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March 3,
2006
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 February 24 to March 2,
Carnegie Mellon Media Relations counted 417
references to the university in worldwide publications. Here is a sample.
Special Coverage: Are cell phones a flight hazard?
IEEE Spectrum | March 2006
IEEE Spectrum | March 2006
Sydney Morning Herald | March 2
ZDNet India (CNET News) | March 2
MSNBC | March 1
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 1
USA Today (AP) | February 28
National News Stories
IEEE Spectrum | March 2006
Scientific American | March 2006
The Chronicle of Higher Education | March 3
USA Today (AP) | March 2
The Washington Times | March 1
MarketWatch | February 28
Playbill | February 27
The New York Times | February 27
The New York Times | February 27
MSNBC (The Pittsburgh Business Times) | February
26
Student Experience
BusinessWeek | February 28
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | February 28
Arts and Humanities
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 2
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 1
The Philadelphia Inquirer (AP) | March 1
Centre Daily Times (AP) | March 1
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | February 26
Information Technology
PC Gamer | March 2006
MIT Technology Review | February 28
Biotechnology
Nature | February 23
Environment
Tahoe Daily Tribune | March 1
Local News Stories
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 1
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | February 28
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | February 24
International News Stories
The Hindu | March 1
Shanghai Daily | February 27
International Herald Tribune (NYT) | February
27
World Peace Herald | February 23
-
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Special Coverage: Are cell phones a flight hazard?
*
IEEE Spectrum | March 2006
Is it safe to use cellphones on airplanes? The U.S. Federal Communications
Commission (FCC) thinks it may be. In December 2004, the agency began
soliciting comments on proposed regulations that would allow airline
passengers to use cellphones and other electronic devices. To be sure,
it acknowledges that a sister agency, the Federal Aviation Administration
(FAA), has ultimate authority regarding regulations that govern airline
safety. Yet a July 2005 report by a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee,
which held hearings on the matter, noted: "The FCC hopes to issue
a final ruling in 2006, stating that its ultimate objective is to allow
consumers to use their own wireless devices during flight." ***This
article was written by Bill Strauss, who recently received his Ph.D.
in engineering and public policy (EPP) from Carnegie Mellon; and Carnegie
Mellon professors M. Granger Morgan, Lord Chair professor
in engineering, professor and department head of EPP, professor of electrical
and computer engineering and The H. John Heinz III School of Public
Policy and Management; Jay Apt, executive director
of Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center, associate research professor,
distinguished service professor in EPP; and Daniel D. Stancil,
professor of electrical and computer engineering.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.
org/mar06/3069 | back to top
IEEE Spectrum | March 2006
This May, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission plans to auction
off radio spectrum to jump-start new services to let you talk on your
cellphone and surf the Web while you're on an airliner. Regulators in
Europe and Japan are heading in this direction, too. While this first
U.S. auction is for the proposed broadband services only, the FCC's
overall move in the direction of relaxing the ban on the use of personal
electronics during flight has made some folks happy—and many others
worried. ... Bill Strauss and three colleagues from Carnegie
Mellon University, in Pittsburgh, underscore the need for more
research—in particular, live research aboard actual flights—in
their article "Unsafe at Any Airspeed?" in this issue. They
developed a portable detection system, and with the permission of several
airlines, followed furtive cellphone use by passengers during flight.
They confirmed that it is possible to distinguish individual portable
electronic signals and thus gain a better appreciation of their potential
impact on that plane's critical flight systems. The authors call for
more—a lot more—in-flight measurements of the radio frequency
environment, as well as for real-time monitoring by flight crews of
the use of personal electronics by passengers.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.org/mar06/3078
| back to top
Sydney Morning Herald | March 2
Flipping open a laptop or gaming device to wile away the time on a long-haul
flight might not be such a smart idea after all. A study conducted by
Carnegie Mellon University in the U.S. reveals that it is not
only mobile phone signals that interfere with sensitive electronics
equipment on aircraft when a flight is underway. The University said
that portable electronic devices like laptops and game-playing devices
can also threaten aircraft safety and it has called for their use to
be restricted. Although there are no documented cases of an aircraft
crashing as a result of electronic gadgets used by passengers, the researchers
believe their study reveals safety issues. "We feel that passenger
use of portable electronic devices on aircraft should continue to be
limited for the safety of all concerned," said Granger
Morgan, head of the department of engineering and public policy
at the University.
http://smh.com.au/news/breaking/gadgets-threaten-air-safety-report/2006/03/02/1141191770810.html
| back to top
ZDNet India (CNET News) | March 2
Severe accidents could be the consequence of airline passengers defying
the cell phone ban and making calls while flying, a new study has shown.
