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Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Reading Harry Potter: Carnegie Mellon Researchers Identify Brain Regions That Encode Words, Grammar, Character Development

Researchers from CMU's Machine Learning Department performed fMRI scans of eight people as they read a chapter of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." They then analyzed the scans, cubic millimeter by cubic millimeter, for every four-word segment of that chapter. The result was the first integrated computational model of reading, identifying which parts of the brain are responsible for such subprocesses as parsing sentences, determining the meaning of words and understanding relationships between characters.
Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Carnegie Mellon's Miller Gallery Opens Armin Hofmann Exhibition, Sponsored by School of Design Through March 2015

During his many years as a teacher at institutions across the world, the legendary Swiss graphic designer accumulated a treasure-trove of experiences and findings on the subject of color. Following his retirement, he produced 20 silkscreen portfolios, each containing 12 compositions. The Miller exhibition will showcase one of Hofmann's portfolios, as well as 18 studies of the prints as a part of "Farbe / Color."
Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Carnegie Mellon's CoBot Robots Reach 1,000-Kilometer Milestone of Autonomous Operation

For three years, the CoBots have been navigating the corridors of Carnegie Mellon's Gates and Hillman centers and Newell-Simon Hall, running errands and guiding visitors without human supervision. "We have operated without a single incident," said CMU's Manuela Veloso. "They never went over a person's foot, never ran into a wall, never got confused by a glass window."
Carnegie Mellon Unveils Lunar Rover "Andy"
Monday, November 24, 2014

Carnegie Mellon Unveils Lunar Rover "Andy"

Andy is a four-wheeled robot designed to scramble up steep slopes and survive the temperature swings and high radiation encountered while exploring the moon's pits, caves and polar ice. The robot is Carnegie Mellon's contribution to an effort led by Pittsburgh's Astrobotic Technology to land a robot on the moon and win the $20 million-plus Google Lunar XPrize. While on the moon, Andy may explore lunar pits, giant, newly discovered, steep-sided holes created by the collapse of underground voids.
Go Behind the Scenes at Carnegie Mellon School of Art Open Studio, Dec. 5
Friday, November 21, 2014

Go Behind the Scenes at Carnegie Mellon School of Art Open Studio, Dec. 5

The seventh annual Open Studio from 5-10 p.m., Friday, Dec. 5, in the College of Fine Arts building will feature more than 50 undergraduate and graduate artist studios with work-in-progress spanning sculpture, painting, video, gaming, performance, interactive art and more.
Media Advisory: Carnegie Mellon To Unveil New Lunar Rover, "Andy"
Friday, November 21, 2014

Media Advisory: Carnegie Mellon To Unveil New Lunar Rover, "Andy"

Designed to scramble up steep slopes and survive the temperature swings and high radiation encountered while exploring the Moon's pits, caves and polar ice, Andy is CMU's contribution to an effort led by Pittsburgh's Astrobotic Technology to land a robot on the Moon and win the $20 million-plus Google Lunar XPrize. The unveiling takes place at 10 a.m., Monday, Nov. 24, in the Planetary Robotics Laboratory on the first floor of the Gates and Hillman Centers.
Carnegie Mellon's College of Engineering Marks 30th Birthday of Self-driving Car Technology
Thursday, November 20, 2014

Carnegie Mellon's College of Engineering Marks 30th Birthday of Self-driving Car Technology

"The evolution of AV technology at Carnegie Mellon is a remarkable success story that epitomizes how innovation advances when engineers, computer scientists and robotics researchers collaborate," said Farnam Jahanian, vice president for research at Carnegie Mellon. To date, CMU has filed more than 140 invention disclosures for AV technologies. At left is CMU's self-driving Cadillac SRX.
Carnegie Mellon Computer Scientist Mary Shaw Receives National Medal of Technology and Innovation
Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Carnegie Mellon Computer Scientist Mary Shaw Receives National Medal of Technology and Innovation

Shaw, the Alan J. Perlis University Professor of Computer Science in Carnegie Mellon University's Institute for Software Research, will receive the medal from President Barack Obama during a White House ceremony beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET on Thursday, Nov. 20.
Carnegie Mellon School of Music Renames Recording Studio in Recognition of Generous Gift From Nick and Kimi Vlahakis
Monday, November 17, 2014

Carnegie Mellon School of Music Renames Recording Studio in Recognition of Generous Gift From Nick and Kimi Vlahakis

Their two-part gift includes a substantial annual gift to support regular studio operations, and a planned gift of $1 million that will be used to help ensure the studio's effective operation in perpetuity, and to support undergraduate merit scholarships and operations in the School of Music.
Student-Developed Communication Device Aids People with Lou Gehrig's Disease
Monday, November 17, 2014

Student-Developed Communication Device Aids People with Lou Gehrig's Disease

Abhishek Sharma and Douglas Rew, master's degree students in software engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, developed iExpress, which enables people to communicate with their eyes via computer.
CMU Congratulates GE on Plans for New Manufacturing Facility
Wednesday, November 12, 2014

