From December 8 to December 14, Carnegie Mellon Media Relations counted 439 references to the university in worldwide publications. Here is a sample.

National

Microsoft unveils public robotics software
The New York Times (News.com) | December 13
Microsoft on Wednesday took the wraps off its first commercial operating system for robots, with hopes of paving the way for a broader robotics industry and taking a central role in its development. The technology, called Microsoft Robotics Studio, is a Windows-based software platform designed to make it relatively simple to program robots--real or simulated. Compatible with several different pieces of hardware, like iRobot's Roomba or the Lego Mindstorms NXT "tribot," the software lets enterprising gadget hounds command a device to communicate, send alerts or perform scheduled tasks. The software is free for hobbyists or researchers, but companies aiming to profit from its use must license a commercial version for $399. Microsoft entered the robotics fray in June, when it introduced a downloadable preview of the software and a new research group devoted to the field. At the time, it also funded a research lab at Carnegie Mellon University called the Center for Innovative Robotics. Since June, the software has been downloaded more than 100,000 times, with interest from academics, hobbyists and industry, Microsoft said.
http://www.nytimes.com/cnet/CNET_2100-11394_3-6143242.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

 

Utilities stuck in clean-air quandary
USA Today | December 12
The rising temperature of Earth's atmosphere may be breeding growing distress and sparking sales of hybrid cars, but most utility executives aren't exactly losing sleep over the problem. In fact, many electric companies are forging ahead with plans for traditional coal-fired power plants, the single biggest source of global warming, despite expectations that federal limits will eventually be placed on carbon dioxide emissions. That prospect grows more likely with Congress' new Democratic majority. ... Standard pulverized-coal plants turn coal into tiny bits that are burned in a boiler. The carbon dioxide produced is released through a smokestack. Technology to capture the carbon dioxide and store it underground—or use it to help extract more oil from existing reserves—would add up to 80 percent to the cost of the plant, says Ed Rubin, environmental engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon University.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-12-12-coal-usat_x.htm

 

"Inkjet" printer helps organize cells
ABC News (Reuters) | December 11
An "inkjet"-style printer for stem cells may help scientists put the precious master cells to good use, U.S. researchers said on Sunday. A team of bioengineers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute in Pittsburgh joined forces with stem cell biologists at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine to create the system, which they eventually hope will help them make stem cells grow into complex tissues. ... Julie Jadlowiec Phillippi of Carnegie Mellon and her colleagues worked with mouse stem cells, so-called adult stem cells, meaning they are partly down the route of development.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=2715937

 

Researchers developing anti-fraud tool
Forbes (AP) | December 11
Carnegie Mellon University researchers are relying on an old adage to develop anti-fraud software for Internet auction sites: It's not what you know, it's who you know. At sites like eBay (nasdaq: EBAY - news - people ), users warn each other if they have a bad experience with a seller by rating their transactions. But the Carnegie Mellon researchers said savvy fraudsters get around that by conducting transactions with friends or even themselves, using alternate user names to give themselves high satisfaction ratings - so unsuspecting customers will still try to buy from them. The Carnegie Mellon software looks for patterns of users who have repeated dealings with one another, and alerts other users that there is a higher probability of having a fraudulent transaction with them. "There's a lot of commonsense solutions out there, like being more careful about how you screen the sellers," said Duen Horng "Polo" Chau, the research associate who developed the software with computer science professor Christos Faloutsos and two other students. "But because I'm an engineering student, I wanted to come up with a systematic approach" to identify those likely to commit fraud.
http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/12/11/ap3244447.html

 

New panel on visas and security
Inside Higher Ed | December 11
Academe is well represented on a panel created by the Departments of Homeland Security and State to advise the government on ways to protect security while encouraging students, tourists and others to come to the United States. The committee is made up of experts from academe and the health care, tourism and other industries. The chair of the Secure Borders and Open Doors Advisory Committee is Jared L. Cohon, president of Carnegie Mellon University.
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/12/11/qt

 

How to survive the waitlist
BusinessWeek | December 4
Imagine spending months putting together a B-school application and waiting 8 to 12 weeks for a decision—then comes a decision that isn't really a decision at all. You're on the waitlist. It you find it confusing, you're not alone. As with many aspects of the B-school admissions process, there are no uniform rules for how to proceed. You could sit back and wait for the school of your choice, actively market yourself to the waitlisting school, or move on to Plan B. ... Admissions consultant Graham Richmond of Clear Admit says in some cases visiting a school can be a good way to show them you're interested. ... But there are exceptions there, too. At Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School, Admissions Director Laurie Stewart says her office welcomes waitlisted candidates who visit campus. "I try to meet as many waiting-list candidates as possible when they do visit," she says. "Although these meetings are short, I can answer questions about the process and get to know a little more about them."
http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/content/dec2006/bs20061204_018013.htm