Despite the U.S. ban on cellular calls on airplanes, air travelers have
a hard time keeping their hands off their mobiles and often make calls
during critical stages of the flight such as final approach, according
to a research team from Carnegie Mellon University.
As part of the study, released Monday, the research team filled their
hand luggage with a broadband antenna and spectrum analyzer and boarded
random airplanes crossing the Northeast United States. Picking up signals
from cell phone calls onboard, they found that an average of one to
four calls are made on every U.S. commercial flight. "These devices
can disrupt normal operation of key cockpit instruments, especially
Global Positioning System receivers, which are increasingly vital for
safe landings," Bill Strauss, an expert in aircraft electromagnetic
compatibility at the Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent River, Md.,
and one of the researchers who conducted the study, said in a statement.
http://www.zdnetindia.com/news/
personaltech/stories/134502.html | back to top
MSNBC | March 1
There is a reason for flight attendants’ instructions about turning
off your cell phones before takeoff. According to scientists and government
officials, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that suggests battery-operated
devices, including cell phones, computers and handheld games —
especially those with wireless signals — might disrupt critical
aircraft navigation systems. "There are a variety of examples of
serious interference,” says Dr. Granger Morgan
of Carnegie Mellon University. "There aren’t
any accidents that you can nail down, but as more and more people use
wireless more on more airplanes, I think it’s just a matter of
time before we start having serious problems."
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11627970
| back to top
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 1
You might want to think twice the next time you're tempted to make a
call from your cell phone during an airplane flight. Or flip on your
portable game player. Or work a spreadsheet on your laptop. Besides
possibly annoying fellow travelers and breaking federal regulations,
you might be endangering the airplane, according to a Carnegie
Mellon University study that quietly monitored transmissions
on board a number of flights in the Northeast. The study, by Carnegie
Mellon's Department of Engineering and Public Policy, found that the
use of cell phones and other portable electronic devices can interfere
with the normal operation of critical airline components, even more
so than previously believed.
http://www.post-gazette.com/
pg/06060/662669.stm | back to top
USA Today (AP) | February 28
Talking on cellphones or using laptops on an airplane could disrupt
cockpit operations, especially global positioning devices that are increasingly
being used to help land planes safely, according to a new study. Researchers
monitoring flights in the Northeast found that several cellphone calls
are typically made on commercial flights during takeoff or final approach,
two critical flight stages when accidents could occur. The research
at Carnegie Mellon University was led by Bill Strauss,
an expert in aircraft electromagnetic compatibility at the Naval Air
Warfare Center in Patuxent River, Md. Researchers monitored radio emissions
from passengers on three airlines with the support of the Transportation
Security Agency. The emissions were tracked using a broadband antenna
that was attached to a portable spectrum analyzer in a piece of carryon
luggage. Granger Morgan, head of Carnegie Mellon's
Department of Engineering and Public Policy Department, said the activity
recorded shows that the use of electronic devices should be limited
on airplanes. Morgan said the disruptions are enough to impact a plane's
navigation or other systems.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/
2006-02-28-cellphones-planes_x.htm | back to top
*This is a sample of the hundreds of media outlets that ran stories
on this research throughout the week.
National News Stories
IEEE Spectrum | March 2006
Out on the rocky horizon, the robot has stopped dead in its tracks.
"Uh, Dave, I got a big problem out here," a voice crackles
over the radio. "OK," David Wettergreen replies
carefully, peering off in the direction of the machine. "Define
'big.'" "Big" turns out to be a new part for the robot
that doesn't quite fit and so prevents the robot's cameras—its
eyes—from turning properly. Back at the laboratory, this would
be a quick fix, but the robot, Wettergreen, three geologists, two software
engineers, two sociologists, an electrical engineer, a mechanical engineer,
and a biologist are all out in the middle of Chile's vast Atacama Desert,
many hours' drive from civilization. As he strides off to investigate,
you get the sense Wettergreen's enjoying himself. For the better part
of an hour, he and two colleagues will wrestle with the aberrant part.
