Lori Levin, research professor in the Language Technologies Institute, was a coach of the highly successful U.S. team at the 16th International Linguistics Olympiad in Prague July 26-30. Prior to leaving for Prague, the team of high school students spent three days at LTI training for the event, which involves solving problems in language analysis drawn from languages around the world. During individual competition at the Olympiad, all eight team members won medals – four gold, three silver and one bronze – while in team competition the team won gold and silver and took back the travelling trophy from the United Kingdom team. Levin's research areas include machine translation, natural language processing and computational linguistics, corpus annotation and resources.

Carlee Joe-Wong is working to ground the economic foundations for the next generation of computing by harnessing devices included in the Internet of Things rather than using a centralized entity such as the cloud. Joe-Wong, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, has received a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation to create an architecture for pricing usage of devices in the IoT that other innovators and companies can respond to and utilize. Some of the possible options could include: flat-fee plans that allow customers "unlimited" access or using data-capped plans that require monthly payment for a specific amount of use, such as only five GB for a monthly cellular data plan. Find out more. 

Joe Mertz has been selected interim director of the Information Systems program (IS) in the Dietrich College. A teaching professor in IS and the Heinz College, Mertz succeeds Randy Weinberg, who has led the program for 18 years and is retiring in December. “I am delighted that Joe has agreed to lead IS. He brings great energy and skill to IS, and his work on sending students overseas to consult for small governments or non-profits is genuinely transformative,” said Richard Scheines, dean of the Dietrich College. “We are combining forces with Heinz College to re-think undergraduate IS as a joint program involving both colleges, and Joe is the perfect choice to help lead that effort." Mertz joined CMU in 1988 as a graduate research assistant in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy and became a faculty member in 2002 as an associate teaching professor in the Heinz College and School of Computer Science. He joined the IS program in 2010. Learn more.

Associate Professor of History Lisa Tetrault’s award-winning book, “The Myth of Seneca Falls,” was referenced in a New York Times opinion piece, "How the Suffrage Movement Betrayed Black Women.” In the book, Tetrault demonstrates that Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Lucretia Mott and their peers, who are credited with founding, defining and leading the women's suffrage campaign, gradually created and popularized the original story. She details how they created the legend during the second half of the 19th century in response to the movement's internal politics as well as racial politics following the Civil War. Tetrault specializes in the history of U.S. women and gender. Her research and teaching interests focus on the 19th century, the history of political economy, the history of social movements (particularly feminism), women’s health, narrativity, and the politics of memory. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of History.

Neuroscientist Aryn Gittis was named a finalist for the Science & PINS Prize for Neuromodulation for her discovery of new therapeutic targets for Parkinson’s disease. The highly competitive prize is awarded for outstanding research from the last three years as described in a 1,500 word essay. Gittis’ essay was published in the Aug. 3 issue of Science. Gittis writes about how, while looking to understand the fundamental biology of the brain’s basal ganglia, her lab discovered a class of neurons that could be targeted and stimulated to restore movement in a mouse model for Parkinson’s disease. She is an associate professor of biological sciences and a member of the joint CMU/University of Pittsburgh Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition. Find out more. 

Robotics Institute Featured on History Channel

The Friday Aug. 10 episode of the History Channel series ''In Search Of,'' hosted by actor and Carnegie Mellon alumnus Zachary Quinto, featured a segment that was shot last year at the CMU Robotics Institute.

In the segment, Quinto talked with Nathan Michael, assistant research professor of robotics, and Ellen Cappo, a Ph.D. student in robotics, about their research involving swarms of small drones that can interact with people. Quinto entered the netted drone enclosure in the Planetary Robotics Lab, where several drones circled benignly around him as he plucked them individually out of the air.

The segment was part of an episode on artificial intelligence, which also included a visit by Quinto to the Uber Advanced Technologies Center in Pittsburgh for a look at self-driving cars. The new series, inspired by the original ''In Search Of'' hosted by Rod Serling and later by Leonard Nimoy from 1977-82, delves into all manner of mysterious phenomena. Quinto serves as executive producer of the series, which airs at 10 p.m. ET Fridays on History. The network reaches more than 96 million homes. Watch the episode.

CMU Joins Meltwater To Advance Data Science

Students and faculty at the School of Computer Science are collaborating with the digital media intelligence firm Meltwater to advance the state of the art in artificial intelligence education and research using the company's AI platform.

Meltwater, which has the world's most diverse collection of open and licensed data, has opened its underlying AI platform, Fairhair.ai, to Carnegie Mellon and other select universities. The Fairhair.ai platform allows students and faculty to create, connect and organize web-scale information to generate real-time analytics that support decision-making from online data.

CMU will use Fairhair.ai in graduate AI courses and as a resource for the university's data science and AI research community.

"Sharing access to real-world data helps students, researchers and data scientists solve real-world problems more rapidly," said Eric Nyberg, director of CMU's Master of Computational Data Science program and a professor in the Language Technologies Institute. "In addition to realistic real-time data sources, the platform also includes AI modeling and integrated cloud computing to greatly simplify the process of building and optimizing new web-scale analytics."

Learn more.

Robotics Team Delivers Pipe-Crawling Robot to DOE

A team from Carnegie Mellons Robotics Institute has delivered a 270-pound robot called RadPiper to the U.S. Department of Energy’s former uranium enrichment plant in Piketon, Ohio, where it will be used to identify uranium deposits on pipe walls.

RadPiper is an autonomous, tracked robot that crawls inside miles of 30-inch and 42-inch-diameter pipe at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant, which is being decommissioned and prepared for demolition. The robot is equipped with radiation detectors and can identify sections of pipe that have hazardous uranium deposits.

This technology, developed by a team led by Robotics Professor William “Red” Whittaker, could potentially save millions of dollars in decommissioning costs by identifying those sections of pipe that need special handling and disposal. The rest of the pipe could remain in place and be demolished safely and less expensively with the rest of the process buildings – three gigantic structures that span the size of 158 football fields.

The CMU team has worked closely with DOE and Fluor-BWXT Portsmouth, the decommissioning contractor, to develop the robot. Fluor-BWXT staff members are now testing the robot as they work toward its deployment. The robot also could be used in the decommissioning of a similar plant in Paducah, Kentucky. Find out more.

Parking Permit Distribution Aug. 20-24

Parking and Transportation Services will distribute parking hangtags Monday through Friday, Aug. 20-24. Your CMU ID is required to pick up your hangtag. The schedule follows:

Monday, Aug. 20: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., Dithridge Garage Lobby
For the following parking areas only: 300 S. Craig, Clyde Street, Dithridge, Fifth & Craig, 4700 Fifth Avenue, GATF, Henry Street, Whitfield, and Zebina Way.

Tuesday, Aug. 21 through Friday, Aug. 24: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., Parking Office, East Campus Garage
For all locations.

If you are not available to pick up your permit during any of the listed times, permits also may be picked up at the Parking and Transportation Services Office during normal business hours any time prior to Aug. 31. Permits that are not picked up by Aug. 31, will be considered unclaimed and will be cancelled and removed from the database unless you have made other arrangements. Please send email to parking@andrew.cmu.edu if you are unable to pick up the permit by Aug. 31, or if you wish to have someone else pick up your permit in your absence.

If you have questions, send email to parking@andrew.cmu.edu, or call 412-268-2052 between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Floor Marshal, Active Shooter Training Sessions Offered

Due to a number of requests from faculty and staff, Environmental Health & Safety is offering two additional sessions for the combined Floor Marshal and Active Shooter training. You do not have to be a floor marshal or facility coordinator to attend these sessions. This training is appropriate for all faculty and staff. The first hour is dedicated to fire safety topics and appropriate actions during an emergency, while the second hour specifically addresses an active shooter scenario.

The sessions are at 10 a.m. on Thursdays, Sept. 13 and Oct. 11.  Seating is limited for each session, so registration is required. Register online.

Carnegie Mellon has named Michael McQuade, former senior vice president for science and technology at United Technologies Corporation (UTC), to be its new vice president for research, effective January 2019. The newly created position of vice president for research will report directly to the president and will strengthen and support research, creativity and entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon. “Michael McQuade’s depth of experience across industry, government and academia, as well as his familiarity with CMU as a trustee and alumnus, position him well to take on this critical role and build upon our extraordinary momentum as a leading research institution,” said President Farnam Jahanian. “With the elevation and expansion of this critical office, we look forward to maximizing the competitiveness of our research enterprise and promoting closer collaboration with industry partners, government agencies and other stakeholders.” During his time at UTC, McQuade provided strategic oversight and guidance for research, engineering and development activities throughout the business units of the corporation and at the United Technologies Research Center. He previously held senior positions with technology development and business leadership at 3M, Imation and Eastman Kodak. Find out more.

