Five to Receive Honorary Degrees at Commencement, Sunday, May 19
Carnegie Mellon News Online Edition
In This Issue

Lee, Faulk and Garoff Garner University's Education Awards

Five to Receive Honorary Degrees at Commencement, Sunday, May 19

Poet Jim Daniels has Three Books Published in One Month

University to Offer Master's Degree Program at West Coast Campus This Fall

Different Paths Lead to Common Lessons, Says Student Speaker

Kravitz, Lampley and Walgora Receive H&SS Staff Awards

Grad Students Dominguez and Katz Cited for Teaching, Service

Study Reveals Impact of Fear, Anger on American Perceptions of Terrorism

Manuel Blum is Elected to Prestigious National Academy of Sciences

News Briefs
A Tip from Chip

Nominations Sought for Andy Awards

A Poetry Slam

Commencement Weekend at a Glance

ACS "In the Mood;" Honors Walter Blenko

Going Up?

Virtual Worlds Come Alive


This Issue's Front Page
Carnegie Mellon News Home
Carnegie Mellon News Services Home Page


Five to Receive Honorary Degrees at Commencement, Sunday, May 19
Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge is Keynote Speaker

Five prominent professionals in the fields of public policy, science and technology, higher education and philanthropy will be awarded honorary degrees at Carnegie Mellon's 105th commencement on Sunday, May 19, in Gesling Stadium.

The main ceremony, where more than 2,000 degrees will be conferred, will begin at 11 a.m. and will be broadcast on the Web at www.cmu.edu/commencement.

The honorary degree recipients are Anita Borg, president and founding director of the nonprofit Institute for Women in Technology in Palo Alto, Calif., doctor of science and technology; William G. Bowen, president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York, former president of Princeton University, and co-author of "The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions," doctor of humane letters; George A. Cowan, a scientist and philanthropist who founded the Santa Fe Institute, doctor of science and technology; Tom Ridge, director of Homeland Security and former Governor of Pennsylvania, doctor of public policy; and John H. Seinfeld, a leading researcher and educator in the field of atmospheric science at the California Institute of Technology, doctor of science and technology. Their brief biographies appear below.

The Honorary Degree Committee, headed by Harold Paxton, the U.S. Steel University Professor of Materials Science and Engineering emeritus, and President Jared L. Cohon selected the recipients.

"This is a very prestigious group of honorary degree recipients," Cohon said. "Each one has played a major role in his or her field, and has had a major impact on society. They are very deserving of these honorary degrees."

"The Honorary Degree Committee had the pleasant task of selecting worthy candidates from an outstanding list of nominees including alumni, former faculty and others whose contributions are in line with Carnegie Mellon's interests and goals," Paxton said.

In addition to receiving an honorary degree, Ridge, who left the Pennsylvania governorship last October to head the newly created Office of Homeland Security, will deliver the keynote address. Ridge was born in Munhall, Pa., a nearby suburb of Pittsburgh.

After graduating from Harvard University and The Dickinson School of Law, Ridge was elected to congress in 1982. He was the first enlisted Vietnam combat veteran elected to the U.S. House, and was overwhelmingly re-elected six times. He was twice elected Governor of Pennsylvania, serving from 1995-2001.

Borg, an internationally known researcher and a pioneer for women in computer science, will give the keynote address at the doctor's hooding ceremony at 8 p.m., Saturday, May 18, in the University Center's Wiegand Gymnasium, where about 120 students will receive their hoods.

This year's student speaker at commencement is Jeff Walch (see Web site).

For more commencement information visit the Web at www.cmu.edu/commencement.

Following are brief biographies of each honorary degree recipient

Anita Borg
Anita Borg, a respected computer science researcher and advocate for women in the computing professions, will receive an honorary doctorate of science and technology. She is president and founding director of the Institute for Women in Technology.