The tedious work produces the standard amount of swearing, but they
also joke—when one of them wields his drill stick-'em-up style,
Wettergreen gamely throws up his hands. Finally they conclude that the
job would be better handled back at the base camp. Wettergreen, an associate
research professor at Carnegie Mellon University's
Robotics Institute, in Pittsburgh, and his team have been roughing it
here in the Atacama since August, and they'll remain until November,
just as South America's spring gives way to summer. They've come to
test out new concepts and designs for the next generation of planetary
rover, because this place, more than any other on Earth, approximates
the barren, arid rockiness of the Red Planet.
http://www.spectrum.ieee.
org/mar06/3059 | back to top
Scientific American | March 2006
The fish that live in the Anacostia River, which flows through the heart
of Washington, D.C., are not enjoying its waters very much. The Anacostia
is contaminated with the molecular remnants of dyes, plastics, asphalt
and pesticides. ... The Anacostia is just one of dozens of severely
polluted rivers in the U.S. The textile industry alone discharges 53
billion gallons of wastewater--loaded with reactive dyes and other hazardous
chemicals--into America's rivers and streams every year. New classes
of pollutants are turning up in the nation's drinking water: traces
of drugs, pesticides, cosmetics and even birth-control hormones. The
amounts are often infinitesimal, measured in parts per billion or trillion
(a part per billion is roughly equivalent to one grain of salt dissolved
in a swimming pool), but scientists suspect that even tiny quantities
of some pollutants can disrupt the developmental biochemistry that determines
human behavior, intelligence, immunity and reproduction. *** This article
was co-written by Terrence J. Collins, Thomas Lord
Professor of Chemistry Chair at Carnegie Mellon.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=
sa006&articleID=000A55EC-EAE2-13F5-
A75F83414B7FFE9F | back to top
The Chronicle of Higher Education | March 3
Following are the definitions of the three new categories of doctorate-granting
institutions, from the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Institutions were included in these categories if they awarded at least
20 doctorates in 2003-4. *** Carnegie Mellon is categorized
as a "Research University" with "very high research activity."
http://chronicle.com/weekly/
v52/i26/26a02601.htm | back to top
USA Today (AP) | March 2
Can someone who doesn't even know how to read or write use a computer?
Microsoft is probing that question at a research lab in India. ...
Raj Reddy, a professor at Carnegie Mellon
University who is also working on ways for illiterate people to use
computers, said his early research in rural Indian villages showed a
disconnect between what people think rural residents need from technology,
and what those people really want. For example, Reddy said, if you give
someone in a remote area a telephone, car or television, you'll get
nothing but gratitude. "But if you go to them and say, 'I'll give
you a PC,' they have no clue what the hell you are talking about,"
he said. "That's the problem I am trying to solve. I am trying
to say, 'This is not a PC. This is an appliance which can take on many
forms.'" Reddy thinks people in rural India with few literacy skills
will initially be most interested in using a computer to do familiar
tasks. For example, they might want to talk to their family via computer-based
videoconferencing or use the computer to watch a video. From there,
he hopes, researchers will be able to teach them that the computer can
also help them order farming supplies or get medical care for a sick
child.***This AP article was placed in more than 60 media outlets, including:
CNN, Newsday, The Washington Post, San Jose Mercury News, BusinessWeek,
Forbes and ABC News.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/
techinnovations/2006-03-01-illiteracy-
microsoft_x.htm?POE=TECISVA | back to top
The Washington Times | March 1
Cheer up. Researchers have confirmed what a Bible proverb set forth
long ago: A merry heart doeth good like a medicine. ... Carnegie
Mellon University psychologist Vicki Helgeson found that heart
patients who handle their recoveries with a positive outlook are less
likely to have a second coronary event. Optimism helped "establish
a sense of control over health, restoring damaged self-esteem,"
she noted in her 1999 study of almost 300 men and women with coronary
artery disease.
http://washingtontimes.com/national/
20060228-110029-7077r.htm | back to top
MarketWatch | February 28
Spending beyond your means. Accepting a low salary to avoid being seen
as greedy. Lying to friends or a spouse about the cost of your purchases.
