Personal Mention
Carnegie Mellon University President Farnam Jahanian was the keynote speaker at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's official opening of its Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing. Jahanian’s address, “The Future of Higher Education in The Age of Disruption,” highlighted the role of education in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, with a particular focus on the importance of computing as an underlying fabric that connects all disciplines. “As unprecedented advances in technology usher in a new age of automation and digitization, institutions of higher education must adapt to ensure we are providing the right talent for a constantly evolving future,” Jahanian said. “Institutions like MIT and Carnegie Mellon are given an extraordinary opportunity to shape this landscape, and the establishment of the Stephen A. Schwarzman College of Computing will certainly increase MIT’s impact in our changing world.” David Danks, CMU Department Head and the L.L. Thurstone Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, also spoke on a panel during the MIT event. Danks discussed the interaction between ethics and policy in computer science. His work within the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences focuses on using computation and psychology to explain human behavior. Danks also investigates the impact of autonomy in technology.
Following national searches, Carnegie Mellon has announced the appointment of two leadership positions, naming Key Nuttall as the new vice president for Marketing and Communications, and Stan Waddell as the new associate vice president and chief information officer.
Nuttall will assume leadership of the university's efforts to increase its visibility through communications, branding, creative services, internal and external relations, as well as reputation management. In addition to directly supervising CMU's Marketing and Communications Division, Nuttall also will foster collaboration with CMU's colleges and schools to lead the implementation of a proactive, innovative, and comprehensive marketing and communications strategy that highlights the institution's breadth and depth in scholarship, education and societal impact. Nuttall currently serves as senior vice president for external relations at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where he has led the branding, marketing and communications strategy, tactics and programs across the university. He joins CMU on March 25.
Waddell will provide vision, leadership and management to CMU's entire computing enterprise, including the development and implementation of a university-wide IT strategy. He will serve on the Division of Operations Senior Leadership Team, as well as the University Leadership Council. Waddell, who will assume his new role on April 1, has extensive experience in leading computing and technology functions at major research universities. Previously, Waddell was associate vice president and CIO at the University of New Hampshire, where he oversaw the university's central IT team. Before joining UNH, he was assistant vice chancellor and chief technology officer at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and spent nine years at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.
Renowned architecture professor and alumnus Don Carter, director of Carnegie Mellon’s Remaking Cities Institute, will be the keynote speaker at Pittsburgh’s 10th Annual Sustainability Conference — “Smart Cities, Transforming Cities for a New Era” — March 6 at the August Wilson Center. Carter’s talk is titled “Smart Cities: A Global Perspective.” Carter has lectured internationally on urban design and architecture and is the author of “Remaking Post-Industrial Cities: Lessons from North America and Europe,” which documents 10 case studies and common themes from the international Remaking Cities Congress that he co-chaired in Pittsburgh in October 2013. Other participants in the conference include CMU’s Karen Lightman (third from right), executive director of Metro21:Smart Cities Institute, who will moderate a panel discussion titled "Sustainable Development Goals through Public-Private Partnership." Panelists include Anna Siefken (second from right), executive director of CMU’s Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, and Christine Mondor, adjunct faculty member in the School of Architecture.