June 28, 2007
Vol. 17, No. 48
In this issue:
President Cohon Participates on Prestigious Panels
Carnegie Mellon President
Jared L. Cohon will be a panelist at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) 2007 Global Alumni Conference July 6 - 8 in Santa Clara, Calif., where luminaries from around the world will discuss new frontiers of thought and technology that have a global impact. Speakers will include Senator
Hillary Clinton; Nobel Prize winner
Arno Penzias; General Electric CEO
Jeff Immelt; Vodafone CEO
Arun Sarin; Khosla Ventures GP
Vinod Khosla; and iGate CEO and Carnegie Mellon Trustee
Sunil Wadhwani. Also participating will be the presidents of the University of California, Johns Hopkins University and Stanford University. Now in its fifth year, the IIT Global Alumni Conference will provide in-depth coverage of many current trends presented by prominent leaders in industry and academia.
This past Monday, June 25, President Cohon was co-chair of the Council on Competitiveness' Resilience Day on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. The council's summit convened a group of chief executives to discuss proven tactics to keep the private sector running during disasters and how those tactics contribute to homeland security. Cohon moderated an executive roundtable titled "Resilience Done Right: Best Practices in World Class Organizations," which addressed how strengthening risk-management capabilities can improve the bottom line. The roundtable included
Ken Senser, senior VP for Global Security for Wal-Mart Stores Inc.;
Robert Moore, director of Corporate Security for Merck & Co. Inc.;
Anna Ewing, executive VP and CIO for The Nasdaq Stock Market Inc.;
Doane Kelly, president of KLG Inc.;
Gerry Alonso, senior VP for FM Global; and
Susan Bailey, VP of Global Network Operations Planning for AT&T. The Council on Competitiveness is the only group of corporate CEOs, university presidents and labor leaders committed to the future prosperity of all Americans and enhanced U.S. competitiveness in the global economy through creation of high-value economic activity in the U.S.
Plans Under Way To Move, Expand Entropy
Plans are under way for a new and improved Entropy. A planning team of two students and staff from Campus Services, Dining Services and the University Center is looking into moving Carnegie Mellon's campus convenience store across the first floor of the University Center to a portion of the Hawkins Dining Room near Si Senor.
Tim Michael, assistant vice president for Campus Services, said the new store will be three to four times larger than it is now and will be called Entropy+! The expanded space will allow the mini-grocery to offer an expanded coffee bar, fresh pastries, a fresh fruit and vegetables section, and more frozen foods, chilled drinks, sandwiches and other merchandise. Entropy+! will accept campus meal plans, dineXtra, Plaid Ca$h, checks and credit cards. Michael anticipates the new store will open around Oct. 1.
Chemists Find Grease Makes Plastics Better Electrical Conductors
Carnegie Mellon chemists have found that a grease-like chemical can make some innovative plastics vastly better electrical conductors. This discovery, published June 25 in Advanced Materials, outlines a chemical process that could become widely adopted to produce the next generation of tiny switches for transistors in radio frequency identification tags, flexible screen displays, and debit or key cards.
"This research brings us closer to developing organic semiconductors with electrical and physical properties far superior to those that exist today," said principal investigator Richard D. McCullough, professor of chemistry
and dean of the Mellon College of Science. "We were surprised and amazed with our findings." The new process involves adding a little grease in two ways, say the investigators. The first step involves chemically combining an inherently conducting polymer (ICP) with a grease-like chemical. The second step involves depositing this hybrid material -- called a block copolymer -- onto a greased platform.
Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2007/June/june26_copolymers.shtml
Nominations for Andy Awards 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. (This year the commitment to students category replaces enthusiasm.) The new award honors those who go above and beyond their job description to understand and meet the immediate as well as underlying needs of our students.
The deadline for nominations is July 9. Awards are open to all non-faculty university employees. Nomination forms and further information are available at
http://www.cmu.edu/andyawards/. The 2007 Andy Award ceremony will be held at noon, Sept. 21 in McConomy Auditorium.
News Briefs
Personal Mention
- Robin Reames, doctoral student in rhetoric, gave the opening plenary lecture "Meaning, Use, Grammar: A Wittgensteinian Approach" at the May 24 conference "Naming, Referring and Usage in Linguistics" at the University of Reims, Champagne, France.
- The 2007 University Libraries Excellence Award winners were announced at a recent celebratory picnic in the Peace Garden. Isabelle Eula, Qatar librarian, earned the Excellence Award for library faculty and Kim Sestili, acquisitions accounts manager, earned the Excellence Award for library staff. Dean of Libraries Gloriana St. Clair recognized other award nominees. Faculty and staff were honored for 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 years of service.
- International Truck and Engine has commissioned Mechanical Engineering Professor Jonathan Cagan, Associate Professor of Marketing Peter Boatwright and mechanical engineering doctoral student Seth Orsborn to analyze the 100-year brand heritage of truck design at International Truck and determine the evolution of its form language. Their work is featured in the new book "International Harvester, McCormack, International: Milestones in the Company that Helped Build America."
- Media Designer Karen Kornblum Berntsen has joined Computing Services as an information designer. She will consult with early adopters of Carnegie Mellon's new content management system to help maximize their site's effectiveness. Berntsen has taught courses in typography and information design at Carnegie Mellon, Duquesne University and the Art Institute of Chicago.
Calendar Highlights
- July 2 - 20: The School of Music's Marta Sanchez Dalcroze Training Center presents its 32nd annual Dalcroze Workshops. The Dalcroze Method, known as eurhythmics, is a unique approach to music learning that recognizes the significance of rhythmic movement. The workshops offer Dalcroze principles for performance and teaching. Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/cfa/dalcroze/workshop.html
- Wednesday, July 11: Computing Services' Computer Education group has seats available for their upcoming Advanced Mailman class, 1 - 3 p.m., Cyert Hall PC Cluster. This hands-on class, taught by Gretchen Beck, explores the advanced topics of Mailman. For more information and to register, visit the Computer Education Web site at https://www.cmu.edu/computing/education/ or email computer-education@andrew.cmu.edu.
- Monday, Aug. 6: 18th annual Football Alumni Golf Outing. The $250 registration fee includes a buffet lunch at 11:30 a.m., shotgun start at 1 p.m., skill and raffle prizes, and dinner. The registration deadline is July 16. For more information, contact Head Coach Rich Lackner at 412-268-2216.
- Because of the July 4 holiday, the next issue of the 8.5 x 11 News will be published July 12.