Engineering Professor Shelley Anna is participating in the 2018-19 ELATE program at Drexel University. ELATE at Drexel is a one-year, part-time program that focuses on increasing personal and professional leadership effectiveness, leading and managing change initiatives within institutions, using strategic finance and resource management to enhance organizational missions, and creating a network of exceptional women who bring organizational perspectives and deep personal capacity to the institutions and society they serve. Facilitated by leaders in the fields of STEM research and leadership development, the curriculum includes classroom lessons and activities, online instruction and discussion, and on-the-job application at each fellow’s home institution. The class is comprised of women faculty who are leaders in biotechnology, chemistry, engineering and health science. Anna joined Carnegie Mellon's Department of Mechanical Engineering in 2003, and began a joint appointment in Mechanical Engineering and Chemical Engineering in 2008. The major themes of her research are microfluidics, complex fluid dynamics and interfacial fluid dynamics.

Sheng Shen, an associate professor of mechanical engineering, has created a solder-like material called "supersolder," with twice the conductivity of conventional solders and a compliance higher by two to three orders of magnitude. In electronics, solder is used to connect two parts together. The product of a 2013 DARPA Young Faculty Award, supersolder is a thermal interface material (TIM) developed by Shen in collaboration with researchers from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Four years of work have resulted in the creation of a material that can fill the same role as conventional solders, but with twice the thermal conductance of current state-of-the-art TIMs. The secret behind Shen’s breakthrough is copper-tin nanowire arrays. “The nanowires are grown from a template, like a mold, using small pores. It’s chip technology using electroplating, grown one layer at a time, like how you coat an electrical cord by dipping it into electrolyte,” Shen said. Find out more. 

Ty Walton, a significant leader in CMU’s diversity, inclusion and student advising and support efforts for more than three decades, has announced her retirement, effective Sept. 4. Walton came to CMU in 1987 as assistant director of the Carnegie Mellon Action Project (CMAP). In 2004, she was promoted to director and guided the program’s transition to CMARC, now a part of the Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion. Since 2001, she has led CMU’s Summer Academy for Math and Science (SAMS), a transformational access and outreach program that has been attended by more than 1,500 high school juniors and seniors. SAMS graduates have enrolled at CMU, Ivy League schools and other top-ranked research universities. Walton received the Outstanding Contributions to Academic Advising and Mentoring Award in 2013. “Miss Ty, as she is fondly known to hundreds of students and alumni, has always been a wise counselor, a caring shoulder, and a steadfast advocate for all students,” said Vice Provost for Education Amy Burkert. “Ty’s insights and direction of academic support programs were consistently focused toward our students’ success through learning, emotional and social support – throughout their entire time on campus. We thank Ty and express our deepest appreciation for all she has done at CMU.” A celebration in her honor will be held during Homecoming.

First-year Orientation at Carnegie Mellon University is synonymous with Anne Witchner.

Witchner, associate dean for Student Affairs, is the architect of Carnegie Mellon’s nationally recognized, award-winning undergraduate orientation program. She started it from scratch in 1989, and has played a vital role in developing it into a program that’s the envy of schools from coast to coast.

Before the shift to an on-campus orientation program for all new students, orientation was split between the Pittsburgh campus and rural, woodsy campsites in Butler outside of the city for up to 300 new students.

“When Michael Murphy became dean of Student Affairs, he allowed us to move in a different direction,” said Witchner, a 1973 CMU graduate who earned a bachelor’s degree in English. “All students needed to have a formal introduction to the university and be able to meet peers, upperclass students, faculty and staff. Our goal was to have students be excited about their new home, understand the CMU culture and what was expected of them.”

Today, orientation has developed substantially and is now a comprehensive nine-day event with Witchner working alongside seven head orientation counselors and 250 orientation counselors, resident assistants and housefellows. About 200 academic, developmental, social, recreational and cultural events take place over eight days that aim to introduce students to their residential community, their academic studies, campus life and the Pittsburgh community. Hallmark events include Community Collage, Playfair, Making Your Mark, the Class Photo, Academic Convocation, Last Lecture discussions, House Wars, Community Service and Craig Street Crawl.

“Other schools aspire to have the program we have,” said Witchner, who has been invited to speak about CMU’s orientation at national and regional conferences. “Stanford, Princeton, Lehigh and Case Western Reserve have reached out to us to ask about how we have developed our orientation and involve so many constituents. And smaller schools have inquired about different components, such as details for setting up a class photo and how to integrate faculty and academic programming into the schedule.”

Witchner credits CMU’s culture and commitment to the student experience for elevating the program to national prominence.

“What also makes our orientation unique is the collaborative nature of CMU and our ability to leverage that asset by partnering with many departments and individuals who share a common goal,” she said. “Where we have landed today with orientation is not just my vision. It is a shared understanding of the valuable role that orientation plays in the lives of our new students as well as their family members.”

In addition to first-year orientation, Witchner, who joined CMU in 1977 as director of Student Activities, helped to develop several university-wide staples, such as the winter activities fair, the Senior Leadership awards, MLK Day programming, the Graduate Student Orientation, the Graduate Student Leadership and Service awards, and the Kiltie Band Holiday Concert.

“I came to CMU at the right time in terms of being able to — hopefully — have an impact. But it has always been the students who helped enable and create much of what I have been involved with,” Witchner said. “I also was able to partner with others who recognized there were quality of student life issues that needed to be addressed.”

Witchner, who earned her master’s degree at the University of South Carolina and her doctorate in higher education from the University of Pittsburgh, will be relinquishing her formal duties as orientation director this year. Julie Schultz, associate dean of Student Affairs, and Gwen Stevens, coordinator of Residential Education for Orientation, will be leading the effort moving forward.

“But I’m not retiring. There are lots of places where I hope I can be of value,” said Witchner, who plans to work on special projects within Student Affairs.

At last year’s Andy Awards ceremony, Witchner was honored for her 40 years of service to the CMU community.

“It’s been rewarding and humbling to be part of such a vibrant and diverse community,” she said. “Being surrounded by the best and brightest students, and some of the best colleagues one could have has kept me young and on my toes. It has been a privilege to be part of this great community.”

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

Edgar Mendoza, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering, recently received the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship to pursue his research in ceramic additive manufacturing with his advisers, professors Jack Beuth and Reeja Jayan. High-purity ceramics have great advantages, such as high hardness and temperature resistance, but they can be made only with temperatures achievable in an industrial blast furnace. Jayan researches how to reduce these temperature requirements, and Mendoza aims to apply this technology to additive manufacturing with Beuth’s help. Additively manufacturing, or 3D printing, ceramics at relatively lower temperatures could assist the aerospace, automobile and energy industries. Find out more. 

Under the new leadership of Director Elizabeth Chodos, the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery is relaunching this fall as the Miller Institute for Contemporary Art.  The Miller ICA will harness the power of contemporary art to connect local and national audiences to new ideas and fresh ways of thinking about some of society's most pressing issues. Since joining the university one year ago, Chodos recognized Carnegie Mellon's responsibility to the greater public. "I believe deeply that art has the power to transform and that contemporary art offers society a vehicle to participate directly in social change," she said. The Miller ICA marks a new chapter for the free and open public space. Defined by robust programming like other institutes for contemporary art across the country, the Miller ICA's transformation will be highlighted by a fresh vision and mission, a new website and identity. The changes will allow for new ways to connect online and in person, and a suite of dynamic programs that amplify the intersection of current events, CMU's groundbreaking research and contemporary art. Learn more.

Kathy M. Newman, associate professor of English and literary and cultural studies, wrote an entry for the blog Working-Class Perspectives on the impact of the film “Sorry to Bother You.” The movie, Newman says, offers important, pro-union viewpoints that everyone can learn something from. “If you’ve ever walked a picket line you know how it changes your relationship with your co-workers, your job and your street — how being out and loud and proud shows your community that you deserve a better deal, and that everyone else does too,” Newman wrote. Working-Class Perspecitves offers commentary on working-class culture, education and politics. Read the piece. 

Alumnus Drew Gehling pleased both sides of the aisle, starring in an apolitical story about politics. Gehling, a 2005 graduate of the School of Drama, played the lead role in "Dave," a new musical that premiered at Washington, D.C.'s Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Based on the 1993 movie starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver, "Dave" is the story of what happens when philandering U.S. President Bill Mitchell suffers a stroke and is covertly replaced by a look-alike. Dave is a high school history teacher whose innocence and idealism happen to make him a perfect leader. Gehling would love to see "Dave" go to Broadway as he has recently starred in two Broadway productions; he played Doctor Pomatter in "The Waitress" and Bob Gaudio in "Jersey Boys." Find out more.

