December 6, 2007
Vol. 18, No. 21

In this issue:

• In Severe Weather, Tune In To TV, Radio, The Web, Or Call 412-268-2000
• Art Student Strives To Return Lost Gloves To Rightful Owners
• A Prescription For Protecting People From Themselves
• News Brief
• Personal Mention
• Calendar Highlights

In Severe Weather, Tune In To TV, Radio, The Web, Or Call 412-268-2000

In the event of severe weather, members of the university community should tune in to KDKA-TV, WTAE-TV, WPXI-TV, Fox 53, KDKA-Radio (1020 AM) or KQV-Radio (1410 AM) for official university announcements regarding delays, cancellation of classes and/or office closings. Unless otherwise noted, the cancellation of classes will include evening classes at the Heinz School and the Tepper School of Business. Announcements will also be recorded on the Carnegie Mellon main switchboard (412-268-2000) and posted on the Web (http://www.cmu.edu), Web Portal (my.cmu.edu) and the official.cmu-news and cmu.misc.news bulletin boards. Unless an official notification is issued, the university will maintain normal operations.

While Carnegie Mellon may cancel classes or close offices due to severe weather, the university cannot close operations because it provides residential space and services for thousands of students on campus. Essential employees from the departments of Facilities Management Services, University Police, Computing Services and Dining Services are to report for work. Supervisors should identify and brief essential personnel regarding their responsibilities during severe weather.

Art Student Strives To Return Lost Gloves To Rightful Owners

Jennifer Gooch, a graduate student in the School of Art, has launched onecoldhand.com, a project in which she collects lost gloves throughout Pittsburgh in hopes of returning them to their owners. Photos of abandoned gloves are showcased on the Web site for people to reclaim their glove. "People respond differently when finding lost gloves. Some will leave them while others pick them up or throw them away," said Gooch, who thinks that picking up someone's forgotten glove is also an act of kindness that is unrealized. Gooch is also interested in how people use the Internet to connect with each other. She believes the lone glove, useless without its mate, is the emblem for this sense of disconnect.
 
Information: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2007/November/nov28_gloveproject.shtml

A Prescription For Protecting People From Themselves

Policy makers, employers and others can use the science of behavioral economics to steer people toward wiser choices — and dramatically improve their health — without limiting their freedom to do as they please, according to an article published in the Nov. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. George Loewenstein, the Herbert A. Simon Professor of Economics and Psychology, and researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, Aetna Inc. and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center wrote the paper.This approach can counter one of the underlying causes of major health problems in the United States and other developed nations — bad decision-making on the part of individuals. Tobacco use, obesity and alcohol abuse account for nearly one-third of all deaths in the United States. What's more, the full benefits of many medical advances — such as medication to control blood pressure, lower cholesterol and prevent strokes — go unrealized because people fail to adhere to their treatment. The authors note that one year after suffering a heart attack about half of patients prescribed drugs to lower cholesterol have stopped taking them.

Information: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2007/November/nov27_loewensteinjama.shtml

News Brief

• Carnegie Mellon is seeking nominations from the campus community for The Barbara Lazarus Award for Culture and Climate. The award is presented annually to an individual or a group that has demonstrated extraordinary leadership and made substantial contributions to improving the culture and climate in the Carnegie Mellon community, with an emphasis on graduate students and junior faculty. Nomination forms will be emailed to the campus community and can be returned to EverettTademy at Whitfield Hall 200 or by email at et19@andrew.cmu.edu. Nominations are due by Dec. 28.

