May 15, 2008
Vol. 18, No. 41
In this issue:
Commencement Is Sunday, May 18; Al Gore To Give Keynote Address
Former U.S. Vice President and 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore will speak at Carnegie Mellon's 111th commencement ceremony at 11 a.m., Sunday, May 18 in Gesling Stadium, where some 2,200 degrees will be conferred. Gore is the author of the bestsellers "Earth in the Balance" and "An Inconvenient Truth," which was the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary that detailed the devastating effects of global warming. He is the co-winner, with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for "informing the world of the dangers posed by climate change." Carnegie Mellon Engineering and Public Policy Professor Ed Rubin was a member of that panel. Gore, who will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Carnegie Mellon, will join five other honorary degree recipients.
Norman R. Augustine, former president and CEO of Martin-Marietta and Lockheed Martin and chair of the National Academies Committee that produced the influential report "Rising Above the Gathering Storm," will receive an honorary doctorate in public policy. Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, will receive an honorary doctorate in science and technology. He will be the speaker for diploma ceremonies at the Tepper School of Business on Saturday and the School of Computer Science on Sunday. Elizabeth Catlett, a famed artist and sculptor whose works are exhibited in the world's most important arts museums, will receive an honorary doctorate of fine arts. Suh Nam Pyo, president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and an alumnus of Carnegie Mellon, will receive an honorary doctorate in science and technology. Patrick Colonel Suppes, the Lucie Stern Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Stanford University who is known for his contributions to many scientific fields, will receive an honorary doctorate in science and technology.
The student speaker is biological sciences major Betty Mbom. In her speech, "Lift as We Climb," she will reflect on her own life at Carnegie Mellon. A mentor to local high school students, Mbom is the founder of a support program for first-year minority students called Coaching Minority Progress and Academic Success in Science (COMPASS).
For more, including a Webcast of the ceremony, visit: http://www.cmu.edu/about/commencement/index.shtml
Catlett's Work On Display At The Miller Gallery, May 17–18
The work of honorary degree recipient Elizabeth Catlett will be featured at the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, Saturday and Sunday, May 17-18. More than two dozen of Catlett's lithographs, serigraphs and bronze sculptures will be on display from 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days. In addition, a 26-minute video interview with Catlett, called "Sculpting the Truth," will be shown at the gallery through May 31.
Catlett's body of work, which spans seven decades, expresses her dedication to social justice, especially the rights of minorities and women. Described as "the foremost African American woman artist of her generation," she is known for her abstract sculpture in bronze and marble as well as prints and paintings, and is unique for distilling African American, Native American and Mexican art in her work.
SCS Launches Web Site For "Games With A Purpose"
The School of Computer Science recently launched a new site with multi-player online games designed to be fun while giving players a chance to make computers smarter. In addition to Luis von Ahn, an assistant professor in the Computer Science Department, gwap.com and the games have been developed by software engineers Mike Crawford and Edison Tan, and graduate students Severin Hacker, Edith Law and Bryant Lee. "We have games that can help improve Internet image and audio searches, enhance artificial intelligence and teach computers to see," von Ahn said. The site initially features four new games and a classic called the ESP Game, with three more to be added in the coming months.
For more: http://www.cmu.edu/news/archive/2008/May/may14_gameswithapurpose.shtml
Staff Picnic Is Wednesday, May 21 In University Center
Carnegie Mellon's annual free Staff Picnic, hosted by President Jared L. Cohon and Provost and Senior Vice President Mark Kamlet in recognition of staff contributions to the university, will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the University Center's Wiegand Gym and Rangos Hall. Picnic-goers must present a valid Carnegie Mellon Staff ID. Shuttle transportation will be provided from off-campus locations to and from the University Center turnaround.
For more on the shuttles, visit: http://www.cmu.edu/news/weekly/2008/May/may-8.shtml#article4
News Briefs
- The current Carnegie Mellon Factbook is now available online at http://www.cmu.edu/ira. The book is published annually by Institutional Research & Analysis.
- The University Libraries invite members of the campus community to nominate library faculty or staff members for Excellence in 2007-08. Award categories are customer satisfaction, productivity, library citizenship, forwarding instruction and research, and innovation. Nominations are due by May 27.
For more details and a nomination form, visit: http://www.library.cmu.edu/Libraries
Personal Mention
- Computer Science Professor Randy Pausch has been named to TIME Magazine's 2008 list of the world's 100 most influential people. His book, "The Last Lecture," co-written by Carnegie Mellon alumnus Jeff Zaslow of the Wall Street Journal is now a New York Times bestseller.
- Harry Faulk, former associate dean and professor of education policy at the Heinz School, died May 5. He was 87. Faulk developed the highly successful Master of Public Management program and founded the College Management Program, the Senior Executive Seminar and the Wright Patterson Executive Program. He also helped to introduce the Master of Science in Health Care Policy and Management, and the Master of Science in Educational Technology Management programs. Memorial contributions may be made to the Harry Faulk MPM Scholarship Fund, Carnegie Mellon University, Six PPG Place 11th Floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222, Attn: Sharon King. For more: http://www.heinz.cmu.edu/whatsnew/archives/2008/remembering-harry-faulk.html
- Edmund M. Clarke, the FORE Systems Professor of Computer Science, is the recipient of this year's Herbrand Award for Distinguished Contributions to Automated Reasoning from the International Conference on Automated Deduction. Earlier this year, Clarke received the prestigious Turing Award from the Association for Computing Machinery for his pioneering work on Model Checking, an automated method for finding design errors in computer hardware and software.
- Alexei Efros, assistant professor of computer science and robotics, was named a 2008 Fellow by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to extend his research enabling computers to infer geometric context, light properties and meaning from images.
- Google Inc. has named Amy Hurst, a Ph.D. student in human-computer interaction, and Jennifer Denise Tam, a Ph.D. student in computer science, 2008 Anita Borg Memorial Scholars. They are among 23 outstanding U.S. female leaders in technology who each will receive $10,000 scholarships. Five other students in the School of Computer Science and one student from the Information Networking Institute were recognized among 32 U.S. Anita Borg finalists and will receive $1,000 scholarships. The SCS students are Eakta Jain, a Ph.D. student in robotics; Greeta Sharad Shroff, an undergraduate in computer science; Kriti Rameshlal Puniyani, a Ph.D. student in language technologies; Lisa Deanne Brown, a master's student in entertainment technology; and Ruth Lorraine Wylie, a Ph.D. student in human-computer interaction. Aditi Suhas Pendharkar, an INI student pursuing a master's in information technology, also was a finalist. The scholarships honor the work of Borg, a computer scientist dedicated to increasing the participation of women and minorities who are under-represented in technology fields.
Calendar Highlights
- Through June 29: The Hunt Institute is exhibiting selections from its large collection of botanical watercolors by early 19th-century British naturalist Edward Donovan. Created from 1823 to 1830, they depict exotic plants introduced to the British Isles. 9 a.m.-noon, 1-5 p.m., Monday through Friday, 1-4 p.m., Sunday, fifth floor, Hunt Library. For more: http://huntbot.andrew.cmu.edu/HIBD/Exhibitions/Exhibitions.shtml
- July 7-11: Ultimate Frisbee camp for girls and boys between the ages of 7 and 13. The program immerses children in a fascinating series of physical, mental, and teamwork-related challenges, while reinforcing sportsmanship. For more: http://www.campsog.com or call Andy Norman at 412-805-8056.
- For more news and events, visit http://my.cmu.edu/site/events/
