NEW FELLOWSHIPS...Jeff Pierce is recipient of a Microsoft Graduate Fellowship. The award is made annually to PhD students in only 8 schools and will enable Jeff to continue his work in interactive 3D graphics, interaction techniques for virtual environments, and storytelling in virtual environments. MSbravo!

SCS STAFF AWARD CEREMONY AND RECEPTION...Don't miss it! On Friday, May 1, join us at the SCS Staff Recognition Awards in Rangos Hall, the University Center. The program begins with a reception from 10:30-11:00 am, followed by the awards ceremony at 11:00 am. This year's nominees include:

*Chris Clune, CSD *Anita Connelly, Robotics *Alan Guisewite, Robotics
*Ricky Houghton, CSD *John Kozar, Robotics *Phyllis Lewis, CSD
*Bryan Maher, CSD *Anandeep Pannu, Robotics *Tom Pierce, LTI
*Wenfan Shi, Robotics *Jim Skees, CSD *Enrique Torrejon, LTI
*Dorothy Zabrowski, CS

Come by as we honor these outstanding members of our community and the recipients of the SCS Service Recognition Awards:

20 Years: Allen Stoltzfus WOW :-)
15 Years: Gary Aranyos, Wilson Harvey, David Livingston
10 Years: Terri Stankus, Robert Stockton, Eric Thayer, Paul Vranesevic
5 Years: Angela Brookins, Paul Gleichauf, Nils Hammer, Ricky Houghton, Kathleen McNiff, Chris Paris, Jim Zelenka

IN DEFENSE...
**MINH TUE VO builds "A Framework and Toolkit for the Construction of Multimodal Learning Interfaces" at his CS thesis oral on Wednesday, April 29 at 3:00 pm, Wean 5409. His committee includes: Alex Waibel (Chair), Bonnie John, Tom Mitchell, and Allen Gorin (AT&T Labs).
**YIRNG-AN CHEN demystified "Arithmetic Circuit Verification Based on Word-Level Decision Diagrams" at his CS defense on April 27. His committee included: Randy Bryant (Chair), Ed Clarke, Rob Runterbar (CMU/ECE), and Xudong Zhao (Intel).

HANK SUZ-CHI WAN MEMORIAL LECTURE/SCS DISTINGUISHED LECTURE...Alan Kay, Disney Fellow and Vice President, Research and Development, The Walt Disney Company, examines why "The Computer Revolution Hasn't Happened Yet" on Wednesday, April 29 at 4:30 pm in Wean 7500. Distinguished refreshments at 4:15 pm.

PROPOSALS...
**DONGMEI ZHANG developed "Harmonic Shape Images: A Representation for 3-D Free-Form Surfaces and its Application to Shape Comparison" at her Robotics thesis proposal on Monday, April 27. Her committee included: Martial Hebert (Chair), Takeo Kanade, Michael Erdmann, and Katsushi Ikeuchi (University of Tokyo).
**FRANK DELLAERT addresses "Super-Resolved Texture Tracking" at his CS thesis proposal on Thursday, April 30 at 2:00 pm, Wean 4623. His super-committee includes: Chuck Thorpe (Co-Chair), Sebstian Thrun (Co-Chair), Takeo Kanade, and Richard Szeliski (Microsoft Research).

AND RECENT PROPOSALS...
**ANDREJ BAUER explored "Topology and Computability" at his CS proposal on April 22, 2:00 pm, under the eye of his committee: Dana S. Scott (Chair), Frank Pfenning, Steven Awodey (CMU/Philosophy), and Abbas Edalat (Imperial College, London, UK).
**LARS BIRKEDAL has been humming since "Developing Theories of Types and Computability" at his CS proposal on April 22. His committee included: Dana Scott (Chair), Steven Awodey, Stephen Brookes, John C. Reynolds, and Guiseppe Rosolini (Universita di Genova, Italy).

SCS AND CIT...welcome the Motorola Science Advisory Board Associates to campus on Tuesday thru Thursday, April 28-30. Over 55 representatives from the various divisions of Motorola will be inducted into their board, with presentations by all participating guests. Contact copetas@cs for details.

