify and strike Palestinian militants within seconds. The technology,
which is also in use in tanks and armored vehicles, was a closely guarded
secret until the company that developed it offered reporters a rare
glimpse at the system this week...The company also showed off a system
resembling a video game that allows soldiers to control unmanned ground
vehicles. The technology is expected to be part of the "Gladiator"
unmanned ground vehicles being developed by the U.S. Marines. The company
announced the Gladiator contract, which includes partners Carnegie
Mellon University and United Defense Industries Inc., last
month.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international
/AP-Israel-Video-Warfare.html | back to top
Regional Impact
Tribune-Review | March 6
John H. Pelusi Jr. started on the offensive line for the University
of Pittsburgh's 1976 national championship football team. But Pelusi,
now a member of Pitt's Board of Trustees and executive managing director
of the firm Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P., took on a defensive posture
on behalf of the university during a recent meeting of the trustees'
property and facilities committee. The school, a tax-exempt institution,
doesn't get enough credit for its positive contributions to the region's
economy, according to Pelusi. "I'm totally amazed by the things
people rail about the University of Pittsburgh in light of ... what
the university has added to this region over the last seven or eight
years," Pelusi said in an interview later. Schools like Pitt and
Carnegie Mellon University not only employ thousands
of workers, he said, they also attract millions of dollars in research
grants and are responsible for bringing in millions more in construction
dollars. For example, according to the university's Internet site, the
school employed 11,145 people at its Pittsburgh campus in 2004, and
school officials said the school paid about $7.9 million in wage taxes
to the city of Pittsburgh.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review
/trib/newssummary/s_309302.html | back to top
Local News Stories
Post-Gazette | March 9
Outsourcing of jobs -- that's something that now is beginning to affect
not just blue-collar workers but white-collar employees even in such
"safe" fields as hospitals and banks...In the larger sphere,
says Donald F. Smith Jr., "We are starting to
see outsourcing affect more than just the lowest skill jobs." Even
supervisory jobs are being shipped to India, China and South Africa.
Smith, director of economic development for both Carnegie Mellon
University and the University of Pittsburgh, believes that "the
[counter] strategy nationally, not just in Pittsburgh, has to be to
move skills up the value chain to maintain our standard of living."
That means, Smith adds, investment in innovation complexes with industry
and universities working together in such fields as biotechnology, information
technology and nanotechnology to foster cutting-edge industries and
train the workers for them.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05068/468238.stm
| back to top
Post-Gazette | March 8
Two MBA applicants to Carnegie Mellon University couldn't
wait to see if they made the cut, so they used what a hacker said was
a means to access unannounced admission decisions at several top business
schools. The only problem was that Carnegie Mellon hadn't yet made those
decisions, so the computer screen the applicants hoped would give them
their answer was blank. Even worse for them, the system was equipped
to electronically capture "footprints" of trespassers. Officials
with Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business said yesterday that
they will bar those students once they are certain who they are. "Our
dean has made it pretty clear that if any of our applicants tried to
hack into the system, we would not admit them," said Mike
Laffin, a Tepper spokesman. "The school thinks it's a
pretty serious indiscretion."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05067/467888.stm
| back to top
Post-Gazette | March 6
The State Correctional Institution Laurel Highlands has many of the
usual "charms" of a penitentiary: coiled razor wire, steel
security doors, guards and metal detectors. But the inside of this complex
in the rolling hills outside of town looks more like a nursing home
than a prison...SCI Laurel Highlands is a geriatric prison, one of the
first in America when it was converted from a state mental hospital
in 1996. While most of the 900 prisoners are classified as general-population,
about 250 are old or sick and housed according to need: geriatric, wheelchair
users and long-term care. The waiting list to get in stands at 133,
and a new $6 million medical wing is on the way...Prisons like this
one have become common as the 1.3 million people behind bars in America
grow grayer each year. Part of the jump is the natural result of the
aging baby boom generation, those born between 1946 and 1964. "That
population bulge is a factor," said Alfred Blumstein,
a nationally known criminology professor at Carnegie Mellon
University. "It's just that there's more of them."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05065/467032.stm
| back to top
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