Both sexes can fall victim to irrational money behavior, but these are
some of the ways women especially undermine the financial security they're
seeking, financial experts said. ... In what could explain some of the
chronic wage gap, men are more than four times as likely to negotiate
a first salary, said Linda Babcock, co-author with
Sara Laschever of the 2003 book "Women Don't Ask: Negotiation and
the Gender Divide."... "Women don't need to have competitive
offers to inquire about boosting the initial one after they have it,
though negotiating room varies by industry, Babcock said. Generally,
her Carnegie Mellon University students with a master's
degree in public policy and management, for example, ask for 10% to
12% more than what they're offered, and they often settle for 7% to
8% more, she said.
http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?
guid=%7B8AADF7A2%2DDB23%2D4C48%2DBEE1%2D639
2670C8457%7D&dist=newsfinder&siteid=google&keyword=
| back to top
Playbill | February 27
The North Carolina Shakespeare Festival's 2006 season — the 30th
season for the LORT D Equity troupe that stages work in High Point and
Raleigh — will feature Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the
Shrew. ... Geoffrey Hitch, whose history with The Festival
goes as far back as 1977 and 1978 when he directed Twelfth Night and
A Christmas Carol, respectively, will direct Romeo and Juliet. He also
staged Shaw's Arms and the Man in 1989. Hitch has extensive credits
at theatres throughout the country and is currently on the faculty of
the theatre program at Carnegie Mellon.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/
98168.html | back to top
The New York Times | February 27
Over the last two years, Google has lured some of the best and brightest
minds in technology and science to join the search giant's lava lamp
and snack-filled offices. ... The company also has keyed into top university
talent. In December, Google hired Andrew W. Moore,
a professor of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon
University, to be head of Google's new Pittsburgh engineering office.
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/
CNET_2100-1030_3-6043231.html | back to top
The New York Times | February 27
It's time the microphone got an upgrade, according to audio chipmaker
Akustica. The company, which was spun off from a Carnegie Mellon
University project in 2001, announced this week the AKU2000, a single-chip
microphone that can be produced on standard silicon processes. Ultimately,
the chip could lead to better voice quality on Skype phones embedded
in laptops, for example, or sharper, more distinct sound on video captured
by digital cameras.
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/
CNET_2100-1041_3-6043829.html | back to top
MSNBC (The Pittsburgh Business Times) | February
26
One of the world's leading centers of interactive technology, located
at Carnegie Mellon University, is about to embark on
a major expansion that will grow its footprint around the world. And
local tech officials are hoping for some positive spin-off effects for
Pittsburgh. The Entertainment Technology Center — whose students
design high-tech entertainment products, such as video games and robots
with audio, visual and haptic features — will open new campus
locations in the Silicon Valley town of Mountain View, Calif., this
spring, as well as in Adelaide, Australia, and Seoul, South Korea, next
year. It's also planning an India location a year or two after, according
to the ETC's executive producer, Don Marinelli.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11586955/
| back to top
Student Experience
BusinessWeek | February 28
After three consecutive years of fewer applicants, top U.S. MBA programs
are seeing a rise in the number of applications. To maximize their yield,
schools are increasingly wooing shining stars by beefing up their financial-aid
offerings. ... But should financial aid be the deciding factor in making
the important decision of where to attend B-school? Pinki Mishra, a
27-year-old biotech and pharmaceuticals industry consultant, was admitted
to New York University's Leonard R. Stern School of Business and Carnegie
Mellon's Tepper School of Business in round one. Although she's
waiting on her round-two decision from Kellogg, she has to reply to
Tepper, which offered her a full-tuition scholarship, by Mar. 3. "Full
tuition paid for two years is not something to be turned away lightly,"
says Mishra. "I need to do a bit more soul-searching, but I'm leaning
toward taking the money."
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/
feb2006/bs20060228_4712_bs001.htm | back to top
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | February 28
On his way to a Carnegie Mellon University basketball
game, 21-year-old Ben Saks stumbled upon a police officer struggling
with a suspect in an alley behind his Shadyside house. When Mr. Saks,
a junior architecture major at Carnegie Mellon, offered his assistance,
the police officer accepted. Together, they were able to subdue suspected
drug dealer Omar Pagan. But in the process, Mr. Pagan grabbed hold of
the officer's gun and shot Mr. Saks in the hand. The Saturday night
incident left Mr. Saks, who builds architectural models, has participated
in model airplane building competitions and said he'd never been in
a fight, scared, sleepless and nursing more than 20 stitches.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06059/662142.stm
| back to top
Arts and Humanities
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 2
How wise is the Nathan of "Nathan the Wise"? This wise: In
response to Sultan Saladin's demand to know whether Judaism, Christianity
or Islam is the one true religion, he tells a parable of three rings
that seems to disarm religious warfare, turning it into a contest in
generosity and tolerance. And he solves the ages-old struggle among
these three religions right in the epicenter of their struggle, Jerusalem
-- all by the end of Act 1. Unfortunately, Nathan is just a fictional
character... But we can hope. An audience emerges from Carnegie
Mellon's "Nathan the Wise" inspired with hope for
religious peace, especially since Carnegie Mellon's production (through
Saturday) of this famous, seldom-seen theatrical expression of Enlightenment
spirit is staged with such panache -- size, clarity, color and wisdom.
