Personal Mention
Brian Junker has been selected as a 2014 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow for his notable and sustained research achievements in applications of statistics in education research, psychology and the social sciences. Junker, one of 22 scholars honored this year, will be inducted on Friday, April 4 at the AERA annual meeting in Philadelphia. Junker is a professor of statistics and associate dean for academic affairs for the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Learn more about Junker.
Andrew J. Gellman, the Lord Professor of Chemical Engineering and co-director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, will be giving the invited presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Michigan Catalysis Society on May 8. Gellman's talk is titled “Alloy Catalysis Across Composition Space.”
EPP and ECE Distinguished Service Professor Alex Hills will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage at its May 4 commencement ceremony. The honorary degree is being conferred in recognition of his "passion for empowering students and improving the lives of those in impoverished areas of the world." Hills is deeply involved in Carnegie Mellon's Technology Consulting in the Global Community program, a collaborative effort of the Heinz College and Dietrich College in which he volunteers to advise students working in developing nations and serves as senior adviser to program director Joseph Mertz. Learn more about Hills.
English Professor Kathy Newman wrote an opinion piece for the Boston Globe titled “The LEGO Movie may be anti-business but kids need to hear it.” In the piece, Newman concludes, “Indeed, it may be true that 'The LEGO Movie' and many other animated children’s films present a dim view of corporate America in order to champion creativity and play. But the main message our kids are getting from everywhere else is: Be quiet, sit still, and follow the rules. So if you want to raise real revolutionaries — truly innovative, creative individuals who will grow up to be confident, happy, healthy adults — open the door, shoo the kids outside (and away from the LEGOs), and tell them, 'Play well.'" Read her commentary.
Tom Shen, a sophomore majoring in computer science, has been selected as a 2014 KPCB Engineering Fellow and will spend his summer fellowship working at upthere, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based cloud technology startup whose employees were verteran engineers at companies such as Apple, Google, Oracle and Microsoft. The KPCB Fellows Program offers outstanding students from across the country an opportunity to gain significant experience working on uniquely challenging technical, design and product problems while also developing new relationships that are meaningful to their careers. In addition, fellows attend private events hosted by portfolio companies where they meet talented engineering and design luminaries from across Silicon Valley. Shen was one of 52 fellows selected from nearly 2,500 applicants from more than 200 universities. Learn more about the KPCB fellows program.
Justine Cassell, the Charles M. Geschke Director of the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, and Tom Mitchell, head of the Machine Learning Department, were recently on the “Our Region’s Business” television program hosted by Bill Flanagan of the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Cassell and Mitchell discussed the “InMind Project,” a partnership between CMU and Yahoo aimed at improving the user experience with mobile technologies. Yahoo and CMU announced the $10 million partnership this past February. Learn more about the project. Watch the “Our Region’s Business” episode.