April 10, 2008
Vol. 18, No. 36
In this issue:
Curtis Meyer Wins Ryan Award; "Celebration of Teaching" is April 23
Physics Professor Curtis Meyer is this year's winner of the university-wide William H. and Frances S. Ryan Award for Meritorious Teaching, Carnegie Mellon's most prestigious teaching honor given annually to a faculty member who has demonstrated unusual devotion and effectiveness in teaching. Meyer will receive the award at "A Celebration of Teaching," at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 23 in Rangos 1 & 2.
The celebration will also honor teaching award winners in the university's seven colleges and schools. This year's recipients are: Professor of Materials Science and Engineering Sridhar Seetharaman (College of Engineering); Associate Professor of Architecture Diane Shaw (College of Fine Arts); Associate Teaching Professor of Statistics Oded Meyer (College of Humanities and Social Sciences); Professor Lowell Taylor, Associate Teaching Professor Kathleen Smith and Lecturer Karyn Moore (Heinz School); Teaching Professor and Associate Head of the Biological Sciences Department Amy Burkert and Chemistry Professor Paul Karol (Mellon College of Science); Assistant Professor Luis von Ahn (School of Computer Science); and Associate Professor of Financial Economics Burton Hollifield, Professor of Economics Marvin Goodfriend, and Professor of Financial Economics Robert Dammon (Tepper School).
For more: http://www.cmu.edu/celebration-of-teaching/
Carnegie Mellon Now on iTunes U
Carnegie Mellon is now on iTunes U (
http://www.cmu.edu/itunesu), a dedicated area of the iTunes Store that features multimedia educational content on key university initiatives. Initially, short features and campus-wide lectures are being provided in several categories. New and diverse content will be added frequently. Content for the site will be managed by Carnegie Mellon's Marketing Communications Web team in the same way stories are featured on
http://www.cmu.edu. If you have content to suggest, please contact
Jay Brown, associate director of marketing for Web communications, at
jsbrown@andrew.cmu.edu. Special attention will be given to the overall message of the content as well as accurate representation of the broad and diverse people and projects that make Carnegie Mellon a one-of-a-kind institution.
The campus-wide iTunes U partnership was initiated as a joint Web initiative between Computing Services, University Advancement and the Tepper School of Business Computing Department, which provided significant technical resources as part of the iTunes U advance set-up and coding process.
Book Co-Author Tells What's Happened Since Last Lecture
Wall Street Journal reporter and Carnegie Mellon alumnus (H&SS '80)
Jeffrey Zaslow was in the audience for Computer Science Professor
Randy Pausch's famous last lecture Sept. 18, 2007. Afterward, the stories he wrote in his "Moving On" column catapulted the terminally ill Pausch into an Internet phenom and international celebrity. The video generated from the lecture has been the most watched in the Journal's history. Pausch and Zaslow subsequently collaborated on a book, "The Last Lecture," which was published by Hyperion Books this week.
Join Zaslow at 4:30 p.m., Monday, April 14 in the Chosky Theater in the Purnell Center for the Arts for a presentation and book signing that'll give you a behind-the-scenes look at what's happened since the last lecture. Free books will be given to the first 50 people to enter the theater.
Town Hall Meetings a Venue for Your Input on New Strategic Plan
All members of the university community are urged to attend any or all of the upcoming town hall meetings on the university's evolving 2008 Strategic Plan. Involvement from the campus community is critical to the plan's success. The new strategic plan, founded on the current plan drafted in 1998, focuses on six core pillars: Education & Student Life; Research; Regional Impact; International; Community Success; and Finance & Infrastructure. For further information, to view the spring Town Hall meeting schedule and to review current working draft statements, please visit the Web at
http://www.cmu.edu/strategic-plan/. Questions? Contact Associate Vice President
Michael Murphy at
mm1v@andrew.cmu.edu or 412-268-9019.
"Smart People" Opens in Theaters Nationwide Friday, April 11
Miramax Films' "Smart People," a romantic comedy featuring Carnegie Mellon, opens in theaters nationwide Friday, April 11. The movie, parts of which were filmed on campus in 2006, stars
Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Thomas Haden Church and
Ellen Page. Drama Professor
Don Wadsworth plays a role in the film and Carnegie Mellon students were used as extras, production assistants and interns.
