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May 27 -
June 2, 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 May 27 - June 2,
Carnegie Mellon Media Relations counted 142
references to the university in worldwide publications. Here is a sample.
National News Stories
Washington Post | June 1
Knight Ridder Newspapers | June 1
Student Experience
Post-Gazette (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | June 2
Tribune-Review | June 2
BusinessWeek | May 27
Pittsburgh Business Times | May 27
Pittsburgh Business Times | May 27
Arts and Humanities
I.D. Magazine | June 2005
Tribune-Review | June 2
Post-Gazette | May 28
Information Technology
The Christian Science Monitor | June 2
Wired News | May 31
MSNBC | May 27
Biotechnology
Post-Gazette | May 30
Post-Gazette | May 30
Nature Medicine | vol. 11, no. 3
Environment
Tribune-Review | May 30
Regional Impact
WPXI - TV | May 31
Post-Gazette | May 29
Local News Stories
Post-Gazette | May 30
Tribune-Review | May 28
Tribune-Review | May 28
International News Stories
The Australian | June 1
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National News Stories
Washington Post | June 1
As Paul D. Wolfowitz officially takes
over as president of the World Bank today, he is presenting himself
as a leader who will bring gradual shifts in policy to the giant anti-poverty
institution, rather than tumultuous regime change. But not everyone
is so sure that he means it ... Some people take him at his word when
he says he has no intention of turning the bank upside down. Still,
"there's a lot of anxiety here," said one veteran bank economist
... Indeed, some of Wolfowitz's conservative boosters hope, and believe,
that he comes to the job with the aim of implementing a far-reaching
set of reforms. Among them is Allan Meltzer, a professor
at Carnegie Mellon University who headed a congressionally
appointed commission that in 2000 recommended a number of sweeping changes
in the way the World Bank helps poor nations. The proposals included
giving poor countries outright grants, rather than no-interest loans,
and sharply reducing bank lending for "middle-income" nations
such as China and Mexico that can borrow on private markets. (The Bush
administration has already prodded the bank to use grants much more
than in the past.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2005/05/31/AR2005053101530.html | back to
top
Knight Ridder Newspapers | June 1
With a strong push from the Pentagon, computer scientists are trying
to create an artificial "personal office assistant" that's
smart enough to handle routine tasks for a human boss, military or civilian.
The automated aide-de-camp is supposed to be able to sort e-mail, schedule
meetings, make plane reservations, collect information for reports and
carry out other humdrum, time-consuming chores for busy human managers.
Although the duties seem routine, creating a software program that can
handle them is one of the most difficult challenges in computer science.
Artificial-intelligence experts have struggled for years to make machines
perform functions that are simple for people but stump electronic devices
... Carnegie Mellon's personal assistant is called
RADAR, after the young corporal on the old "M*A*S*H" TV show
who always seemed to know what was going to happen before the officers
did. "Like any good assistant, RADAR must understand its human
master's activities and preferences and how they change over time,"
said Scott Fahlman, a computer scientist at the university's
Human-Computer Interaction Institute. For example, Fahlman said in a
Carnegie Mellon release: "RADAR must respond to specific instructions
such as 'Notify me as soon as the new budget numbers arrive by e-mail.'
It must know when to interrupt its master with a question and when to
defer."
http://www.realcities.com/mld/
krwashington/11790165.htm | back to top
Student Experience
Post-Gazette (ASSOCIATED PRESS) | June 2
Dear Federal Communications Commission, Flying is bad enough these days
without spending the trip next to someone talking on a cell phone. That
seems to be a common opinion among the 7,696 people and businesses who
responded to the FCC's proposal to allow cell phone conversations on
commercial flights. Comments included arguments from the National Academy
of Sciences about interference with astronomy equipment, lots of diatribes
about the extreme rudeness of cell phone yappers and a 174-page doctoral
thesis from Graham W. Strauss of Carnegie Mellon University.
