Ahren Hollis is great at solving puzzles, on and off the job.

Hollis has been a systems analyst for Carnegie Mellon University’s Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Department since 2003.

"When I started here, every unit in this department — biological, chemical, radiation, fire safety, ergonomics — had their own systems. They had their own databases, their own spreadsheets, and none of their systems were integrated,” Hollis said.

Hollis was hired to analyze the systems and find a way to make them work together. He discovered they fit together like a puzzle.

“Each system was a piece of the whole. Without each piece the picture was not complete,” he said.

Hollis works with students, principal investigators, staff, EHS administrators and external partners, including a company that provides software for safety training and laboratory inspections.

“The challenge is finding creative solutions that meet the needs of everyone we’re trying to serve,” Hollis said.

One of the most visible changes for Hollis has been the growth of the CMU-Alert emergency notification system.

“Right after I started here, CMU had a power outage. We had to notify every researcher whose laboratory experiments relied on power, and all we had were paper lists with phone numbers,” Hollis said.

Hollis helps to maintain the CMU-Alert system, which notifies students, faculty and staff of emergencies through text and voice messages, email and social media.

Hollis said CMU’s support of the LGBTQ community was one of the primary reasons he wanted to work at the university.

“To work in a community where I feel supported is amazing,” Hollis said.

His interests include mini-dachshunds, gardening and jigsaw puzzles, which he regards as a highly competitive sport.

“The largest puzzle I’ve done was 9,000 pieces. At that time, it was the largest one the company made,” he said.

Have a suggestion for the Piper Spotlight? Send it to piperweekly@andrew.cmu.edu.

Coal Storage Takes Toll on People Living, Working Nearby

Carnegie Mellon researchers have found unburned coal increases air pollution and can affect the communities where it is transported and stored. The results are the first to quantify the impact of unburned coal on people who live and work nearby.

Akshaya Jha, an assistant professor at the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, and Nicholas Muller, the Lester and Judith Lave Professor of Economics in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy and Tepper School of Business, presented their findings in “Handle with Care: the Local Air Pollution Costs of Coal Storage,” a paper distributed by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

“Coal does not have to be burned to have an impact on the local environment and the health of residents. In our research, the effects from unburned coal appear only within 25 miles from the coal pile. That means, if you see a coal stockpile, you are within the range where it could be affecting you,” said Jha, who graduated from CMU in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and statistics. The work was conducted as part of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation.

Read more.

Causing a Scene: Miller Gallery Explores Performance

For three years, members of Carnegie Mellon’s Center for the Arts in Society (CAS) explored performance beyond the traditional relationship between audiences and actors. Three faculty-led projects considered how people performatively frame their lives through reinterpreting history, protest, digital devices and everyday acts.

Highlights from the CAS Performance Initiative, including a dot map illustrating sectarian division in Belfast over time and augmented reality events from Pittsburgh’s past, will be displayed at CMU’s Miller Gallery from Aug. 19 through Sept. 3. A special reception will be held on Aug. 31 from 4:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Find out more.  

2017-2018 Academic Calendars Now Available

The 2017-2018 academic calendars are now available at the University Store. Academic Calendars can be purchased on the lower level of the University Store at $2.09 each. For bulk orders (over 50) or orders for off-campus locations, details can be sent to art-store@andrew.cmu.edu.

More information about calendar orders is available online. 

Jumpstart Your Idea: I-Corps Applications Due Sept. 8

The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship has announced that the National Science Foundation I-Corps application deadline is Sept. 8.

CMU teams — faculty, staff, students and recent alumni — looking to jumpstart their science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) business ideas may apply. Benefits of the program include:

• Up to $2,500 to further your business venture through customer discovery;
• Access to six entrepreneurial workshops focused on agile innovation;
• Become part of the Project Olympus incubator;
• Access to a dedicated Swartz Center mentor to help hone your business idea;
• Priority opportunities to showcase your venture at LaunchCMU and Olympus Show & Tell; and
• Guidance in writing proposals for the national I-Corps Team program, SBIR/STTR grants, regional accelerator programs and other external funding.

Applications must be submitted online.

Learn more.

Remembering Randy

This September marks 10 years since Randy Pausch delivered his Last Lecture, a talk that went on to inspire millions of people. Are you among them? We are looking for individuals who were in the audience for the lecture to interview in celebration of the anniversary. These interviews will be packaged into a video piece for Carnegie Mellon's social media channels. Video interviews will be conducted Aug. 7-9 in Danforth Lounge. If interested in being interviewed, contact Laura Kelly at laurak@andrew.cmu.edu.



• Yeltekin joined the Tepper School in 2005 and is well-known for her research in economic areas that span computational methods, fiscal policy design and economic inequality. She received the George Leland Bach Excellence in Teaching Award in 2014 and is a long-time member fo the Tepper School's Masters Educational Affairs Committee. In her new role, she will be a key contributor in advancing the academic and student experience for undergraduate and graduate programs.
• Scheller-Wolf, a member of the Tepper School since 1996, is an expert in queuing theory and stochastic processes and is a prolific researcher having produced 23 refereed publications in the last four years. He has been head of the Ph.D. program since 2011 and has been an influential leader on behalf of doctoral students. In his new role, he will work with faculty on vital initiatives that further the Tepper School’s research mission and reputation.

Diana Parno, assistant research professor in the Department of Physics, is a member of the COHERENT Experiment at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), which has detected and measured the coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off of nuclei, a process that is predicted by the Standard Model of physics, but had never before been seen. Parno worked on the team that developed the simulation program that calculates the number of neutrinos that pass through the SNS’s detectors. Their findings, published in Science, provide scientists with a fingerprint for neutrino-nucleus reactions that will help them better understand neutrinos and the dynamics of neutron star formation and supernovae explosions. It also could provide a limiting factor for future experimental dark matter searches.

Noa Marom, a faculty member in the Materials Science and Engineering Department, has received a $150,000 New Investigator grant from the Charles E. Kaufman Foundation to help fund her project on “Singlet Fission: Deriving Fundamental Insights from Computation.” Since 2013, the foundation, which is committed to improving human life through scientific research, has awarded 43 grants totaling $9.1 million. Grants in the New Investigator category are awarded to scientists pursuing independent research at the beginning of their careers as they seek to transform the future of science.

Obituary: Dan Rossi

Alumnus Dan Rossi, a database administrator at CMU for 13 years, died Aug. 3. He was 50.

