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October
28, 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 October 21-27,
Carnegie Mellon Media Relations counted 255
references to the university in worldwide publications. Here is a sample.
National News Stories
The Houston Chronicle | October 27
Detroit Free Press (AP) | October 25
Newsweek | October 24
USA Today | October 24
Discovery News | October 24
The Salt Lake Tribune | October 23
The New York Times (AP) | October 21
Bloomberg news | October 21
Student Experience
Fortune Magazine | November 1
Arts and Humanities
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 26
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | October 23
Information Technology
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | October 27
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 26
Environment
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 23
Local News Stories
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 27
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | October 25
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 24
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | October 24
Pittsburgh Business Times | October 21
International News Stories
United Press International | October 21
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National News Stories
The Houston Chronicle | October 27
So the president averted a terrorist threat — and saved Halloween
for trick-or-treaters. A diplomatic coup by George W. Bush? No, the
latest episode of Commander In Chief. The new ABC television show, which
stars Oscar winner Geena Davis as the first woman president, combines
fantastical, geopolitical story lines with ordinary family drama. ...
Scott Sandage, a social anthropologist at Carnegie
Mellon University and author of Born Losers: A History of Failure
in America, said part of the show's appeal is that many Americans view
the White House as a secret and exciting place. "Everybody knows
that the public rooms in the White House are where nothing special happens,"
Sandage said. "It's the residence and the West Wing where the exciting
things happen."
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/
ssistory.mpl/ae/tv/3419140 | back
to top
Detroit Free Press (AP) | October 25
Michigan State University is the site of a new center to develop a global
strategy for responding to bioterrorism threats and outbreaks of infectious
disease. The $10 million Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment
is funded by the U-S Environmental Protection Agency and the Department
of Homeland Security. ... The EPA has identified several threats as
needing additional study; they include anthrax, smallpox, botulism,
plague, viral hemorrhagic fever and tularemia. The center also will
assess risk of exposure to bacteria and viruses in the air, water and
soil, and on hard surfaces. The center will bring together scientists
at Michigan State and Drexel, as well as the University of Michigan,
Carnegie Mellon University, Northern Arizona University,
the University of Arizona and the University of California at Berkley.
http://www.freep.com/news/statewire/
sw123066_20051025.htm | back
to top
Newsweek | October 24
Alan Greenspan isn’t leaving his job as Federal Reserve chairman
until January, but George Bush has already announced his choice for
a successor to the 79-year-old outgoing chief. The nominee, Ben Bernanke,
51, is a former Princeton University economist and former governor of
the Federal Reserve. He is now chairman of the president’s
Council of Economic Advisors and is widely considered a well-qualified
and “safe” choice... The markets reacted well to the Bernanke
choice, as did many economists who praised the nominee. “He’s
a mainstream well-respected economist and a skilled practitioner—a
good choice,” says Allan H. Meltzer, professor
of political economy at Carnegie Mellon University.
Meltzer has written a history of the Federal Reserve and served as a
consultant on economic policy for the U.S. Treasury, the Federal Reserve
and the World Bank. He spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Susanna Schrobsdorff
about what Ben Bernanke could bring to the job and about the economic
challenges that will face a new Fed chairman. *** A question an answer
session with Meltzer follows. Read the complete interview here:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9806570/site/newsweek/
| back to top
USA Today | October 24
The military plans to expand the use of robots beyond disarming bombs,
increasing the number of robots on duty in Iraq to 1,000. The next batch
will include small units that soldiers can send ahead to look for enemy
ambushes or booby traps. These "scout bots" are small enough
to be thrown over a wall or into a window and to fit inside a backpack.
The robot programs are part of the $1 billion overseen by the Pentagon's
Defeat IED Task Force. IED refers to improvised explosive devices. Under
development by the Marine Corps and Carnegie Mellon
University is a speedy little thing called the Dragon Runner. It has
four wheels connected to a flat chassis that carries a battery and a
video camera. The 9-pound device can be tossed over a wall and scoot
at up to 20 mph. Other models are even smaller, including a two-wheeler
that looks like a small dumbbell and is operated like a grenade: A soldier
pulls a pin to activate it and then throws it at the target. It carries
a camera to send back video.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/
techinnovations/2005-10-24-robot-war_x.htm
| back to top
Discovery News | October 24
A security system that identifies you by your unique swagger could prevent
thieves from using your phone, PDA or MP3 player should they become
lost or stolen. The gait-recognition tool, under development at the
Technology Research Center of Finland in Oulu, uses sensors to measure
and monitor a person's stride. If the steps are unfamiliar, it switches
to a security mode. ... The biggest challenge facing gait recognition
and just about any other biometric security system, said biometric expert
Tsuhan Chen, professor of electrical and computer engineering
at Carnegie Mellon University, is not only distinguishing
one individual from among millions but distinguishing between the variations
that occur in the same person. "If my gait today differs two weeks
from now when I've gained a few more pounds, that makes using gait to
identify me very difficult," he said. According to Chen, computers
and the specialized systems needed to make such fine-scale distinctions
need to be more robust before these kinds of security systems can become
commercially viable.