Strauss explored whether passengers knew that cell phones are currently
banned for safety reasons and tried to show that passengers already
use wireless devices on planes despite prohibitions against it. *Please
note this story is also available at MSNBC.com
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05153/514185.stm
| back to top
Tribune-Review | June 2
What's so special about reaching the national semifinals? For Carnegie
Mellon University's Amy Staloch, it was getting there as a
freshman. Staloch, in her first college season, made a run at Carnegie
Mellon's first NCAA Division III women's tennis championship last month
before losing to top-seeded Lindsay Hagerman of Washington & Lee.
The Midland, Mich., native, who led Carnegie Mellon with a 27-5 singles
record, including a 7-0 mark in the University Athletic Association,
and also was teammed with sophomore Mona Iyer to finish second nationally
in the fall postseason doubles competition, entered the singles tournament
unseeded.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/
sports/college/s_340089.html | back to top
BusinessWeek | May 27
For Robert Walker, a 2005 graduate of the Owen Graduate School of Management
at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, finding a job was a wrenching
experience. Walker is among a growing number of MBA graduates who are
being hired in the spring or even early summer, rather than in the traditional
winter recruiting season. Known as just-in-time or last-minute hiring,
this trend offers a range of benefits to employers, many of whom delayed
recruiting during the economic downturn. Delaying job placement until
later in the academic year allows employers time to determine how many
MBAs they really need and can afford. But even as the economy picks
up, many companies have continued the practice. Indeed, many companies
essentially are hiring year-round as the need arises ... Still, some
argue that once the economy completely bounces back, employers won't
be able to keep top talent waiting. "The cost of reactive hiring
is that there are still some great students available in the spring,
but far fewer than earlier in the year," says Ken Keeley,
executive director of Career Opportunities at the Tepper School of Business
at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. About
164 out of 224 Tepper MBA graduates had job offers as of May 13, but
those data are still incomplete, says Keeley. In general, the school
averages about 200 job postings per month all year long for internships
and full-time jobs for newly-minted MBAs and alumni.
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/
content/may2005/bs20050527_0095.htm | back to top
Pittsburgh Business Times | May 27
Carnegie Mellon University will double the chance to
win its annual McGinnis Venture Competition next year. The competition
has teams of international MBA candidates competing for seed capital
by presenting business plans for technology and biomedical companies.
But next year, the two business categories will have their own contests.
"In 2006, we plan to enhance the McGinnis Venture Competition by
running two tracks -- one for technology companies and one for biomedical
companies," said Arthur Boni, deputy director
of the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship, which operates within
Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business.
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/
stories/2005/05/30/focus4.html | back to top
Pittsburgh Business Times | May 27
Soaring tuition has outstripped enrollment in traditional two-year MBA
programs over the past few years, forcing business schools to work harder
to attract students ... A recent survey conducted by BusinessWeek found
that enrollment at many top-tier business schools has plunged by an
average of 30 percent during the past six years. Meanwhile, tuition
costs have climbed by nearly 55 percent in that same period. Information
provided by local business schools reflects the national trend of tuition
increases and enrollment decreases, although the numbers are not quite
as dramatic. Tuition for students enrolling in the full-time program
at Carnegie Mellon University this fall will be $38,800,
representing an increase of just under 5 percent from the 2004-05 academic
year. "Our experience is that demand for an MBA is cyclical,"
said John Mather, executive director of masters programs
and professor of marketing at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie
Mellon University. "When the economy took a downturn in 2001, there
was a large uptick in demand for an MBA as professionals were displaced
from jobs."
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/
stories/2005/05/30/focus2.html | back to top
Arts and Humanities
I.D. Magazine | June 2005
Researchers at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University
are trying to improve on Grandpa's favorite chair, and we're not talking
about fluffier cushions. The SenseChair, part of a five-year project
in the School of Design to plug senior citizens into robotic assistance,
is a seat that can rouse nappers, massage achy joints, and gently nudge
people into more ergonomic positions. Twelve embedded pressure sensors
monitor weight distribution and sitting time. **Please note that this
article is not currently available online.
back to top
Tribune-Review | June 2
On view at [Westmoreland Museum of American Art in Greensburg] ... are
the photographs of Charlee Brodsky in the solo-showing
"A Town Without Steel, Envisioning Homestead," also through
July 17. Featuring photographs by Brodsky coupled with the poetry of
Jim Daniels and writings of Jane McCafferty
-- both professors at Carnegie Mellon University, as
is Brodsky, the exhibition captures the relationship between the old
and the new Homestead, the old and the new America, making it the perfect
accompaniment to the larger exhibition.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/
entertainment/arts/s_339954.html | back to top
Post-Gazette | May 28
John Ormsbee Simonds, a pioneering modernist landscape architect and
one of the most prominent and influential of his generation, died of
natural causes Thursday at his home in Ben Avon Heights. He was 92.