Director Mladen Kiselov has created a compelling piece,
rich in humor and a weighty earnestness and maturity unusual in a student
company.
http://www.Carnegie Mellon.edu/cfa/drama/
people/faculty/Mladen%20Kiselov.htm | back to top
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 1
In its early years, the Beaux Arts Ball at Carnegie Mellon University
exuded ambition, what with the dean himself dressed as Charlemagne,
emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. Then again, would you expect anything
less imaginative from a school whose artistic alumni include Steven
Bochco, Ted Danson, Josh Groban, Cherry Jones, Rob Marshall, Andy Warhol
and Patrick Wilson? The College of Fine Arts, where students study architecture,
art, design, drama and music, was founded in 1906 as the School of Applied
Design. Such carved-in-stone fact pales beside the lushly costumed history
of this bash, which, at times, was so bacchanalian that one reveler
said it would have made Caligula blush. Last held in 1993, the ball
has been revived this year as a centennial celebration for the College
of Fine Arts. More than 500 tickets have been sold to students, faculty,
staff and alumni. Costumes inspired by light and shadow will dominate
this Saturday's festivities in the college's four-story building.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/
06060/662585.stm | back to top
The Philadelphia Inquirer (AP) | March 1
In its heyday, the Beaux Arts Ball at Carnegie Mellon
University was one of the biggest parties of the year in Pittsburgh.
It was held throughout the four-floors of an entire building at the
university and revelers wore elaborate costumes and drank too much.
But after 1993, interest in the ball waned and it was canceled. This
year, the College of Fine Arts is reviving the ball for the college's
centennial celebration. ... In 1911, Carnegie Mellon held its first
Beaux Arts Ball when architect Henry Hornbostel, a member of the first
faculty and a dean of the college, brought the idea to campus.
http://www.philly.com/mld/
philly/news/13990630.htm | back to top
Centre Daily Times (AP) | March 1
Carnegie Mellon University's School of Music, known
for classical music education, will offer a course on one of rock 'n'
roll's greatest acts, the Beatles. Stephen Schultz,
a music history professor, will teach a class on the cultural and musical
significance of the legendary British group, a university statement
said. It will include lectures, readings and listening sessions to help
students analyze the band's music and lyrics. Schultz will discuss particular
songs, evaluating their rhythm, harmony, composition and impact on popular
music. Students will be required to listen to selections from 15 Beatles
albums, starting with the band's 1963 debut, "Please, Please Me."
The Monday evening class was planned for 75 students, but has more than
doubled due to apparently strong interest in the group, which played
its last live performance 36 years ago.
http://www.centredaily.com/mld/
centredaily/news/13989692.htm | back to top
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | February 26
Read a book, then see the movie, and comparisons are inevitable. Why
didn't the actor more resemble the main character? What happened to
the character-A-meets-character-B scene? Why were whole sections left
out of the film? It can be frustrating for the reader expecting to see
a beloved book turned into cinematic eye candy only to be disappointed.
Now comes a chance for readers to discuss how movies do or do not live
up to the written word and why or why not. ... David R. Shumway,
Carnegie Mellon University English professor, will
lead the discussion. ... In a telephone interview, Mr. Shumway acknowledged
the common complaint that movies don't always live up to the books on
which they are based. That is due in part to the elements left out when
a book is interpreted for the screen, Mr. Shumway said. There also could
be problems when characters do not match a reader's preconceived notions.
http://www.post-gazette.com/
pg/06057/660229.stm | back to top
Information Technology
PC Gamer | March 2006
PC games have never looked better than they do today. But are extravagant
production values just a cover-up for stale ides and a lack of creativity?
