June 19, 2008
Vol. 18, No. 46
In this issue:
GM, Carnegie Mellon Announce New Autonomous Driving Lab
General Motors Corp. and Carnegie Mellon today announced a new Collaborative Research Lab (CRL) and a renewed commitment to work jointly on technologies that will accelerate the emerging field of autonomous driving. As an extension of GM's Global Research & Development network, the GM-Carnegie Mellon Autonomous Driving Collaborative Research Lab is being established under the terms of a five-year, $5 million agreement.
"Research in this new lab will focus on creating and maturing the underlying technologies required to build the autonomous vehicle of the future," said Raj Rajkumar, Carnegie Mellon professor of electrical and computer engineering and co-director of the new CRL. "Autonomous vehicles will change the face of transportation by reducing deaths and injuries from automobile accidents and increasing the convenience and comfort of vehicles."
For more: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/June/june19_gmautonomousdriving.shtml
Nobel Winner Ed Rubin Encourages Congress to Approve Legislation
Professor
Edward S. Rubin is urging Congress to approve newly proposed legislation designed to fund pioneering technologies that can trap and store carbon dioxide emissions deep underground - a vital measure needed to control global climate change. Introduced June 12 by U.S. Rep.
Rick Boucher (D-VA) and 14 co-sponsors, the legislation would establish a $1 billion annual fund, derived from fees on the generation of electricity from coal, oil and natural gas. Grants from the fund would be awarded to large-scale projects advancing the commercial availability of carbon sequestration technology. Rubin, the Alumni Professor of Environmental Engineering and Science in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, estimates the cost of funding this program would add just one or two cents a day to the average residential electricity bill. He believes that "the benefits from the program will far outweigh this small cost."
For more:
http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/June/june13_edrubin.shtml
Researchers Develop System to Identify Location of Photos
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon have devised the first computerized method that can analyze a single photograph and determine where in the world the image likely was taken. The IM2GPS algorithm developed by computer science graduate student
James Hays and
Alexei A. Efros, assistant professor of computer science and robotics, analyzes the composition of the photo, notes how textures and colors are distributed and records the number and orientation of lines in the photo. It then searches the Flickr online photo collection for photos that are similar in appearance. Identifying the locale of a photo could enhance image search techniques, making them less dependent on captions or associated text. Hays and Efros found they could accurately geolocate the images within 200 kilometers for 16 percent of more than 200 photos in their test set - up to 30 times better than chance.
For more:
http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/June/june18_geolocation.shtml
School of Architecture Receives Grant to Endow Directorship
The School of Architecture has received a $2 million grant from The Heinz Endowments with $1.5 million of the award going to create an endowment for the directorship in urban design and regional engagement. The position will be named for masterful designer
David Lewis, distinguished professor emeritus of urban design in the School of Architecture. The remaining $500,000 of the grant will help to implement a program to increase the participation of underrepresented groups in the profession of urban design. The David Lewis Directorship of Urban Design and Regional Engagement will lead the Remaking Cities Institute
TM, which was recently created to augment the impact of Carnegie Mellon's legendary Urban Laboratory
TM, which uses faculty and student expertise to address urban-development issues in the Pittsburgh region. The establishment of this endowed position creates a permanent tribute to Lewis and his work while providing a lasting university model that enables individuals to conduct research, participate in teaching and engage in community service.
For more:
http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/June/june16_heinzendowment.shtml
News Briefs
- Engineering students will compete in the 15th World Championships of Solar/Electric Boating June 18 - 22 in Fayetteville, Ark. The competition, also known as the "Solar Splash," is the only international intercollegiate solar electric boat race that pits engineering students' home-built boats against one another. For more: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/June/june13_solarboat.shtml
- Carnegie Mellon researchers are hosting the 38th Annual IEEE/IFIP International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN) June 24 - 27 in Anchorage, Ala. The DSN is the premier international conference in the area of dependable computing, and will attract 250 attendees from around the world. Organizers from Carnegie Mellon include General Chair Philip Koopman, Honorary General Chair Dan Siewiorek, Finance Chair Chuck Weinstock, Publications Chair Babak Falsafi, Paper Submission Chair James Hoe, Local Arrangements Chair Tudor Dumitras, Fund-Raising Chair Priya Narasimhan, Registration Chair Jeff Hansen and Volunteer Coordinator Rajeev Gandhi. For more: http://dsn.org
- C-MITES will hold one-day workshops on the Carnegie Mellon campus July 27 - Aug. 10 for academically talented students entering kindergarten through 9th grade. C-MITES workshops provide an exciting mix of hands-on learning and social interaction. The cost is $54 for 3-hour workshops and $99 for 6-hour workshops. Financial aid is available for those who qualify. For more: 412-268-1629 or http://www.cmu.edu/cmites
Personal Mention
- Beth Jones, a longstanding, renowned and much beloved professor, researcher, mentor, leader, friend and colleague died Wednesday, June 11, following complications from surgery. Jones was a member of the Carnegie Mellon community since 1974, when she joined the faculty as an associate professor of biological sciences at the Mellon College of Science. In 2000, she was appointed Head of the Department of Biological Sciences, and the Dr. Frederick A. Schwertz Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences. In 2002, she was named a University Professor. For more: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/June/june13_bethjones.shtml
- Junior creative writing major Sally Mao and Joseph Remolona, a junior with a minor in creative writing, have been accepted at Kundiman, the Asian American Poetry Retreat, June 25 - 29 at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. For more: http://www.kundiman.org/%5BCLB%5D_Brightside/1.Source/retreat.html
- Youngsoo Kim, who recently completed the Ph.D. program at the Heinz School, is the winner of the 2008 William W. Cooper Doctoral Dissertation Award in Management or Management Science for his dissertation "Four Essays on IT-Mediated Phenomena: IT Knowledge Management, Mobile Telecommunication, and E-Commerce."
- Charles Palmer, a faculty member at the Entertainment Technology Center (ETC), has been named executive director of the Center for Advanced Entertainment and Learning Technologies at Harrisburg University. Palmer, a 2005 recipient of the Andy Award for Innovation, leaves Carnegie Mellon after 22 years of service. "This will be a new and exciting challenge for me and my family. ... Carnegie Mellon raised me and I'll miss this place. But I take with me a wealth of knowledge and experiences acquired from a phenomenal group of mentors and advisers," Palmer said.
- ETC-Pittsburgh Program Director Drew Davidson helped run the "Let the Games Begin: 101 Workshop on Making Social Issue Games" at the Games for Change Festival (G4C) June 2 at the Parsons New School of Design in New York City. While there, Davidson also was on the feedback and selection panel for the G4C game idea pitches, and participated in the Petlab Workshop.
- John Wesner, ETC adjunct professor, recently presented a seminar on "Safety in Product Development" to approximately 65 of Disney's safety and engineering people during the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Conference at Disneyworld in Kissimmee, Fla.
Calendar Highlights