Education for Leadership

Program eyes ways to reuse blighted lots
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | December 12
Cynthia Emanuel has been trying to figure out how to acquire vacant property around her North Side home. ... Finding out who owns the properties, however, has been a puzzle. In search of ways to improve her situation and the neighborhood, Emanuel attended a presentation Monday by architecture students at Carnegie Mellon University about reuse of vacant urban land. ... But efforts to reclaim the vacant land as a way to foster revitalization have converged in recent months, said Michael Stern, architect with Strada LLC and chairman of the Pittsburgh council of the Urban Land Institute, which provided a $24,500 grant to Carnegie Mellon's architecture school and the Urban Redevelopment Authority, which provided support for the four-month study.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/today/s_483746.html

 

Clearing the career path
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | December 10
There's no place like home for the holidays, as the song goes. Unless you're a college student. Then you can probably look forward to a holiday ritual that might be likened to chestnuts roasting on an open fire -- being grilled by your parents about what you're going to do after graduation. ... But perhaps some grilling is in order. Despite the efforts of campus career service departments to bring the mountain to Mohammed, with job fairs, networking events and visits to campus classrooms, many college students still stare blankly when asked if they've been to their career services department. ... Connect with career services your freshman year, says Susan Timko, career consultant for the College of humanities and social sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in Oakland. "We encourage students to come in as soon as they have caught their breath from starting school their first year," she says. "As soon as the orientation is over, please come and start to see us."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribunereview/living/family/s_483357.html

 

Carnegie Mellon senior project aids community food bank
The Daily News | December 9
A North Huntingdon Twp. woman is participating in a project to aid a Duquesne-based food bank. Rebecca Obley, 21, oversaw a project to improve the access and operation of digital records maintained by Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. The assignment was part of the Information Systems Application course at Carnegie Mellon University, in which students lend their technical know-how toward solving real-world problems.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17570726&BRD=1282&PAG=461&dept_id=182121&rfi=6

Arts and Humanities

Peace, quiet pave road to health
The Arizona Republic | December 12
Your high blood pressure, digestive ills or recurring colds might stem from an inescapable and perhaps surprising source: noise. Fortunately, though, there's an antidote in quiet, a hard-to-find but healing gift.Eight hours of 85-decibel noise, a little less than that emitted by a lawn mower or motorcycle, can damage hearing, but that's only the most obvious of several ways life's clamor harms our physical and mental health. ... By whatever means, reducing noise-induced stress seems to help with less-serious ailments, too. In a study led by psychologist Sheldon Cohen, anxious test subjects exposed to rhinoviruses were more susceptible to the common cold than relaxed subjects.Cohen, of Carnegie Mellon University's Laboratory for the Study of Stress, Immunity and Disease, says the reasons noisy environments make people sick aren't completely known. In animal studies, his lab has found associations between chronic stress and impaired immune function.People who are relaxed and happy, Cohen says, probably "have lower levels of stress hormones and also have more positive health practices, such as not smoking, drinking moderately, sleeping better and so on."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/1212quiet1212.html

 

Remembering a wonderful life
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | December 10
This time of year, it is comforting to revisit the traditions that bring back the warm feelings of Christmases past. For some folks, it's a favorite carol played majestically on the church organ. For others, it's the sweet voices of a children's choir.And for many, it's a beloved holiday classic movie, such as "It's a Wonderful Life," starring Hollywood legend and Indiana, Pa., native Jimmy Stewart. ... So why all the hoopla about an actor who has been gone for so long? Isn't it unusual that we focus on someone whose name doesn't grace the front page of the latest issue of Variety or whose face is so removed from the Hollywood limelight? Pittsburgh actor Don Wadsworth, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's School of Drama, says Stewart's "rock solid" image contributes to his popularity, which shows no signs of diminishing.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_482672.html

 

Concert keeps things in the family
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | December 8
Gretchen Van Hoesen's concert Sunday at Carnegie Mellon will be a family affair -- including a rare performance with her father, David Van Hoesen. All the other performers are members of the harpist's professional family, the Pittsburgh Symphony, including principal bassist Jeffrey Turner who will conduct. Father and daughter will team up for two of the six pieces -- "Pastorales de Noel" by Andre Jolivet and "Threnody and Scherzo" by Arnold Bax. David Van Hoesen is retired, but was formerly the principal bassoonist of the Rochester Philharmonic and professor at the Eastman School of Music.The program also features world premieres composed by Nancy Galbraith and Adam Schoenberg.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_483195.html