Rossi, who graduated in 1994 with a mechanical engineering degree, was admired by friends and colleagues for his intelligence, adventurous spirit, humor and love of skydiving, mountain climbing and woodworking, all of which he accomplished despite having lost his vision as a child. Many recall Rossi, who made over 300 skydiving jumps, training for trips to Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest by climbing the stairs during lunch.

“Dan was much admired for his fearless approach to living life,” said Mary Moore, an assistant director at the Cyert Center for Early Education. “But mostly, he will be remembered as a devoted family man whose unique and positive outlook impacted the lives of all who knew him.”

Read Rossi’s obituary in the Post-Gazette.

Mandy Rothmeyer has traded in her computer screen for a more natural canvas.

Rothmeyer, a gardener at Carnegie Mellon University, is using her educational background in graphic design and her landscaping know-how to help beautify the Morewood Avenue grounds around Mudge House, Stever House, Morewood Gardens and the Cyert Center for Early Education.

She cuts the grass, trims the bushes, and plants and takes care of the colorful garden beds.

“I still have that artist in me,” said Rothmeyer, who earned a bachelor’s degree in graphic design at LaRoche College before earning a master gardening certification at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. “I like to put colors together. I like to be creative, neat and orderly.

“We have a lot of parents and prospective students visiting campus now, and I want them to say ‘this is a nice place, this is a neat place,’” she said.

Rothmeyer begins mapping out her flower gardens during the winter and presents her ideas to her supervisor, David Wessell.

“I’ll come to him with a binder full of notes and designs with what I want to do and what it’s going to cost. That’s the graphic designer in me,” she said.

Next year, Rothmeyer said she is thinking about using different colors — orange and salmon — in the circular flowerbed at Morewood Gardens. “That’s what’s fun about this job — coming up with new ideas.”

She also enjoys the presence of children at the Cyert Center, where she recently designed a butterfly garden for the children to raise caterpillars and butterflies.

“I love the kids there, they are so interested in everything,” said Rothmeyer, who has a 6-year-old son.

Rothmeyer often brings plants to her home garden to nurse them back to health.

“That’s where I learn. My home is my test bed,” she said.

Have a suggestion for the Piper Spotlight? Send it to piperweekly@andrew.cmu.edu.

View the Solar Eclipse

Join the Carnegie Mellon Astronomy Club to view the solar eclipse from noon to 4 p.m., Monday, Aug. 21, by the Fence on the Cut. The club will have three telescopes with solar filters and eclipse glasses that visitors can use. Glasses also will be available in the Mellon Institute lobby on Aug. 21. Eclipse viewing is weather dependent.

Bike Lane Installation in Oakland Underway

The installation of bike lanes in both directions on Forbes Avenue between Bigelow Boulevard and Craig Street began earlier this week and should be completed by the end of August, weather permitting.

Streets will remain open to traffic but road users should expect changing traffic patterns. Port Authority bus stops will remain active through the work area.

This work precedes the Forbes Avenue Corridor Improvements Project, which will benefit pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and public transit riders traveling through the CMU campus by transforming Forbes Avenue into a calmer, more efficient and aesthetically appealing roadway.

The project, which is scheduled to begin early next year, will rebuild the intersections between S. Craig Street and Margaret Morrison Street with new technology-enhanced, adaptive traffic signals and dedicated turning lanes to help regulate traffic flow. The project also calls for new bicycle lanes in each direction on Forbes between S. Craig and Beeler Street, “pull offs” or curb “bump outs” to give buses room to pull over to pick up and drop off passengers enabling better traffic flow, and planting strips between the curb and roadway for pedestrian safety.

Parking Permit Distribution Begins Aug. 21

This year’s parking permit distribution begins Monday.

Monday, Aug. 21, 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.
Location: Dithridge Street Parking Garage Lobby
For the following parking areas only: 300 S. Craig, Clyde, Dithridge, Fifth & Craig (RAND Bldg.), 4700 Fifth Avenue, GATF (Filmore), Henry Street, Whitfield and Zebina Way.

Tuesday, Aug. 22, through Friday, Aug. 25, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Location: East Campus Parking Garage, 1st Floor – 30 minute parking area
For ALL permit areas.

PLEASE NOTE:

• Your Carnegie Mellon ID is required to pick up your parking permit.
• Any outstanding citations must paid in full prior to permit pick up.
• If you are unable to pick up your permit or wish to have someone else pick up your permit, please send email to parking@andrew.cmu.edu.
• Your parking permit can be picked up after Friday, Aug. 25 during Parking & Transportation Services regular office hours, 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Permits must be claimed by Aug. 31 or your permit will be cancelled.

QUESTIONS:
Send email to parking@andrew.cmu.edu or call 412-268-2052 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Vote Up! To See #CMUatSXSW

Carnegie Mellon faculty and staff could have a strong showing at 2018’s SXSW, but they need your help! After creating a one-time login, “Vote Up” the following panel proposals to see #CMUatSXSW.

John Balash, education network coordiator, ETC, How K-12 is Shaping the Development of VR Ed-Tech

John Balash, education network coordinatior, ETC, 20/20: 20 years of VR hardware in 20 minutes

Michael Brett, managing director HCII, Are Your Students Learning? Prove It!

George Kantor, senior systems scientist, A.I. Will Help Feed a Growing Planet with FarmView

Laura Kelly, social media manager, LIVE FROM THE QUAD: Higher Ed & Live-Streaming

Ari Lightman, professor, Experience & next generation of social analysts

Ari Lightman, professor, Welcome to the “Internet of Threats”

Jordan Mroziak, community outreach coordinator, CREATE Lab, Disrupting Classical Music: Audience of the Future

Illah Nourbakhsh, director, CREATE lab, Message from Me: Enhancing Adult-Child Interaction

Molly Steenson, associate professor, Architectural Intelligence: AI & Design

Mark Stehlik, assistant dean for outreach and teaching professor, Re-envisioning the K-12 Computer Science Pipeline

Manuela Veloso, head, Machine Learning Department, How Can Robots Gain Our Trust?

Simon Institute Helps Professors Build Ed Tech Tools

For the second year in a row, the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education (PCHE) teamed up with Carnegie Mellon’s Simon Initiative to host the PCHE Simon Summer Institute. The voluntary weeklong session was designed to help faculty members from eight colleges and universities understand and incorporate Simon Initiative technologies and methods.

