News Briefs
Botz Becomes Tartans' All-Time Winningest Goalkeeper
Carolyn Botz became the women’s soccer team’s all-time winningest goalkeeper by notching her 34th career win and 10th this season by virtue of a 7-0 victory over Penn State Altoona this past Saturday.
Botz, a biomedical engineering graduate student, is a four-year performer for the Tartans, earning All-University Athletic Association honors and ECAC Rookie and Defensive Player of the Year accolades in 2017. She posted 15 wins, 11 shutouts and a 0.46 goals-against-average in her first year. She also was a star performer in 2018 and 2019, and started all three games in an abbreviated season last year.
The Tartans are 10-3-1 overall and ranked 18th in NCAA Division III. They host Washington University (Mo.) at 5 p.m., Friday, October 29. Learn more about Botz and the women’s soccer team.
Don't Forget to Register: Tartan Community Day is Nov. 5
Beginning with the official Tartan Food Truck Fest to choosing your own adventure to the Homecoming Dance and everything in between, this year’s Tartan Community Day on Friday, November 5, has something for just about everyone.
Tartan Community Day, part of Homecoming Week, Nov. 2-6, is a day for students, faculty and staff to take a break from the daily norm and to connect, restore and play, in ways that are most meaningful to you. There are no classes for students and staff and faculty are encouraged to participate as they are able.
Yoga with live music in the CFA Great Hall was a popular activity at the 2019 Tartan Community Day.
This year’s theme is connection, in all of its various forms, and the joy that comes from it. Connection can be big or it can be small, rambunctious or quiet, a moment or a lasting journey. It can be a connection to oneself, to a friend, to community and so much more.
Alex Sheen is the Tartan Community Day keynote speaker. Sheen is the founder of "because I said I would," a social movement and nonprofit dedicated to bettering humanity through promises made and kept.
See the full Tartan Community Day schedule. Participants are encouraged to register for activities in which registration is required.
Review Your Benefits Options: Open Enrollment Continues Through Nov. 15
Open Enrollment is the annual opportunity for faculty and staff to review their benefits coverage options and make selections for the upcoming calendar year. Benefits elections become effective on January 1, 2022, and remain in effect for the entire year. After the enrollment period, you cannot change your elections unless you experience a qualifying status change.
2022 Benefits Offerings and Changes to the HMO Plan
Visit the 2022 Open Enrollment website for information about 2022 benefits, including rates, the 2022 Benefits Guide and the 2022 Open Enrollment Overview [pdf].
For 2022, the Highmark EPO and UPMC HMO (available in the Western Pennsylvania area only) plans will be offered in place of the current Aetna HMO. The design of the plan will remain the same, and you will be able to choose the provider network that best meets your needs. The Office of Human Resources has scheduled numerous virtual events (see below) to provide information to assist you in making your decisions.
Enroll Online Through Workday
Log in to Workday to submit enrollment changes. If you are enrolling in a Flexible Spending Account (FSA), you must log in to Workday and select your contribution level. Your 2021 spending account elections will not automatically roll over to 2022, as the IRS does not allow FSA elections to roll over to the next year.
Refer to the Open Enrollment System Guide [pdf] for detailed instructions on the online enrollment process.
Virtual Events
The Office of Human Resources has scheduled virtual events to provide assistance as you navigate your benefits elections. You are encouraged to participate in a virtual event to learn more about your benefits options and get help making elections in Workday.
Virtual Benefits Fair
Visit the Benefits Fair through your computer at any time throughout Open Enrollment to learn more about benefits options. Booths contain information on health and welfare benefits, retirement savings plans, family care resources, and more. Visit at least five virtual booths to be entered into the fair raffle for a chance to win a prize!
Drop-In and Vendor Information Sessions via Zoom
The Office of Human Resources will again offer benefits drop-in sessions throughout the Open Enrollment period, and you are encouraged to join a session that best fits your schedule. A presentation outlining the 2022 benefits plan changes will be provided, and Benefits and HR Service team members will be available to answer questions about options and the enrollment process in Workday. Zoom’s breakout room functionality will be used so participants can speak one-on-one with an HR team member. In addition, weekly vendor information sessions provide the opportunity to meet with representatives from UPMC and Highmark throughout Open Enrollment.
