News Briefs

• Just in time for the beach, the Universal Digital Library has donated six new Kindle readers to the University Libraries, and the library has loaded them with classic and popular fiction and non-fiction. You can check out a Kindle by showing your CMU ID at the Hunt Library, Engineering and Science Library or Mellon Institute Library circulation desks.
• Carnegie Mellon, with financial support from the NSF, will host the International Linguistics Olympiad July 24-30. This is the first time the Olympiad has been held in the U.S. with 80 to 120 high school students expected to participate. Lori Levin, an associate research professor in the Language Technologies Institute (LTI), is heading the local committee. The Olympiad helps identify an aptitude in analytical skills and math.
• The newly released 2010 Journal Citation Reports ranks CMU's Robotic Institute's Journal of Field Robotics (http://www.journalfieldrobotics.org/Home.html) second among 17 robotics journals, based on the frequency with which an average article is cited. That frequency — the Impact Factor — was 3.580, compared to 4.095 for the top-ranked International Journal of Robotic Research. The Journal of Field Robotics was founded at the Robotics Institute in 2006 and is edited by Sanjiv Singh, research professor of robotics.
• CMU students at the Qatar campus showcased their expertise in building robots by conducting a robotics demonstration at the recent World Conference of Science Journalists in Doha. “This conference highlights the importance of science, research, technology and critical thinking, which is perfectly reflected in what we teach at Carnegie Mellon as part of our robotics program,” Bruce Volstad, manager of pre-college programs at CMU-Q told The Peninsula, a local newspaper in Doha. “The robotics program is a great tool to teach students innovation while integrating technology, math, science and engineering, and most importantly problem-solving,” he said.