Personal Mention

Veronica Hinman, an expert in the field of evolutionary and developmental biology and a member of the Carnegie Mellon faculty since 2006, has been named head of the Department of Biological Sciences. The department focuses on fields that stand to have a significant impact in the science being done today and in the future, including molecular biology and genetics, developmental biology, cell biology, neuroscience, microbiology, biochemistry and biophysics, genomics and computational biology. Hinman researches the evolution of developmental mechanisms, focusing on gene regulatory networks (GRNs), the complex pathways that control the expression of the genes that are present at the beginning of most organisms' lives. "Biology is a truly interdisciplinary field that has a natural place at Carnegie Mellon," Hinman said. "I'm looking forward to strengthening existing interactions, developing new opportunities for life scientists to connect to solve critical problems, and training the next generation of committed citizens and scientists who will continue our work." Find out more.

Kate Whitefoot, an assistant professor of engineering and public policy and mechanical engineering, has been selected as one of the nation’s brightest young engineers to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) 2019 U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium in North Charleston, South Carolina, Sept. 25-27. About 100 outstanding early career engineers will meet for an intensive symposium to discuss cutting-edge developments in four areas: Advanced Manufacturing in the Age of Digital Transformation; Engineering the Genome; Self-Driving Cars: Technology and Ethics; and Blockchain Technology. The goal of the Frontiers of Engineering program is to bring together engineers from all engineering disciplines and from industry, universities and federal labs to facilitate cross-disciplinary exchange, and promote the transfer of new techniques and approaches across fields to sustain and build U.S. innovative capacity. 

A study co-authored by Statistics Professor Joel Greenhouse has caused Neflix Inc. to remove a controversial scene from “13 Reasons Why,” a TV show about a teenage girl who commits suicide and the aftermath. The National Institutes of Health-funded study, found the suicide rate among people between the ages of 10 and 17 went up by nearly a third in April 2017 — a month after the show made its debut. Fellow co-author Lisa Horowitz praised Netflix’s decision to cut the scene and said she hopes the action will serve as a wake-up call to the media that how it “portrays suicide may have a bigger impact on younger people than we thought.” Read the Vice article.

Jamie Slomka, Miguel Martinez and Vivienne Pham (l-r) took the top three places, respectively, in the Undergraduate Research Office’s Speak Up! Competition. The competition culminated a series of workshops, which aim to improve students’ communications and presentation skills. More than 100 students participated in the program. In the competition each student was limited to three minutes and three slides to explain a snapshot of their research. Finalists presented their work on July 17.

• Slomka, a rising senior in policy and management and decision science, shared her work on the psychology of internet searches and was awarded first place.
• Martinez, a rising sophomore in mechanical and biomedical engineering, presented his work on developing joints and realistic skin for an artificial hand to allow surgeons to practice hand surgeries. He won both second place and the People’s Choice Award.
• Pham, a rising junior studying chemical and biomedical engineering, took third place for her presentation on DNA hybridization techniques for using cells to create heart tissue. Find out more.