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8 1/2 x 11 Newsletter - October 8, 2009
October 8, 2009
Vol. 20, No. 15

In this issue:

Featured Events

  • Oct. 8-10: International Festival, "What's Happening to Diplomacy?" For information on the events, including a keynote lecture by Distinguished Service Professor Jendayi Frazer on Friday, Oct. 9, visit http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/oie/newsandevents/internationalfestival/index.html.
  • Thursday, Oct. 8: University Lecture Series. 4:30 p.m., Porter Hall 100 (Gregg Hall). Rickard Tucker of the University of Michigan will discuss "The Global Environmental Impact of the United States in Peace and War." For more: http://www.cmu.edu/uls/october/tucker.html
  • Friday, Oct. 9: CAUSE Lecture. 5 p.m., Grand Room, Tepper School. Kimberley Phillips, associate professor of history and American studies at The College of William and Mary, will discuss "War, What is it Good For? Black Freedom Struggles, War and the U.S. Military." For more: http://www.hss.cmu.edu/cause/index.html
  • October 9-11: "From Child to Scientist: Mechanisms of Learning and Development." The 37th Carnegie Symposium on Cognition honors the scientific and educational contributions of David Klahr, the Walter Van Dyke Bingham Professor of Cognitive Development and Education Sciences. Find the full schedule at http://www.psy.cmu.edu:16080/symposium37/. The event is free and open to the public.
  • Saturday, Oct. 10: Carnegie Mellon Contemporary Ensemble. 5 p.m. Kresge Recital Hall. The concert features Ronald Zollman, music director, and orchestral music from the 20th and 21st centuries. Assistant conductors will be Tobias Volkmann and Gao Jian. Admission is free.
  • Monday, Oct. 12: University Lecture Series. 4:30 p.m., Porter Hall 100 (Gregg Hall). Janel Sutkus, director of Institutional Research and Analysis; Indira Nair, vice provost for education; and Karen Boyd, dean of Student Affairs, will discuss how student survey data is used to improve the student experience. For more: http://www.cmu.edu/uls/october/sutkus.html
  • Monday, Oct. 12: Free School of Drama performance. 8 p.m., Helen Wayne Rauh Studio Theater. Tickets to "The Laramie Project: Ten Years Later An Epilogue" are free, and will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 7 p.m. at the Purnell Center box office.
  • Tuesday, Oct. 13: Emergency Awareness Day. 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Kirr Commons, University Center (UC). Read more in the news item below, or visit http://www.cmu.edu/ehs/ for more information.
  • Tuesday, Oct. 13: AED Training. 1-3:30 p.m., Connan Room, UC. Attendees will learn how to recognize the signs of a sudden cardiac arrest, when to activate the AED system and how to do CPR. To register, visit http://www.cmu.edu/ehs and click on the training link.
  • Tuesday, Oct. 13: School of Design Nierenberg Lecture. 4:45 p.m., Breed Hall, Margaret Morrison 103. Harold Nelson, the 2010 Nierenberg Chair of Design, will discuss "The Design Way." For more: http://www.design.cmu.edu/show_news.php?id=240.
  • Thursday, Oct. 15: Digital Libraries & Cyberscholarship Colloquium Series. 3:30-4:30 p.m., University of Pittsburgh IS Building, 135 N. Bellefield Avenue. Pitt Professor Geoffrey C. Bowker will discuss "Is Cyberinfrastructure Changing the Nature of Scholarship?" For more on the series, co-sponsored by Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science and University Libraries, visit http://www.ischool.pitt.edu/colloquia/digital-libraries-series.php.
  • Friday, Oct. 16: ICES Research Showcase. 3:30-5:30 p.m., Singleton Room, Roberts Hall. The College of Engineering and Institute for Complex Engineered Systems (ICES) will showcase the research of the 2008 and 2009 Dowd-ICES fellows and the educational research of Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Jose M.F. Moura during his year as the 2008 Dowd Teaching Fellow. Read more about the Dowd Fellowship at http://www.ices.cmu.edu/dowd_fellowship.html.
  • Friday, Oct. 16: The 11th Morris H. DeGroot Memorial Lecture. 4:15 pm., Giant Eagle Auditorium, Baker Hall A51. The Department of Statistics is hosting speaker Michael I. Jordan of the University of California, Berkeley, who will discuss "Completely Random Measures for Bayesian Nonparametrics." A reception will follow in the coffee lounge adjacent to the auditorium. Questions should be directed to heidi@stat.cmu.edu.

Khosla To Receive Academic Excellence Award

khoslaDean of the College of Engineering Pradeep K. Khosla will receive the prestigious 2009 Academic Excellence Award Oct. 11 at the Pan IIT entrepreneurship conference in Chicago. Khosla, a University Professor and the Philip and Marsha Dowd Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was unanimously selected from a field of more than 200 nominees to receive the Academic Excellence Award from Pan IIT, a global organization representing alumni from all Indian Institutes of Technology campuses.

