Lectures & Events
Statistics & Data Science Seminar: Data Denoising for Single-cell RNA Sequencing
Monday, Feb. 18, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., Hamerschlag Hall B-103
Speaker: Jingshu Wang, Wharton Statistics Department, University of Pennsylvania
Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) measures gene expression levels in every single cell, which is a ground-breaking technology over microarrays and bulk RNA sequencing and reshapes the field of biology. Though the technology is exciting, scRNA-seq data is very noisy and often too noisy for signal detection and robust analysis. In the talk, Wang will discuss how we perform data denoising by learning across similar genes and borrowing information from external public datasets to improve the quality of downstream analysis.
Refreshments: 4 to 4:30 p.m., outside Baker Hall 232M
KPMG - Data & Analytics Info Session
Monday, Feb. 18. 6 to 8 p.m., Posner Hall, Room 152
You are invited to learn more! Please join us to meet our professionals and learn about our exciting Data & Analytics career opportunities here at KPMG!
New NETL Director Brian Anderson on Fueling America’s Energy Generation
Tuesday, Feb.19, 12 to 1:20 p.m., Marquis Conference Room, Scott Hall 5201
The 2019 Distinguished Lecture Series hosted by Carnegie Mellon University's Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation continues with a talk by the new Director of the National Energy Technology Laboratory, Brian Anderson, who will speak about his role and the future of the U.S. Department of Energy lab.
Lunch will be available at 11:45 a.m. Registration is free.
Diversity Talk Series: Multiracial Experience
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 12 to 1 p.m., Cohon University Center, Rangos 1
Facilitated by Dr. Christie Lewis, Chatham University
Art Lecture: Thaddeus Mosley with Naomi Chambers
Tuesday, Feb. 19, 6:30 to 8 p.m., McConomy Auditorium, Cohon University Center
Thaddeus Mosley’s towering, hand-carved, wood sculptures often seem to defy gravity with sensual, cantilevered shapes. A fixture of Pittsburgh’s artistic and cultural life for more than 50 years, he has had solo exhibitions at the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Mattress Factory. His public works can be found around the city including at the Pittsburgh International Airport and outside the Martin Luther King Jr. Library in the Hill District. Mosley will be in conversation with Pittsburgh artist Naomi Chambers, who is the co-creator of FlowerHouse, a community art studio and creative space in Wilkinsburg.
Statistics & Data Science Seminar: Mendelian Randomization: A Comprehensive Statistical Approach and Applications to Preventing Heart Disease
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., B-103 Hamerschlag Hall
Speaker: Qingyuan Zhao, Statistics Department, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Mendelian randomization (MR) can give unbiased estimate of a confounded causal effect by using genetic variants as instrumental variables. The summary-data MR design is rapidly gaining popularity in practice due to the increasing availability of large-scale genome-wide association studies. As we are entering the "MR of every risk factor on every disease outcome" era, existing statistical methods still have several major limitations and lack theoretical grounding. In this talk, Zhao will present a comprehensive statistical approach to overcome the challenges.
This talk is based on joint work with Jingshu Wang, Nancy Zhang, Dylan Small (University of Pennsylvania); Jack Bowden, Gibran Hemani, George Davey Smith (University of Bristol); Yang Chen (University of Michigan).
Refreshments: 4 to 4:30 p.m., outside Baker Hall 232M
Understanding and Countering Russian Social Media Influence
Wednesday, Feb. 20, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Tepper Quad, Simmons Auditorium Side A
The Center for International Relations and Politics (CIRP) presents Elizabeth Bodine-Baron, an engineer specializing in complex networks and systems at the RAND Corporation. She is the associate director of the Force Modernization and Employment Program in Project Air Force and co-directs the RAND Center for Applied Network Analysis and System Science.
Teaching Writing and Communication @ CMU
Thursday, Feb. 21, 12 to 1:20 p.m., Baker Hall 255B (Swank Room)
Join the Department of English for the fourth event in this series for all CMU faculty, staff and instructors interested in building stronger community through teaching writing. This week’s roundtable will include will include a panel of key people from throughout CMU discussing the topic of the first year writing and communication experience.