Alumni Tag Team Their Way Through Hollywood

Early in the second season of Netflix's hit comedy series "GLOW," a small army of female amateur wrestlers rampage through a mall as a young man wielding a camera and a furry mustache chases them. They challenge old ladies to races, stage fights on escalators and generally terrorize unsuspecting shoppers.

Carnegie Mellon alumnus Victor Quinaz stars as cameraman Russell Barroso, who chronicles the wrestlers' journey in nine episodes of GLOW's second season. Fellow CMU School of Drama alumnus Sian Heder directed one of the 10 second-season episodes.

Variety Magazine calls season two "spunky, tenacious and determined" — adjectives that also describe how best friends Quinaz and Heder arrived on the set of one of television's hottest shows.

"Sian and I had one of the best journeys of that school," said Quinaz, one year her junior in CMU's School of Drama. "We were both scholarship kids, and we needed money so badly that she and I would have to miss parties to go do odd jobs."

Find out more.

Vote for CMU in SXSW PanelPicker

Each year, CMU at South by Southwest (#CMUatSXSW) shows Austin and the world how the work happening at Carnegie Mellon is shaping the future. From the future of work to "shapeshifting" furniture, CMU wants to tell that story again in 2019. See the CMU presentations on the ballot and cast your vote.

Educators Undergo Transformation at LearnLab Summer School

Industry professionals, faculty and researchers gained a conceptual background and hands-on experience in designing, setting up and running technology-enhanced learning experiments at CMU's 14th annual Simon Initiative LearnLab Summer School. Participants also learned how to analyze the data from those experiments using CMU's advanced tools.

Vasudeva Rao Aravind, a physics professor at Clarion University and a previous summer school attendee, knew exactly where his students faltered in his course for non-physics majors. He was able to calculate this thanks to last year's program, where he learned to build a cognitive tutor to assist his students where they needed it most. When Aravind returned to this year's five-day program, one day was all it took for him to make significant improvements.

"LearnLab Summer School has empowered me with the knowledge to make my own tutor based on my own teaching style and my students' learning styles. And now, I can analyze the student data to see where the tutor is doing well and where it could be better," Aravind said.

Find out more.

Swartz Center Seeks Teams for Fall NSF I-Corps Program

The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship is recruiting teams for its fall 2018 NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) customer discovery training program. Teams are open to CMU faculty, staff, students and recent alumni and can be reimbursed up to $2,500 to further their business venture. Teams also will receive access to Project Olympus programs, business mentors, and workshops and guidance in writing proposals for external funding. More details about the program and eligibility can be found online. There have been 113 teams in the program since fall 2014 and they have received more than $18 million in additional funding for their ideas. The deadline for teams to apply is Sept. 7 at https://bit.ly/2mN1XSk. For more information on the program, please contact Melanie Simko, program manager, at msimko@cmu.edu.

Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival Tickets Available

Staff Council is offering discounted tickets to the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival each weekend through September. Other offers this fall include tickets to performances in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, Kennywood's Phantom Fright Nights, Idlewild Park's Hallowboo and Scarehouse: Pittsburgh's Ultimate Haunted House. See all the Staff Council discounts online.

Floor Marshal, Active Shooter Training Sessions Offered

Due to a number of requests from faculty and staff, Environmental Health & Safety is offering two additional sessions for the combined Floor Marshal and Active Shooter training. You do not have to be a floor marshal or facility coordinator to attend these sessions. This training is appropriate for all faculty and staff. The first hour is dedicated to fire safety topics and appropriate actions during an emergency, while the second hour specifically addresses an active shooter scenario.

The sessions are at 10 a.m. on Thursdays, Sept. 13 and Oct. 11.  Seating is limited for each session, so registration is required. Register online.

With more than 15 refreshed primary dining vendor locations, a brand new dining venue in the Tepper Building and major renovations to some of dining’s most beloved spaces, you are sure to find what you are craving wherever you are on campus.

“This year, our dining program takes a major leap toward the goal of offering a best-in-class dining program: one that is social, collaborative, and healthy in its approach to food, the community, and the environment,” said Pascal Petter, director of Dining Services.  “Our new partnerships and enhanced dining spaces offer more customizable menus and foods prepared from scratch using fresh and sustainably sourced ingredients.”

Beginning July 1, Chartwells Higher Education, a division of Compass Group, joined CMU Dining Services as the primary dining vendor. Look for a refreshed dining experience from Chartwells on the catering menu and at the following locations:

• Catering – As CMU's new primary catering vendor on campus, Chartwells will work with you to create a custom gathering, featuring creative menus and authentic recipes made from the freshest, seasonal ingredients.
• Located on the second floor of the Cohon Center, the Marketplace has a refreshed look and all new concepts: 
  • Back Bar Grill offers fresh grilled sandwiches, house-made veggie burgers, all-natural beef burgers and more.
  • Bibimbap, meaning “mixed rice,” is one of the most well-known Korean dishes of all time. Customize a warm rice bowl or Bibb lettuce cups with marinated proteins (including certified Halal meats), sautéed and pickled vegetables, chili pepper paste and soy sauce.
  • Create allows you to customize your salad with an array of local and fresh vegetables, non-GMO proteins, and countless toppings, or try a signature salad creation.
  • Bowl Life offers a variety of eclectic flavors with your choice of noodles and authentic broths.
  • Rooted is focused on real, wholesome foods with completely plant-based ingredients for an ever-changing menu of flavorful vegetarian and vegan comfort food.
  • Realwich is a made-to-order sandwich station with locally baked bread. Spotlighting APPLEGATE Deli's meats and cheeses, APPLEGATE crafts craveable food made with non-GMO ingredients, no chemical nitrates, nitrites or artificial ingredients/preservatives.
  • Schatz Dining Room in the Cohon Center offers all-you-care-to-eat dining, including the soup and salad bar and complimentary fruit- and herb-infused waters in an upgraded space. 
  • Nourish is an allergen-friendly kitchen, featuring a menu prepared without gluten, wheat, milk, egg, soy, fish, shellfish, peanuts, and most tree nuts (except coconut).
  • Entropy+, CMU’s convenience store in the Cohon Center, boasts a new look, new merchandising, a renewed partnership with Pepsi to offer sought-after bottled beverages, and, most importantly, a brand new product line with a focus on sustainable and good-for-you food products.
  • Tartan Express – The best Japanese food in Pittsburgh, Nakama will be served from the truck this year. The Tartan Express will open after Labor Day weekend!
  • The Food Hall at Resnik House features a variety of international cuisine, as well as American favorites. Resnik is also home to local vendors: Taste of India, Nakama Sushi, and The Pomegranate, serving 100 percent Orthodox Kosher Mediterranean cuisine.
    • Carnegie Mellon Café’s diner menu offers eggs, burgers and milkshakes all day and night. CM Café will also feature vegan twists on classic diner cuisine!
    • BYOB (Build You Own Burger) has everything you need to create your perfect burger from the bun up - don’t forget to add the sweet potato fries!
    • Cucina is tossing dough made-to-order with flatbreads, ciabattas and pizza.
    • Fresh52 is a build-your-own salad bar that allows you to customize your salad the way you want it.
    • Innovation Kitchen offers constantly changing chef-inspired cuisine, infusing new flavors and trending ingredients into menus daily.
    • Maggie Murph Café – Rothberg’s Roasters in Hunt Library is brewing Starbucks coffee and customizing acai bowls and pressed paninis.
    • Ruge Atrium - Rothberg Roaster II in Scott Hall welcomes a full Starbucks menu and the new FYUL program, which offers healthful options like whole-food earth and poke bowls.
    • Heinz Café in Hamburg Hall received a well-deserved refresh with new merchandising and an improved selection of grab-and-go options.

Rohr Commons, featuring AVI Pure and Tazza D’Oro, is open for business in the new Tepper Building. Pure includes multiple retail concepts featuring menus that are made from wholesome and natural ingredients that are free of artificial colors, artificial flavors and sweeteners, and the use of antibiotics and growth hormones.

• The Carvery offers specialty and build-your-own sandwiches made with house-roasted meats.
• The Met features specialty burgers made from your choice of bison, beef, chicken, or house-made plant-based ingredients.
• Trattoria features pizza made from scratch and baked in a brick oven.
• Sprout is a 100 percent organic salad bar that makes it easy and delicious to eat healthfully.
• In a hurry? Grab a Fresh to GO! meal or snack. RAW serves delicious and nutritious raw vegan options prepared simply.
• Tazza D'Oro serves sustainably sourced Counter Culture coffee and espresso, as well as delicious panini, pastries and desserts sourced from local vendors.

