Carnegie Mellon University

The Piper

CMU Community News

Piper Logo
June 23, 2016

Personal Mention

Takeo KanadeThe Inamori Foundation has named Takeo Kanade, the U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor of Robotics and Computer Science, as the winner of the prestigious 2016 Kyoto Prize for Advanced Technology, citing his pioneering contributions to computer vision and robotics. The international award is presented to individuals who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of humankind. “I am most honored,” Kanade said following the announcement. “Since I came to CMU in 1980, soon after the Robotics Institute was founded, I have participated in and led many exciting projects. My students, colleagues and the environment at CMU made them happen. In fact, it may sound funny, but, honestly speaking, all I had was fun.” Learn more about Kanade.

Alessandro AcquistiA new paper by Alessandro Acquisti, professor of information technology and public policy at the Heinz College, has been published in the June 2016 edition of the American Economic Association’s Journal of Economic Literature. Acquisti and co-authors Curtis Taylor of Duke University and Liad Wagman of the Illinois Institute of Technology summarize and draw connections among diverse streams of theoretical and empirical research on the economics of privacy. The authors focus on the economic value and consequences of protecting and disclosing personal information, and on consumers' understanding and decisions regarding the trade-offs associated with the privacy and the sharing of personal data. Read the paper.

Ting ShihAlumna Ting Shih, CEO and founder of ClickMedix, received the Geneva Forum for Health Award, sponsored by McKinsey and Company, May 23. The award recognizes her critical role in providing innovative solutions through technology to virtually connect physicians and patients. ClickMedix provides an innovative mobile health (mHealth) platform that connects health service providers, reduces cost of service delivery, and optimally utilizes tiers of existing health system for patient care. Shih and ClickMedix were featured in a fall 2012 cmu.edu story. Shih earned her bachelor's degree in computer science and a master's degree at the Heinz College. Learn more about ClickMedix.

Rob KassA team of statisticians including CMU’s Robert E. Kass wrote “Ten Simple Rules for Effective Statistical Practice.” Published in PLOS Computational Biology for the journal’s popular “Ten Simple Rules” series, the guidelines are designed to help the research community — particularly scientists who aren’t statistical experts or without a dedicated statistician as part of their team — understand how to avoid the pitfalls of well-intended, but inaccurate statistical reasoning. “A central and common task for us as research investigators is to decipher what data are able to say about the problems we are trying to solve,” wrote Kass, professor of statistics and machine learning and interim co-director of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, and his co-authors. “Statistics is a language constructed to assist this process, with probability as its grammar.” See the 10 simple rules.

Jane BernsteinEnglish Professor Jane Bernstein wrote an essay for Broadly arguing against the proposed closure of “sheltered workshops” for individuals with disabilities. Though government officials view separate worksites as a civil rights violation under the Americans with Disabilities Act, Bernstein believes her daughter has gained fulfillment and a sense of purpose from her job. Read "Why Are People Trying to Take My Disabled Daughter's Job Away?”