This series is co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Education.
Creative Arts Career Fair
Thursday, Feb. 21, 2:30 to 6 p.m., Wiegand Gymnasium
Search this fair in Handshake to review employer opportunities. Positions include full-time and internship roles within public relations, consumer research, program coordinator, data analysis, product design, UX/UI, consumer experience and more.
Ruins and Glory: The Long Spanish Civil War in Latin America
Thursday, Feb. 21, 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Tepper Quad, Simmons Auditorium Side A
Kirsten Weld, award-winning author and associate professor at Harvard University, will give a talk based on her new book project: "The Spanish Civil War's Impact and Legacies in Latin America."
Sponsored by: Carnegie Mellon's Global Studies Program, Department of History, Department of Modern Languages and the University of Pittsburgh's Department of History and Global Studies Center
Modern Languages Anniversary Symposium: Communicating Across Cultures
Friday, Feb. 22, 10 a.m to 4:15 p.m., Cohon University Center
Please join us for a faculty and student research symposium celebrating 100 years of Modern Languages at Carnegie Mellon University.
Visit the Anniversary Symposium website for a detailed schedule of events. We hope you’ll join us for the panel presentations and discussions throughout the day when your time permits, and also stop by to connect with students during the poster session after lunch. Those interested in attending the lunch from 12:15 to 1 p.m. should RSVP here no later than Monday, Feb. 18.
The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations and Reconciliation after the Genome
Friday, Feb. 22, 12 to 1:30 p.m., Heinz College, Hamburg Hall, Room A-301
Join us for a discussion with Alondra Nelson about her book, "The Social Life of DNA," as she discusses genetic genealogy and its potential for addressing social issues around race, including grappling with the unfinished business of slavery, establishing ties with African ancestral homelands and making legal claims for slavery reparations.
Alondra Nelson is president of the Social Science Research Council and professor of sociology at Columbia University.
CMU International Film Festival Presents: Woman At War
Friday, Feb. 22, 6:30 p.m., Cohon University Center, McConomy Auditorium
The preview event for the 2019 Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival features the award-winning film “Woman at War.” The film follows the story of Halla, a 50-year-old independent woman. Behind the scenes of a quiet routine, Halla leads a double life as a passionate environmental activist. Known to others only by her alias “The Woman of the Mountain,” Halla secretly wages a one-woman-war on the local aluminum industry. But right as she begins planning her biggest and boldest operation yet, she receives an unexpected letter that changes everything. This event is co-presented by CMU’s Sustainable Earth. Tickets are $10, or $5 for students and seniors.
Behavioral Science at a Corporate Lab
Monday, Feb. 25, 1:30 to 2:50 p.m., Wean Hall 4625
Maarten Bos, senior research scientist at Snap Inc. and former researcher at Disney, will be discussing his research and how students can get involved with Snap Inc. after graduation. Bos looks forward to answering student questions about behavioral science and Snap Inc.'s organizational culture and recruitment process.
Executive Forum Presentation: Lessons from My Career Journey
Monday, Feb. 25, 4:30 p.m., Simmons Auditorium A, Tepper Building
Karyn Schoenbart is the chief executive officer of the NPD Group, one of the largest market research companies in the world. With more than 30 years of experience in market research, Schoenbart oversees the group’s Commercial Practices, Product, IT and Operations divisions. Schoenbart is an expert in identifying and developing new business opportunities and client partnerships. Author of the bestseller “Mom.B.A.: Essential Business Advice from One Generation to the Next,” she will share key insights on networking strategies, lessons in leadership, skill-building and developing global expertise.
Presented by CMU’s University Lecture Series.
Diversity Talk Series: Anti-Semitism
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 12 to 1 p.m., Location TBA
Facilitated by Alex Zissman from the Edward and Rose Berman Hillel Jewish University Center of Pittsburgh.
