NEW HONORS...Todd Mowry has been selected as a Sloan Research Fellow. Awarded yearly by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, this fellowship acknowledges "outstanding young scientists and economists who are engaged in research at the frontiers of computer science, physics, mathematics, chemistry, economics and neuroscience..." The program, originated in 1955, selects the awardees from hundreds of exemplar candidates, all in the early stages of their professional careers. The small group of final recipients are selected on the basis of "their exceptional promise to contribute to the advancement of knowledge." No small task...but we know Todd is up to it. Congratulations to Todd, who joins 1994-1996 recipient, Avrim Blum, as ones to watch :-)

NEW DISTINCTIONS...Frank Pfenning has been elected board member of CADE, the governing body of the annual International Conference on Automated Deduction. He has also been chosen a conference chair for CADE-17, to be held at CMU from 17-20 June 2000.

APPOINTMENTS...Jacobo Carrasquel has taken on the position of Director of Undergraduate Laboratories, "focusing on development and maintenance of physical and software infrastructure for teaching and learning", notes Allan Fisher. "Jacobo will work with faculty, facilities staff and building staff to continue to improve our capabilities in those areas." He adds, "increasing workloads and growing demands for attention to the educational technology issues" are central in this transition. Mark Stehlik, in addition to his duties as Assistant Dean and director of the BSCS program, will serve as interim Director of Introductory Instruction, overseeing the work of our Intro lecturers. Congratulations all!

HANK SUZ-CHI WAN MEMORIAL LECTURE..."Intentional Programming" is the topic of the next SCS Distinguished Lecture, featuring Charles Simonyi, Chief Architect, Microsoft Research. The program begins at 4:00 on Thursday, March 4 in Wean 7500. Distinguished donuts at 3:45 pm.

WHY CAN'T I JUST LEAVE MY JOB?...or What Does an Employment Contract Really Mean is the topic of discussion at the SCS Undergraduate Career Seminar on Thursday, February 18 at 5:30 pm in Wean Hall 7500. John E. Graf and Steve Silver, Attorneys at Law, Tuckers & Arensberg Law Firm, will explore the mysteries of employment contracts, statements of confidentiality, intellectual property rights, and other legally binding documents. Be there :-)

QUARK XPRESS...Gary Fluitt, Training Manager at Quark, Inc., will be on hand Wednesday afternoon, February 17, to present an "Xpress Overview and Interactive Demonstration." Beginning at 4:30 pm in Wean 7500, he will introduce the many capabilities and applications of Quark's graphics software, followed by a hands-on training session in Wean Hall 5419D, where the software is now installed (thanks to the generosity of Quark!). Quark is an international leader in electronic publishing software and authoring tools for multimedia and internet applications. All are welcome.

MOBOT OPEN HOUSE...On Wednesday, February 17 at 6:00 pm, the Mobot Committee and registrants (and prospective registrants) of the 5th Annual Mobot Slalom Race will gather in Wean Hall 5409 for the Mobot Open House. Similar to the information session held last November, this discussion will be of a more technical bend.. Dan Bothell (multiple winner!) will overview the Mobot kits now on sale by the committeee, Illah Nourbakhsh will present a talk on microcontrollers, and former participants Bob Grabowski and Luis Navarro-Serment will discuss the technical details of their Open Class winning Mobot, "Mecless". There will also be an update of rules and a Q&A session. In keeping with the more technical aspect of the Open House, DO bring along specific questions on design issues related to your own Mobots. Mobo-pizza will be served.

iMAC DEVELOPMENT...Brian Berkeley, Senior Director of Engineering at Apple Computer, will discuss "Development of the iMac" at a special talk at 1:30 pm in Wean 5409. He will also overview current career opportunities at Apple.

CS DEPARTMENTAL MEETING... February 25 at 4:00 pm and holding!

UNDERGRAD INFO SESSIONS...David Steere (CS/PhD Alum) will overview the Oregon Graduate Institute (OGI) at 6:00 pm, Wean 4623. Fresh pizza and knowledge will be served. On Tuesday, February 23, Jean-Luc Park and Neeraj Bansal, 3Data, Inc. explore "How to Start a Start-Up" at 7:00 pm in Wean 4623.

NEW SCS THESES - NOW IN PRINT...

• DENIS DANCANET / CMU-CS-98-135:
  Intensional Investigations, Nov 1998
  
• DAYNE FREITAG / CMU-CS-99-104:
  Machine Learning for Information Extraction in Informal Domains, Nov 1998
  
• ASTRO TELLER / CMU-CS-98-132:
  Algorithm Evolution with Internal Reinforcement for Signal Understanding, Dec 1998
  
• ARUP MUKHERJEE / CMU-CS-98-172:
  Supporting Online Services in Environments Constrained by Communication, Nov 1998
  
• GEORGE NECULA / CMU-CS-98-154:
  Compiling with Proofs, Sept 1998
  
• LJUBOMIR PERKOVIC / CMU-CS-98-176:
  Edge Coloring, Polyhedra and Probability, Nov 1998
  
• PETER STONE / CMU-CS-98-187:
  Layered Learning in Multi-Agent Systems, Dec 1998

CAREER PLANNING...

• INTEL Open House: Monday, February 22, 9:00-4:00 pm, Ranssgos Ballroom, University Center, resumes welcomed.
• INTEL Information Session: Monday, February 22, 7:00 pm, McConomy Auditorium. Job opportunities, goodies, giveaways and cool raffle!
• SCHLUMBERGER Information Session: Monday, February 22, 7:00 pm, Hamerschlag Hall B131. Campus interviews Tuesday, February 23.
• HEWLETT-PACKARD Open House: Tuesday, March 2, 6:30 pm, Wean Hall 5409.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18
**CALD/PHILOSOPHY SEMINAR: Thomas Richardson, University of Washington, "Tractable Structure Search in the Presence of Latent Variables", 4:30 pm, Wean 5409.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19
**ROBOTICS SEMINAR: Greg Hager, Yale University, "Vision as Feedback: Toward Desktop Software Systems for Vision-Based Interaction", 3:30 pm, Adamson Wing.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22
**SCIENCE OF LEARNING RESEARCH SEMINAR: Virginia R. de Sa, Sloan Center for Theoretical Neurobiology, "Category Learning through Multi-Modality Sensing", 4:00 pm, Adamson Wing.

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