As a "thank you" to those involved with the film, the Pittsburgh Film Office and Carnegie Mellon will host two private pre-screenings tonight (Thursday, April 10) in McConomy Auditorium. The first screening at 7:30 p.m. is for production crewmembers, local actors and extras, city officials and campus community members involved with the film. While this screening is for invited quests only, a limited number of seats will be available to individuals with a valid Carnegie Mellon ID. Arrive at 7 p.m. Carnegie Mellon students presenting a valid university ID can attend the second screening. Seating for the second showing begins at 10 p.m.
GigaPan Technology Makes it to the Masters
Carnegie Mellon's GigaPan technology (
http://www.gigapan.org), which creates breathtaking panoramic images with a low-cost device that fits on any digital camera, has made it to the Masters Golf Tournament at the Augusta National course in Augusta, Ga. Golf.com features several interactive GigaPans of the historic course at
http://www.golf.com/golf/tours_news/article/0,28136,1725665,00.html.
News Briefs
- Carnegie Mellon's Robot Hall of Fame officially inducted four new members at an April 9 ceremony at the Carnegie Science Center. The inductees, who were announced last May, were the Raibert Hopper, NavLab5, LEGO Mindstorms and the fictional Lt. Cmdr. Data. For more: http://www.robothalloffame.org
- Architecture Professor Mark Gross and Ph.D. candidate Eric Schweikardt have designed "roBlocks," small, magnetic robot-blocks that children can plug together to form complex robots. For more: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/March/march28_roblocks.shtml
- The School of Drama will perform two comedic plays — "Servant of Two Masters" and "Scapino" — at outdoor locations on campus and around Pittsburgh, April 11-26. Venues include the Cut, the Morewood parking lot, SouthSide Works, Station Square and Hartwood Acres. For more: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/April/april2_outdoorplays.shtml
- Advance ride tickets for the Spring Carnival (April 17-19) Midway will go on sale Monday, April 14 at the University Center Information Desk. An individual advance ticket — good for any ride on the Midway — will be sold for $1.25 and strips of eight tickets are available for $10. The advance ticket sale ends at noon, Wednesday, April 16.
- Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day is April 24. See: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/org/todtw/forms.htm
Personal Mention
- Electrical and Computer Engineering, Computer Science and Biomedical Engineering Professor Richard Stern was named a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) "for contributions to binaural hearing and speech recognition."
- Architecture Professor Kai Gutschow has received a postdoctoral research fellowship from the Getty Foundation for the 2008-09 academic year. The grant supports completion of the manuscript for his book titled "Inventing Expressionism: Art, Criticism, and the Rise of Modern Architecture, A Reinterpretation of the Origins of Expressionism in German Architecture in the Years 1905-1925."
- Music Professor Marilyn Taft Thomas, former head of the School of Music, has published a new book, "Leadership in the Arts." For more: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/April/april7_thomasbook.shtml
Calendar Highlights
- Friday, April 11: CAUSE presents University of the District of Columbia History Professor G. Derek Musgrove, who will discuss "The Forced Realignment from Above and Below: State Repression of Black Elected Officials and Voters in Alabama, 1981-2000." 4:30 p.m., Steinberg Auditorium, Baker Hall A53.
- Saturday, April 12: The Center for the Arts in Society presents "A Rediscovered Piano Sonata by Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988) and a lecture/recital with FrancoSciannameo and pianist Donna Amato. 4 p.m., Frick Auditorium, Frick Fine Arts Building, University of Pittsburgh.
- Saturday, April 12: Director, producer and Carnegie Mellon graduate Paul Germain screens his documentary "Speedy Delivery," which explores the life of DavidNewell, a.k.a. Mr. McFeely of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." 4 p.m., McConomy Auditorium. Students, faculty and staff admitted free with ID.
- Monday, April 14: Carnegie Mellon's Public Art Committee will publicly discuss pieces from the Posner Collection that are being reviewed for placement in the Mellon Institute Boardroom and a series of portraits of Nobel Prize winners for installation at the Tepper School. 4:30 - 5:30 p.m., Peter Room, University Center.
- For more news and events, visit http://my.cmu.edu/site/events/