Enjoy a community lunch at the Tepper Quad Grand Opening on Thursday, September 13.

Campus’s favorite hang-out just became an even better place to relax and unwind! After a major renovation this summer, The Underground has new and flexible seating, improved lighting, and an open kitchen environment, including a dessert station reminiscent of an old-fashioned ice cream parlor. The new menu features all-day, home-style breakfast, classic and creative burgers and sandwiches, fresh entrée salads prepared with organic greens, small batch, kettle cooked soups, the UG’s famous chicken strips and crispy fries, and of course, dessert!

Wean Lobby and La Prima Espresso were renovated this summer, collaboratively funded by the President’s Office, Provost’s Office and Dining Services, and guided by goals of the Task Force on the CMU Experience to enhance campus infrastructure. The renovated space creates a completely new experience: increased speed of service, improved traffic patterns, enhanced indoor and outdoor seating and improved lighting. Expanded food and beverage options include cold brew, nitro coffee on tap and new partnerships with local food vendors to expand vegetarian and vegan items offerings.

Stephanie’s in Mellon Institute closed this year to make room for a brand new AVI Market C, a 24-hour self-service convenience store. Market C features an extensive variety of selections including sandwiches, wraps, salads, pastries, hot and cold beverages and snacks.

(Due to ever-growing academic space demands, Gingers Express in Baker Hall has closed to accommodate academic needs. Nearby dining locations include Maggie Murph Café-Rothberg’s Roasters in Hunt Library and Zebra Lounge in the College of Fine Arts.)

Are you ready to take your taste buds on a tour of dining? Enjoy free, tasty samples from Dining Services at Taste of the Tartans from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., Tuesday, September 18 in Rangos Ballroom. 

Fire safety specialist Steve Lane is working to rebuild Carnegie Mellon’s floor marshal program from the ground up.

Lane, one of three fire safety experts in the Environmental Health and Safety Department, is seeking volunteers on every floor of every university building to help their fellow occupants evacuate in the event of a fire or other emergency. He is hosting training sessions for interested individuals that provide an overview of floor marshal responsibilities and hands-on, one-on-one training with each marshal in their work location.

“The more trained people we have the better,” said Lane, who joined CMU last January. “We’ve identified areas where we need to actively recruit people to get the coverage we need. It’s always good to have a backup, and a backup for the backup.”

Lane’s presentation talks about the need for marshals and what they need to know and do to keep people safe.

“Marshals should know their buildings’ emergency evacuation plan BEFORE an emergency happens. They need to be aware of their surroundings, take charge, be assertive and maintain control,” he said. “And don’t let folks go back into the building until the ‘all clear’ is given.”

The second part of the training program is a personalized approach.

“We take the emergency plan and walk the entire building with the floor marshals. We make sure all the marshals are familiar with all the exits, where they lead and where the assembly points are. There are probably some spaces in the building that the marshals have never seen, so we start at the top and work our way down to the basement,” Lane said.

There are about 160 floor marshals on the roster thus far, but Lane would like to have three times that many. Upcoming training sessions are scheduled for 10 a.m. Sept. 13 and Oct. 11. Those interested can register online or send email to safety@andrew.cmu.edu. Each session also includes an active shooter training program presented by CMU Police Chief Tom Ogden.

Lane encourages everyone on campus to attend the training sessions.

“It’s good background for everyone. I’d like to reach every single person on campus,” he said.

Prior to coming to CMU, Lane was a Mt. Lebanon, Pa., firefighter for 24 years before working for a private firm as a fire inspector. He said he was attracted to CMU because of its hometown feel.

“The campus is really a small town, and I enjoy getting out on campus and meeting people. I love the educational component of the job, talking with people and sharing the knowledge,” Lane said.

Lane works under Fire Safety Manager Tom Plietz and alongside fellow fire safety specialist Dean Simpson. The team inspects every university-owned building and oversees the annual inspections of more than 4,000 fire extinguishers on campus as well as the fire hydrants, sprinkler systems and fire alarms. He and his colleagues also are updating the evacuation plans for all university buildings.

An Army and Air Force veteran, Lane is an instructor at the Allegheny County Fire Academy and the Community College of Allegheny County. In his spare time, he enjoys camping and bicycling along the Great Allegheny Passage.

Andrew W. Moore will step down as dean of the School of Computer Science and as a professor of computer science and robotics at the end of the calendar year. Moore, who said he is accepting a new professional opportunity, joined the Carnegie Mellon faculty in 1993. Known for his expertise in artificial intelligence and robotics, Moore has pushed to increase the size and diversity of SCS’s student body, in response to the overwhelming demand for the school’s graduates. Women have reached parity with men in the last three incoming classes of undergraduates and the size of the incoming class has increased from 139 in 2014 to a record 211 this year. New undergraduate degrees in computational biology and artificial intelligence have been established under his leadership, and he also has led the creation of a CMU AI initiative that now includes more than 200 faculty from across campus working together on some of today’s most pressing issues. President Farnam Jahanian said Moore’s impact on CMU and Pittsburgh cannot be overstated. “Andrew Moore has been passionate about the impact of technology on society and a leader in the way technology enhances people’s lives. At this pivotal time for both the School of Computer Science and Carnegie Mellon, we will make sure the momentum he built will continue,” Jahanian said. Find out more.

Wendy Arons, professor of dramatic literature in the School of Drama, has received the 2018 Association for Theatre in Higher Education/American Society for Theatre Research Award for Excellence in Digital Scholarship. She was honored for her work, "Lessing's Hamburg Dramaturgy: A New, Complete, and Annotated Edition," which is the first version of Lessing's seminal theater essays to be translated into English in its entirety, complete with annotations, and which has been published digitally by MediaCommons Press. “Our translation includes the entire text — all 104 essays plus Lessing’s notes and drafts,” she said. Her work with collaborators Natalya Baldyga and Sara Figal was a labor of love for more than 10 years and will be published by Routledge Press in early 2019. The work is currently online.

Kit Needham, director of the startup incubator Project Olympus, has received an Alexa Innovation Fellowship to serve as a resource to help students start companies that integrate voice with their technology.  Needham will be travelling to Amazon headquarters in Seattle for two days of training. She will receive funding and Alexa devices and hardware that can be used to help startups add voice interfaces to their technologies. In addition to her role at CMU, Needham is an advisory board member of Chatham University's Center for Women's Entrepreneurship and adjunct faculty in their MBA program. She also provides consulting services to promote economic growth to chambers of commerce, individual entrepreneurs, and non-profit organizations. Needham joins Ph.D. student Ran Zhao as an Alexa Fellow. Zhao received an Alexa Graduate Fellowship last year. Find out more. 

Professor Daniel Oppenheimer will be the guest speaker at the Carnegie Science Center’s Café Scientifique at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 3. In his talk, “A Dozen Short Studies in Judgement and Decision Making,” Oppenheimer will speak about how judgements can be influenced by irrelevant information, and how people’s decisions can be easily manipulated. During his presentation, he will share some of the highlights of what he has learned, and explore some of the most exciting findings currently being investigated in his lab. Oppenheimer, who has joint appointments in psychology and decision sciences, studies judgment, decision making, metacognition, learning and causal reasoning, and applies his findings to a diverse array of domains, such as charitable giving, consumer behavior, education and electoral outcomes. Register for the event.

Robert Cavalier wrote an article about cities as centers for deliberative democracy for the blog Public Agenda. In his piece, Cavalier says whether dealing with climate change, immigration or even trade, cities and metropolitan areas have taken initiatives and formed networks to address pressing social and economic issues. Cavalier is a teaching professor emeritus in the Department of Philosophy, and is currently the director for the department’s Program for Deliberative Democracy, which won a 2008 Good Government Award from the Pittsburgh League of Women Voters. Read Cavalier's piece. 

Class of 2022 Dares to Discover

First-year students put the finishing touch on orientation by forming the neck and head of a Scotty Dog looking up toward the planet Saturn. The class photo depicted the theme of this year's orientation, "Dare to Discover."

The class photo was taken following Craig Sreet Crawl activities, which were moved to the campus this year. More than 500 students gathered at the Legacy Plaza adjacent to the Cohon University Center to meet on-campus community groups and neighborhood business partners. Many of the freshmen who attended were excited at the opportunity to explore student activities and local businesses.

Find out more.

CMU-Alert Test Scheduled for Friday, Aug. 31

A test of the university’s emergency notification service, CMU-Alert, will be conducted at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow, Friday, Aug. 31. 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 “How can I sign up?” link. Students can update their information on the site. Users need their CMU username and password to log in.