"The IITs are renowned for producing some of the country's best global corporate leaders, academicians, technologists and entrepreneurs," said Jai Rawat, vice president of marketing for Pan IIT, USA. "Pan IIT recognizes the important contributions these alumni have made in American job creation, education and philanthropic initiatives, and we want to honor these individuals through the IIT American Leadership Awards."

Khosla received his bachelor's degree in technology from IIT (Kharagpur, India) in 1980 and his master's degree and Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon in 1984 and 1986, respectively. Read more at http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2009/October/oct7_paniit.shtml.

St. Clair Reappointed as Dean, Leads Research Showcase

stclairGloriana St. Clair, newly reappointed dean of University Libraries, is leading a digital initiative called the Research Showcase to support scholarly communication and access to information. The Research Showcase (http://repository.cmu.edu/) is an easy-to-use online repository in which Carnegie Mellon faculty and graduate students can self-archive their writings, research and other creative or intellectual properties, and maximize their exposure to search engines.

St. Clair, first appointed dean in 1998, is beginning her third term. Carnegie Mellon Provost and Executive Vice President Mark Kamlet praised St. Clair for her forward thinking and noted that she has defined the role of dean of University Libraries for Carnegie Mellon. "Gloriana St. Clair is an outstanding professional whose expertise, vision and passion has greatly advanced our libraries and our university. She is a scholar known worldwide for her leadership in the field," Kamlet said when making the reappointment announcement.

For more: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2009/October/oct2_researchshowcase.shtml

Miller Gallery Presents "Experimental Geography"

galleryThe Miller Gallery's upcoming exhibition, "Experimental Geography," includes work from 19 artists and teams from seven countries that explores the differences between geographical study and artistic experience of the earth. The exhibit, which runs from Oct. 9 through Jan. 31, 2010, presents a broad view of this new field through different media including interactive computer units, sound and video installations, photography, sculpture and experimental cartography.

"Geography benefits from the study of specific histories, sites and memories," said guest curator Nato Thompson of Creative Time in New York. "The task of the geographer is to alert us to what is directly in front of us, while the task of the experimental geographer — an amalgam of scientist, artist and explorer — is to do so in a manner that deploys aesthetics, ambiguity, poetry and a dash of empiricism."

A themed opening for the exhibit, called "A Continental Reception," will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16 at the Miller Gallery. Read more about the exhibit at http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2009/October/oct6_millergallery.shtml.

EH&S Hosts Emergency Awareness Day Oct. 13

Environmental Health and Safety is sponsoring an Emergency Awareness Day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 13 in the University Center's Kirr Commons. Activities include walking through a smoke filled room to simulate navigation in a fire, observing the burning of a dorm room to see how fast it burns (weather permitting), fire extinguisher and AED demonstrations, and AlertNow signups.

The event is designed to provide the campus community with important information on how to protect yourself during an emergency. Participating groups include Environmental Health & Safety, University Police, Student Health Services, Student EMS, City of Pittsburgh Fire Department, City of Pittsburgh EMS, the National Weather Service and the American Red Cross. For more information, visit http://www.cmu.edu/ehs or contact James Gindlesperger at jg57@andrew.cmu.edu.

Drama Alumni Return To Host Student Workshops, Seminars

stageSchool of Drama alumni Steven Bochco (A'66), a television writer and executive producer, and Paula Wagner (A'69), a film executive and producer who is also a university trustee, returned to campus this week (Oct. 6-7) to host a series of workshops and seminars for current drama students. They taught students about the business of acting and hosted a playwrights forum, as well as workshops with designers, directors and dramaturgs. They also held a TV workshop with senior actors. The sessions provided students with the opportunity to receive candid, first-hand knowledge from leaders in the entertainment industry.

Bochco is perhaps best known for developing the TV hits "Hill Street Blues," "L.A. Law" and "NYPD Blue." Wagner is currently developing and producing films through her company, Chestnut Ridge Productions.

