December 2009 News Headlines

December 2009

Alison Barth Receives Humboldt Foundation's Bessel Research Award
Alison Barth, associate professor of biological sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, has received a Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from Germany's Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The award will allow Barth to spend seven months in Germany to work on research projects with neuroscientist Michael Brecht at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin.

Why Do Consumers Buy Extended Service Warranties That Offer Little or No Value?
For years, consumer advocates have warned that extended service contracts (ESCs) are not a good deal, but shoppers continue to snap them up anyway. This curious contradiction has gone unexplained until now. First-of-its-kind research from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University identifies several key reasons for the enduring appeal of ESCs, chief among them product nature, retailer actions and consumer characteristics.

Carnegie Mellon CyLab to Join Innovative New Industry Consortium with Northrup Grumman
Carnegie Mellon University's CyLab will join Northrop Grumman Corp. (NGC), a leading global security company, and two other research universities to form the Cybersecurity Research Consortium to address the nation's most critical cyber threats.

Heinz College Students Develop Mobile Customer Support Tool for GE Sales Reps
New handheld technology developed by students from Heinz College's Master of Information Systems and Management program is boosting productivity for a GE sales team, as it can now use a mobile device to match a customer's needs with the company's offerings -- all while sitting in the customer's office.