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/
briefs/20051024/gait.html | back to top
The Salt Lake Tribune | October 23
Eric Watson is a busy man. A financial adviser at Merrill Lynch and
a father of four, he tries to make the most of his time at the office.
So, if during his busy workday he needs his dry cleaning picked up or
tickets to a show, Watson simply calls his concierge. ... Watson is
taking advantage of a growing number of concierge services delivered
right to workers' offices, from having their shoes resoled to getting
their cars washed. Between an increasing number of dual-career families
with less time to run errands and companies' aiming to offer unusual
perks as a selling point to potential employees, experts say concierge
services are becoming more popular. It's also a way, experts say, to
keep employees less stressed and more focused on work. ''People don't
have time, and either they're going to steal the time from work and
do it, or we offload it to somebody else like a concierge,'' said
Robert Kelley a professor of management and organizational
behavior at Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School
of Business.
http://www.sltrib.com/
business/ci_3145754 | back to
top
The New York Times (AP) | October 21
A group of academics, business leaders and residents are convening this
week to bring together the region's large elderly community, private
industry and university programs in medicine and technology. ... Jim
Osborn, executive director of Carnegie Mellon
University's Medical Robotics Technology Center, said technology could
be used in many ways to help the elderly live more independently, such
as with remote medication monitoring. But, he said, there is a challenge.
"We have to come up with ways of using technology to simplify technology,''
said Osborn, who is also Carnegie Mellon's coordinator of the University
Life Science Initiatives. He said the Pittsburgh region's elderly population,
old infrastructure and the challenges of the geography make the area
an ideal place for research. ''Part of the reason we want to do this
here is because we recognize we could be doing a great service to our
indigenous population,'' Osborn said. ''Also if you can solve problems
here, solutions for other places will be that much easier.''
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/
technology/AP-Elderly-Technology.html | back
to top
Bloomberg news | October 21
If your state or locality could sell its bonds directly to investors,
it would save a lot of money. This is the conclusion of an academic
research paper now finding its way to the in-boxes of government finance
officers. How does it work now? Wall Street puts bonds in inventory
and marks them up to sell to individual investors. Or they sell big
blocks of bonds to institutional investors -- hedge funds, mutual funds
and the like -- who then "flip'' them out at a higher price to
the smaller brokers who sell to individuals. ... The paper is called,
"Dealer Intermediation and Price Behavior in the Aftermarket for
New Bond Issues,'' and is the work of Richard C. Green
and Burton Hollifield of Carnegie Mellon
University's Tepper School of Business, and Norman Schurhoff of the
University of Lausanne. This is a dense work, its pages filled with
statistics and Greek-letter formulas. It is important because this seems
to be the first public acknowledgement of something that observers of
the market have long known -- that some big investors are able to make
money by simply acting as conduits.
http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=
10000039&refer=columnist_mysak&sid=aGcjPvpypE4A
| back to top
Student Experience
Fortune Magazine | November 1
In an era of widespread disenchantment with the often bureaucratic,
scandal-ridden world of big corporations, more students believe that
building a successful startup is the way to go. ... It's not surprising,
then, that our third annual business-plan contest, the FSB Student Showdown,
was our most competitive yet. Eighty-two plans arrived from 66 schools,
including Harvard and UCLA—up from 58 entries in 2004. To enter,
teams had to have won a business-plan competition. ... The second-place
team, winning $10,000, was NeuroLife, a company created by MBAs at Carnegie
Mellon University who want to manufacture a noninvasive monitor
to measure brain pressure in a head-injury patient. ... Ernest Braxton—who
is earning an MBA at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business after
having graduated from medical school at the University of Pennsylvania—decided
to do something about it. He teamed up with fellow MD and Tepper MBA
Daniel McChesney, who realized he preferred business to medicine after
getting his MD from the University of Pittsburgh. The two launched NeuroLife,
which is creating a medical device for detecting elevated brain pressure.
http://www.fortune.com/fortune/smallbusiness/
articles/0,15114,1116666-3,00.html | back
to top
Arts and Humanities
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 26
Clayton Merrell's painting, at least that of recent
years, has consistently shown an affinity for the land -- not through
realistic representation but by depicting a landscape of locale informed
by past and present visual and remnant imprints of human activity and
of nature. ... The works' dreamy surfaces are underscored with low-key
intensity; they're subtle yet powerful. ... The 100 works spread through
eight galleries elate, challenge, calm, pleasure, suggest and, most
edifyingly, surround with an aesthetic that manages to be at once primal
and sophisticated. A Pittsburgh native who grew up in Venezuela and
earned an MFA from Yale, Merrell is associate professor of art at Carnegie
Mellon University. It's good to have him back in town.