MOBOTS STOOD THE TEST...Congratulations to the 1998 winners of the 4th Annual Mobot Slalom Races, held Friday, April 17. This year's victors include:

First Prize: Team "Go Time", Scott J. Weber (ECE/CS Senior) and Fred C. Doerr (ECE, Senior) who cruised through 9 Gates in 3:04.55 and tackled one decision point.
Second Prize was awarded to Team "mmm'BOT', Morgan E Simmons (ME Sophomore) and Merle E. Romesberg (CS Sophomore), who trekked through 7 Gates in 3:55.18.
The Open Class went to Team "MECLESS", Robert Grabowski (ECE Master), Luis Navarro-Serment (ECE Doctoral) and Mahesh Saptharishi (ECE Junior), who traversed 5 Gates in 3:43.38.
A special Judges Choice award was offered to Team "Wanderer", Daniel Bothell (CS/Alum), for its spirited and nimble solution to navigation. A great competition with exciting team submissions. Congratulations to all contestants. We can't wait 'til next year!

EMIGRATION CONTINUES...Candidate critiques are scheduled for Friday, May 1 from 1:00-3:00 pm in Wean 5409. Jeannette Wing will lead the discussions.

SCS INVITED TALKS...
**Randy Pausch has been invited to give a Distinguished Lecture at Georgia Tech entitled, "Imagineering Virtual Worlds", on Thursday, April 30.
**Andrew Moore presented an invited talk at the Naval Research Laboratory, near Washington DC, on "New Data Structures for Interactive-speed Data Mining of Massive Datasets" on Monday, April 20. Details on the talk are available at: www.cs.cmu.edu/~AUTON

HOCKEY-BOTS...Spectators and hockey fans took time from the game and during intermission to visit the robotics and multimedia display across from Igloo East in the Civic Arena on April 23 and 25 to experience a bit of SCS technology. They could tryout a "synthetic interview" with Joey Mullen, who answered spontaneous questions about his life and hockey career; watch the RoboCup '97 miniature soccess team play hockey; have a conversation with Xavier and Amelia; or just check out Navlab 7, the Pontiac Bonneville that drove itself at 65 miles per hour in the HOV lane of I-15 outside San Diego last summer. All this AND a play-off game!

STAR ALERT...The Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre (PICT) will present "Translations" by Brian Friel at the Lester Hamburg Studio Theatre, next to City Theatre on the South Side, from April 25 to May 10, Thursdays-Saturdays at 8:00 pm, Sundays at 2:00 pm. This production stars our own Stephanie Riso, who also happens to be a founder/director of the group. Tickets costs are: $13 Adults, $10 Students with valid ID/Seniors/Theatre Professionals. Group rates are also available. For information or reservations call 521-2937.

BLACK DAYS AHEAD...
ROBO-Black Friday: Monday, May 11. Check with Marce Zaragoza for particulars.
CS-Black Friday: Thursday/Friday, May 14/15. Contact Sharon Burks for details.

WHAT, ALREADY?...Yes, the last day of classes for the term is Friday, May 1.
AND WHEN CLASSES END...Commencement can't be far away. The festivities take place Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17. Be sure to check your guidebooks for the new processional patterns for SCS grads! Undergrads and Masters candidates will assemble on the 5th floor of Wean Hall and process to the stadium. PhD candidates gather at the IM Field Tent. Watch for postings on the scs bboards!

WORDS FOR THOUGHT...
TUESDAY, APRIL 28
*AI SEMINAR: Wesley Chu, Computer Science Department, UCLA, "Knowledge-based Image Retrieval with Spatial and temporal Constructs", 3:30 pm, Wean 5409.

THURSDAY, APRIL 30
**COMPUTER SYSTEMS SEMINAR: Yale Patt, University of Michigan, High Performance Microprocessor Implementation: The Next Set of Challenges, 4:00 pm, Singleton Room, Roberts Hall. Refreshments at 3:45 pm outside the room.
**SPECIAL AI SEMINAR: Nicola Muscettola, RECOM Tech and NASA Ames, "Preparing Temporal Plans for Efficient Execution", 3:30 pm, Dowd Room, 2nd Floor, University Center.

FRIDAY, MAY 1
**THEORY SEMINAR: Alan Frieze, "A General Approach to Dynamic Packet Routing With Bounded Buffers", 3:30 pm, Wean 7220.

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