Like last year, the “homework” for these educators involved creating learning modules using CMU’s Open Learning Initiative (OLI platform), an online tool designed to enhance learning outcomes through the application of learning science principles and tools, all while gathering data that can inform future efforts at improving learning outcomes. It is this focus on continuous data-driven educational reform that sets the Simon Initiative approach apart, as was demonstrated by the improvements made to the OLI platform from last summer.

Find out more.

Athletics Department Offers Golf Lessons

CMU Head Golf Coach and PGA professional Dan Rodgers is offering personalized golf lessons for students, faculty and staff. All lessons will be conducted in Skibo Gymnasium using the golf program’s state-of-the-art golf simulator.

Lessons are by appointment only and can be made by contacting Rodgers at rodgersd@andrew.cmu.edu. The cost is 40 FitBucks per half hour. For more information on FitBucks, visit the FitBucks website.

2017-2018 Academic Calendars Now Available

The 2017-2018 academic calendars are now available at the University Store. Academic Calendars can be purchased on the lower level of the University Store at $2.09 each. For bulk orders (over 50) or orders for off-campus locations, details can be sent to art-store@andrew.cmu.edu.

More information about calendar orders is available online.

Renowned physicist Scott Dodelson has been named head of the Department of Physics. Dodelson comes to Carnegie Mellon from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), where he was a distinguished scientist, and the University of Chicago, where he was a professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics. While at Fermilab, Dodelson served as head of the Theoretical Astrophysics Group and co-founder and interim director of the Center for Particle Astrophysics. Dodelson conducts research at the interface between particle physics and cosmology, examining the phenomena of dark energy, dark matter, inflation and cosmological neutrinos. Dodelson said he was attracted to CMU in part by the physics department's varied areas of strength and the leadership role the department's McWilliams Center for Cosmology and its faculty play in a number of large, international cosmological surveys. "Within the McWilliams Center, I found kindred spirits in the faculty who are leading scientific projects aimed at understanding the universe, but I was equally attracted to the department's strong groups in biological physics, condensed matter and nuclear and particle physics," Dodelson said. Learn more.

Brooke Feeney, Meredith Van Vleet and Brittany Jakubiak (l-r) discovered that people with supportive spouses were more likely to take on potentially rewarding challenges and that those who accepted the challenges experienced more personal growth, happiness, psychological well-being and better relationship functioning months later. Their study was pulbished in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. “We found support for the idea that the choices people make at these specific decision points — such as pursuing a work opportunity or seeking out new friends — matter a lot for their long-term well-being,” said Feeney, lead author of the study. Feeney is professor of psychology, Van Vleet is a postdoctoral fellow in CMU’s Relationships Lab and Jukubiak is a graduate student in the Psychology Department. Learn more about their study.

Ian Tice, an assistant professor of mathematical sciences, was awarded a five-year National Science Foundation Faculty Career Award. He is working to develop mathematical tools and techniques for studying partial differential equations associated with moving interfaces in several models of viscous fluid flow, such as blood flowing through arteries, ripples on the surface of a cup of coffee and solar plasma meeting the vacuum of space. "Moving interfaces in fluids can be complex, but understanding them can have important implications across a wide variety of scientific and industrial fields," Tice said. One component of Tice's work aims to understand how moving interfaces can destabilize the surrounding fluid. These instabilities help explain the origin of the beautiful swirling patterns observed in Jupiter's red spot as well as the finger-like tendrils in supernova remnants such as the Crab Nebula. On Earth the same instabilities play a role in weather prediction and fusion reactor design. Under the grant, Tice also will develop an undergraduate collaborative reading and research program focused on fluid flow, assist with course development and mentor graduate student researchers.

Britta Glennon, a doctoral candidate in the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, will be among 350 young economists from 66 nations who will join 18 Nobel Laureates for the 6th Lindau Meeting on Economic Sciences in Lindau, Germany, Aug. 22-26. "From my research point of view, this type of interaction can be really beneficial," Glennon said of the Lindau meeting. "To get to meet nearly 20 Nobel laureates will have a really lasting impression as will digging into how to approach and do high-level economic research." Glennon studies the economics of technology policy, innovation and development with a focus on Asia. Her work looks at cross-border innovation and how the interaction of researchers in different countries can stir creativity. Her adviser is Lee Branstetter, professor of economics and public policy with a joint appointment in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences. Find out more.

Good help can be hard to find, but a new online service, CareLink, makes it easier for faculty, staff and students at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh to find help or offer services to the university community.

Through the CareLink website, which is available only to members of the university community, users can post needs they have for child care, pet care, tutoring, music lessons, lawn care, odd jobs and other services. Users also can offer services or recommend a service provider.

Lorrie Cranor, a computer science and engineering and public policy professor who has been instrumental in the creation of the site, said the idea for CareLink arose from recent discussions among the Committee on Faculty Diversity, Inclusion and Development.

“We were talking about ways we could help retain faculty and improve their quality of life, and one issue that came up is that it’s difficult and time-consuming to find child care in Pittsburgh,” Cranor said.

The committee modeled CareLink after similar services offered at other institutions.

“We learned of students who were offering to provide services to make money during their free time. At the same time, we were aware of graduate students who were struggling to find some of these services and staff who were interested in doing odd jobs,” she said. “It seemed like it would help everybody.”

Kathryn Roeder, vice provost for faculty and co-chair of the Committee on Faculty Diversity, Inclusion and Development, said she hopes CareLink will address the perennial challenge of finding good quality child care and other services.

“Faculty, students and staff all have busy schedules, so CareLink is a convenient forum to offer or acquire services from people they trust,” Roeder said.

The service is expected to grow through word-of-mouth and recommendations. Anyone with a CMU Andrew ID can login to carelink.cmu.edu and use the service to post a job or post their resume.

“We hope to see a lot of people posting jobs and resumes, and a lot of people finding matches,” Cranor said.

The CareLink project is sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty.

As operations manager for Facilities Management and Campus Services, Papuga oversees the maintenance of university buildings and gives people access to the Mellon College of Science building and CMU facilities from Second Avenue to East Liberty, Lawrenceville and along the Craig Street corridor.

“I get calls, and I dispatch the appropriate personnel. It makes the day go fast,” he said.