In 1963, he wrote "Landscape Architecture," a widely used
college textbook that has sold more than 100,000 copies. Its fourth
edition is now in production. Mr. Simonds was on the faculty of Carnegie
Mellon University for 13 years and a visiting lecturer at many
schools in the United States and abroad.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05148/511984.stm
| back to top
Information Technology
The Christian Science Monitor | June 2
English rules the Internet, which can be a frustrating thing for the
world's 1.3 billion Chinese and 322 million Spanish-speakers. They outnumber
Anglophones. Even online, two-thirds of users speak something other
than English at home. So when someone promises a smoother and easier
translation program, people around the world tend to perk up their ears.
It's a step closer to a truly "worldwide" Web where every
page would be available for everyone to read in his or her own language
... Each of the two approaches to [machine-translation] - hand-tailoring
rules for translation between pairs of languages or using statistical
analysis to detect patterns - has its strengths and weaknesses, says
Robert Frederking, who teaches at the Center for Machine
Translation at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Rules-based systems are time-consuming to develop and expensive, but
great for specialized tasks, such as translating a manual on bulldozers,
which might have a number of specific and unique terms. "Systran
has put literally hundreds of person years over a 30-year period into
building each language pair that they translate," Dr. Frederking
says.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/
0602/p13s02-stct.html | back to top
Wired News | May 31
Stuck in traffic and sick of Howard Stern, you may soon be able to tune
in to the music collection of the person in the car in front of you.
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are developing
an ad hoc networking system for cars that would allow any driver to
broadcast music to any other vehicle within a 30-mile radius. Developed
by a group of current and former master's students at the Human Computer
Interaction Institute, the Roadcasting project would allow drivers to
stream their MP3 music collections by Wi-Fi or similar technology to
any other vehicle within range that is equipped with compatible hardware
and software. The system -- still largely theoretical -- will also feature
a collaborative-filtering mechanism that compares music in a recipients'
collection to that of the broadcaster. The filter will pump out a mix
of songs matching the listener's tastes.
http://www.wired.com/news/
digiwood/0,1412,67653,00.html | back to top
MSNBC | May 27
When deciding to get rid of an old computer, Call 4 Action reporter
Meghan Jones says a few security concerns must be addressed. How do
you shred the information on your hard drive? Is it safe? Is it necessary?
It's important to remember that any information that has ever appeared
on or been stored in your computer is still on the hard drive. Not even
anti-spyware programs and firewalls destroy that information. "When
you delete a file, it's like taking a folder out of the top drawer of
a filing cabinet and putting it in the bottom drawer," said
Larry Rogers, of the Carnegie Mellon University
Software Engineering Institute. "You can't find that file where
it used to be, but it's still there." **Please note that the original
report was aired on WTAE-TV news.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8009404/
| back to top
Biotechnology
Post-Gazette | May 30
The words "intestinal bug" could gain a whole new meaning
if a Carnegie Mellon University engineer is successful
in his efforts to develop a medical robot for examining the intestinal
tract. Metin Sitti, director of the NanoRobotics Lab,
is developing a set of legs that could be incorporated into the swallowable
camera-in-a-pill that has become available in the past four years for
diagnosing gastrointestinal disorders in the small intestine. The capsule
camera snaps thousands of pictures as it makes its way slowly through
the narrow tract, carried by the wave-like peristaltic motion that moves
all contents through the intestines. But Sitti is hoping that adding
legs to the capsule will give physicians a measure of control. The work
is supported by the Intelligent Microsystems Center in Seoul, Korea,
and sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05150/512648.stm
| back to top
Post-Gazette | May 30
A bombadier beetle sprays boiling hot liquid from the tip of its abdomen
in a defensive response that scientists are studying as a model for
possible device for re-lighting gas turbine engines at high altitudes
and low temperatures. Methods used by beetles to defend themselves from