http://www.post-gazette.com/
pg/05299/594734.stm | back to
top
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | October 23
The sun explodes over a syrup-colored landscape while the wind creeps
through a desert in a concentrated, traceable stream. Like the feeling
that comes with so much impending bad weather, there's a feeling that
something's afoot. It's as if the sky is going to crack open, throw
you on your back and make you see the world in a whole new way. Welcome
to the topsy-turvy world of Clayton Merrell, the Pittsburgh
Center for the Arts' 2005 Artist of the Year. One hundred paintings
by Merrell fill all but three of the center's galleries in the big yellow
mansion on the Shadyside-Point Breeze border. All landscape paintings
in one form or another, they're not what you would typically think of
when you hear the words "landscape painting." ... "The
landscape is kind of the skeleton or architecture that I start with,"
says the 36-year-old painter who also happens to be an associate professor
of art at Carnegie Mellon University. "It provides
the frame that I hang all of my ideas on."
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/
entertainment/arts/s_386591.html | back
to top
Information Technology
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | October 27
Imagine saying something in English and being understood by someone
who speaks only Spanish. Carnegie Mellon University
researchers and German scientists today plan to demonstrate breakthrough
technology in human speech translation by computers. The system pioneered
by Alex Waibel, a faculty member at Carnegie Mellon
and the University of Karlsruhe in Germany, could bring closer the day
when communicating in a foreign language is as easy as speaking in a
native tongue. Waibel, who is also director of the International Center
for Advanced Communication Technologies, will deliver a lecture that
will be translated simultaneously from English to Spanish to German
using the new cross-lingual communication system. The two universities
will showcase the technology through an international videoconference
at both campuses. Waibel also will demonstrate new ways of delivering
computerized speech translation services beyond traditional headsets
and audio equipment.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/
trib/regional/s_388230.html | back
to top
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 26
About 16 percent of Internet users -- 21 million people -- have viewed
a remote person or place via webcam, according to a March 2005 Pew Internet
& American Life Project study. Web cameras don't only connect friends
and family separated by a few miles or a few continents. Via Web cameras,
people also can passively view the fall foliage in Pennsylvania and
New England or a faraway loved one's funeral in Connecticut. ... Today,
people can monitor their children at day care, their pets at pet care
and even the security of their homes via one-way webcam communication.
... "The way most video conferencing works is that the pictures
you see are pictures of people you're talking to, and there's at least
30 years of research that says being able to see the person you're talking
to doesn't add much value," says Robert Kraut,
a Carnegie Mellon University human-computer interaction
professor who has researched the use of personal video for communication
since 1980. "What's more valuable is being able to see the things
you're talking about, being able to see the baby or if two lawyers are
working together, being able to see the contract they're working on."
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/
05299/594735.stm | back to top
Environment
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 23
Wind farms are becoming an increasingly common sight on breezy mountain
ridges in Pennsylvania in large part because a consortium of 35 of the
state's colleges and universities, along with nonprofit organizations
and a few companies with environmental agendas such as Giant Eagle,
have agreed to buy their output and pay more for it than they would
when buying energy from conventional sources. The experiments in wind
power are part of the region's long legacy in energy production. ...
Voluntary customers such as Carnegie Mellon University
and Duquesne University buy green for reasons that include social and
environmental responsibility and as an educational or demonstration
tool. "Most of our interest is in using less electricity, but to
the degree that we can't do without power, why not make it green?"
said Brad Hockberg, who manages energy for Carnegie
Mellon, which spends about $6 million a year on electricity, approximately
11 percent of which is green. ... Jay Apt, the former
astronaut who now serves as executive director of Carnegie Mellon's
Electricity Industry Center and a distinguished service professor in
engineering and public policy, has studied the true costs of wind power
without subsidies or other credits by focusing on Texas, where state
standards have spawned a large industry that could be statistically
isolated. Mr. Apt notes that wind blows only part of the time, so wind
energy farms must be tied to other production to meet constant customer
demand.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/
05296/593043.stm | back to top
Local News Stories
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 27
In a move that could end a long drought in the domestic construction
of nuclear power plants, Duke Power yesterday said it was making plans
to build two reactors designed by Monroeville-based Westinghouse Electric.
... Jay Apt, executive director of Carnegie
Mellon University's Electricity Industry Center and a distinguished
professor in engineering and public policy, said the Duke announcement
could give Westinghouse a boost in its bid to sell reactors to China.
