Carnegie Mellon University

The Piper

CMU Community News

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April 11, 2013

Personal Mention

Aarti Singh, assistant professor of machine learning, has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation to develop computationally efficient and principled methods of extracting clusters and graphs from "big and dirty" data sets. The work could have major impact on applications that involve grouping similar variables and learning complex interactions between them, including those in neuroscience and health care. For instance, accurately mapping neural pathways will help diagnose and treat brain pathologies at an early stage, and help understand brain functioning. Likewise, clustering patients and discovering disease-spreading pathways based on few measurements of relevant genetic features or indicators could help prevent and cure diseases, and also minimize health care costs. The CAREER program offers the NSF's most prestigious awards for junior faculty. Read more.

Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor Diana Marculescu has been named a 2013-2014 fellow in the Executive Leadership in Academic Technology and Engineering (ELATE) program, a national leadership development program designed to advance senior women faculty in academic engineering, computer science and related fields into effective institutional leadership roles within their schools and universities. A program of Drexel University and Drexel University College of Medicine, ELATE is an intense full-year, part-time fellowship program tailored to the needs of faculty women in engineering and technology. Read more.

Christopher Bettinger, an assistant professor in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, and Jay Whitacre, a professor of materials science and engineering, are creating edible power sources for medical devices that can be taken orally using materials found in the daily diet.  "Our design involves flexible polymer electrodes and a sodium ion electrochemical cell, which allows us to fold the mechanism into an edible pill that encapsulates the device," Bettinger said. CMU researchers report that the edible device could be programmed and deployed in the gastrointestinal tract or the small intestine depending upon packaging. Once the battery packaging is in place, Bettinger's team would activate the battery. Read more.

Justin Cranshaw, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Institute for Software Research's Computation, Organizations and Society program, and Julian Shun, a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the Computer Science Department (CSD), are among a dozen Facebook Graduate Fellowship winners for 2013-2014. The fellowships support emerging research leaders who demonstrate potential to advance Facebook's mission of making the world more open and connected. Fellowships cover tuition and fees and provide a $30,000 stipend in addition to conference travel and other benefits. Read more about Cranshaw and Shun.