June 21, 2007
Vol. 17, No. 47
In this issue:
University Hosts Workshop for Future Leaders of Northern Israel
Future Arab and Jewish leaders are participating in a workshop on campus through June 26 to educate and develop a new generation of leaders for the Galilee region of Northern Israel. Called the GaliLead Project, the effort hopes to foster social change and reform that will improve the quality of life in the region for Arabs and Jews. Carnegie Mellon helped design and deliver the workshop curriculum with Arab and Jewish leaders in Israel and leaders from the United Jewish Federation of Pittsburgh and United Jewish Communities.
"Education brings peoples and cultures together, and this project is a great example of that," said Carnegie Mellon Provost and Senior Vice President Mark Kamlet. "The workshop offers leaders a place where they can learn and develop different ways of resolving conflicts and create positive social change for the region."
The workshop offers sessions in several areas, including cultural change in leadership, the influence of social networks, negotiation and conflict resolution, and leadership assessment and improvement.
Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2007/June/june18_galilead.shtml
President Cohon Joins Protest of Boycott of Israeli Universities
Carnegie Mellon President
Jared L. Cohon joined other scholars and leaders of the world academic community in protesting the British University and College Union's (UCU) recent call for a boycott of Israeli universities. Cohon signed a petition circulated by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East. The UCU charges that Israel's universities have supported the state's persecution of Palestinians and urges its members to cut off all joint projects, publications, funding and other activities with Israeli scientists and scholars. This proposal has met with widespread condemnation, both inside and outside Great Britain.
Cohon said the UCU's proposal violates traditions of academic freedom and fails to acknowledge the powerful contributions Israeli scholars have made in promoting dialogue on these difficult issues and in offering a diverse range of political alternatives for both Israelis and Palestinians. Cohon said the UCU also ignores the role of Israel's universities in offering opportunity and support to many young Palestinians who are seeking higher education in order to better themselves and their society.
"Carnegie Mellon's campus in Qatar strives to provide the same kind of opportunity to students in the Arab world, and the university's experience there confirms our conviction that opening up connections, not closing them, is the most effective way to increase understanding," Cohon said.
"Boss" Shows DARPA It Has the Right Stuff
It looks like
"Boss," Tartan Racing's self-driving SUV, is headed to the Urban Challenge, a Nov. 3 race sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that will pit autonomous vehicles against each other on a course that simulates an urban driving environment. On June 18, Boss handled everything DARPA officials threw at it during a site visit to determine the 30 semi-finalists that will be invited to a qualification event later this fall. At the team's headquarters at Robot City in Hazelwood, Boss stopped at stop signs, made left and right turns, negotiated three-point turns and maneuvered around vehicles -- all without a driver. "There were no mistakes that I can talk about or know about," said Tartan Racing team leader and University Professor
William "Red" Whittaker. "Today was real solid." DARPA will announce the semifinalists Aug. 9.
Further information:
http://www.tartanracing.org
Spin-Off's Technology Helped Keep Eye on U.S. Open
A 360-degree panoramic imaging system for still and video photography developed by university researchers helped security officials keep an eye on the action at the U.S. Open Golf Championship last week at Oakmont Country Club. The technology was developed by EyeSee360, a Pittsburgh-based company founded in 1998 by Robotics Institute Associate Research Professor
Sanjiv Singh; Research Professor and Associate Director of the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC)
Tony Stentz; and
Herman Herman, a senior commercialization specialist at NREC. The technology, based on reflective optics, was conceived to develop a solid-state device that could capture a 360-degree view of a scene for telepresence, autonomous navigation by robots or automatic mapping of environments. In February 2001, the system was attached to a camera and placed in the center of Three Rivers Stadium, where it recorded the stadium's implosion.
At the U.S. Open, the 360-degree imaging technologies were used by "Threatviewer," a device manufactured by Augusta Systems of Morgantown, W. Va., that provides remote monitoring capabilities for industrial, military and homeland security. The technology's ability to see in all directions at once from a given location was combined with Threatviewer to collect, process and transmit data to security personnel.
Further information and examples of 360-degree images:
http://www.eyesee360.com
Andy Award Nominations Due July 9
Nominations are being accepted for the 2007 Andy Awards, the university-wide recognition program that honors individual staff members and/or teams whose outstanding dedication and performance have had a significant impact on the university. Awards are given in five categories: dedication, innovation, commitment to students, citizenship and culture. Deadline for nominations is July 9. Awards are open to all non-faculty employees. Nomination forms and more information are available at
http://www.cmu.edu/andyawards/.
News Briefs
- The Center for Behavioral Decision Research has unveiled its new "Data Truck," a 36-foot mobile social science lab that will allow the university to conduct research involving groups of people, such as senior citizens, who cannot readily come to campus. Funded in part by the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse, the truck's trailer includes a waiting area and eight workstations, where research participants can answer surveys, work on computers or test new products and technologies. The truck will be a major asset for Carnegie Mellon's Quality of Life Technologies Initiative, which aims to help seniors and people with disabilities lead more independent lives.
- The SEI has received the 2007 Bronze Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America for its 2006 annual report, "Intellectual Capital: Shaping the Future of Software Engineering."
- The Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research hosted three national journalists this week in its third annual environmental media fellowship program. The journalists were Bette Hileman, senior editor of Chemical @ Engineering News; Kara Sissell, senior editor of Chemical Week; and John Sullivan, editor of Environmental News. The trio spent four days on campus meeting faculty and getting a behind-the-scenes look at the some of the university's environmental research.
- The College of Engineering hosted USA Today reporter Jon Swartz earlier this week in a pilot fellowship program designed for media to meet and discuss cybersecurity and information technology issues with leading experts at the university.
- This year's Kennywood Picnic, sponsored by Staff Council, will be Saturday, July 14. Employees must present their own university ID to purchase one employee "funday" ticket for $5. You can purchase four additional tickets at $13 each, and another five tickets at $18 each. Ticket sales will be held in the University Center from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., June 29, July 3, 6, 10 and 12. On July 11, tickets will be sold in the UC from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Tickets will also be sold at Mellon Institute from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., July 11.
Personal Mention
- Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Donald Thomas won the ACM/SIGDA Distinguished Service Award at the recent IEEE/ACM Design Automation Conference in San Diego.
- Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science Priya Narasimhan and Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering Burak Ozdoganlar have been selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering's 13th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering Symposium, Sept. 24 - 26 at Microsoft Research in Redmond, Wash. Research Psychologist Christian Lebiere is one of the symposium's organizers.
Calendar Highlights
- Through Aug. 31: "The Familiar and the Strange: Science and 'The Time Machine,'" by Posner Center intern Christine Beaty (H&SS 2008), examines the influence of 19th century science on the development of science fiction. She Uses H.G. Wells' classic as a case study, and features landmark scientific works by Darwin, Pasteur, Maxwell, Einstein and others. 1 - 4 p.m., Monday - Friday, Posner Center.
