December 11, 2008
Vol. 19, No. 22
In this issue:
President Cohon Announces Efforts to Help Contain Costs
In an email to the university community on Monday, Dec. 8, President
Jared Cohon announced three measures to help contain costs in light of the current economic situation.
First, all capital projects — those in development and already under way — will be reviewed. The president said no decision to delay any specific project has been made yet. Second, a salary freeze will be in effect for the next fiscal year, from July 1, 2009, through June 30, 2010, however, special considerations will be made for promotions. The freeze will include the president and the university's senior management. The salary freeze will be reviewed during the next fiscal year, and Cohon said pay raises will resume as soon as prudently possible. Third, a process is being implemented to review all new hires. In academic units, the dean and provost must approve all new hires. In administrative areas, the department head, the vice president of that specific area and the president must approve all new hires.
"I know this is a difficult time for everyone, here and at home, but with these plans in place I am confident we will continue the exceptional and groundbreaking work for which this university has become known," Cohon wrote.
Ramesh Is First Carnegie Mellon Student To Win Marshall Scholarship
Sheela Ramesh, a senior majoring in voice and psychology, has been named a 2009 Marshall Scholar. She is the first student from Carnegie Mellon to receive this prestigious and highly selective international award, which funds up to two years of graduate study at a university in the United Kingdom. Ramesh will receive $34,347 a year to cover university fees, tuition, books, a thesis grant, research and travel.
Ramesh, a mezzo-soprano who studies with
Mildred Miller Posvar in the School of Music, intends to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London or the Royal Academy of Music.
Each year, the Marshall Foundation conducts a competition across eight regions in the U.S. to select 40 scholars who have demonstrated high academic and leadership abilities and the capacity to serve as an ambassador for relations between the United States and the United Kingdom. Carnegie Mellon's Fellowships and Scholarships Office worked closely with Ramesh at every point in the process, from the initial application to preparing for the final interview.
For more:
http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/December/dec8_marshallscholarship.shtml
Michael Eric Dyson To Give Keynote Address for MLK Celebration
Carnegie Mellon's annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration on Monday, Jan. 19, will conclude with a provocative keynote address titled "King, Obama and The American Dream" by renowned scholar
Michael Eric Dyson. This timely lecture falls one day prior to the historic inauguration of president-elect
Barack Obama, one of the subjects of Dyson's most recent book.
Recognized in many circles as the "Hip-Hop Intellectual," Dyson has been named to Ebony's list of the "100 Most Influential Black Americans." His work combines cultural criticism and biography, while focusing on themes of race, religion and popular culture. In addition to his work as an activist, author and ordained Baptist minister, Dyson has served as a faculty member at numerous universities across the United States. He currently holds the title of University Professor at Georgetown University, where he teaches theology, English and African-American studies.
For a full schedule of events for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration on campus, read the December issue of the Piper.
Carnegie Mellon Among Top Universities in Global Rankings
U.S. News and World Report recently published its first global rankings of colleges and universities. Out of 200 universities studied, Carnegie Mellon ranked No. 21 in the world and No.14 among U.S. institutions. In specialty categories, Carnegie Mellon was ranked sixth in engineering and information technology and 35th in social science.
The rankings use some of the same data from the Times Higher Education rankings (now independent from The London Times) compiled by QS Quacquarelli Symonds.
For the full list of the global rankings, visit
http://www.usnews.com/sections/education/worlds-best-colleges/index.html.
News Briefs
- No damage was found to the Walking to the Sky sculpture after an initial inspection by fabricators of the 100-foot-tall art work last week. The sculpture's underground welds, concrete foundation, grout bedding system and stainless steel sub base mounts were all found to be structurally sound and in good condition. This week, structural engineers are inspecting the mechanical resonance of the Jonathan Borofsky (A'64) creation in an effort to determine what caused the structure to sway more than usual before Thanksgiving. The sculpture was donated to the university by Trustee Jill Gansman Kraus, a 1974 alumna, and her husband, Peter. It was installed in May 2006.
- Carnegie Mellon is seeking nominations for honorary degree candidates by Friday, Dec. 19. Nominees must be distinguished individuals who have reached preeminent levels of distinction in their fields, and who have made extraordinary contributions to society, preferably in fields that are prominent at Carnegie Mellon. It is desirable that nominees have connections to the university (e.g. alumni, former faculty, friends or collaborators). Nomination of women and underrepresented minorities are especially welcome. Nominations must be submitted using the online nomination form at http://www.cmu.edu/advancement/honorary/onlineform.html.
Personal Mention
- Nia Austin, a junior majoring in cognitive science with a minor in computer science, is one of 15 students nationwide to be selected a Federal Service Student Ambassador for the current school year. The Ambassadors Program is designed to increase interest in federal service on college campuses. As a student co-op for the federal government this past summer, Austin worked on an artificial intelligence project based on computer science and linguistics. On campus, she has worked with the National Society of Black Engineers, created a Facebook group and met with the Career Center to promote opportunities with the federal government.
- Carnegie Mellon software engineering Ph.D. students, advised by Jonathan Aldrich, were big winners this fall at the International Conference on Object-Oriented Programming, Systems, Languages and Applications (OOPSLA) in Nashville, Tenn. In the doctoral symposium, Ciera Jaspan was selected as the first recipient of the John Vlissides Award, a $2,000 prize that will be presented annually to a student in the doctoral symposium showing significant promise in applied software research. In the OOPSLA student research competition, Kevin Bierhoff won first prize and Marwan Abi-Antoun won third prize.
- Anne R. Humphreys, a faculty member at the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), died Tuesday, Dec. 2, after battling breast cancer for nearly a decade. She was 45. Humphreys received two master's degrees from Carnegie Mellon - one in professional writing in 1994 and one in communication planning and design in 1996. She joined the technical staff of the Learning Systems Architecture Lab, becoming co-director in 2000 until she joined the ETC in April 2006. A memorial service will be held Sunday, Dec. 21 at 1 p.m. at Old St. Luke's Church, 330 Old Washington Pike, Carnegie, Pa. To view the Post-Gazette's obituary, visit http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08339/932585-122.stm.
- Carnegie Mellon's Ronald D. (Shawn) Blanton has been named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for his contributions to the testing of micromechanical systems and integrated circuits. "It is both an honor and a privilege to be named to such a prestigious group of peers," said Blanton, a professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and director of the Center For Silicon Systems Implementation (CSSI). Pradeep K. Khosla, dean of the College of Engineering, said the honor is bestowed upon a limited number of IEEE members who have made important contributions to electrical and information technologies and sciences, and for the benefit of humanity and the profession.
Calendar Highlights
- Tuesday, December 16: Playground of the Future lecture. Noon, Schenley Park Cafe and Visitor's Center. This lecture is free and open to the public, and is intended to begin a discussion about the future of playgrounds in Pittsburgh. The Playground of the Future is a master's student project at the Entertainment Technology Center. For more: http://www.etc.cmu.edu/global_news/?q=node/217
- Wednesday, Dec. 17: Basketball doubleheader. 6 and 8 p.m., Skibo Gymnasium. The Tartans take on LaRoche College in men's and women's hoops. The men, 7-0, are ranked 13th in NCAA Division III.
- For more events, visit http://my.cmu.edu/site/events.