All contact information is treated confidentially. Registered individuals will be contacted by the CMU-Alert system only if there is an incident or event that threatens public safety or during required periodical tests during the year. The tests are conducted to demonstrate and validate the functionality and reliability of this critical communications service.

Please note: Friday’s test will be sent only to those who are registered no later than 5 p.m. today, Thursday, Aug. 30.

Tepper School Hosts ProductCamp “Unconference” Sept. 22

The Tepper School of Business, under the leadership of Greg Coticchia, director of academic programs, is hosting Pittsburgh’s first ProductCamp on Saturday, Sept. 22 in the Tepper Quad. Organized by a committee of professionals from across Pittsburgh, the event is an annual “unconference” on product management, which is held in cities worldwide.

What is an “unconference?”

Instead of passive listening all attendees and organizers are encouraged to become participants with discussion leaders providing moderation and structure for attendees. At the event topics are not predetermined and panels have not been arranged. Instead, the event lives and dies by the participation of attendees. Whether it’s a full workshop or presentation, a Q&A, or an open discussion, all formats are welcome.

The event is free and open to product professionals, innovators, marketers, designers, founders, engineers and students alike.

Find out more.

Flu Vaccine Clinics To Get Underway

Once again, the university will offer flu vaccines at no cost for faculty and staff members. The flu vaccine clinics will be hosted by the Office of Human Resources and administered by Giant Eagle Pharmacy.

Visit the Flu Vaccine Clinic webpage for the clinic schedule, which begins Sept. 5. To obtain your flu vaccine, you will need to present your Carnegie Mellon ID card. While walk-ins are welcome, for faster service we recommend you schedule an appointment.

As an added incentive, employees who are vaccinated at a mobile clinic are eligible to receive $5 off their next visit to Giant Eagle. You must present your Giant Eagle Advantage Card at the clinic to receive the $5 credit.

Funding for PSC’s Bridges Supercomputer Extended by NSF

PSC’s groundbreaking Bridges supercomputer will provide value to the research community for an additional year, extending operations through November 2020, thanks to $1.9 million in added operational funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The new award, which will fund mostly staff positions, brings the total funding for Bridges to over $19 million. NSF awarded the original grant for Bridges to begin in December 2014.

Bridges converges high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data. It is a user-friendly platform that enables academic experts in fields that traditionally have not used HPC, such as genomics, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, economics and urban planning, to harness scalable computing to address their data-intensive challenges.

Find out more.

Swartz Center Seeks Teams for Fall NSF I-Corps Program

The Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship is recruiting teams for its fall 2018 NSF Innovation Corps (I-Corps) customer discovery training program. Teams are open to CMU faculty, staff, students and recent alumni and can be reimbursed up to $2,500 to further their business venture. Teams also will receive access to Project Olympus programs, business mentors, and workshops and guidance in writing proposals for external funding. More details about the program and eligibility can be found online. There have been 113 teams in the program since fall 2014 and they have received more than $18 million in additional funding for their ideas. The deadline for teams to apply is Sept. 7 at https://bit.ly/2mN1XSk. For more information on the program, please contact Melanie Simko, program manager, at msimko@cmu.edu.

Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival Tickets Available

Staff Council is offering discounted tickets to the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival each weekend through September. Other offers this fall include tickets to performances in Pittsburgh's Cultural District, Kennywood's Phantom Fright Nights, Idlewild Park's Hallowboo and Scarehouse: Pittsburgh's Ultimate Haunted House. See all the Staff Council discounts online.

Miller Institute for Contemporary Art Debuts with "Reading Women"

Carnegie Mellon's newly re-envisioned Miller Institute for Contemporary Art presents "Carrie Schneider: Reading Women," a solo exhibition of photography by CMU alumna and international artist Carrie Schneider through Sept. 9. The exhibition features nine photographs of women reading texts authored by women and is part of Schneider's "Reading Women" series.

"This exhibition ushers in the 2018-2019 school year with a focus on the power of reading, studying and being absorbed by knowledge," said Elizabeth Chodos, director of the Miller ICA.

To make "Reading Women," (2012-2014), 100 friends — many of them artists, writers and musicians living in New York — were asked to sit for a portrait while reading a book of her choice, written by a woman author, in her own home or studio for two hours. Each two-hour sitting allowed the reader to become engrossed in her text, and lose awareness of the camera and her pose.

Find out more.

Carnegie Bosch Institute Moves to College of Engineering

The Carnegie Bosch Institute has moved from the Tepper School of Business to the College of Engineering to strengthen its focus on technological research, specifically in the areas of the Internet of Things (IoT), cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, big data and related areas of innovation. The Tepper School will continue to work with CBI through the continued sponsorship of chaired research professorships of business school faculty.

“The purpose of the institute aligns with CMU’s top research competencies: we focus on topics of innovation at the intersection of business and technology, essentially related to our increasingly connected world and Internet of Things,” said James H. Garrett Jr., dean of the College of Engineering.

Research projects will be selected for funding by a steering committee that includes representatives from both the Bosch Group and from multiple colleges at CMU. The committee will finalize funding decisions for these cross-college projects in December.

Find out more.

Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship Announces New Innovation Fellows

Carnegie Mellon's Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship recently awarded six Innovation Fellowships for 2018-2019. The Innovation Fellows program aims to foster entrepreneurship by helping gradaute students, postdoctoral fellows and researchers commericalize their research projects. The program, which awards funding and mentoring by CMU alumni and partners, was created in 2014 and has awarded 23 fellowships to date.

This year's recipients are:

• Stuart Diller, a Ph.D. candidate in mechanical engineering; 
• Anhong Guo and Gierad Laput, Ph.D. candidates in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute;
• Ashwati Krishnan, an electrical and computer engineering postdoctoral researcher;
• Brandon Taylor, a Ph.D. candidate in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute; and 
• Jeremy Thomas, a software engineer in the Cylab Security and Privacy Institute.

Find out about their projects. And learn more about the fellowship program.

PSC Part of New NSF-Funded Cybersecurity Group

The Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center will be a collaborating institution in a $4.9-million cybersecurity award from the National Science Foundation. The grant will fund a new center focused on protecting and securing U.S. research, led by Indiana University. The PSC part of the new collaboration will be led by Jim Marsteller, PSC's chief information security officer.

The Research Security Operations Center, or ResearchSOC, will be a virtual center that will include participation from Indiana, the PSC, Duke University and the University of California San Diego. ResearchSOC will help provide the research and education community with the cybersecurity services, training and information sharing necessary to make scientific computing resilient to cyberattacks.

Find out more.

September is Fire Safety Awareness Month

September is national Fire Safety Awareness Month and Environmental Health and Safety is taking the opportunity to ask you the following questions:

• Do you know what to do in the event of a fire in your office building, dorm room or home?
• Do you know how fast fire can travel?
• Do you know what to do if you are trapped?

If you don’t know or are unsure, visit the Environmental Health and Safety website for the answers you need.

EH&S is conducting fire evacuation drills for all campus housing units this month. In addition, EH&S is offering fire extinguisher training on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and a floor marshal training program is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 13. Register for the training sessions.

Questions? Send email to safety@andrew.cmu.edu.

CMU-Q Alumni Startup Makes Forbes' Watch List

Meddy, a startup created by CMU-Q alumni Haris Aghadi and Abdulla AlKhenji, was 10th in Forbes Middle East’s “50 Startups to Watch in the Arab World” list. Forbes Middle East, which tracks entrepreneurial success throughout the Arab region, created the “50 Start-ups to Watch” list to highlight new ventures that have not yet received big-ticket funding, but are looking promising for the future.

AlKhenji and Aghadi, who both graduated from the Information Systems program at CMU-Q, initially conceived of Meddy for a class project in 2014. Since graduation, Meddy has become the largest online physician network in Qatar, serving more than 2,000 doctors and 250 private clinics in Qatar and receiving between 60,000 and 80,000 site visits per month. Meddy is available in both English and Arabic, and has recently branched out into Bahrain and Dubai.

Tepper School Hosts ProductCamp “Unconference” Sept. 22

The Tepper School of Business, under the leadership of Greg Coticchia, director of academic programs, is hosting Pittsburgh’s first ProductCamp on Saturday, Sept. 22 in the Tepper Quad. Organized by a committee of professionals from across Pittsburgh, the event is an annual “unconference” on product management, which is held in cities worldwide.

What is an “unconference?”

Instead of passive listening all attendees and organizers are encouraged to become participants with discussion leaders providing moderation and structure for attendees. At the event topics are not predetermined and panels have not been arranged. Instead, the event lives and dies by the participation of attendees. Whether it’s a full workshop or presentation, a Q&A, or an open discussion, all formats are welcome.