Information Technology

Computer model takes in earthquake data and runs a simulation in real time
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | December 13
The best way to describe research at Carnegie Mellon University that uses Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center equipment is "earth-shaking." For starters, the research focuses on earthquakes. But it also uses novel methods of simulating earthquake physics with the goal of saving lives, buildings and infrastructure in Southern California. Jacobo Bielak, David O'Hallaron and their "Quake Group" of six other researchers in Carnegie Mellon's Computational Seismology Laboratory and computer science department have used PSC's "BigBen" supercomputer to simulate a Los Angeles-area earthquake and show how ground motions propagated destruction in a 70,000-square-mile region. "This work already is being used in practice by the California Department of Transportation," said Dr. Bielak, Carnegie Mellon professor of civil and environmental engineering.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06347/745562-115.stm

 

Fabbrix weaves 'fabric' for IC design
EE Times | December 13
Fabbrix Inc., a startup that aims to reshape IC design through the use of regular design patterns or "fabrics," has stepped into public view this week by announcing a collaboration with PDF Solutions Inc. Through a joint development project with PDF, Fabbrix hopes to further refine technology that it claims can substantially boost yields at 65 nm and below. Fabbrix technology employs small libraries of "logic bricks" that contain regular structures built from lithography-friendly shapes. The approach, Fabbrix claims, avoids the area and performance penalties of restricted design rules (RDRs) while providing many of the same benefits. Fabbrix says the new technology can improve yields, simplify design flows, reduce transistor variability, and make resolution enhancement technology (RET) more effective. Fabbrix was founded in 2004 by Larry Pileggi, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, and some of his graduate students. Pileggi is Fabbrix CTO. Veteran EDA venture capitalist Lucio Lanza, managing director of Lanza TechVentures, is chairman of the board. Mark Templeton, former CEO of Artisan Components, is listed as CEO on the Fabbrix web site but is not continuing in that position, Pileggi said.
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196603234

 

Search wags the long tail
InformationWeek | December 12
Internet search engines not only help consumers find products, but they help make niche products profitable for merchants, according to research conducted by MIT Sloan School of Management Professor Erik Brynjolfsson, who also is director of MIT's Center for Digital Business. Because more people are shopping online and search costs are declining, obscure products are garnering a larger share of sales today, says Brynjolfsson. And that's driving the creation of more such products. Brynjolfsson's research demonstrates that the Long Tail--the cherished belief sustaining many of today's Web startups that there's more wealth to be had selling the mass of niche products than selling the handful of massively popular ones--has some legs. The paper that details these findings, "From Niches to Riches: The Anatomy of the Long Tail," was co-authored by Brynjolfsson, Yu "Jeffrey" Hu, professor at the Krannert School of Purdue University, and Michael D. Smith, professor at the Heinz School of Carnegie Mellon University. It appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of the Sloan Management Review.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196603495&subSection=All+Stories

 

How to spot insider-attack risks in the IT department
InformationWeek | December 11
Roger Duronio faces up to eight years in a federal prison when he steps before a judge this week to be sentenced for sabotaging UBS PaineWebber's IT systems in 2002. If you think there are no potential Duronios in your organization, consider this a brief history lesson on tech employees gone bad, and a refresher course on how to identify and stop insider malcontents before they do some serious damage. ... What to do? The risks can be lessened first by doing background checks on potential IT employees--something far more companies are doing this year, according to Carnegie Mellon University's CERT (see story, The Case For Background Checks). If an employee is terminated, it's crucial that all system access be revoked immediately. It sounds obvious, but that doesn't mean it's always done. About half of all insider attacks take place between the time an IT employee is dismissed and his or her user privileges are taken away, says Dawn Cappelli, a senior member at the CERT Coordination Center, part of Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute.
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=196602853

Environment

Greening our chemical world
Pop City | December 13
Pittsburgh’s environmental renaissance has been well documented, from the transformation of local rivers, improved air quality, and reclaimed brownfields. What many don’t realize is that another green revolution is quietly taking place-- in Pittsburgh science labs-- and it is impacting the world around us in the most elemental and profound way. Green chemistry – the design of chemicals and chemical processes that prevent or clean up pollution – could become the bridge between the sustainability movement and economic development. And Pittsburgh is poised to lead the way in this molecular revolution. Chemicals are in “everything that we see, touch, and feel,” says Paul Anastas, founder of green chemistry, director of the Green Chemisty Institute and 2006 winner of the prestigious Heinz Award in Environment. The award was established in 1993 by Teresa Heinz to honor her late husband, Senator John Heinz, in areas of importance to him.  While in town to accept the Heinz Award, Anastas paid homage to Eric Beckman, co-director of the Mascaro Sustainability Institute at Pitt’s School of Engineering, and Terry Collins, director of the Institute for Green Oxidation Chemistry at Carnegie Mellon, for their groundbreaking work in the new and rapidly growing field of green chemistry.
http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/41greenchem.aspx