predators are providing inspiration for researchers working on everything
from robots that crawl through intestines to devices for restarting
aircraft engines. The palmetto beetle, for instance, is a small blue
beetle found in the southeastern United States that can cling tenaciously
to palmetto leaves when under attack. Its secret is on the bottom of
its foot pads -- a total of 60,000 tiny bristles. When the beetle presses
the bristles against the surface and secretes an oily substance, it
can strongly adhere to surfaces. Metin Sitti, director
of the NanoRobotics Lab at Carnegie Mellon University,
hopes to mimic the beetle's adhesive foot pads as he designs a robot
that can maneuver inside the human bowel. The bristles would be fashioned
out of polyurethane, silicon rubber or various biocompatible polymers;
silicon oil might substitute for the beetle's secretions.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05150/512647.stm
| back to top
Nature Medicine | vol. 11, no. 3
We report a new platform technology for visualizing transgene expression
in living subjects using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Using a vector,
we introduced an MRI reporter, a metalloprotein from the ferritin family,
into specific host tissues. The reporter is made superparamagnetic as
the cell sequesters endogenous iron from the organism. In this new approach,
the cells construct the MRI contrast agent in situ using genetic instructions
introduced by the vector. No exogenous metal-complexed contrast agent
is required, thereby simplifying intracellular delivery. We used a replication-defective
adenovirus vector to deliver the ferritin transgenes. Following focal
inoculation of the vector into the mouse brain, we monitored the reporter
activity using in vivo time-lapse MRI. We observed robust contrast in
virus-transduced neurons and glia for several weeks. This technology
is adaptable to monitor transgene expression in vivo in many tissue
types and has numerous biomedical applications, such as visualizing
preclinical therapeutic gene delivery. **Please note that these findings
were reported by Guillem Genove, Ulrike DeMarco,
Hongyan Xu, and Eric T Ahrens,
of Department of Biological Sciences and Pittsburgh NMR Center
for Biomedical Research, Carnegie Mellon University.
This report was covered by several medical news sources, including Biotech
Week and Medical Imaging Business Week on June 1.
http://www.nature.com/nm/
journal/v11/n4/full/nm1208.html | back to top
Environment
Tribune-Review | May 30
In a few decades, gardens sprouting a rainbow of flowers and featuring
small ponds with flowing streams might cover the roofs of Carnegie
Mellon University's buildings, cutting energy costs and minimizing
the campus's environmental impact. That is, if an experimental "living
roof" on top of Hamerschlag Hall doesn't leak. This spring, the
building's roof was covered in five layers, starting with insulation
and waterproof material and ending with a mix of soil and a lightweight,
inorganic substance that will help 6,000 seedlings carpet the entire
surface. "We want to actually demonstrate if green roofs are beneficial,"
said Barbara Kviz, Carnegie Mellon's environmental
coordinator. "This project is the perfect combination of research
and campus and community involvement." The project began four years
ago when three undergraduate students received a small grant to study
green roofs. After discovering that Hamerschlag Hall needed a new roof,
they enlisted the help of Carnegie Mellon faculty and staff. The students
got $96,750 from the state Department of Environmental Protection and
$25,250 from 3 Rivers Wet Weather, a nonprofit environmental group,
to pay the additional cost of planting a garden atop the building. The
living roof has been tested by structural engineers and isn't much heavier
than a normal roof, Kviz and associate professor Bob Bingham
say.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/
trib/regional/s_339176.html | back to top
Regional Impact
WPXI - TV | May 31
The effort to realign Pittsburgh schools is taking center stage Tuesday.The
school board is facing a huge deficit and now for the first time, it
is asking the public for input. And Councilman Bill Peduto released
information he said will help. Peduto said a closed school doesn't have
to mean an empty building. He said it could be utilized as a senior
or recreation center.To make his point, he said for the past year, students
at Carnegie Mellon University's Center for Economic
Development used geographic information system mapping technology to
chart all city, county and school district-owned property in the city.
That information could help the school board make a more informed decision
about the schools that do close and how the buildings could be utilized.