The event is free and open to product professionals, innovators, marketers, designers, founders, engineers and students alike.

Find out more.

Flu Vaccine Clinics To Get Underway

Once again, the university will offer flu vaccines at no cost for faculty and staff members. The flu vaccine clinics will be hosted by the Office of Human Resources and administered by Giant Eagle Pharmacy.

Visit the Flu Vaccine Clinic webpage for the on-campus clinic schedule, which begins Sept. 10. To obtain your flu vaccine, you will need to present your Carnegie Mellon ID card. While walk-ins are welcome, for faster service we recommend you schedule an appointment.

As an added incentive, employees who are vaccinated at a mobile clinic are eligible to receive $5 off their next visit to Giant Eagle. You must present your Giant Eagle Advantage Card at the clinic to receive the $5 credit.

Questions? Contact Stephanie Longmire at longmirs@andrew.cmu.edu or 412-268-2047.

Colin P. Clarke, an assistant teaching professor in the Institute for Politics & Strategy, will testify before the House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Terrorism and Illicit Finance on Friday, Sept. 7 in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washingtion, D.C. Clarke will begin his testimony by defining terrorist financing and placing it in proper historical context, before moving on to offer an analysis of how terrorists generate income and how this has changed over time. Clarke will identify current trends in the financing of terrorism, including the so-called crime-terror nexus, and then describe what he views as one of the most significant threats to international security, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and how this group may attempt to finance a renewed campaign of terror and violence. He will conclude with an assessment of the current campaign to counter ISIS's finances and the implications for U.S. national security.

Janel Sutkus, director of Institutional Research and Analysis, has been invited to give a talk at the 2018 Analytics Experience Conference, Sept. 18 in San Diego. Her talk is titled “Laying the Foundation: Why Thoughtfully Framing a Research Question Is Critical for Analytic Success.” Sutkus will discuss strategies to help clients, and a set of rules to guide analysis methods, inform data collection and determine how results are presented. She also will be filming a video interview about how her CMU team uses analytics to support the university. Sutkus, who has been director of IRandA at CMU since 2008, leads analysis and assessment of university-wide administrative and academic functions. She holds a Ph.D. in organizational behavior and management from the Center for the Study of Higher and Post-secondary Education at the University of Michigan.

Materials Science and Engineering Professor Michael Bockstaller has received a three-year, $1.1 million grant from the Department of Energy Basic Energy Sciences for his research that may help improve the quality of image displays for electronic devices like televisions. Bockstaller and colleagues at the University of Houston are working on ways for quantum dots, or nanoparticles created from a specific semiconductor, to self-assemble into organized patterns. When the dots are surrounded by particles of the same color, it minimizes heat absorption and increases efficiency. The team has proven they are able to control these nanoparticles by attaching a polymer chain to them. Now, they plan to study exactly what about the polymer causes the particles to move. "If you take a set of marbles that have different colors and mix them together, they will randomly mix. There is nothing going on that will tell white marbles to go on one side and black marbles to go the other side," Bockstaller said. "Similarly, the nanoparticles don't have any driving force to separate themselves in two. We proved that polymer chains attached to the surface of these nanoparticles can drive this separation and self-assembly process." Find out more. 

Carnegie Mellon University’s re-envisioned University Lecture Series kicks off Monday, Sept. 17 with renowned author, poet and activist Nikki Giovanni. Her talk, “Dying by Ignorance, Living by Words, Creating by Grace,” will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Simmons Auditorium in the new David A. Tepper Quadrangle.

Giovanni, a distinguished professor of English at Virginia Tech, will share her eloquent words of wisdom, spanning the civil rights movement, politics, love and art. She will discuss the ideals of equality, and present experiences and thoughtful poetry that embody her activism and passion for the arts within the framework of current events and news cycles.

The recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle Magazine, Ladies’ Home Journal and Ebony Magazine, Giovanni is the first speaker in Carnegie Mellon’s ULS revival.

“During the 2017-18 academic year, the ULS Committee invited students, faculty and staff to nominate inspiring and provocative speakers to bring to campus,” said Amy Burkert, vice provost for education. “The committee also hosted roundtable discussions to re-envision the series and address ways to improve student engagement with conversations that matter to you, to the nation and the world.”

Burkert said members of the campus community can continue to suggest speakers, performers and topics for this year and beyond through a rolling nomination process. She said individuals can be thought leaders in academic fields, industry icons, visionary artists or voices on prominent topics of concern to the university community and society at large.

“The ULS is a critical part of an immersive CMU experience that extends beyond the classroom, lab or studio,” Burkert said.

In addition to hosting guest lectures, the ULS partners with research centers and academic units across campus to present policy, research and academic talks throughout the year. Departments, student groups and centers are encouraged to apply for ULS co-sponsorship to help bring speakers to campus.

Following Giovanni’s talk, the ULS is partnering with the Thomas Kerr Lecture Series to present Cass Sunstein, the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard Law School, on Sept. 27. His talk is titled “Divided Democracy in the Age of Social Media.”

The next featured ULS lecture is Nov. 29, when the series hosts roboticist Daniela Rus, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT.

Also scheduled this fall:

Oct. 12
Pioneering orthopedist and alumnus Anthony DiGioia, co-sponsored by Student Affairs

Oct. 30
Alan Mallach, city planner and senior fellow at the Center for Community Progress, co-sponsored by the Remaking Cities Institute and the School of Architecture

Nov. 2
Hugh Dubberly, technology designer and principal of Dubberly Design Office, co-sponsored by the Human-Computer Interaction Institute

Nov. 16
Katherine Baicker, dean and the Emmett Dedmon Professor at Harris Public Policy at the University of Chicago, co-sponsored by Heinz College

Nov. 29 - ULS Featured Lecture
Roboticist Daniela Rus, the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT

For more information on the ULS, visit https://www.cmu.edu/uls/.

Brianna Brewer is a team player in a building built for teamwork.

Brewer joined Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business this past January as assistant director of Event Services and Planning. Her first daunting assignment was to coordinate the school’s move from Posner Hall and the GSIA building to the David A. Tepper Quadrangle. She handled the logistics for more than 300 faculty, staff and students in 15 Tepper School units — from the Business Office and Dean’s Office to the undergraduate, graduate and Ph.D. programs.

“It was a chance to dive into a role and run with it,” said Brewer, who is part of the five-member Building Operations team. “There was a lot of communication involved, countless emails, and a lot of late nights re-reading things to make sure everything was covered and handled properly. And there were a lot of spreadsheets. I worked out of Excel constantly for about four months.”

Brewer said while the move posed a big challenge, it was a great opportunity.

“Being a new employee, I was learning about the Tepper School, my group within the school, CMU, and how all of these groups were connected,” she said. “Because of my role, I had the opportunity to speak with every faculty member and a chance to meet many of the staff. I wouldn’t have had that opportunity in another role.”

After six months of planning and preparation, the Tepper School moved into the Tepper Quad in July.

“I was the crate queen for a while. I created a labeling system to ensure every Rent-A-Crate was accounted for and delivered to the correct location,” she said.

Brewer said the move went very well and the feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive.”

“But, I couldn’t have done it myself. The entire Building Operations group deserves credit, especially Charlie Nash, assistant director of Facilities, and Cathy Bilak, assistant director of Building Operations,” she said.

Brewer said the move reflected the building’s theme.

“The building is all about teamwork and collaboration, and that really was highlighted in the move. It’s a beautiful story about everyone pulling together for this new home for the business school. I hope our students love it,” she said.

When she’s not working, you may find Brewer in the Tepper Quad’s fitness center. An avid runner, she has completed the Pittsburgh Marathon and several half-marathons in Pittsburgh, Nashville and Annapolis, Maryland.

“There are a lot of cardio machines in the fitness center, so it fits right in my wheelhouse,” she said.

Brewer is a new board member of the Carnegie Mellon Women’s Association. She was recently named co-vice president of Programs and Marketing.

“It’s an amazing opportunity to be involved in a university that allows you to not only enrich yourself, but also to grow as a person and to grow within your career,” she said. “I love CMU. Every day is exciting and different.”

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

Anthony Foxx has been appointed distinguished executive in residence at Carnegie Mellon for the 2018-2019 academic year. Foxx joins the CMU community after serving as the 17th U.S. Secretary of Transportation from 2013-2017. During his time at CMU, Foxx will work with the College of Engineering, the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy and Metro 21: Smart Cities Institute. In his new role, Foxx will leverage his expertise and time spent working with the U.S. Department of Transportation to help students understand how to most effectively bring people, policy and technology together to significantly improve the quality of life for citizens living in metropolitan areas. Foxx will be a panelist for “At the Intersection of Technology and Business: Smart Home, Smart Car, Smart City" on Friday, Sept. 14 at the INTERSECT@CMU Conference hosted by the Tepper School of Business.  Find out more.