If you have questions regarding Open Enrollment, please contact Human Resources Services at 412-268-4600 or hr-help@andrew.cmu.edu.
Food Drive Gets Underway Monday, Nov. 1
Carnegie Mellon’s 28th annual food drive, sponsored by Staff Council to support the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, begins Monday, November 1 and runs through Monday, November 15. After reaching an all-time high last year of $86,503.38 (including cash and nonperishable contributions converted to dollars), this year’s goal is $100,000. In addition, this year’s drive is also seeking 200 can openers and 2,000 reusable grocery bags (can be gently used) for the CMU Food Pantry.
For your convenience, cash contributions to support the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank can be made online at https://pittsburghfoodbank.org/cmu28. Please know that gifts of any size are important and appreciated. In fact, $1 donated to the Food Bank can provide up to five meals! Note that you can make a gift to the CMU Drive, overall, or select a specific team. If you are interested in forming a team for a group or department not represented, please email Margaret Cox.
Learn more about the Food Drive and the many options you have to contribute.
CMU Launches New Additional Major in Health Humanities
CMU undergraduate students who are interested in broadening their understanding of science and medicine at the intersection of culture, ethics and history can pursue a new additional major in health humanities.
Health humanities, which can be paired with any primary major at CMU, is ideal for students who plan to pursue higher education in health professions such as medical school, dental school, veterinary medical school and physician assistant school, graduate programs in biomedical research, bioinformatics and public health, as well as for those with general interests in topics like public health or history of medicine.
Students will deepen their understanding of how the body works, so they know not just how diabetes occurs at the cellular level, but also how societal, political and cultural factors contribute to the development of chronic illnesses like diabetes. Students in the major will build on their understanding of scientific foundations by looking at the impact of sociocultural factors, like gender and race in health equity, and how those factors influence a person's relationship to their health.
Learn more about the additional major in health humanities.
New Additional Major Also Added in Environmental and Sustainability Studies
A new additional major in environmental and sustainability studies is now available for all undergraduate students at Carnegie Mellon regardless of their primary major.
The joint program is offered by the Mellon College of Science and the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. The Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research advises students in the new additional major and a complementary minor, which was introduced in 2018.
“The world needs immediate action, because we need a program to eliminate CO2 emissions to the atmosphere," said CMU alumnus and trustee W. Lowell Steinbrenner, who with his wife Jan founded the Steinbrenner Institute in 2004. "The new major in Environmental and Sustainability studies will prepare our students to recognize the current seriousness of our environmental situation and how we can effectively confront it.”
Learn more about the additional major.
Students Take Top Honors at Cornell Hackathon with Dance App
Athiya Deviyani, Abuzar Khan, Alex Li and Ranadeep Singh — all first-year students in the Master's in Artificial Intelligence and Innovation (MSAII) program — went into the Cornell University hackathon with a strategy of not taking it too seriously. But their dance app, Twerk Out, ended up a serious winner as the best health hack and the most creative use of Twilio.
"We worked well as a team and it all came together at the end," Singh said. "I would have never gone for such a 'nonpractical' idea myself, but it worked."
During the hackathon, teams had 40 hours to solve a problem using technology. At this hackathon, teams were asked to come up with a way to encourage people to live healthier lifestyles while also reducing health insurance premiums.
In Twerk Out, two players compete against each other to see who has the best dance moves. The players join the app via video and take their best shot at performing the dances suggested on the screen. Players score points depending on how successful they are at the dance move. The players can see each other dance and their scores, and an AI tracks how many calories they are burning.
As the team brainstormed ideas, they focused on fun. The app had to be fun to use, but for the team, it had to be fun to code. Twerk Out fit the bill nicely. The team used several AI tools to allow the app to track how players move, score them and determine the calories burned. About 10 open-sourced technologies worked together to make it possible.
"All those tools were things I encountered for the first time," Khan said. "And I found the best way to find the best thing that works is to go into the deep and hope you don't drown."
Sign Up to Save a Life; Register for CPR/AED Training
The Environmental Health & Safety Department is offering CPR & AED classes from 10 a.m. to noon on Monday, November 1 and Monday, November 15 in the Cohon University Center’s Danforth Conference Room.