News Briefs

  • In September, the Information and Communications Technologies Institute's (ICTI) External Review Committee completed its third assessment of the partnership between Portugal and Carnegie Mellon to evaluate if the program was providing a comparative advantage to Portugal in key areas. In a public report, the committee called the partnership "a visionary initiative." The ICTI program, led by directors João Barros and José M. F. Moura, is an international "virtual" institution with administration in Portugal and at Carnegie Mellon's Pittsburgh campus. The ICTI offers master's degrees in human-computer interaction, information networking, information technology and information security and software engineering. Doctoral programs are offered in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, engineering and public policy, language technology, applied mathematics, software engineering and technological change and entrepreneurship. Read more about the program and review at http://www.cmuportugal.org/tiercontent.aspx?id=1620.
  • Nominations for honorary degree recipients are being accepted through Oct. 31. Carnegie Mellon bestows honorary degrees during Commencement on distinguished individuals who have reached preeminent levels of distinction in their fields and made extraordinary contributions to society. For nomination criteria and to submit a recommendation, visit http://www.cmu.edu/honorary/nomination-form/index.html. A list of past recipients is available at http://www.cmu.edu/honorary/past-recipients/index.html.
  • Carnegie Mellon will host its annual Family Weekend Oct. 9-11, coinciding with the International Festival. President Jared Cohon will deliver a welcome address from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Oct. 10 in McConomy Auditorium. Following the address, deans and faculty members will meet with families to explain the educational philosophies underlying various programs within each college. For a full schedule of Family Weekend events, visit http://www.studentaffairs.cmu.edu/first-year/familyweekend/index.html.
  • If you are a notary and would like to be listed in the 2010 university directory, please forward your contact information to Darlene Scalese of Human Resources at dscalese@andrew.cmu.edu by Friday, Oct. 30.
  • Carnegie Mellon received the award for most outstanding chapter in the private university category at the 42nd Triennial Council Meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. The university's chapter, Upsilon of Pennsylvania, was recognized for its "remarkable commitment to undergraduate excellence in liberal arts and sciences."
  • Work to install a new stainless steel pole on Jonathan Borofsky's (A'64) Walking to the Sky sculpture in front of Warner Hall continues. The new pole is designed to minimize movement and maximize stability. Once the new pole is installed, the refurbished figures walking up the pole will be remounted. Work is expected to be completed around Oct. 19.

Personal Mention

  • The Tepper School's Allan Meltzer, the Allan H. Meltzer University Professor of Political Economy, has been awarded the 2009 Distinguished Teacher Award by the Mensa Education and Research Foundation. Meltzer was nominated by Mensa member Robert Beatty (TPR'60). Beatty credits Meltzer with introducing him to using computerized calculations for economics and encouraging him to study the field of computer programming and technology at Carnegie Mellon. Read more at http://tepper.cmu.edu/news-multimedia/news/news-detail/index.aspx?nid=394.
  • James H. Garrett Jr., head of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, has been elected a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) for outstanding professional accomplishments and academic excellence. For more on Garrett's work and this recent honor, visit http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2009/October/oct6_garretthonored.shtml.
  • ETC Executive Producer Don Marinelli was a featured speaker at the recent 21st Century TransMedia Innovation Symposium held Sept. 23-25 in Seoul, Korea. Marinelli spoke about "The Pervasive Education and Entertainment Media of the Future."
  • Thirteen highly promising graduate students who are conducting research in the life sciences have received one-year fellowships from the Richard King Mellon Foundation to continue their research. Recipients include Mellon College of Science students Michael Chen, Longzhu Shen, William Ellis, Muwen Kong, Corey Flynn and Tim Jarvela. Others are Rodlescia Sneed (Psychology), Dianne Palladino (Psychology), Jingyuan Huang (Psychology), Selen Uguroglu (School of Computer Science), Sivaraman Balakrishnan (School of Computer Science), Amy Hurst (Human Computer Interaction Institute) and Brian Ziebart (Machine Learning). The fellowship support comes from an endowed Presidential Fellows in the Life Sciences Fund established in fall 2007 by the Richard King Mellon Foundation as part of a $25 million capital campaign gift.
  • Daniel Munoz, a first-year Ph.D. student in robotics, is the first recipient of the QinetiQ North America Robotics Fellowship, which will provide him with three years of educational support and an internship with QinetiQ North America. Munoz earned a bachelor's degree from Carnegie Mellon in electrical and computer engineering, with a minor in computer science. For more: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2009/September/sept30_roboticsfellowship.shtml
  • Senior business administration major Joshua Kresge is among the 154 semifinalists for the 2009 William V. Campbell Trophy, which is given annually to the top scholar-athlete in college football by The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame. A co-captain for the Tartans, he is one of 34 players on the list from NCAA Division III schools. The award committee will select and announce up to 15 finalists on Oct. 29. Read more about Kresge at http://www.cmu.edu/athletics/sports/football/news/2009/kresgecampbellsemi.html.

For more events, visit http://my.cmu.edu/site/events.

For daily news updates, visit http://www.cmu.edu/news/news-notes/index.shtml.

Connect with Internal Communications on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/CMUnews.

The "8 1/2 x 11 News" is published weekly by the Internal Communications Team. To submit news of campus interest, email Abby Ross at abbyross@andrew.cmu.edu.

For current issues of the 8 1/2 x 11, visit http://www.cmu.edu/news/news-notes/weekly/2009/index.shtml. For past years' issues of the 8 1/2 x 11, visit http://www.cmu.edu/news/weekly/index.shtml.