Carnegie Mellon University

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October 10, 2013

Personal Mention

Carnegie Mellon President Subra Suresh and six other university presidents in Pennsylvania co-authored an op-ed in the Harrisburg Patriot-News this week in support of manufacturing initiatives in the state. They said they are "pursuing an unprecedented collaboration: seven universities with a single vision for reinvigorating our manufacturing industry through science, engineering and innovation. Our goal is to support the entrepreneurial efforts that will make Pennsylvania a manufacturing powerhouse, and in doing so, create high-wage jobs." Read the op-ed.

Michael E. McHenry is the recipient of the prestigious 2014 TMS (The Minerals, Metals and Materials Society) Award for research excellence in electronic, magnetic and photonic materials research. The award will be presented February 16-20, 2014, during the 143rd TMS Conference in San Diego. For more than a decade, McHenry has been developing new materials, processes and unique designs for high-frequency switching applications. Most recently, he also is developing new materials and processes for improving the efficiency of power transformation. The work is expected to impact the economic success of America's manufacturing sector, while enabling new power and energy applications. Read the full announcement.

University Professor of Composition Leonardo Balada will have his “Sinfonia en Negro-Homage to Martin Luther King” performed by the Spanish Radio TV Symphony Orchestra on Oct. 17-18 in Madrid. The performances will be televised on Spanish TV and broadcast on Classical Radio throughout Europe. This symphony was commissioned and premiered by the Spanish Radio TV Symphony Orchestra in Madrid in 1969. It was recorded by the same orchestra and subsequently released by Albany Records-Troy 474. Later the orchestra took the symphony on tour to the U.S., including Carnegie Hall and Kennedy Center, and to Mexico. The U.S. premiere was given by the New Orleans Philharmonic, conducted by Werner Torkanowsky, a conductor who later was to become the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic music director.

Assistant Professor of Musicology Robert Fallon presented two papers in England last week. At the Eighth Biennial International Conference on Music Since 1900 at Liverpool Hope University, he contributed to a plenary session with his study "The Canonization of Messiaen." A week later, as part of the Royal Musicological Society's Annual Conference at the University of London, he delivered a paper called "Messiaen's Gothic Polyphony" that explores 13th-century sources for the isorhythms found in the Quartet for the End of Time. Both papers were part of panels devoted to Messiaen by scholars from England, France and the United States.

Emma Steele (A'12) former student of violin professor Cyrus Forough, has accepted a concertmaster position in the Royal Danish Opera Orchestra. She was previously concertmaster of the CMU Philharmonic Orchestra, the Encore Chamber Orchestra and the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra. Steele placed second in the 2012 Irving M. Klein International String Competition and was a finalist and received the Young Talent Prize at the Sibelius International Violin Competition. Her first place awards include the Society of American Musicians Young Artist Division, the Musicians Club of Women, and the Union League Civic and Arts Foundation competition.