Occasionally, those calls come from Hollywood film crews. Papuga has worked with production personnel for several movies that have filmed scenes on campus, including “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Mothman Prophecies,” “Wonder Boys” and “Hoffa.”

Earlier this month in the Gates Center, crews filmed scenes for “Where’d You Go, Bernadette” starring Cate Blanchett, Laurence Fishburne and Billy Crudup..

“Film crews mostly want to know: ‘Can we change this? Can we paint this? Can we tear this apart? Can we take these doors off?’” Papuga said. “It’s a matter of doing our best to help them get the scene they want.”

“Preparing for high-profile events during the academic year can be a challenge, but my job is to make sure they have everything they need without disrupting other operations,” Papuga said.

For the White House Frontiers Conference last October, SpaceX brought a space capsule to put on display.

“We had to get the space capsule from the street onto the campus. So, it’s a matter of logistics a lot of the time,” he said.

When he is not at work, Papuga likes to golf and spend time with his family and grandchildren. In his 35 years at Carnegie Mellon, Papuga said he has seen tremendous growth at the university.

“I’m proud to be part of an institution that is recognized worldwide,” he said.

Byron Yu, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering, and Matthew Smith of the University of Pittsburgh, have received a four-year $1 million grant to use brain-computer interfaces to understand how the sensory environment and state of mind combine to affect perception and interpretation of the world around us. Their work has implications for treating psychiatric disorders. The NSF granted 19 awards to teams from all over the United States to conduct research on neural and cognitive systems. The awards will contribute to the NSF’s support of the BRAIN initiative, a research effort created to spark the development of new neurotechnologies. Find out more.

Max G’Sell, an assistant professor of statistics, and Avniel Ghuman of the University of Pittsburgh received a National Science Foundation award for brain research. G’Sell and Ghuman will work to understand how the brain perceives and understands the actions, emotions and communications of others. The three-year, $1 million grant will allow them to understand brain circuits in a real-world setting. They will record electrical brain activity in patients undergoing neurosurgical treatment for epilepsy while they have natural interactions with friends, family, doctors and hospital staff. Ultimately, they hope to provide much greater insight into neural processes that become dysfunctional in debilitating brain disorders such as autism and post-traumatic stress disorder. Learn more.

The Desert Research Institute has named chemistry graduate student Qing Ye the runner-up for the Peter B. Wagner Memorial Award for Women in Atmospheric Sciences. The award is presented to a woman pursuing a graduate degree in atmospheric sciences or a related program at a university in the United States. Ye, a fifth-year graduate student conducting research on aerosols, tiny liquid or solid particles that pervade the atmosphere, works in CMU’s Center for Atmospheric Particle Studies and is the first student in the joint Ph.D. program in chemistry and engineering and public policy. She received the second-place award for her manuscript “Mixing of secondary organic aerosols versus relative humidity.” The work showed that semi-volatile organic compounds can readily diffuse into the billions of tiny atmospheric particles that inhabit the air, easily moving among them. Find out more.

CMU Night at PNC Park is Sept. 6

For the second consecutive year, Carnegie Mellon is partnering with the Pittsburgh Pirates to host Carnegie Mellon Night at PNC Park on Wednesday, Sept. 6, when the Pirates take on the Chicago Cubs at 7:05 p.m.

Members of the CMU community may purchase upper level grandstand tickets along the third base line for $20 each and lower level corner box seats along the left-field line for $25 each. Each ticket comes with a voucher to receive a co-branded Pirates-CMU baseball hat.

Prior to the game, members of the CMU community will have the opportunity to enjoy “happy hour” discounts (40-50 percent off) on food, beer and non-alcoholic drinks from 5:30 – 7 p.m. at the Block House Corner at the base of the left field rotunda behind section 134.

For more information and to purchase tickets visit the CMU Night at PNC Park website.

The event is part of the Pirates’ University Nights promotion.

Swartz Center Awarded Renewal of I-Corps Site Program

Carnegie Mellon’s Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship was recently awarded a continuing grant from the National Science Foundation for the Innovation Corps (I-Corps) Site program.

Since fall 2014, CMU’s I-Corps program supports exploratory businesses created by teams interested in moving STEM research out of the lab and into the marketplace. The program builds upon CMU's demonstrated strengths in fusing technology and entrepreneurship, recruiting and training entrepreneurial teams each academic year to accelerate business exploration and creation.

Since the inception of the program, 85 entrepreneurial teams composed of 267 faculty, staff, students and alumni from across all seven CMU colleges and schools have participated in the I-Corps curriculum. To date, they have been awarded more than $11 million in additional funding for their ventures.

The principal investigator of the I-Corps Site is Computer Science Professor Lenore Blum, faculty co-director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship and founding director of its incubator program, Project Olympus. Co-PIs include David Mawhinney, executive director of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship; Robert Dammon, dean of the Tepper School of Business; Andrew Moore, dean of the School of Computer Science; and Robert Wooldridge, director of the Center for Technology Transfer and Enterprise Creation.

The Swartz Center is now recruiting for its seventh cohort, which will kick off Sept. 18. The deadline to apply is Sept. 8.

Pictured above are the co-founders of RoBotany, one of the I-Corps Site program's success stories. RoBotany is transforming modern indoor agriculture with automation and software analytics.  

Polarization Over Science Topics Increases with Education

Carnegie Mellon researchers have found that people's beliefs about scientific topics that are associated with their political or religious identities become increasingly polarized with education as measured by years in school, science classes and science literacy.

"A lot of science is generally accepted and trusted, but certain topics have become deeply polarizing. We wanted to find out what factors are related to this polarization, and it turns out the 'deficit model' — which says the divisions are due to a lack of education or understanding — does not tell the whole story," said lead author Caitlin Drummond, who recently received her Ph.D. in behavioral decision research from CMU's Department of Social and Decision Sciences. Drummond will be a postdoctoral research fellow at the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan this fall.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS), Drummond and CMU's Baruch Fischhoff used data from the nationally representative General Social Survey. They examined predictors of Americans' beliefs about six potentially controversial issues — stem cell research, the big bang, human evolution, genetically modified foods, nanotechnology and climate change. They measured education by the highest degree earned, science classes taken in high school and college and aptitude on general science facts.

Learn more.

Vote Up! To See #CMUatSXSW

Carnegie Mellon faculty and staff could have a strong showing at 2018’s SXSW, but they need your help! After creating a one-time login, “Vote Up” the following panel proposals to see #CMUatSXSW.