Biotechnology

'Bio-inks' could order stem cells what to be
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | December 11
In a novel technique, tissue engineering experts are using "bio-inks" to send stem cells a message about what kinds of specialized cells they should become. The system could provide new insights into the interactions between growth factors and stem cells in healing and other biological processes, and could lead to innovative approaches to the design of replacement tissues, said lead investigator Julie Phillippi, a Carnegie Mellon University postdoctoral research fellow. ... According to investigator Lee Weiss, research professor at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute, the printer deposited precise patterns of a growth factor protein, dubbed bio-ink, onto a glass slide coated with a matrix of fibrin, which the body makes in response to a cut or fracture. ... Typically, researchers use separate culture dishes to generate different kinds of cells. In the body, however, a variety of cells and tissues are formed together, noted senior investigator Phil Campbell, a research professor at Carnegie Mellon's Institute for Complex Engineered Systems.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06345/745222-114.stm

Regional Impact

Carnegie Mellon plans upgrades for Herron, Brighton corridors
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | December 12
Brighton Road and Herron Avenue got bright outlooks yesterday when Carnegie Mellon University architecture students unveiled dream schemes for enlivening the corridors to public officials and neighborhood advocates Downtown. The designs-- which double as class work under the school's "urban lab" program--resulted from months of brainstorming meetings with residents in both neighborhoods. To find solutions for a plague of vacant land, the Urban Redevelopment Authority initiated the project, with support from the Urban Land Institute. ... The Hill scenario included designs for signage at Herron and Bigelow, advertising in vertical artsy letters a neighborhood that is not announced now, with a driving range and batting cage area nearby."Boundaries are very undefined now," said Luis Rico, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon. "We heard residents say that their neighborhood is not called the Hill anymore," but designations such as Crawford-Roberts and Terrace Village. "So maybe we can tell people, 'here it is, a place full of history.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06346/745379-53.stm

 

Pa. giving grant for virtual tourism
Pittsburgh Business Times | December 11
The commonwealth, through the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, is providing a $285,000 grant to support a partnership between Carnegie Mellon University, Google Earth and NASA that will allow "virtual visits" to the commonwealth's Civil War trails. Carnegie Mellon, Google Earth and NASA previously teamed up for the Global Connection Project, through which they created the Gigapan system. It is a robotic platform that attaches to a digital camera and some computer software. The robotic platform allows a user to take a photograph, then it will re-aim the camera with great precision, to take another photograph. After taking many photos, the software will stitch all of the pictures into a gigapixel image.
http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2006/12/11/daily5.html

Local

City slow moving in pedestrian safety
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | December 14
A Carnegie Mellon University report released yesterday shows that Pittsburgh leads many cities its size in collisions between pedestrians and vehicles and recommends that the Better Traffic Committee of old be resurrected. ... Joel Tarr, a history and policy professor whose class produced the study, said his appeals to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation for data, and appeals on his behalf from city and county officials, went unanswered for months. "This project has been hampered by our inability to obtain data" regarding injuries, he said. "We hope to obtain it in the future." The CMU students surveyed other students, faculty and staff to determine the most dangerous campus intersections, among them Forbes at Morewood Avenue, Fifth at Morewood, Fifth at Devonshire Street and Forbes and Craig Street. They selected three Downtown intersections known for pedestrian-vehicle collisions -- Sixth Avenue and Bigelow Boulevard, Liberty Avenue and Sixth Street and Stanwix Street at Forbes.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06348/746017-53.stm

 

Newsmaker
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review | December 10
Roy 'Nic' Nicolaides. Residence: Fox Chapel. Family: Wife, Shenaz, son, Amir, and daughter, Zahra. Occupation: Professor and head of the department of mathematical sciences at Carnegie Mellon University. Education: Doctoral degree in mathematical sciences, University of London, 1972. Background: Specializes in computational mathematics, particularly partial differential equations. Recently, he has worked on models from electrodynamics, fluid mechanics, materials science and mathematical finance. He has co-authored several books and is writing another entitled "Computational Electromagnetics and Its Applications." Joined the math department at Carnegie Mellon in 1980 and became department head in 2002.
http://pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/rss/s_483516.html

International

Economics: Bernanke promotes Fed's profile, not his
International Herald Tribune (Bloomberg) | December 11
Ben Bernanke's greatest inflation victory to date may be in deflating the aura of power and influence surrounding his job. In 10 months in office, the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman has given just seven speeches on major economic themes; predecessor Alan Greenspan made 14 last year. As Bernanke prepares to convene the Fed's final policy meeting of the year Tuesday, a day before his 53rd birthday, he has left it to other members of the Federal Open Market Committee to do most of the talking about the outlook for economic growth and inflation. ... Greenspan tended to dominate the institutions he led, from the Council of Economic Advisers in 1974 to 1977 to his 18 years at the Fed, said Allan Meltzer, a Carnegie Mellon University professor who is completing a history of the U.S. central bank. "Bernanke is on the side of making it more collegial," Meltzer said.
http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/10/bloomberg/bxecon.php