Personal Mention

Provost and Executive Vice President Mark S. Kamlet and Tepper School of Business Professor Jay Apt have been named American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Fellows. Fellows are elected by their peers in recognition of the recipients' distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications. Kamlet, a professor of economics and public policy, is being honored for his "distinguished contributions to the economic analysis of health interventions, budgetary policy analysis and as provost of CMU." Apt, a former astronaut who is director of CMU's Electricity Industry Center, is being recognized for his "distinguished contributions to observation of Earth from space, and to building a cleaner and more efficient energy future." Read more.

Metin Sitti, director of CMU's NanoRobotics Lab and a professor of mechanical engineering, has been named a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for outstanding contributions to micro- and nano-scale robotic systems, which can be used to benefit health care and national security. The IEEE is the world's largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. Read more. 

José M.F. Moura, director of the Carnegie Mellon/Portugal program and a University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering, has been awarded the Philip and Marsha Dowd Professorship of Engineering in recognition of his leadership and research contributions. Moura's research has focused on several areas, including biomedical MRI and detectors to recover bits recorded in high-density computer disks, or video compression. His research group has developed technology that has been licensed by several companies. "Marsha and I view people like Jose as superheroes. He is quiet and mild-mannered, and yet he is changing the face of higher education in Portugal," said Philip Dowd, a CMU trustee. Read more.

School of Design Associate Professor Mark Baskinger has launched a new book, titled "Drawing Ideas: A Hand-Drawn Approach for Better Design,” published by Watson-Guptill. Baskinger earned his bachelor’s degree in fine arts from CMU’s School of Design in 1996. His co-author, William Bardel, also graduated from the School of Design with a master's degree in 2001. The book has been called "a primer for thinking, reasoning and visually exploring concepts to create compelling products, communications and services." Read more.

Barry Luokkala, teaching professor of physics, recently published a book titled "Exploring Science Through Science Fiction." The book is designed as the text for a college-level course, which should appeal to students in the fine arts and humanities, as well as to science and engineering students.  It includes references to original research papers, landmark scientific publications and technical documents, as well as a broad range of science literature at a more popular level.  With more than 180 references to specific scenes in 130 sci-fi movies and TV episodes spanning more than 100 years of cinematic history, it should be an enjoyable read for anyone with an interest in science and science fiction.

Jimmy Zhu, the ABB Professor of Engineering and head of CMU's Data Storage Systems Center, is leading a new collaborative research center between Carnegie Mellon and Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU) in China. The Joint Institute of Engineering will focus on big data, medical applications, the smart power grid, autonomous driving, nano devices and embedded systems security. Read more.

Kathryn Roeder, professor of statistics, was part of a research team that pinpointed which cell types and regions of the developing human brain are affected by gene mutations linked to autism. Roeder, a world-renowned expert on statistical genomics and the genetic base of complex disease with an emphasis on autism, looked for unusual clustering of a targeted list of autism genes in a map of the brain. The map was determined by BrainSpan, a digital atlas of where genes are expressed in the human brain over the lifespan. Read more.

Rich Erdelyi, offensive coordinator for Carnegie Mellon's football team and head men's golf coach, has announced his retirement after 29 years at the university, effective June 30. Erdelyi has been instrumental in the Tartans’ success on the football field, including eight University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships, two Presidents’ Athletic Conference Championships, and three NCAA post-season appearances. As the golf coach, Erdelyi led the team to its first-ever NCAA appearance in 2009. Read more.

Sheikha Amna bint Abdulaziz bin Jassim Al-Thani, a Carnegie Mellon Qatar business administration graduate, was recently appointed director of the National Museum of Qatar. She is charged with providing curatorial and managerial leadership, as well as supervising educational initiatives, special exhibitions and conferences, and public programs. Al-Thani has served as acting director of the museum since last December. After earning her bachelor’s degree in business from CMU-Q she obtained a master’s degree in sociology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Read more.

Faculty and students were recognized with a number of top research awards at Qatar Foundation’s Annual Research Forum, Nov. 24-25, at the Qatar National Convention Centre.
 Khaled Harras, associate professor of computer science, won the best oral presentation in the Computing and Information Technology category, and Dudley Reynolds, teaching professor of English, received the best poster award in the Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities category. Students and recent graduates also excelled in the student category. Read the full story.