Art Lecture: Lenka Clayton & Jon Rubin
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 6:30 to 8 p.m., Kresge Theatre, College of Fine Arts
Both Lenka Clayton and Jon Rubin are known for their extensive work in social practice and public engagement. Rubin’s interventions into public life reimagine individual, group, and institutional behavior, while Clayton’s work considers, exaggerates, and alters the accepted rules of everyday life. Their previous collaboration “…circle through New York” launched the Guggenheim Museum’s new social practice initiative in 2017. Clayton’s work has been exhibited at MoMA, Crystal Bridges, and Kunstmuseum Linz in Austria. Rubin’s work has been exhibited at SFMOMA, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver and in the Shanghai Biennial.
CIRP Policy Forum Presents: Colonel Liam Collins - Russian Hybrid War, Ukraine, and US Policy
Wednesday, Feb. 27, 4:45 to 5:45 p.m., Baker Hall A51 (Giant Eagle Auditorium)
Colonel Liam Collins, Ph.D. will discuss US Russian hybrid war in Ukraine, US policy and ways to counter Russian aggression. Colonel Collins has conducted multiple visits to Ukraine as the executive officer for General (ret.) John Abizaid in his Secretary of Defense Role as the Senior Defense advisor to Ukraine. He planned and executed dozens of meetings with senior Ukraine officials including their President, Minister of Defense and Chief of Defense to help reform Ukraine's defense establishment to produce a more capable force that meets western norms and NATO standards. In the United States, he planned and executed dozens of meetings with DoS, DoD, NSC and HASC officials to include Secretary Mattis and National Security Advisor McMaster to inform and shape US policy.
Movies, Narrative and Emotions
Thursday, Feb. 28, 4:30 p.m., Porter Hall 100
Professor Noël Carroll will discuss how in movies — including film and television — narrative structure is coordinated with the arousal of emotion. Special emphasis will be placed on the processes of eliciting sympathy for protagonists and antipathy for antagonists.
Carroll will also speak at City of Asylum on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. His talk, "Sex and the City,” will discuss the theme of consumerism in the series and the moral problems that it raises, especially in terms of the way in which it encourages viewers to shrug them off. The talk is free, but please RSVP.
Carroll is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is one of the world’s leading philosophers of art, and is especially known for his work on film, including the highly influential Mystifying Movies: Fads and Fallacies in Contemporary Film Theory.
Philosophy Colloquium: Hannah Rubin, University of Notre Dame
Thursday, Feb. 28, 4:30 to 5:45 p.m., Baker Hall A53 (Steinberg Auditorium)
While there are many important similarities between evolution in biology and in economics, we should be careful when importing ideas from one evolutionary context to the other. This talk will discuss a case where lack of carefulness has been especially problematic. In particular, Rubin will argue that bringing in ideas from economics (i.e. treating organisms as agents) in explaining the concept of relatedness (as how much an organism ‘values’ its social partner) has led to two major problems within inclusive fitness theory. First, thinking of relatedness as how much an organism cares about its social partner perpetuates reliance on an unreliable heuristic method of estimating inclusive fitness, often called the “simple weighted sum”. Second, thinking of relatedness in this way has led to erroneous claims that inclusive fitness fills an essential role in evolutionary theory, in allowing us to view organisms as ‘trying’ to maximize their fitness.
University Libraries Speaker Series: Craig Baldwin
Thursday, Feb. 28, 7 to 9 p.m., IDeATe Studio A, Hunt Library
At this Fair Use/Fair Dealing Week event, hear filmmaker, artist and curator Craig Baldwin speak about “orphan works,” copyrighted materials that no longer have an owner or sponsorship, thereby falling into the public domain or becoming obsolete. In his Orphan Morphin' presentation, Baldwin “surfs the wave of obsolescence” using spoken word, graphics and motion picture clips to advocate for the radical re-working of marginalized film material in the forms of collage, compilation-doc and speculative fiction.
Craig Baldwin is a filmmaker, artist and curator from San Francisco, whose creative interests involve the re-purposing and remixing of found imagery. He is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including those from the Rockefeller Foundation, Alpert Award, Creative Capital, Phelan, American Film Institute, Film Arts Foundation and California Arts Council.
This event open to the public and there is no charge for admission.
Check the Dietrich College calendar for upcoming events.
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2017 Year In Review