CMU Congratulates GE on Plans for New Manufacturing Facility

It's an exciting time, as more dynamic companies continue to gravitate toward CMU's and the region's excellent talent base in the science and technology fields. Over the past several years, CMU has attracted Google, Intel, Apple and Disney to the region.
CMU's School of Drama presents "Trojan Women: A Love Story" by Charles L. Mee, Directed by Jed Allen Harris
Monday, November 10, 2014

CMU's School of Drama presents "Trojan Women: A Love Story" by Charles L. Mee, Directed by Jed Allen Harris

This new adaptation of a Greek classic reflects the damage over 2,000 years of war has wrought on humanity since Euripides' original play. "Trojan Women: A Love Story" opens at the Philip Chosky Theater at 8 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 13, and runs through Nov. 22. To purchase tickets, call the box office at 412-268-2407 between noon and 5 p.m.
Media Advisory: Nalo Hopkinson to Present at Carnegie Mellon's Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Author Lecture Nov. 15
Friday, November 07, 2014

Media Advisory: Nalo Hopkinson to Present at Carnegie Mellon's Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Author Lecture Nov. 15

Hopkinson's lecture will be preceded by a young adult writing workshop with Caroline Carlson, author of "The Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates" series. Registration is required for the workshop only.
Princeton's Neta Bahcall Will Present Bennett-McWilliams Lecture in Cosmology on Nov. 11
Friday, November 07, 2014

Princeton's Neta Bahcall Will Present Bennett-McWilliams Lecture in Cosmology on Nov. 11

Bahcall will present her lecture titled "Lighting Up the Dark: Where is the Dark Matter?" at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 11 in the Gates-Hillman Center's Rashid Auditorium. She will discuss her work investigating how dark matter is distributed in the universe, and how the distribution of the mysterious dark matter relates to the distribution of light, stars and baryons. She will also discuss the implications her research has on other questions in cosmology, including how galaxies form.
Do Your Smartphone Apps Invade Your Privacy? Carnegie Mellon Offers an Online Report Card
Friday, November 07, 2014

Do Your Smartphone Apps Invade Your Privacy? Carnegie Mellon Offers an Online Report Card

The site assigns letter grades to more than one million free Android apps, ranging from an A+ for the puzzle game Lazors to a D for the Despicable Me: Minion Rush game. The grades are assigned automatically using a privacy model that the researchers developed based on the preference ratings of 725 users.
Computer Vision Expert Martial Hebert Named Director of Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute
Thursday, November 06, 2014

Computer Vision Expert Martial Hebert Named Director of Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute

As director of CMU's Robotics Institute, Hebert will lead the largest robotics education and research institution in the world, with an annual research budget of more than $54 million. Hebert succeeds Matthew Mason, who has led the institute for the last decade.
Professors Boatwright and Peña Earn Faculty Chairs at Carnegie Mellon
Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Professors Boatwright and Peña Earn Faculty Chairs at Carnegie Mellon

In recognition of their outstanding contributions, Peter Boatwright has received the Carnegie Bosch Professorship in Marketing and Javier Peña has received the Bajaj Family Chair in Operations Research.
Carnegie Mellon Project Uses “Provably Fair” Methods To Help People Split Rent, Divide Goods, Share Credit
Tuesday, November 04, 2014

Carnegie Mellon Project Uses “Provably Fair” Methods To Help People Split Rent, Divide Goods, Share Credit

Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon have created a new website, Spliddit.org, that employs the latest mathematical and theoretical approaches to offer solutions to everyday dilemmas, such as splitting rent fairly among roommates.
Carnegie Mellon To Host Hockey Analytics Workshop
Monday, November 03, 2014

Carnegie Mellon To Host Hockey Analytics Workshop

Hockey fans who want to learn more about the numbers behind hockey, including goals against average, points per game, save percentage, plus/minus ratio and average puck possession time, are invited to attend the conference from 11 a.m. - 5 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 8 in Doherty Hall 2315.
Carnegie Mellon's Alex Imas Wins CESifo Young Economist Award
Monday, November 03, 2014

Carnegie Mellon's Alex Imas Wins CESifo Young Economist Award

Imas, an assistant professor of social and decision sciences, won for his paper "The Realization Effect: Risk-Taking After Realized Versus Paper Losses," in which he explored how prior losses influence a person's subsequent risk attitudes.
Carnegie Mellon's Anna V. Fisher Wins James S. McDonnell Foundation Cognition Scholar Award
Monday, November 03, 2014

Carnegie Mellon's Anna V. Fisher Wins James S. McDonnell Foundation Cognition Scholar Award

Fisher, an associate professor of psychology, will use the six-year, $600,000 award to continue her research into the emergence of higher-order cognition in the course of child development.
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