Personal Mention

• Randy Pausch, the computer science professor who is dying from pancreatic cancer, recently signed an agreement with Hyperion Books for $6.7 million to co-author a book with Jeff Zaslow of The Wall Street Journal. The book will include Pausch's last lecture, "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams," and "lots of other material," said Zaslow, a 1980 graduate of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Pausch recently won the 2007 Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award from the Association for Computing Machinery for creating innovative ways to teach computer science by making it more accessible and fun.
• Jonathan Potts, director of media relations and alumni communications at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences for the past five years, will leave Carnegie Mellon on Dec. 11 to become public relations director at Robert Morris University.
• University Professor Mark Kryder has received a Public Service Medal from the President of Singapore for helping Singapore to establish the Data Storage Institute (DSI). Kryder is the founding director of the Data Storage Systems Center (DSSC) and retired CTO and VP of Research at Seagate. He has worked with the Singapore government since 1991 in helping to establish the DSI and has taught multiple short courses there. He has been on the Scientific Advisory Board of DSI since its inception and currently is chairman.
• ECE faculty members Gary Fedder, Alex Hills, Roy Maxion and Jimmy Zhu have been elected as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Fellows. ECE faculty member Donald Thomas was named an Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Fellow, and faculty members Greg Ganger and Raj Rajkumar were appointed Distinguished Members of the ACM. Rajkumar was also promoted to Senior Member of the IEEE
• ECE Emeritus Professor Stanley Charap has been selected to receive the IEEE Reynold  B. Johnson Data Storage Device Technology Award. His citation was "for quantative prediction of the superparamagnetic limit for magnetic recording."
• Alex London, associate professor of philosophy, is the new director of the Center for the Advancement of Applied Ethics and Political Philosophy. The center has grown to include 13 faculty members from several departments across campus. Further information: http://www.phil.cmu.edu/caae/index.html.

Calendar Highlights

• Friday, Dec. 7: Information Systems students who have dedicated thousands of hours of software development to community organizations will present their senior projects from 3 to 4:30 p.m. in the University Center Connan Room. These projects benefit local, national and international nonprofit organizations. This year, 12 student teams developed applications including a training and registration system for Pittsburgh's regional Emergency Medical Service Institute and a Web site for Sparshlife, an organization that provides healthcare to disadvantaged women and children in India. Several teams worked collaboratively with students from Singapore Management University.
• Friday, Dec. 7: Holiday Concert. Noon, Rangos Ballroom, University Center. The Carnegie Mellon Concert Choir, Repertory Chorus and Philharmonic will perform under the direction of Robert Page. Broadcast on WQED-FM 89.3.
• Friday, Dec. 7: The School of Music will dedicate six new Steinway grand pianos in a ceremony at 3 p.m. in the Kresge Recital Hall. The event includes remarks by Noel Zahler, head of the School of Music, as well as a performance on the pianos by faculty members Sergey Schepkin and Enrique Graf and their students.
• Dec. 7 & 8: Carnegie Mellon's Dancers' Symposium will present its fall semester performance from 8 to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday in Rangos Ballroom, University Center. Tickets can be purchased in advance for $5 between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Dec. 7 in front of Doherty Hall. Tickets also will be sold at the door for $7. The performance is open to the public. Dancers will perform hip-hop, modern, jazz and lyrical dances to music by artists such as Missy Elliot, Timbaland, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake, The Scissor Sisters, Chris Brown and Shanice Wilson. Further information: www.andrew.cmu.edu/org/dancer.
• Monday, Dec. 10: General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt will speak at 4:30 p.m. in Rangos I & II. This event is part of the USA Today CEO Forum and presented in partnership with the Carnegie Mellon Student Senate and the Tepper School of Business W.L. Mellon Speaker Series. It will feature an onstage interview by USA Today Senior Media Reporter David Lieberman, followed by questions from the audience.
• Wednesday, Dec. 12: Project Olympus Show and Tell. 3:30 - 5 p.m., Collaborative Innovation Center. Presenters include Lenore Blum and Zeynep Tolon, who will discuss what can be learned from other university innovation centers; Shanna Tellerman, who will discuss start-ups and self-publishing 3D experiences on the Web; and Professor Manuela Veloso, who will discuss multi-robot intelligence. Registration is required at http://www.olympus.cs.cmu.edu/events.