John Balash, education network coordiator, ETC, How K-12 is Shaping the Development of VR Ed-Tech

John Balash, education network coordinatior, ETC, 20/20: 20 years of VR hardware in 20 minutes

Michael Brett, managing director HCII, Are Your Students Learning? Prove It!

George Kantor, senior systems scientist, A.I. Will Help Feed a Growing Planet with FarmView

Laura Kelly, social media manager, LIVE FROM THE QUAD: Higher Ed & Live-Streaming

Ari Lightman, professor, Experience & next generation of social analysts

Ari Lightman, professor, Welcome to the “Internet of Threats”

Jordan Mroziak, community outreach coordinator, CREATE Lab, Disrupting Classical Music: Audience of the Future

Illah Nourbakhsh, director, CREATE lab, Message from Me: Enhancing Adult-Child Interaction

Molly Steenson, associate professor, Architectural Intelligence: AI & Design

Mark Stehlik, assistant dean for outreach and teaching professor, Re-envisioning the K-12 Computer Science Pipeline

Manuela Veloso, head, Machine Learning Department, How Can Robots Gain Our Trust?

Athletics Department Offers Golf Lessons

CMU Head Golf Coach and PGA professional Dan Rodgers is offering personalized golf lessons for students, faculty and staff. All lessons will be conducted in Skibo Gymnasium using the golf program’s state-of-the-art golf simulator.

Lessons are by appointment only and can be made by contacting Rodgers at rodgersd@andrew.cmu.edu. The cost is 40 FitBucks per half hour. For more information on FitBucks, visit the FitBucks website.

2017-2018 Academic Calendars Now Available

The 2017-2018 academic calendars are now available at the University Store. Academic Calendars can be purchased on the lower level of the University Store at $2.09 each. For bulk orders (over 50) or orders for off-campus locations, details can be sent to art-store@andrew.cmu.edu.

More information about calendar orders is available online.

Gerwig has been director of the Jared L. Cohon University Center since the building opened in 1996. A nexus for the CMU community in Pittsburgh, the Cohon Center is the most popular venue on campus for meetings, student performances, concerts, movies and guest speakers. It also hosts conferences, commencement activities and large student events like the Lunar Gala, Meeting of the Minds and the technical and business career fairs.

“Every major university event touches this building in some way,” Gerwig said.

Gerwig oversees the building’s operations, including the information desk. She also sets policies, helps with logistics for each event and “keeps the trains running on time.”

“It’s different every day. I like putting the pieces of the puzzle together,” she said. “We do amazing things. We can get anything done with a lot of collaboration and partners on campus. The students are incredible, creative, challenging, enjoyable, smart and helpful. They’re just a pleasure to work with and so is the staff.”

Gerwig works with four staff members and 32 student workers. The team works with the Athletics Department and Dining Services, which operate the building’s physical fitness facilities and eating locations, respectively. They also work with Facilities Management and Campus Services and Custodial Services, which Gerwig said are vital to the center’s success.

“We really could not get through the day without their help. They take ownership of the building. They understand the big picture and what needs to be done to make a good experience for everyone,” she said.

One of her most memorable events in the Cohon Center was the 2016 White House Frontiers Conference, in which national thought-leaders, including President Barack Obama, discussed building America's capacity in science, technology and innovation.

“That type of an event is on a whole new level,” she said. “It was amazing. They transformed the entire building overnight. Our existing furniture went on the road for a day and the next day it was back to normal. It was like nothing ever happened. It was unbelievable.”

Gerwig usually arrives at work around 6:30 a.m. and often meets with student groups after 4:30 p.m. to help plan events in the Cohon Center. On most days she makes the five-mile commute to and from work on her bicycle.

“It’s a good way to wake up in the morning,” she said.

In addition to cycling, Gerwig enjoys watching late night comedy and police drama shows. She also likes to do yoga, cook and bake.

“Cookies, cakes and pies are my specialty,” she said.

Have a suggestion for the Staff Spotlight? Send it to piperweekly@andrew.cmu.edu.

Carnegie Mellon University is farming out a landscaping job for the environment’s sake.

Goats from Allegheny Goatscape, a herd of four-legged, eco-friendly laborers, will spend about three days and nights on campus, Sept. 13-15, to clear the steep, overgrown hillside between the Gates Center and Purnell Center for the Arts. The area has been invaded by Kudzu vines, which are strangling the native plants and trees.

Steve Guenther, director of operations for Facilities Management and Campus Services (FMCS), said this is a trial program in support of the Green Practices Committee and the university’s commitment to a healthy environment.

“Goats do a good job of eating invasive plants and weeds, their hooves are gentle on the ground, not like a heavy piece of equipment, and the end product is fertilizer,” said Guenther, who noted the goats’ digestive system kills the weeds’ seeds.

“We don’t want to start spraying that hillside with herbicide. We’re hoping the goats will eradicate the area and cut down on the regrowth. It’s all part of our commitment to a long-term maintenance plan that may combine goats with manual labor,” he said.

David Wessell, FMCS supervisor, said an electric fence will keep the Nubian goats and their protective miniature donkey inside the work area on the hillside. FMCS will install a three-foot-high, green plastic fence with signage around the perimeter of the electric fence to keep onlookers at a distance.

“We’ll set it up, and they’ll put the donkey and goats in there. About six goats can clear an acre of ground in a week and we have about two-thirds of an acre. So, we’re thinking three to four days should do it,” Wessell said.

“This is the first time on campus for something like this. This is an ecological approach to general vegetation removal. It’s a learning opportunity for the campus community,” he said.

Gavin Deming, founder and executive director of Allegheny Goatscape, said he is excited to come to Carnegie Mellon and is glad people are thinking about goats to help landscape difficult, overgrown areas.

“When we use goats we’re avoiding using any kind of chemical that goes into the plants, into the ground and into the air. It’s surely a benefit if we can avoid pesticides and herbicides at any cost,” Deming said. “Also, when you’re using goats you’re not using excess gasoline and oil for machinery that is often used in trickier landscaping situations.”

Deming said it makes sense to take advantage of what goats do best.

“It’s a very natural thing for goats to eat nearly any type of plant. So, why not make use of what they do naturally,” he said.

The best place to view the goats at work will be from the Pausch Bridge.

“We will be putting up signs on the bridge. There’s a perfect view from there,” Guenther said.

