Personal Mention

The American Academy of Political and Social Science (AAPSS) has named Carnegie Mellon's Daniel S. Nagin a 2014 fellow for his efforts to improve society through research and influence over public policy. He will be honored at an AAPSS ceremony on May 8 in Washington, D.C. Nagin, the Teresa and H. John Heinz III University Professor of Public Policy and Statistics, associate dean of faculty at the Heinz College and an alumnus of the university, was cited for his work in using statistical methods to analyze criminal and antisocial behavior over the course of individuals' lives. He developed a statistical methodology that has made clear that the developmental origins of criminal and violent behavior can be traced to very early in life. Nagin was awarded the Stockholm Prize in Criminology in October for his research showing  that imprisoning offenders generally fails to reduce repeat offenses and may even exacerbate relative to community corrections options. His work helped to support the first decline in four decades in the U.S. incarceration rate.

Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Priya Narasimhan, founder of YinzCam, and engineering students tested multi-camera instant replays to smartphones at the Super Bowl last Sunday. YinzCam, which creates mobile sports apps that allow fans to stay in touch with their favorite teams 24/7 by providing them with real-time stats, multimedia, streaming radio, social-media and more, has seen more than 7 million downloads of their products. The company's mobile-video technology is also being deployed within sports venues throughout the country to allow fans to watch instant replays, live cameras (including the NFL RedZone channel) on their smartphones, tablets or touchscreen computers. Read more about YinzCam at http://www.yinzcam.com/.

Lorrie Cranor, an associate professor of computer science and engineering and public policy, and director of the CyLab Usable Privacy and Security Laboratory, was recently recognized as one of 18 winners, honorable mentions and people’s choice awardees from the International Science & Engineering Visualization Challenge. The contest, which is jointly run by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the journal Science, exemplifies the old axiom, “a picture is worth a thousand wards.” It celebrates the long tradition of using various types of illustrations to communicate the complexities of science, engineering and technology for education and journalistic purposes when words aren’t enough. Cranor’s quilt “Security Blanket” (pictured above) took honorable mention in the illustration category. While on sabbatical during the 2012-2013 academic year she worked on visualizing security and privacy concepts through art as a fellow of the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry. Read more about Cranor's quilting.

Professor M. Granger Morgan will discuss how the challenges of climate change will require a fundamental restructuring of the world’s fragile energy systems at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Feb. 16 in Chicago. "We will discuss a number of key uncertainties about how the energy system may evolve and some of the risks of acting or not acting, and we will look at strategies for moving forward to a low carbon energy future," said Morgan, head of the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, co-director of the Scott Institute for Energy Innovation and co-director of the Electricity Industry Center. Morgan will point out that there are considerable uncertainties as to how a new energy system may evolve, what it will cost, and how the necessary transformation can best be achieved. "However, the presence of risk and uncertainty is not a reason for inaction," Morgan said.  Read more.

Charles Swanson, a senior computer science major, was recently chosen by the International Center for Supplemental Instruction at the University of Missouri-Kansas City to receive one of two Outstanding Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leader awards. The award recognizes the contributions Swanson has made to the Carnegie Mellon community through his six semesters as an EXCEL Group leader and four semesters as the student supervisor of the SI & EXCEL Programs. Swanson is also head course assistant for the fundamentals of programming course for the Computer Science Department, where he oversees 36 teaching assistants. The award letter stated that the recognition honors the “extraordinary commitment Charlie has made to SI and the positive success he has created in your program.” He will receive his award at the International Conference on SI in May as well as present on his experiences and best practices as a leader.

Alumnus Matthew Scarlett (A'08) is the winner of the School of Architecture's 2014 Delbert C. Highlands Travel Fellowship. In his winning application, "Fulfilling the Risorgimento: Modernist Colonial Architecture in Asmara," Scarlett proposes to explore the relationship between previously under-documented modernist colonial architecture in Eritrea's capital city and "well-known masterpieces of Italian modernism in Rome, Milan, Como and other important Italian cities." Scarlett's research will take him to Asmara and other major cities in Eritrea, which is located in the Horn of Africa. The fellowship is named in honor of Professor Delbert Highlands, who taught courses in architectural design, design theory and architectural history at Carnegie Mellon from the 1960s through the first decade of this century. Always urging students to understand and ground their work firmly in particular locales, Highlands is widely recognized as a seminal teacher whose skill and understanding have enriched the education of generations of Carnegie Mellon students. Learn more about Scarlett.

Engineering and Technology Innovation Management (E&TIM) alumni and students, Srinath Vaddepally (E&TIM ’12/ECE ’13) and Kaihei Takagi and Brett Bergman (E&TIM/BME ‘14), have been selected as 2014 Quality Improvement and Information Technology (QIT) Health Innovator Fellows. The QIT Health Innovator Fellowship is a highly competitive fellowship with a specific focus to developing meaningful solutions to health care plights through hi-tech products and services. QIT offers seven bi-weekly speaker sessions with leading area entrepreneurs for graduate students in health care professions, policy, public health, engineering, IT or business. For more information about the QIT Health Innovator Fellowship, visit http://www.qitcenter.org.