November 1, 2007
Vol. 18, No. 17
In this issue:
Carnegie Mellon Receives $22 Million From Heinz Endowments
Carnegie Mellon has received more than $22 million in grants from The Heinz Endowments, one of the largest private foundation grants in the university's history. The grants will be used to strengthen the Heinz School, expand teaching and research in green chemistry and sustainability and encourage more innovations in robotics and computer science.
The majority of the grant money — $13 million — will be used to support the Heinz School's strategic plan, which includes the creation of a new school of information systems management (IS). The IS school will serve as a counterpart with the Heinz School of Public Policy and Management to form a new college, the name of which is being finalized. The gift will be used to increase the college's endowment, allow the hiring of new faculty and renovate classroom and conference facilities.
The other major portion of The Heinz Endowments' grants — $8.5 million — will be earmarked for the university's work in green chemistry. Other grants include a $650,000 gift to the Field Robotics Center to refine innovations developed for the DARPA Urban Challenge Robotics Competition, and $400,000 to the Computer Science Department to support the emerging field of human-centered computing.
Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2007/October/oct26_heinzendowments.shtml
Tartan Racing Competes for $2 Million Prize, Saturday
Carnegie Mellon's Tartan Racing team has qualified for Saturday's DARPA Urban Challenge, a robot race at the former George Air Force Base in Victorville, Calif., with a $2 million first prize. The School of Computer Science is inviting the campus community to view a Webcast of the race from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Adamson Wing, Baker Hall 136A. A link to the Webcast is also available at DARPA's Urban Challenge Web site at
http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge/.
Tartan Racing's robotic SUV, Boss, was the first robot to qualify for Saturday's race as DARPA officials gave Tartan Racing the good word on Tuesday, when it excused the team from further qualifying runs at the National Qualification Event. DARPA is expected to announce the final field today, but among the other teams getting early nods were Stanford, the University of Pennsylvania, Virginia Tech and Cornell. Georgia Tech and Princeton were among the teams that were sent home early.
Up to 20 teams could qualify for the race, which begins at 11 a.m. (ET) Saturday. Each vehicle will cover about 60 miles during the event, which will require the self-driving vehicles to negotiate intersections, merging traffic and road obstacles. The first-place finisher will take home $2 million and the second- and third-place teams will win $1 million and $500,000, respectively. DARPA expects to announce the winners at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday.
International Festival Focuses on New World Economy, Nov. 1-3
Visit the University Center Nov. 1-3 for the 2007 International Festival. This year's theme is "Global Exchange: Trade, Rights, and Welfare in a New World Economy."
Charles Fishman, author of "The Wal-Mart Effect" will deliver the keynote lecture at 12:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 2 in Rangos Ballroom. Tickets for the event, which includes lunch, are available at the University Center Information Desk. Visit
http://www.cmu.edu/internationalfestival for a complete schedule of events.
2008 Open Enrollment Has Begun; Enroll Online by Nov. 9
The Open Enrollment period to select your 2008 benefits runs through Nov. 9. In addition to enrolling in medical, prescription, long-term disability and spending account benefits, this is an election year for dental and vision insurance and a special election year for employee supplemental life insurance and dependent life insurance. The Benefits Workbook and other information is online at
http://hr.web.cmu.edu/current/benefits/oe. Enroll using HR Connection by 5 p.m., Nov. 9. If you have questions, contact the Benefits Office at 412-268-8438.
Pioneering Computing Services To Upgrade Wireless Andrew
Computing Services, which brought the first wireless computing network to a university campus in 1998, has begun a major upgrade to Wireless Andrew. Called Wireless Andrew 2.0, the project will result in a more powerful, faster network that provides users with computing speeds near 100 megabits per second, a speed experienced with most wired connections on campus. Working with hardware vendors Aruba Networks and Xirrus, Inc., Computing Services will install new, wireless access points throughout the Pittsburgh campus.
Wireless Andrew 2.0 will enable users to access the Internet, check their email and download files nearly 10 times faster than they do today. The Wireless Andrew 2.0 project is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. Further information:
http://www.cmu.edu/computing/news/wireless2/.
Personal Mention
- Donna Marano, director of finance and administration for Civil & Environmental Engineering, has received the designation of Distinguished Faculty Member from the Society for Research Administrators International. The designation recognizes individuals who continually distinguish themselves as exemplar teachers, scholars and practitioners in the field of research administration.
- Architecture Professor Volker Hartkopf has been named chair of the United Nations Environment Programme Sustainable Building Construction Initiative (SBCI). The SBCI (http://www.unepsbci.org/) works with governments and companies worldwide to adopt sustainable building practices. Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2007/October/oct26_hartkopf.shtml
- The Society for the History of Technology has awarded its Leonardo da Vinci Medal to David Hounshell, the David M. Roderick Professor of Technology and Social Change in the Department of History. Hounshell's research includes the rise of industrial research in the U.S. and the problems of managing scientific and technical research in organizations, and the influence of the Cold War on the pursuit of science and technology in the U.S. Further information: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2007/October/oct30_hounshell.shtml
- Carnegie Mellon Police Detective Martin White has become the first police officer in Pennsylvania to be designated a Master Criminal Investigator by the Ohio Peace Officers Training Council. He achieved the designation by successfully completing 128 core hours, 64 elective hours and 14 required courses in criminal investigation training. He has been a member of the Carnegie Mellon Police Department for 20 years.
- Richard D. McCullough, vice president of research and professor of chemistry, has received the 2007 Pittsburgh Award from the Pittsburgh Section of the American Chemical Society. The award recognizes McCullough's "innovation and research prowess combined with his leadership skills and contributions to the local economy."
Calendar Highlights
- Nov. 2 - 4: The theme of the 3rd International Conference on Universal Digital Library, (http://tera-3.ul.cs.cmu.edu/icudl2007) is "Legal, policy, technical, commercial and human factor challenges to a globally owned universal digital library." Conference programs are open to the Pitt and Carnegie Mellon communities by presenting ID. Invited and keynote speakers include Ismail Serageldin, Michael Lesk and Michael Shamos.
- Friday, Nov. 2: The Authors' Rights and Wrongs series features two consecutive programs of broad interest to the academic community: "Forum on International Initiatives on Copyright," an expert panel moderated by John Ockerbloom, 2:30-4 p.m., Posner Center; and "Intellectual Property Rights in the Digital Age: Reflections on Why Copyright Law Must Change," a lecture by Ismail Serageldin, director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Library of Alexandria , Egypt), 4:30- 6 p.m., Posner Center. Open to the public and Webcast live. See http://www.library.cmu.edu/AuthorsRights.html#nov for details.
- Monday, Nov. 5: Carnegie Mellon, SEI and Mellon Institute Blood Drive. 9 a.m. - 3 p.m., SEI Training Room A.
- Monday, Nov. 5: University Lecture Series. "The Challenge of Diversity in Higher Education," by Beverly Daniel Tatum, president, Spelman College. Tatum is a clinical psychologist who has addressed issues surrounding race and racism in her courses, psychology practice & consulting. 4:30 p.m., McConomy Auditorium.
- Thursday, Nov. 8: School of Computer Science Bruce Nelson Memorial Lecture. "Toward Millisecond-Scale Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Proteins: Algorithms, Architectures and Applications," by David E. Shaw, founder and chief scientist, D.E. Shaw Research, and senior research fellow, Center for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Columbia University. 4 p.m., Wean Hall 7500.