Kristin Ward props up drama students with her artistry and ingenuity.

As a fulltime props coordinator working in the Purnell Center for the Arts, Ward assists students in creating every conceivable item the actors need on stage to achieve their most authentic performances.

“At the moment, we’re upholstering furniture for a show set in the Victorian era. But the script calls for an exploding can of tomatoes, and soon I will have to help the students figure out how to make that happen,” she said.

Ward fell in love with theater in high school, mostly from a performance perspective. She graduated from Nazareth College of Rochester, where she learned acting, costuming and how to build scenery.

“There are certain ways that you build scenery and you do that over and over again. It’s the same with costumes; even when you have different designs, you’re using the same set of skills,” she said. “With props it’s always something different, and that’s what I like about it. It allows me to constantly learn and use my imagination.”

When she is not working behind the scenes, Ward likes to return to acting. She wrote, produced and performed a one-woman show, “Swan,” inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale “The Ugly Duckling.”

“‘The Ugly Duckling’ is a story about how the outside world can be so brutal. For me, that hasn’t been my experience,” she said. “I wanted to create something about learning from others who are different from you, and about sharing and finding commonalities and defining who you are not just by how you were born but how you’ve been shaped by the world around you.”

Ward performed “Swan” at the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival in March, and she will perform it again at 1 p.m. Friday-Sunday, Nov. 17-19, at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. She said the message she works to convey through the show is that to find where you belong, you must look with your heart.

“Even if you feel like the odd one out, sometimes you just have to open up, step forward and find your belonging through a little bit of bravery,” she said.

Ward feels like she belongs at CMU.

“I like the community feel of Carnegie Mellon University,” she said. “I feel like I’m part of something, that we’re all on the same team.”

Have a suggestion for the Piper Spotlight? Send it to piperweekly@andrew.cmu.edu.

CMU-Alert Test Friday

A test of the university’s emergency notification service, CMU-Alert, will be conducted at 4:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 1. In the event of an emergency, CMU-Alert sends voice or text messages to registered phones and emergency alert devices on campus. The messages provide brief details about the nature of the emergency and direct people to www.cmu.edu/alert for more information, instructions and updates.

All students are automatically registered to receive CMU-Alert messages, and faculty and staff are encouraged to sign-up for the same. Faculty and staff can register and update their information online at www.cmu.edu/alert by clicking on the “what is CMU-Alert?” link.

Flu Vaccine Clinics Begin Sept. 7

Once again, the university will be offering flu vaccines at no cost for faculty and staff members. New this year, the flu vaccine clinics will be hosted by Human Resources and administered by Giant Eagle Pharmacy.

Visit the Flu Vaccine Clinic Website for the clinic schedule and more information. To obtain your flu vaccine, you will need to present your Carnegie Mellon ID card. While walk-ins are welcome, for faster service it is recommended that you schedule an appointment.

Weighing Lightest Particle in the Universe

Physicists from Carnegie Mellon are part of an international collaboration that’s aiming to weigh the universe’s most elusive particle — the neutrino.

Postulated in 1930 and detected in 1956, the neutrino has captivated scientists for decades. Neutrinos are the most abundant particle in the universe — and the lightest, weighing at least 250,000 times less than an electron. Because neutrinos are so lightweight, attempts to determine their mass have failed, so far. A new experiment, called KATRIN (Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino), hopes to change that.

“With KATRIN, everything is bigger, everything is better,” said Assistant Research Professor of Physics and CMU alumna Diana Parno, who is an analysis co-coordinator for the KATRIN experiment, which is based in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Learn more.

Book Offers 18 Years of "Challenges to the Dream"

A new anthology, “Challenges to the Dream: The Best of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Writing Awards at Carnegie Mellon University,” includes a powerful selection of the poetry and prose pieces from the writing contest’s 18-year history. Edited by English Professor Jim Daniels, the book will be published by CMU Press in October and features 91 pieces from 83 writers and 31 different schools on topics ranging from racial and cultural stereotypes and school bullying to homophobia and identity questions.

Tracy K. Smith poet laureate of the United States and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, called the anthology, “the mortar that will mend our nation’s spirit." She said, "It is consoling beyond words to witness these young writers wrestling with the realities of race, bringing solid thought and well-wrought language to bear upon that process.”

Since its inception, the MLK Jr. Writing Awards contest has received more than 2,000 entries. The anthology’s purpose is to not only share especially moving pieces from the awards program but also encourage and extend more conversations about racial, political, gender, cultural and other diversity issues.

Find out more and purchase an advance copy.

2017-2018 Academic Calendars Now Available

More information about calendar orders is available online.

Four faculty members at Carnegie Mellon in Qatar have been awarded National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) grants by the Qatar National Research Fund. The grants will fund CMU-Q faculty studies on breast cancer, water quality, computer science education, and marine environmental monitoring.

Saquib Razak, associate teaching professor of computer science, was awarded a grant to expand Alice Middle East, an interactive software tool that guides students through the basics of computer programming. With the NPRP grant, Razak and the Alice Middle East team will develop a three-year curriculum for local middle schools. The new curriculum will focus on computational concepts and critical thinking, which are crucial skills for young people as they enter the workforce.

Ihab Younis, assistant teaching professor of biological sciences, was awarded a grant to study the molecular indicators of breast cancer, which is the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women in Qatar. The project also seeks to add to the database of breast cancer biomarkers, which will have direct impact on diagnosis and provide novel therapeutic targets and approaches to treatment.

Annette Vincent, assistant teaching professor of biological sciences, was awarded a grant for her project on water quality within Qatar. The project uses bacteriophages — viruses that infect bacteria — as biomonitoring tools to provide a more accurate assessment of the types of bacteria present in the water. Vincent’s research could have important implications for Qatar’s water security, perennially a top priority in a country where the drinking water is desalinated seawater. Vincent will collaborate with Basem Shomar, principle investigator of environmental and chemical sciences at Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute, part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

Gianni Di Caro, associate teaching professor of computer science, will investigate the monitoring of marine environments over extended periods of time. Di Caro’s team seeks to develop swarms of unmanned aerial and surface robots that are equipped with GPS devices and sensors for environmental monitoring. Because the system will be designed for use in long-running missions, it will allow for repeated, time-indexed data sampling that can help develop distributed and scalable solutions for controlling individual and system-level behaviors.