That's what a small group at Carnegie Mellon University
intends to demonstrate with the Experimental Gameplay Project. *** To
find out more, check out the March 2006 edition of PC Gamer magazine.
| back to top
MIT Technology Review | February 28
Fifteen months after Google announced a book-scanning project of biblical
proportions — an effort to digitize the entire book collections
of the New York Public Library and Harvard University libraries, among
others — the company is still secretive about how they are solving
key technical problems and won't say how much they've accomplished so
far. However, a similar if smaller project — the Million Book
Project at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh
— has been underway for about seven years. It could provide some
clues. The project's director, computer scientist Raj Reddy,
says he and his colleagues have no more knowledge about Google's methods
or progress than anyone else, but they are tackling many of the same
challenges. In the Carnegie Mellon project ... the scanning technology
is off the shelf. They're using readily available Minolta PS 7000 book
scanners set up at 40 scanning stations in India and China, where the
local governments are helping to keep the costs low for the nonprofit
project. In this setup, workers manually turn each page. Seven years
into the project, around 600,000 books (mostly public-domain works shipped
from around the world) have been scanned, and every day another 100,000
pages join the digital corpus. At this rate, it could take just under
five years to complete the project.
http://www.technologyreview.com/InfoTech/
wtr_16434,300,p1.html | back to top
Biotechnology
Nature | February 23
The auditory neural code must serve a wide range of auditory tasks that
require great sensitivity in time and frequency and be effective over
the diverse array of sounds present in natural acoustic environments.
It has been suggested that sensory systems might have evolved highly
efficient coding strategies to maximize the information conveyed to
the brain while minimizing the required energy and neural resources.
Here we show that, for natural sounds, the complete acoustic waveform
can be represented efficiently with a nonlinear model based on a population
spike code.***This article was written by Evan C. Smith,
Ph.D. candidate in Carnegie Mellon's Center for the
Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC) and Michael S. Lewicki,
associate professor, SCS and CNBC.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/
v439/n7079/full/nature04485.html | back to top
Environment
Tahoe Daily Tribune | March 1
More than 100 laborers and sub-contractors are working overtime - up
to 10 hours a day, six days a week - to keep the Tahoe Center for Environmental
Sciences on track to open on Aug. 21. The center, a bi-state and multi-university
collaboration, is a $33 million project funded by private, state, federal
and foundation funding sources. The 45,000-square-foot facility was
designed to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. ... In addition
to Sierra Nevada College, the building will provide a facility for the
UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center, the Desert Research Institute
(DRI), the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), Carnegie Mellon
University and the RAND Corporation, among other research partners.
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/
20060301/NEWS/103010048 | back to top
Local News Stories
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | March 1
The scandalous misdeeds found in such corporations as Enron, WorldCom,
Tyco and HealthSouth now are raising questions about the schools of
business administration where many executives got their training. ...
What's the story in Pittsburgh? ... Carnegie Mellon's
Tepper School of Business is currently ramping up a much more modest
program from its present status of having only one required "business,
society and ethics" course at the undergraduate level and two non-required
courses in the MBA program. John Hooker, a professor
whose work focuses on business ethics and social responsibility, explains
that next year ethics is to be integrated into courses across the curriculum,
with two or three times as much instruction as at present. The ethics
scandals really "got things rolling three or four years ago,"
he said.
http://www.post-gazette.com/
pg/06060/662557.stm | back to top
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | February 28
Carnegie Mellon's Tony Wingen is hoping
the best is still to come for his Tartans, who will make their first
appearance in the NCAA Division III men's basketball tournament since
1977. "There's no happy-to-be-there attitude about this at all,"
said Wingen, who is in his 16th season as head coach. "We're going
into this to win. I think we're talented enough and deep enough to play
with anybody in the country." Carnegie Mellon (20-5), which has
set a school record for wins in a season and won its first University
Athletic Association championship, is ranked No. 24 and will meet seventh-ranked
Baldwin-Wallace (24-4) in the first round of the tournament 6 p.m. Friday
at Wittenberg University in Ohio.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/
06059/662337.stm | back to top
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | February 24
David Edmondson, chief executive officer at RadioShack for less than
a year, resigned in shame last week after a newspaper revealed he had
lied on his resume about having two college degrees when in fact he
had none. It was a doozy of a lie, to be sure, but one that is told
more often than you might think. ... Why does anyone — not to
mention a seemingly successful executive —risk a career by telling
such lies? It's really no mystery, said Don Moore,
associate professor of organizational behavior at Carnegie Mellon
University. "People at all levels of our society do things they
hope will advance their cause, get them the things they want, the job
they want, get people to like them, get them more money," he said.