Dr. Jerry Paytas, of the Carnegie Mellon Center for
Economic Development, said, "When we look around the city at the
schools already closed there's still a lot of opportunities left with
additional facilities. And as the school district moves forward, we
need to do this within a broader community dialogue that looks at the
need we have in the neighborhoods around the city of Pittsburgh."
**Please note that related stories also aired in WTAE and KDKA news
reports.
http://www.wpxi.com/education/4549696/detail.html
| back to top
Post-Gazette | May 29
Ten thousand Senior Olympians begin arriving in Pittsburgh next weekend
with 10,000 different stories of sports mastered, diseases battled,
frailties postponed and childhood athletics revisited. The participants
in the 10th Summer National Senior Games, held in Pennsylvania for the
first time, range from record-holders in their 50s to people just happy
to compete in their 80s, 90s and beyond. The University of Pittsburgh,
Carnegie Mellon University, Schenley and North parks
will be populated June 3-18 by ex-Olympians and former college jocks
who aim to set records, career-minded people who gave up sports for
decades and women who never got the chance to compete before Title IX.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05149/511146.stm
| back to top
Local News Stories
Post-Gazette | May 30
Curtis Meyer, a Carnegie Mellon University
physicist, has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society.
He specializes in medium-energy physics and is designing a key instrument
for GlueX, a major new experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator
Facility in Newport News, Va.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05150/512729.stm
| back to top
Tribune-Review | May 28
Pennsylvania has the dubious distinction of being ranked No. 1 in the
nation in the number of retirees receiving their benefits from the pension
insurer, and in the total amount of benefits it paid. The agency Friday
released statistics showing that ... benefits received in Pennsylvania
totaled 17 percent of the benefits paid nationwide. Pennsylvania's No.
1 ranking can be attributed to the downfall of the steel and metals
industries, said Jeff Speicher, an agency spokesman. Two of the top
three unfunded pension plans came from bankrupt steel companies with
Pennsylvania operations -- Bethlehem Steel Corp. and LTV Steel ... Steel
companies were willing to grant steelworkers extra pension benefits
during contract negotiations so that longtime employees would retire
early, allowing the companies to reduce their labor costs by keeping
younger workers, said Carnegie Mellon University labor
studies professor Benjamin Fischer. He was an associate
director of research for the United Steelworkers when the union negotiated
pension increases.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/
business/s_338793.html | back to top
Tribune-Review | May 28
Most of Pennsylvania's school districts have rejected a piece of the
slots-machine take, and the state Legislature seems unlikely to force
them to take it. Pennsylvanians can expect a flurry of activity in the
General Assembly next month after the deadline Monday for districts
to decide whether to opt in to Act 72. Under the act, districts would
receive slots money if they agree to reduce property taxes and raise
their wage taxes by a tenth of a percentage point ... House Majority
Leader Sam Smith, R-Punxsutawney, doesn't believe a majority of House
Republicans are willing to require participation in Act 72, said his
spokesman, Stephen Miskin. In the meantime, expect "a lot of huffing
and puffing" and "posturing" by Republicans and Democrats
over the next few months, said Robert Strauss, a Carnegie
Mellon University economics professor. Strauss said he would
be surprised if the Legislature enacted a law forcing districts to participate
in Act 72.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/
education/s_338759.html | back to top
International News Stories
The Australian | June 1
The establishment in Adelaide of a branch of the American university
Carnegie Mellon represents a groundbreaking initiative
for South Australia, one that comes at a time of great change in the
global higher education market ... While the entry of a foreign university
is unprecedented in Australia, some have previously attempted to cross
borders by aligning or co-branding with other leading universities.
Carnegie Mellon is a different story. The branch planned for Adelaide
will be Carnegie Mellon. It will confer American degrees. The degrees
will be identical to the diplomas granted at its home in Pittsburgh
and because this branch will be Carnegie Mellon, the faculty is Carnegie
Mellon - under the care and control of Pittsburgh - the students in
Adelaide will also be enrolled in Pittsburgh. This will be an American
university in Australia. **Please note that this opinion piece was written
by South Australian Premier Mike Rann.
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common
/story_page/0,5744,15467545%255E12332,00.html | back
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