Jeremy Avigad co-organized the conference “Big Proof” this summer, which gathered research from all over the world to explore ways that logical methods in computer science can be used to support mathematical reasoning. Jeremy Avigad is a professor of Philosophy and Mathematical Sciences in the Department of Philosophy. Find out more about the conference.

Tailgate Party Saturday

The Carnegie Mellon University Department of Athletics will be hosting the UPMC Season-Opening Tailgate party Saturday, Sept. 9, prior to kickoff of the Tartans’ first home football game of the season against the University of Rochester.

The Tailgate party will begin at 12 p.m. on the IM/Soccer Field on the east side of Gesling Stadium. Students, staff, faculty, friends and fans are welcome and encouraged to attend. Hot dogs, snacks and drinks will be provided in a fun atmosphere for Tartan fans to come together to pump up the excitement for the beginning of the football season.

“We are grateful to our colleagues at UPMC for their support of our program, and this special initiative,” said Director of Athletics Josh Centor. “I am looking forward to ushering in the new football season with our student body at the tailgate.”

Come out and enjoy a game of corn hole or can jam with friends, grab some giveaways, and settle in the grandstands to cheer on the Tartans. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.

Last Call: I-Corps Applications Due Sept. 8

The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship has announced that the National Science Foundation I-Corps application deadline is Sept. 8.

CMU teams — faculty, staff, students and recent alumni — looking to jumpstart their science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) business ideas may apply. Benefits of the program include:

• Up to $2,500 to further your business venture through customer discovery;
• Access to six entrepreneurial workshops focused on agile innovation;
• Become part of the Project Olympus incubator;
• Access to a dedicated Swartz Center mentor to help hone your business idea;
• Priority opportunities to showcase your venture at LaunchCMU and Olympus Show & Tell; and
• Guidance in writing proposals for the national I-Corps Team program, SBIR/STTR grants, regional accelerator programs and other external funding.

Applications must be submitted online.

Learn more.

Two-Factor Authentication Improves Security

Two-Factor Authentication (2fa) is a service that provides an added layer of protection for your Andrew userID and password. University faculty, staff, and student workers are required to use Duo, a 2fa application. Other students, as well as those with sponsored accounts, also are encouraged to enroll in 2fa for added identity and account security.

“Simply stated, two-factor authentication increases the collective online security of the entire university," said Rodney McClendon, vice president for Operations. "Everyone who uses 2fa helps reduce the risk of breaches, and better protects all CMU accounts, passwords, and password-protected data, systems and services.

"Implementation of 2fa is a university-wide effort. I extend my sincere thanks to the entire campus community for their help and support in making the 2fa program a success — from those involved in the 2fa research initiative and user surveys, to everyone who enrolled by our deadline, as well as to all affiliates for their continued awareness and diligence in helping prevent and respond to cybersecurity threats,” McClendon said.

Find out more.

Flu Vaccine Clinics Underway

Once again, the university will be offering flu vaccines at no cost for faculty and staff members. New this year, the flu vaccine clinics will be hosted by Human Resources and administered by Giant Eagle Pharmacy.

Visit the Flu Vaccine Clinic Website for the clinic schedule and more information. To obtain your flu vaccine, you will need to present your Carnegie Mellon ID card. While walk-ins are welcome, for faster service it is recommended that you schedule an appointment.

CMU Earns Grant for Digital Scholarship

The Andrew. W. Mellon Foundation has awarded Carnegie Mellon and the University of Pittsburgh an 18-month, $60,000 grant to research the development of a standardized platform for digital scholarship. The award will support "Digits," a project that will explore how new technologies that make it increasingly easy to publish, share, reproduce and archive complex digital materials can be sustained in a unified and flexible way.

CMU's Jessica Otis and Scott Weingart, digital humanities specialists, and Pitt's Matt Burton, visiting assistant professor, and Matt Lavin, clinical assistant professor of English and director of the digital media lab, will lead the project. They will focus on minimizing software system administration costs while increasing scale and flexibility.

Digits also will allow digital projects and small-scale work to be preserved and updated.

"It is often considered double-dipping or even cheating to publish nearly identical research as more data becomes available," Weingart said. "Digits would provide infrastructure for regularly updating publications, as with an article that relays perpetually current popular opinions about romance fiction based on a large-scale analysis of online reviews."

Find out more.

Book Offers 18 Years of "Challenges to the Dream"

A new anthology, “Challenges to the Dream: The Best of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Writing Awards at Carnegie Mellon University,” includes a powerful selection of the poetry and prose pieces from the writing contest’s 18-year history. Edited by English Professor Jim Daniels, the book will be published by CMU Press in October and features 91 pieces from 83 writers and 31 different schools on topics ranging from racial and cultural stereotypes and school bullying to homophobia and identity questions.

Tracy K. Smith poet laureate of the United States and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, called the anthology, “the mortar that will mend our nation’s spirit." She said, "It is consoling beyond words to witness these young writers wrestling with the realities of race, bringing solid thought and well-wrought language to bear upon that process.”

Since its inception, the MLK Jr. Writing Awards contest has received more than 2,000 entries. The anthology’s purpose is to not only share especially moving pieces from the awards program but also encourage and extend more conversations about racial, political, gender, cultural and other diversity issues.

Find out more and purchase an advance copy.

Lee Branstetter, professor or economics and public policy at the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, is presenting this week at the Prospects and Challenges for Sustained Growth in Asia Conference in Seoul, South Korea. Branstetter will be presenting a paper he co-authored with Namho Kwon, a Ph.D. graduate of the Heinz College, during a session on “Invention, productivity and the evolution of East Asia’s innovation systems.” At the conference, he’ll be among some of Asia’s top policymakers and economists, as well as Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and Jonathan Woetzel of McKinsey. The conference is sponsored by the Korean Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Korea, the IMF and the Peterson Institute.

Susan Polansky has been named the Athletics Department's NCAA faculty representative. Polansky, head of the Department of Modern Languages in the Dietrich College, succeeds Eric Grotzinger. “Susan is a university leader and a wonderful advocate for student experience outside of the classroom,” said Athletics Director Josh Centor. “We couldn’t be more thrilled for her to take on a significant role within the athletics community. I am looking forward to the opportunity to work more closely with Susan as we continue to move our athletics program forward.” Learn more.