China is reviewing bids for four nuclear plants, which would likely
be built in twos and could cost $2.2 billion to $2.7 billion a pair
to build. Westinghouse is among the leading bidders, and China anticipates
building several more after the first four are under way. "For
Westinghouse, they must regard [this] as a very good vote of confidence
in their new design," Mr. Apt, a former astronaut, said. "This
is a chance of bolstering their opportunity."
http://www.post-gazette.com/
pg/05300/595701.stm | back to
top
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | October 25
Local economists said [Ben] Bernanke was a natural choice for the president.
"It's a good appointment. He's a very capable monetary economist,"
said Allan Meltzer, the Allan H. Meltzer University
Professor of Political Economy in Carnegie Mellon University's
Tepper School of Business. ... Although a quiet person, Bernanke is
not reclusive and "likes to hear what other people have to say,"
said Marvin Goodfriend, a business economics professor
at Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School. Goodfriend developed a friendship
with Bernanke 15 years ago because of their shared interest in economics.
"He is extremely capable, down to earth. He's curious to know how
the world works," Goodfriend said.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/
trib/regional/s_387416.html | back
to top
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | October 24
Tiny, nearly invisible airborne particles have become a major pollution
concern and Carnegie Mellon University researchers
have established a new Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies to study
them. Headed by Neil Donahue, a professor of chemical
engineering and chemistry, the multidisciplinary center will examine
the health effects of these "PM2.5" particles released by
power plants, industries and motor vehicles. It also will explore how
these particles are transported by the wind throughout the region. A
major objective of the center is to perform research that will guide
public policy regarding particle pollution. Previous air sampling research
at Carnegie Mellon showed that power plants and industries upwind of
Pittsburgh are major sources of the particles here. Researchers are
developing computer models to predict the effects of reducing pollution
from specific sources.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/
05297/593801.stm | back to top
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | October 24
The equation: E=mc2. Most people can rattle off this formula by rote,
but few understand its meaning. Yet it was a discovery that changed
the course of human history, leading the world into the nuclear age.
... His legacy isn't confined to nuclear energy and atomic weapons.
It's everywhere -- from the smallest particles to the Big Bang theory
on the origin of the universe, said Carnegie Mellon
University physics professor Michael Widom, whose research
in quantum mechanics is guided by some of Einstein's ideas about the
state of matter. The equation resulted from Einstein's work on special
relativity. He found that the speed of light is a constant -- that space
and time are not absolute, as classical physicists believed. They change
relative to how fast an object is moving. "Einstein made some really
astonishing contributions that completely changed the way we think about
the world," Widom said. "He showed us that our notions of
space and time were quite seriously wrong. That grabbed a lot of people."
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/
trib/regional/s_387136.html | back
to top
Pittsburgh Business Times | October 21
The annual McGinnis Venture Competition has sweetened the pot again,
but there's a catch. To be eligible for a new $100,000 investment package
on top of the regular prize money -- provided to a life sciences company
by the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse and to a tech startup by
Innovation Works -- the winners must agree to have substantial operations
in Western Pennsylvania. ... "Both the Greenhouse and Innovation
Works are funded by state economic development money, so the winners
are subject to the same requirements as any company they'd work with
normally," said Arthur Boni, deputy director of
the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie
Mellon University, which runs the competition. Boni said the
terms are defined in the charters of PLSG and Innovation Works. The
competition, entering its third year next March 16-18 at Carnegie Mellon,
is for students from an international lineup of universities who are
judged for presenting the best business plan. There will be winners
in two categories: life sciences and technology. None of the previous
winners have been local.
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/
stories/2005/10/24/tidbits1.html | back
to top
International News Stories
United Press International | October 21
Like the party line and the Telex, the traditional phone network at
your office may be next to go, as more firms adopt Voice over Internet
Protocol technologies to both expand features and reduce long-term costs.
... Despite estimates that half of this year's new business installations
will feature VoIP technology, obstacles to its adoption as a communications
standard remain. "The new functionality is compelling if you're
buying a new system, but hard to see if you're junking a perfectly valid
system," said Marvin Sirbu, professor of engineering
and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. "Some
companies use conventional handsets and phone lines that go into a box
in a closet that convert the signal to telephony and allows them to
use the traditional handsets with VoIP technology's extra features.
"I think in the long run, VoIP will be the dominant form of voice
traffic for residential or business. This will take a decade or so.
The last hand-cranked telephone wasn't taken out of service until 1974,"
said Sirbu, adding that traditional limitations fall by the wayside
with the new technology.
http://www.upi.com/Hi-Tech/view.php?StoryID
=20051020-043925-1990r | back
to top
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