Anita Borg Her scientific research focuses on computer operating systems, performance analysis and Web-based communication. She earned a Ph.D. from the Courant Institute at New York University in 1981. For the next several years, she worked on building a fault-tolerant Unix-based operating system at Auragen Systems in New Jersey and Nixdorf Computer in Germany. In 1986, she moved to Digital Equipment Corporation, where she worked at its Western Research Laboratory and later at its Network Systems Laboratory. At Digital, she developed Mecca, a Web-based system for communicating within an organization. In 1997, she became a researcher at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center.

As she was building her own reputation in the field of computer science, Borg fostered other women's success. In 1987 she founded Systers, an electronic mailing list for women in computing, which now has 2,500 members worldwide. In 1994 she co-founded the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, a biennial technical conference for women. Three years later she established the independent nonprofit Institute for Women in Technology in Palo Alto, Calif. Its mission is to increase the positive impact of women on all aspects of technology and to increase the positive influence of technology on the lives of the world's women.

Borg is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery and a member of the board of directors of the Computing Research Association. She helped plan the National Academy of Engineering's Summit on Women in Engineering in May 1999. In July 1999 President Bill Clinton appointed her to the Commission on the Advancement of Women and Minorities in Science, Engineering and Technology.

Borg's work has been recognized with many awards. In 1999 she received the Distinguished Service Award of the Association for Computing Machinery for her role in promoting an active international community for women in computing. In 2001 she received the A. Nico Habermann Award from the Computing Research Association. This year she received the Heinz Award for Technology, the Economy and Employment, which is sponsored by the Heinz Family Foundation.

William G. Bowen
William G. Bowen will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters to recognize his influential thinking on issues in higher education.

Bowen, an economist, has been president of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York City since 1988. He earned a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1958 and was on its faculty for 30 years. He was president of Princeton from 1972 to 1988.

William Bowen With former Harvard University President Derek Bok, Bowen wrote "The Shape of the River: Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions." The groundbreaking book analyzes the social costs and benefits of race-based admissions on African-American and other students who attended selective universities between the 1970s and the early 1990s.

Bowen also wrote the books "Inside the Boardroom: Governance by Directors and Trustees" and "Ever the Teacher" and co-authored "The Economics of Labor Force Participation," and "The Game of Life: College Sports and Educational Values."

He has warned academicians about the impact of commercialization on education and has commented on the increasing stratification of higher education as well-endowed universities prosper while those with fewer resources fall behind.

Under Bowen's leadership, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has transformed itself into a think tank and research institute as well as a grant-making organization. It has nurtured innovative ways of bringing technology into the classroom and makes grants to institutions involved with higher education, art, the performing arts, population, conservation, the environment and public affairs.

George A. Cowan
George A. Cowan is being awarded an honorary doctorate of science and technology in recognition of his tireless work on behalf of scientific research, ranging from the fields of nuclear chemistry to the study of the physiology of the human brain.

George Cowan He is a research scientist, academician, businessman and philanthropist. In 1984 he founded the Santa Fe Institute, a private institution that fosters interdisciplinary research among scientists from the physical, biological, computational and social sciences. He was the institute's president from 1984 to 1991 and continues to serve on its board.

Cowan received a bachelor of science degree from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1941. He did some graduate studies at Princeton, where he worked under future Nobel Prize Laureate Eugene Wigner, whose investigation of uranium was essential to the success of the Manhattan Project. Cowan continued his nuclear research at the University of Chicago and Los Alamos, then came to the Carnegie Institute of Technology for graduate school. During his studies he was an instructor here. He earned a Ph.D. from the Mellon College of Science in 1950.

From 1949 to 1988 he worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, serving as director of chemistry, associate director of research and senior laboratory fellow. In 1990 he received the Enrico Fermi Award for "a lifetime of exceptional achievement in the development and use of energy." In 1997 he was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

At the Santa Fe Institute, where Cowan is a Distinguished Fellow, scientists study nonlinear dynamics, including what is known as chaos theory. They use mathematical equations to predict the behavior of systems, such as insect colonies, human societies and cultures, and economic interactions. For the past decade, Cowan has used neuroscience to study the relationship between physiological changes in children's brains and their behavioral development.