Kevin Zollman, an associate professor of philosophy, will be giving short presentations on game theory as it applies to everyday life on Friday, Sept. 8 at the Carnegie Science Center, as part of the center’s 21+ night series. He also will discuss his book, “Game Theorist's Guide to Parenting.” Zollman first presented game theory to the masses in 2013, when he wrote an advice column for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, applying game theory strategies to routine dilemmas and major conflicts alike. Find out more about the book.

Head Women's Volleyball Coach Kim Kelly won her 500th career match and 250th at Carnegie Mellon last Friday (Sept. 1), when the Tartans opened the 2017 season at the Ohio Northern University Invitational. The Tartans finished play on Friday with two 3-0 victories, the first over Defiance College and the second over Thomas More College. Kelly currently ranks 28th on the Division III active win list with 501. Learn more about Kelly.

LaunchCMU Pittsburgh Is Oct. 10

The focus of this year's LaunchCMU Pittsburgh technology startup and research showcase on Tuesday, Oct. 10 is Robotics in Manufacturing. Sponsored by the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, LaunchCMU showcases entrepreneurship at CMU — cutting-edge research and innovations from students, alumni, faculty and staff — while bringing together the investment community, regional business leaders and CMU alumni.

Find out more.

TEL Projects Receive ProSEED Funding

Six technology-enhanced learning (TEL) projects designed to improve education while advancing our understanding of how humans learn have received funding from Carnegie Mellon’s ProSEED grant program. Part of the university’s Simon Initiative, the projects will leverage CMU’s learning engineering ecosystem and integrate learning research with data-driven, innovative educational practices.

ProSEED provides startup support for innovative projects that span disciplines and allow researchers and educators to complete the fundamental research needed to take their work to the next level. The Simon ProSEED projects support the university’s strategic plan by advancing and applying CMU’s world-leading research in learning science and TEL.

The six projects are:

• Scaling Maker Portfolios;
• Teaching Data Science Problem-Solving Skills at Scale;
• Evaluating TEL Tool for Personalized Learning Feedback;
• Scaffolding Active Learning for Scientific Principles;
• Creating Database Tools for Creative Storytelling With Mobile Technology; and
• Using OLI To Improve and Monitor Learning and Instruction.

Learn about the projects.

CAS Begins Narrative Initiative

From the role of public art to the evolution of media to how people use performance through social rituals, athletics and digital devices, Carnegie Mellon’s Center for the Arts in Society (CAS) has been re-framing the view of day-to-day life since 2008.

Projects from CAS’ latest mission — the Performance Initiative — were on display at the Miller Gallery recently and the focus of a special reception, complete with live music and fanfare.

“It was great to see a room packed full of people from so many different schools and departments across campus,” said James Duesing, CAS director and professor of art. “A highlight for me was seeing the project leaders present their work and the considered way Wendy Arons and Kristina Straub introduced such diverse projects in the context of contemporary performance.”

Find out more.

Alumni Award Nominations Due Oct. 2

The CMU Alumni Association is accepting nominations for its 2018 Alumni Awards.  Alumni may be nominated in the following categories: Achievement, Service, Outstanding Recent Alumni and the new Founders Medal for Outstanding Service and Exceptional Achievement. Faculty and staff may be nominated for the Faculty & Staff Impact Award. The nomination deadline is Oct. 2.

Find out more and submit a nomination.

Nominees Sought for Review, Disciplinary Boards

The Office of Community Standards & Integrity in the Division of Student Affairs is seeking nominees to serve on the Academic Review Board and the University Disciplinary Committee.

Nominations should be staff and faculty members who have shown a commitment to honesty and integrity, evidence of sound judgment, critical thinking and analysis, a commitment to consistency in their work and interactions with others, listening skills and compassion. Board members are convened to review student violations of community standards (theft, vandalism, alcohol violations, etc.) that cannot be resolved through an administrative resolution meeting or an academic integrity violation pattern (cheating, plagiarism, etc.).  This is an appointed volunteer opportunity and a way to contribute to upholding the standards and integrity of the Carnegie Mellon community.

If you are interested or know someone who may be a good fit, please fill out the nomination form by September 22.  Nominated individuals will be invited to attend a board member training session — the first opportunity will be on September 30.  Once nominated and trained, names will be passed to Faculty Senate and Staff Council respectively, for appointment.

Flu Vaccine Clinics Underway

Visit the Flu Vaccine Clinic Website for the clinic schedule and more information. To obtain your flu vaccine, you will need to present your Carnegie Mellon ID card. While walk-ins are welcome, for faster service it is recommended that you schedule an appointment.

David Stubbs’ family reunion in the early 1990s brought him from the South Bronx, New York, to Pittsburgh, where he became part of a second family as an HVAC technician at Carnegie Mellon University.

“We’re a close knit group. We help each other,” Stubbs said of his fellow craftsmen in Facilities Management and Campus Services (FMCS). “We’re related for eight hours a day, so we should have fun at what we do and leave happy.”

Stubbs said he gets great satisfaction doing his job well. A typical day for him includes handling heating and air conditioning service calls and performing preventive maintenance on air handling units, fan coils, cooling towers and chillers.

“I love to look at what I’ve accomplished at the end of the day and leave knowing things are working correctly,” he said.

Stubbs joined CMU in 1994, working in the cafeteria kitchen in Resnik Hall. He moved on to catering and then to the FMCS storeroom before becoming an HVAC apprentice. He earned his HVAC certification two years ago.

“When I first took this job I had a fear of the machinery. Now I walk up to the machines without hesitation. I’m sure of what I’m doing. I’m confident,” he said.

Stubbs is based in the Software Engineering Institute and works in the FMCS Mellon Zone, which includes several campus structures, including Mellon Institute, four buildings on and near South Craig Street, and the Pittsburgh Technology Center on Second Ave.

“I love the freedom of being able to work independently,” he said.

Stubbs spends his free time with his wife and 9-year-old daughter. He hopes his daughter will attend CMU.

“There’s a scripture in the Bible that says ‘a man who works and doesn’t leave an inheritance, lives for not.’ I hope to leave her a CMU education. That will sign her ticket for the future,” he said.

Stubbs said he is very proud of his more than 20 years working at Carnegie Mellon.

“CMU has been instrumental in my life. I came from New York and I came to CMU, and I’ve been here ever since,” he said.

Have a suggestion for the Staff Spotlight? Send it to piperweekly@andrew.cmu.edu.