NEW HONORS AND DISTINCTIONS... Garth Gibson, David Patterson (UC Berkeley), and Randy Katz (University of California, Berkeley) have been awarded the IEEE Reynold B. Johnson Information Storage Award "for the developmment of Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)." The award, established in 1991 to acknowledge "outstanding contributions in the field of information storage with emphasis in the area of computer storage", is awarded to an individual or a team of not more than three, and consists of a bronze medal, certificate and $5,000 cash prize. The award honors Reynold B. Johnson, "renowned as a pioneer of magnetic disk technology and founding manage of the IBM San Jose Research and Engineering Laboratory in 1952." Garth, Dave and Randy join an illustrious and distinguished crew of honored researchers, including most recently Jean-Pierre Lazzari (1998/SILMAG), Alan Shugart (1997/Seagate Technology), Nobutake Imamura (1996/Tosoh Corporation), and James Lemke (1995/Recording Physics, Inc). Cheers to these magnetic personalities :-)

MOBILE ROBOTS TAKE OVER RANGOS...or at least Rangos Ballroom 2-3 on Tuesday, December 1 at Noon during the Second Annual Mobile Robot Programming Contest. Drawn from the projects developed in 16-862/16-362: Introduction to Mobile Robot Programming, Illah Nourbakhsh, the professor and "maestro" behind this course, says "It's really going to be a lot of fun." Take it from the expert! All members of the CMU community are welcome to attend.

WHO CAN REPLACE A MAN?..."ROBOT", the newest book by Hans Moravec, was reviewed in the November 8 issue of the Washington Post. Published by Oxford Press (227 pages, $25), the reviewer notes, "Robot is a far more ambitious book than its prosaic title suggests, beginning in the recent past, progressing though an immeidate future that is outlined with compelling clarity, and depicting an ultimate destiny that ventures into metaphysics...the chain of logic is meticulous and unbroken." He further adds, "Anyone looking for a head-bending exursion beyond the cutting edge of science will find ample thought-provoking material in this outstanding book." Obviously, we can do no justice to the book here, so check it out for yourself. You owe it to your future :-)

COMMENCEMENT 99...If you are graduating this year, take heed! CMU celebrates Commencement 102 on 15-16 May 1999. A weekend of activities has been planned for graduates, their families and friends...but only if you have actually found a place for everyone to stay! FORBES TRAVEL (1/800-433-8785) is the official travel agency for transportation needs and has arranged special discounted fares with USAirways. The DOUBLETREE HOTEL in downtown Pittsburgh will serve as the official host hotel, with a rate of $105 for both single and double accommodations during May 14-17. Reservations can be made at 412/281-3700 or toll free 1/800/367-8478, and must be received by April 23. For all your travel arrangements, be sure to mention "Carnegie Mellon's Commencement" to assure these special discounts. A detailed commencement guidebook, detailing the weekend and your graduate "to do" lists, will be available in the spring, but for now, assure your families a comfortable place to sleep :-)

SCS INVITED TALKS...
ED CLARKE has been busy! On Nov 3, he delivered two lectures entitled "Symbolic Model Checking without BDDs" (note the phrase "without BDDs"), first at an Intel Symposium on Steps Toward Effective Formal Software Verification in Santa Clara, and the second at the CAD Seminar in the EECS department at the University of California, Berkeley. On November 12, he moved on to La Jolla, where he participated in a panel on "Industrial Designs --What Verification/Validation Methodologies Can Be Used?" at the IEEE International High Level Design Validation and Test Workshop.
JEANNETTE WING will present "Reasoning About Security Protocols" on April 1 (no joke!) at the Evans & Sutherland Distinguished Lecture Series hosted by the Department of Computer Science at the University of Utah.

SCS SUPPORT STAFF MAKE THE HOLIDAYS TRULY MATTER...Each year the SCS support staff selects a charity to help during the holidays. In the past they have supported Children's Hospital HIV/Aids unit and the Greater Pittsburgh Food Bank. This year, they will be donating items of "need" to the Bethlehem Haven for Homeless Women. Among the shelter's requested gifts are: sweatshirts (L), sweatpants (L), white socks, sweaters (L), backpacks, perfume, body lotion, facial moisturizer, candy, blank cassettes, and radio's with headphones. Also welcome are shampoo, soap, deodorant, hair brushes, combs and toothbrushes. Our Support Staff will be collecting donations until December 18, at drop-off boxes outside the offices of Marce Zaragoza (Wean 1301), Carolyn Ludwig (Smith 234) and Cleah Schlueter (Doherty 4309) or in the CS Main Office (Wean 4212). One small gift does make a world of difference...

BOOKSMART...CMU Student Senate has introduced a great new service, BOOKSMART: The SMART way to buy and sell books. This new online auction site for exchanging/selling your used textbooks can be found at /booksmart.web.cmu.edu/

WORDS FOR THOUGHT...
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 30
**PROGRAMMING SYSTEMS SEMINAR: Scott Stoller, Indiana University, "Automated Verification of Authentication", 3:30 pm, Wean 5409.

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