Cowan was a founding director of Los Alamos National Bank and was its chairman for 30 years. He is also a patron of the arts and was a founding board member of the Santa Fe Opera. He and his wife, Helen, were longtime friends of John C. Warner, president of Carnegie Mellon from 1950 to 1965, and they have set up a trust to establish a chair in psychology in Warner's memory. Cowan also serves on the advisory board of Carnegie Mellon's Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition.

Tom Ridge
Tom Ridge, the country's director of Homeland Security, will receive an honorary doctorate of public policy to recognize his exemplary record of public service as well as his support of higher education and research. Ridge will also give the commencement's keynote address.

In response to the tragic events of Sept. 11, U.S. President George W. Bush appointed Ridge to head the newly created Office of Homeland Security. Ridge left the Pennsylvania governorship last October to fill that post. He is charged with developing and coordinating a comprehensive national strategy to protect the U.S. against terrorist threats or attacks. On March 12, Ridge announced a new color-coded terrorist alert system that will guide government officials and the public on how to respond to threats.

Tom Ridge Born in Pittsburgh's Steel Valley, Ridge was raised in Erie, Pa. He earned a scholarship to Harvard University and graduated with honors in 1967. After his first year at The Dickinson School of Law, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he served as an infantry staff sergeant in Vietnam, earning the Bronze Star for Valor. After returning to Pennsylvania, he earned his law degree and was in private practice before becoming assistant district attorney in Erie County.

Ridge was elected to Congress in 1982 and was overwhelmingly re-elected six times. He was twice elected Governor of Pennsylvania, serving from 1995 to 2001. As governor, he won passage of many educational reforms, including charter schools, alternative education for disruptive students, increased standards and professional development for teachers and a scholarship tax credit for corporations. He increased state aid to public education at the same time he oversaw the largest tax cut in state history. Ridge worked hard to attract high technology companies to Pennsylvania and supported strong technological training for students from pre-school to adults. During his terms, the state invested more than $200 million in education technology.

John H. Seinfeld
John H. Seinfeld, a preeminent scholar in the field of atmospheric science, will receive an honorary doctorate of science and technology. A researcher and educator at the California Institute of Technology, Seinfeld is known for developing the first mathematical models of air pollution in 1972. Scientists around the world use those tools in pollution-control efforts, and they are incorporated into the Federal Clean Air Act.

John Seinfeld After earning a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Rochester, Seinfeld went on to earn a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Princeton University in 1967. In that same year he joined the faculty of the California Institute of Technology, where he is the Louis E. Nohl Professor and a professor of chemical engineering. From 1990 to 2000 he was chairman of Caltech's Division of Engineering and Applied Science.

Along with Spyros N. Pandis, professor of chemical engineering at Carnegie Mellon, Seinfeld co-authored "Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics: From Air Pollution to Climate Change." The book is one of the most widely used textbooks in the world on atmospheric physics and chemistry. Seinfeld has co-authored three other books and published more than 400 papers. His work has contributed to the understanding of urban air pollution, the production of ozone, acid rain, the impact of aerosols on climate and global climate change. He has warned the public about the effect of aerosols, which limit visibility in cities, creating a human health hazard, and which produce both cooling and heating effects on the Earth's radiation balance.

Seinfeld has served on numerous research and advisory panels. A past president of the American Association for Aerosol Research, he was also vice-chairman and chairman of the Chemical Engineering Section of the National Academy of Engineering. He is chair of the Reactivity Scientific Advisory Committee of the State of California Air Resources Board and vice-chairman of the Committee on Atmospheric Chemistry of the National Research Council.

A member of the National Academy of Engineering and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Seinfeld has won numerous awards. Last year he received the Desert Research Institute's Nevada Medal for his work identifying the complex interactions of chemical constituents in the Earth's atmosphere. He has been a Distinguished Research Lecturer in Carnegie Mellon's Chemical Engineering Department.

Return to top

Ruth Hammond
(05/10/02)


This Issue's Headlines || Carnegie Mellon News Home || Carnegie Mellon Home