Attendees will learn how to recognize the signs of a sudden cardiac arrest, when to activate the EMS system, and how to do CPR. Hands-on training will enable those who attend this class to become familiar with an AED and to successfully operate it in an emergency. Training also teaches the operator how to avoid potentially hazardous situations.
Register online at https://cmu.bioraft.com/node/284547/sessions. Questions? Send email to safety@andrew.cmu.edu.
Obituary: McCorduck Helped Define How We View "Machines Who Think"
Pamela McCorduck, an author who wrote some of the first novels and histories about AI and was a generous friend of Carnegie Mellon, died October 18. She was 80.
McCorduck was possibly best known for her 1979 book "Machines Who Think," which chronicles the history of AI from the dreams and nightmares of ancient poets and prophets to the scientific discoveries of the 20th century. The novel contains the famous quote, “Artificial intelligence began with the ancient wish to forge the gods.”
“Her books on AI turned out to be popular and widely cited,” said Raj Reddy, CMU's Moza Bint Nasser University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics, founding director of the university’s Robotics Institute and former dean of the School of Computer Science. “Many encountered AI for the first time through her writings, and she influenced what people thought about the field as it was developing.”
McCorduck lived in Pittsburgh in the 1970s and taught in the University of Pittsburgh's English Department. Her husband, Joseph Traub, was the second head of the Computer Science Department — then part of the Mellon College of Science.
Upon completion of the oral history interviews conducted with researchers involved in AI for "Machines Who Think," McCorduck donated the transcripts, research and related materials to the University Archives in 1978. The collection includes audio cassettes of interviews with notable researchers such as Herb Simon and Allen Newell. University Libraries featured highlights from the collection in its 2018 exhibit that celebrated McCorduck's work and her contributions to the history of AI, “Shoots of Green: Innovation at CMU.” Traub also donated his papers to the archives in 2004.
In 2018, McCorduck gave CMU letters, books and other writings by Traub; rare books by 19th century mathematician and computer pioneer Charles Babbage; and more than 50 mechanical calculators, encryption devices, and early computers from the collection she and her husband had amassed. The collection contained slide rules, a Power Mac G4 Cube and a pair of Enigma machines — encryption devices used by the German military to keep secrets safe during WWII.
Read McCorduck's full obituary.
Call for Applications: Posner Curatorial Internship
The 2022 application cycle is now open for the Posner Curatorial Internship. CMU graduate students are invited to apply for this internship that supports them in gaining practical and paid training in rare books & special collections librarianship.
The Posner Intern will work on a range of projects, including improving and creating catalog records for rare materials; writing for the Libraries’ blog; working with visiting and CMU researchers; shelf-scanning and collection inventory; researching acquisitions in existing areas of collections focus; and exhibition planning and design. In collaboration with the curator of special collections, the successful candidate will have the opportunity to design a roster of projects and tasks to be completed during the internship. Read more about the internship and application process.
Who's New at CMU?
Carnegie Mellon welcomes the following new staff members this week.
- Caitlin Korpus, Program Coordinator, Language Technologies Institute;
- Jonathan Dudley, Assistant Director of Admission, Operations, Enrollment (Qatar);
- Marsha Kenney, Shuttle/Escort Driver, Parking and Transportation Services;
- Abraham Darriel, Associate Director of Student Recruitment, Rwanda - ICT;
- Amy Kapp, Executive Assistant to the Dean, CFA, CFA Deans Office;
- Alexa Marzina, Video Technician, ISR: Institute for Software Research;
- James Fazio, Shuttle/Escort Driver, Parking and Transportation Services;
- Kathryn Gordon, Tax Accounting Associate, AVP - Finance;
- Kwanele Ndlovu, Director of Fundraising, Rwanda - ICT;
- Kristen Whitlinger, Digital Communications Manager, CIT Dean's Office;
- Michael Matula, IT Support Associate, Statistics;
- Satoko Hoppo, Music Prep School Instructor, Music Prep School; and
- Jacqueline Bangirana, Social Media / PR Officer, Rwanda - ICT.