Heidi S. Magnelia has been named chief financial officer for the Software Engineering Institute. She succeeds Peter Menniti, who retired in January. Magnelia has more than 30 years of experience as a financial professional, having worked in government-funded research, consulting and commercial organizations. Prior to joining the SEI, she served in a number of fiscal roles at MITRE Corp. in McLean, Virginia, including Intel finance business partner, audit and compliance manager and corporate accounting manager. She also served as a senior financial manager with Booz Allen Hamilton, and as a controller, assistant treasurer, and director of business services at the Center for Naval Analyses. “Her experience as a financial manager at government-funded research organizations means she has a deep understanding of our mission to provide technology solutions to support national defense,” said Paul Nielsen, SEI director and CEO.

B. Erik Ydstie, professor of chemical engineering, is competing in the American-Made Solar Prize competition. Directed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, the $3 million competition incentivizes U.S. innovators and entrepreneurs to rapidly discover, research, iterate and deliver new solar solutions to market. Ydstie’s research focuses on the design and control of solar cell production processes. He is developing a novel method to improve the process of making silicon wafers for solar cells based on the observation that solid silicon is less dense than its liquid phase. This invention controls the microstructure of the Horizontal Ribbon Growth to produce a thin sheet of silicon for photovoltaic applications. As a competition partner, CMU’s Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation, is working closely with Ydistie to support his project. Learn more.

Danielle Wenner, assistant professor of philosophy, has been selected as a Caroline Miles Visiting Scholar at the Ethox Centre at University of Oxford. The scholarship is awarded annually to a post-doctoral or early researcher to visit the Ethox Centre, where they will spend up to a month pursuing a research project on a topic relating to one of the centre’s four main research programs: global health ethics, clinical ethics, public health ethics and research ethics. Wenner will focus on questions in research ethics, specifically, a new framework she developed that conceptualizes the ethical obligations of researchers and research sponsors and their moral obligations not only to the subjects who participate in research, but to individuals who will be impacted by the downstream implications of their research. While at the University of Oxford, Wenner will work on how to fill out precisely what those obligations look like.

University Lecture Series Revival Begins with Critically Acclaimed Author, Poet

Carnegie Mellon’s re-envisioned University Lecture Series kicks off Monday, Sept. 17 with renowned author, poet and activist Nikki Giovanni. Her talk, “Dying by Ignorance, Living by Words, Creating by Grace,” will begin at 4:30 p.m. in Simmons Auditorium in the new David A. Tepper Quadrangle.

Giovanni, a distinguished professor of English at Virginia Tech, will share her eloquent words of wisdom, spanning the civil rights movement, politics, love and art. She will discuss the ideals of equality, and present experiences and thoughtful poetry that embody her activism and passion for the arts within the framework of current events and news cycles.

The recipient of numerous awards and honors, including Woman of the Year by Mademoiselle Magazine, Ladies’ Home Journal and Ebony Magazine, Giovanni is the first speaker in Carnegie Mellon’s ULS revival.

Find out more.

Undergraduate Business, Engineering Move Upward in US News Rankings

Carnegie Mellon’s undergraduate business and engineering programs both moved upward to No. 6 in U.S. News and World Report’s 2019 Best College Ranking. The computer engineering program was named No. 1 this year, up from fourth last year. The following undergraduate programs in the College of Engineering also were ranked: 7th in environment/environmental health; 9th in electrical/electronic/communications; 10th in mechanical; 11th in materials; 12th in civil; 14th in chemical; and 26th in biomedical.

Undergraduate business retained its No. 2 spot in management information systems and quantitative analysis, while productions/operations management was ranked 5th and finance was ranked 8th. Additional specialty rankings include: 10th in supply chain/logistics; 20th in entrepreneurship; 28th in management; and 37th in accounting.

CMU was once again named among the top 25 national universities and ranked 15th in a new category recognizing the best universities for undergraduate teaching. CMU also was named among top universities for first-year experiences, internships/co-ops, senior capstone and undergraduate research/creative projects.

For more on U.S. News undergraduate rankings, go to https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges.

For more on Carnegie Mellon rankings, visit http://www.cmu.edu/about/rankings-awards/rankings/index.shtml.

CMU Community Can Find Help, Offer Services Through CareLink

Need help? Want to earn extra money? Carnegie Mellon’s CareLink can help you find both within our own campus community.

All faculty, staff, students and affiliates can use this convenient forum to offer or acquire a wide range of services. Through the CareLink website, you can post needs for child care, pet care, tutoring, music lessons, lawn care, odd jobs and other services listed on the site.

You also can offer to provide services to the university community by creating a profile and posting your resume or skills summary to the site. You can recommend a service provider, and there is even an option to meet people who are willing to barter services or create a coop group.

The more people who use CareLink to find and post jobs, the more useful and dynamic it will be for the CMU community. To date, CareLink has over 2,000 users and the hope is to continue to grow the service through word-of-mouth and recommendations. Check out the website often and help spread the word!

CareLink was spearheaded by the Committee on Faculty Diversity, Inclusion and Development and is sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty. 

Dining Features Grand Openings, Taste of the Tartans

Dining Services is hosting two grand openings and its annual Taste of the Tartans event next week.

The grand openings are:

• Market C at Mellon Institute, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Monday, Sept. 17. Join MCS Dean Rebecca Doerge for a special ribbon-cutting ceremony and sampling event to celebrate the grand opening of this new 24-hour self-service micro market.
• Cohon Center Marketplace and Resnik Servery, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. and 5 -7 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 20. The grand opening celebrations include food sampling, discounts and giveaways, as well as a meet-and-greet with the catering staff. Resnik will be transformed into a unique dining experience across the Food Hall and café with food sampling, live entertainment and music.

The popular Taste of the Tartans event is from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 18 in the Cohon Center’s Rangos Ballroom. A Dining Services tradition, Taste of the Tartans is the biggest sampling event of the year featuring food from all campus dining vendors. Taste and vote for your favorite dish and enter our raffle for a chance to win incredible prizes.

Please Note: SEIber Café will be closed Monday, Sept. 17 through early November for maintenance repairs. Catering services will continue to be available by contacting the SEIber Café at seibercafe@gmail.com or 412-551-3020.

Scott Institute Selected To Expand American-Made Solar Prize

The Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon is one of five organizations selected by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) to facilitate and grow the American-Made Solar Prize. As a “Power Connector,” the Scott Institute will receive $100,000 to ensure the success of the Solar Prize, which is designed to encourage innovation and revitalize U.S. solar manufacturing.

The American-Made Solar Prize is a $3 million competition designed to revitalize U.S. solar manufacturing through a series of contests and the development of a diverse and powerful support network that leverages national laboratories, energy incubators and other resources across the country. The prize is directed and administered by the NREL and funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office.

The NREL selected Power Connectors for their vision, strength of networks, track record of success and geographic diversity, among other factors. The Scott Institute will bring faculty and staff expertise in technology and entrepreneurship and connections in the Mid-Atlantic and Mid-West regions to the program, helping to achieve the program’s goal of growing the solar innovation ecosystem and revitalizing American solar manufacturing.

“We are thrilled to have been selected as a Power Connector in the inaugural cohort, through which we have been presented a unique set of opportunities to work directly with renewable startups and technology innovations in the southwestern Pennsylvania region and nationally,” said Scott Institute Executive Director Anna J. Siefken.

Find out more.

September is Fire Safety Awareness Month

September is national Fire Safety Awareness Month and Environmental Health and Safety is taking the opportunity to ask you the following questions:

• Do you know what to do in the event of a fire in your office building, dorm room or home?
• Do you know how fast fire can travel?
• Do you know what to do if you are trapped?

If you don’t know or are unsure, visit the Environmental Health and Safety website for the answers you need.

EH&S is conducting fire evacuation drills for all campus housing units this month. In addition, EH&S is offering fire extinguisher training on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and a floor marshal training program is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 13. Register for the training sessions.

Questions? Send email to safety@andrew.cmu.edu.

Flu Vaccine Clinics Now Underway

Once again, the university is offering flu vaccines at no cost for faculty and staff members. The flu vaccine clinics are hosted by the Office of Human Resources and administered by Giant Eagle Pharmacy.

Visit the Flu Vaccine Clinic webpage for the on-campus clinic schedule. To obtain your flu vaccine, you will need to present your Carnegie Mellon ID card. While walk-ins are welcome, for faster service we recommend you schedule an appointment.