"Sometimes they do things that are unethical or illegal. From a
rationale perspective, they do what they think they can get away with."
Most often, the fabrications start early in a career when the person
has the most to gain and the least to lose if caught, experts say.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06055/660332.stm
| back to top
International News Stories
The Hindu | March 1
After establishing itself as one of the premier technical education
institutions in the country, the Shri Sivasubramania Nadar College of
Engineering (SSNCE), near Chennai, is seeking to improve its research
profile. The first meeting of a newly constituted Research Advisory
Council (RAC) held on Tuesday narrowed down focal areas of research
and considered about 25 project proposals from the college faculty to
high-end research. The RAC ... included Dr. Raj Reddy,
Carnegie Mellon University's Professor of Computer
Science and Robotics; V.S. Arunachalam, former head of the DRDO and
distinguished professor, Robotics Institute of the same university;
R. Natarajan, former Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education;
and N. Balakrishnan, professor, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
"Ten years ago we wanted to create one of the best engineering
colleges, we have done it and now we want to create eminence through
research based education. We believe we have created the correct ambience
for research activity," [The college's founder and chairman, HCL
Technologies Shiv] Nadar said. After discussing the idea with Dr. Raj
Reddy, the RAC was constituted.
http://www.hindu.com/2006/03/01/
stories/2006030114710500.htm | back to top
Shanghai Daily | February 27
China has made swift progress in its scientific and technological advancement
during recent years. We've successfully launched a manned spacecraft,
developed Beijing electron positron colliders as well as decoded rice
genes... However, if we take a closer look at these achievements, we
will see that we have only been catching up with other countries. China
needs to lead the world with innovation. The lack of a spirit to lead
and innovate may be partly blamed on the undesirable knowledge structure
of some Chinese scientists. ... Our society has over-emphasized the
"depth" of knowledge at the expense of "breadth"
of knowledge. In this aspect, China may learn from the Carnegie
Mellon University in the United States, which is famous for
its successful experience of combining science and art.
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/art/2006/
02/27/244497/Scientific_research_may_
benefit_from_artistic_input.htm | back to top
International Herald Tribune (NYT) | February
27
The network security firm Sophos estimates that an unprotected computer
has a 40 percent chance of being infected by a malicious worm within
10 minutes of being connected to the Internet. After an hour, the odds
rise to 94 percent. That's reason enough to keep up to date with operating
system patches, invest in a solid antivirus program and use a basic
firewall. But even with those measures in place, malicious code - including
a keylogger - can sometimes find its way onto your computer. ... The
CERT Coordination Center at Carnegie Mellon University
in Pittsburgh also recently posted some simple - and free - ways to
tweak various Web browsers to help prevent hidden code on Web pages
from invading a computer - a common tactic used by purveyors of keyloggers.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/
02/27/technology/web.0227hackside.php | back to
top
World Peace Herald | February 23
Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama announced
today a plan to broadcast a live performance of the drama "Nathan
the Wise" to an audience thousands of miles away in Qatar. The
performance will be free and open to the public in Pittsburgh. The Qatari
audience will be members of Carnegie Mellon's Doha-based branch campus
and guest students and faculty from the University of Qatar. The performance
and moderated talkback session will take place Saturday, March 11 at
11 a.m. Pittsburgh time, 8 p.m. Qatar time. "Carnegie Mellon has
already established a strong presence in Qatar with our business and
technology programs," said Indira Nair, Vice Provost
for Education. "At the request of students in Qatar, we are using
this opportunity to introduce the educational community of Doha to our
excellent arts programs as well." ... In the play, Nathan wisely
averts a terrible tragedy when he realizes that human fellowship is
more important than blind adherence to an unknowable "truth."
Critics have noted that the message of the play is relevant not just
to the medieval Middle East or 18th-century Germany, but also to the
modern world's struggles to find tolerance between, and within, nations.
"The impulse of the play is to alert us, in the face of increasing
religious and political polarization both foreign and domestic, that
we are more than our cultural and ethnic labels," said Elizabeth
Bradley, head of the School of Drama. Bradley, a former Chair
of the International Society for Performing Arts and Artistic Director
of the 2004 Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, has been a
strong advocate of pluralistic exchange in the arts.
http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?
StoryID=20060223-013809-7931r | back to top
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