As an added incentive, employees who are vaccinated at a mobile clinic are eligible to receive $5 off their next visit to Giant Eagle. You must present your Giant Eagle Advantage Card at the clinic to receive the $5 credit.

Questions? Contact Stephanie Longmire at longmirs@andrew.cmu.edu or 412-268-2047.

As Carnegie Mellon's Pittsburgh campus expands to the north and west, the Square Project aims to be the tie that binds.

Named for its town-square-like location, the project aims to transform the intersection of Forbes and Morewood avenues into a visually pleasing, pedestrian friendly conduit that connects the Cut with the new Tepper Quad and beyond.

Ralph Horgan, associate vice president for Campus Design and Facility Development (CDFD), said the project is part of a continuing effort to “knit together the two sides of Forbes Avenue.”

“The Cohon University Center addition was the first building on campus that was built to intentionally engage Forbes Avenue. And now we have the Tepper Quad with nothing in the middle. This project is part of bringing that engagement across Forbes, to make Forbes more pedestrian friendly, safer, more appealing, and integrate the roadway into campus,” Horgan said.

Bob Reppe, senior director of planning and design for CDFD, said the two-phase Square Project has several design goals. Among them are “turning the corner” around Warner Hall to open sight lines to the Tepper Quad, and improving the safety of pedestrian routes and their accessibility.

CDFD is teaming up on the project with Sasaki Associates, a global design firm that specializes in landscape architecture. Sasaki created the landscape design for the Tepper Quad as well as for the Schenley Plaza in Oakland.

“This project is very similar to the Schenley Plaza,” Reppe said. “It’s a public space with a road cutting through it. Safety and accessibility are big parts of the project.”

Phase 1 of the project is eliminating the concrete wall adjacent to Warner Hall and replacing it with terraced landscaping to open the view to the Tepper Quad. The sidewalk in front of Warner Hall is being widened and the steep set of stairs from Warner to Forbes is being replaced.

“We’re putting in a processional set of stairs — four groups of stairs that cascade down the terrain,” Reppe said. “We’re shallowing the run with big landings in between each set of stairs.”

The Forbes sidewalk, from Cyert Hall to the bus stop just east of Morewood, is being redone to mirror the treatment along the Tepper Quad. An 8-foot-wide planting strip will be installed between the sidewalk and curb, and light posts will be added to improve safety for pedestrians.

Phase 1 is expected to be completed in November. Phase 2 calls for enlarging the bus stop and installing wide, diagonal and accessible sidewalks from Morewood to the Cohon Center, and from the bus stop to Warner Hall.

“When Bus Rapid Transit comes to Pittsburgh and this stop becomes the CMU station, we want it to be welcoming and accessible,” Horgan said.

Global Languages and Cultures Room Brings the World to Campus

Students will soon be able to stroll down the streets of France, interact with the people of Cuba, or examine a Polish concentration camp — all without leaving the heart of Carnegie Mellon's campus.

The Askwith Kenner Global Languages and Cultures Room, a new space within the David A. Tepper Quadrangle, offers students and the community an immersive, interactive language classroom and learning space.

"It is almost like a museum, an experiential space," said Korryn D. Mozisek, director of integrative learning in the Office of the Vice Provost for Education. "It better preprares students for studying abroad and brings language and cultural experiences to those students who may not have the opportunity to study abroad."

An important aspect of studying other languages and cultures is to be immersed in that region's experience, Mozisek said. But studying abroad may not be possible for all students — there are financial concerns, travel restrictions, and barriers created by world events. The new space works to eliminate those barriers, and provide an immersive experience through the use of new technology, such as interactive documentaries and virtual reality stations.

Find out more.

INTERSECT@CMU Addresses Intersections of Business and Technology

The inaugural INTERSECT@CMU conference, part of the Tepper Quad's Grand Opening, brought together industry leaders, Carnegie Mellon professors and researchers to discuss the intersections of business and technology in society.

“While the opening of the new building and the INTERSECT@CMU conference might seem as though they are separate and distinct from one another, they are in fact intimately linked in important and meaningful ways,” said Tepper School Dean Robert Dammon. “Today’s INTERSECT@CMU conference is an embodiment of that innovative and creative culture that we have here at Carnegie Mellon.”

Panels discussed the impacts of smart homes, smart cities and smart cars; how artificial intelligence will shape the future; and how blockchain technology has created a new system for business.

Jerome Pesenti, VP of AI at Facebook, presented a keynote address breaking down the various ways the company integrates the use of artificial intelligence to simplify the use of its platform.

Find out more.

Headspace Guided Meditation Free to CMU Community

Studies, including several from CMU’s Psychology Department, show the benefits of practicing mindfulness and meditation — from reduced stress and increased creativity to better immune response and improved relationships. Headspace, a popular guided meditation app, is offered for free to the CMU Community. Faculty, staff and students can redeem their free subscription using their Andrew ID at CMU's landing page.

Here are some statistics from the last 30 days:

• The number of CMU faculty, staff and students using Headspace increased by 572.
• The CMU community used 2,548 meditation sessions.
• The average user listened to 3.3 sessions per week.
• The most popular themed sessions included meditation basics, sleep, managing anxiety and self-esteem.

If you are a CMU Headspace subscriber, you receive full access to the 900 hours+ of content for free. If you are having any issues with logging in, or if you are being prompted that your free subscription is ending, please visit our CMU launch pages on your laptop/PC:

• www.headspace.com/cmu for faculty and staff
• www.headspace.com/cmustudents for students

At the above launch pages, use your Andrew ID to redeem the code shared. This will reconnect you to your existing dashboard. You may have to uninstall or reinstall the app on your phone once this is complete. For any additional concerns, you can also reach out to teamsupport@headspace.com for further assistance.

For information about Headspace, visit headspace.com. Feedback on the Headspace app can be directed to Angie Lusk, program director for CMU's Student Affairs Wellness Initiatives, at alusk@andrew.cmu.edu.

"Eye of the Needle" Documentary Screening and Art Installation

One hundred fifteen people die in the U.S. every day as the result of an opioid overdose. In Allegheny County alone, 735 people died from an overdose in 2017. Overall, Pennsylvania has the fourth highest overdose rate in the country.

These statistics are driving CMU’s partnership with the Light of Life Rescue Mission to host a week-long multi-media immersive art installation on campus from Monday, October 1, through Friday, October 5, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. to raise awareness about the opioid crisis and its grip on our city.

The installation opens to the Carnegie Mellon community on October 1 and then to the broader Pittsburgh community for the next four days. The installation shares a name with its related short documentary, "Eye of the Needle," filmed here in Pittsburgh by Flying Scooter Productions, to draw attention to the opioid epidemic and its intersection with homelessness in the city.

The documentary and panel discussion take place on Monday, October 1, at 7 p.m. in Simmons Auditorium A in the Tepper Building. Join us at these events to learn more and to take action in the fight against this crisis in our community. Other opportunities to take action are shared in the full news story.

Alumna Uses Tech To Disrupt, Democratize Art Collecting

To connect young art collectors with emerging artists, Messay Derebe started goARTful with three co-founders in March 2017. A multi-tiered, web- and app-based subscription service, goARTful enables subscribers to borrow items and display them in their homes with an option to exchange them for other art pieces at their convenience.

Derebe, a 2015 graduate of CMU's Master of Arts Management program, created goARTful to hurdle the barriers of starting an art collection, including the cost of acquiring artwork.  "I always knew art was expensive, but you're encountering pieces that you want to buy and they're 5,000 dollars," she said.

For as little as $15 a month, subscribers can "rent" one art or photographic print per month, with an option of paying more to rent as many prints as they would like. At a $50-per-month subscription tier, users can borrow original paintings straight from the artist's studio.

Find out more.

CMU Community Can Find Help, Offer Services Through CareLink

Need help? Want to earn extra money? Carnegie Mellon’s CareLink can help you find both within our own campus community.

All faculty, staff, students and affiliates can use this convenient forum to offer or acquire a wide range of services. Through the CareLink website, you can post needs for child care, pet care, tutoring, music lessons, lawn care, odd jobs and other services listed on the site.

You also can offer to provide services to the university community by creating a profile and posting your resume or skills summary to the site. You can recommend a service provider, and there is even an option to meet people who are willing to barter services or create a coop group.

The more people who use CareLink to find and post jobs, the more useful and dynamic it will be for the CMU community. To date, CareLink has over 2,000 users and the hope is to continue to grow the service through word-of-mouth and recommendations. Check out the website often and help spread the word!

CareLink was spearheaded by the Committee on Faculty Diversity, Inclusion and Development and is sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Faculty.