NEW AWARDS...Congratulations to Jonathan Shewchuk and Xudong Zhao, co-winners of the first Computer Science Department Doctoral Dissertation Award. As noted by Jeannette Wing, the award is designed to "recognize and encourage superior research and writing by our doctoral candidates." The department will hold an annual award ceremony each spring, and the awardee will be invited to speak as part of the spring SCS Distinguished Lecture Series." The award also includes a $1,000 cash prize. This year, Jonathan will deliver his distinguished lecture on February 12, 1998 and Xudong will give a talk and host a discussion as part of the Emigration Course. Both dissertations have also been nominated for the ACM Doctoral Dissertation Award. Bravo on jobs very well done!

ROBOCUP COMES HOME!..."Five teams of clicking, whirring soccer machines from the U.S., Spain, France, Australia and Japan went at each other on the first day of World RobotCup 97", noted the August 25 AP article. Held August 25-28 in conjunction with the 15th International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (IJCAI '97), the competition in Nagoya, Japan, drew accolades for the CMU team, which won First Place honors and trophy in the small robot league. The team, consisting of Manuela Veloso, Peter Stone, Kwun Han, Sorin Achim and their mini-players, #1-#2-#3-#4-#5 and #6, amazed the crowds with their stellar performance. Referred to as our "spunky little dune buggies which whirred circles around their opponents" by one writer, our radio-controlled robots were 7.5 cm cubes on wheels, built from scratch with erector sets and similar types of apparatus. The field of play, a ping-pong table-sized field laid flat on the floor -- surrounded by a wall to prevent robo-players and ball from leaving the area -- was designed to showcase the robots' abilities to behave intelligently as a team. The soccer robots integrate many technologies, including multi-agent collaboration, strategy acquisition, real-time reasoning, sensor-fusion, annd design of autonomous agents...to mention but a few. The team returns at the end of the week and will provide all the exciting details. Congratulations!

IN DEFENSE...
**CAROLYN PENSTEIN ROSE addresses "Robust Interactive Dialogue Interpretation" at her LTI defense (Program in Language and Information Technologies) on Thursday, September 4 at 3:30 pm in Cyert 279 (LTI Blue Room). Her dissertation committee includes: Lori Levin (Advisor), Barbara Di Eugenio, Jaimes Carbonell, Alon Lavie, Johanna Moore (University of Pittsburgh), and Sandra Carberry (Unversity of Delaware).

MARY SHAW WORKING ON INNOVATION...The Center for Innovation in Learning (CIL), adhering to its mission to improve undergraduate education at CMU, has awarded Mary Shaw a CIL Faculty Fellowship for the 97/98 academic year. She will be "applying her research on developing software from components to the problem of combining diverse educational materials into coherent course support systems." CIL faculty fellowships are awarded to CMU faculty who are interested in working on a significant project relevant to undergraduate education. Recipients spend a part of the academic year working at the CIL.

ROBO-PICNIC DRAWS NEAR...The 3rd Annual Robotics Picnic, for all folks affiliated with the RI and their families, is scheduled for Saturday, September 6 at the Upper St. Clair Municipal Park. The festivities begin at 1:00 pm, followed by dinner at 4:00 pm and a 6:30 pm Bonfire. In between, revelers will partake of softball, volleyball, pingpong, pool and more. The day will also include the "exciting final rounds of the annual RI croquet tournament" and the "Battle for the Golden Wicket"! Travel directions can be found at: www.ri.cmu.edu/picnic/

CSD LOGIN BALL...also known as the Computer Science Department IC Reception for all CS folks, will take place Sunday, September 7 from 7:00-11:00 pm at The Frick Art & Historical Center in Point Breeze, including The Frick Art Museum, Clayton (the historic Henry Clay Frick Home), and Car and Carriage Museum. You will relax to live music and dine well at the buffet dinner.

SCS DISTINGUISHED LECTURE...Richard Karp, Professor of Computer Science & Engineering, and Adjunct Professor of Molecular Biotechnology, University of Washington, explores "Combinatorial Optimization as a Tool for Molecular Biology" at this year's first SCS Distinguished Lecture, in Wean 7500 at 4:00 pm on Thursday, September 11. Distinguished donuts will preceed the program at 3:45 pm. Future speakers in the series will include Anita Jones (October 16), Butler Lampson (November 13), Andreas Bechtolsheim (March 12) and Alan Kay (April 23). See the SCS Calendar or contact copetas@cs for details.

ABOUT YOUR THUMB...Mellon Bank implemented a new check cashing procedure on August 25. A fingerprint will be required from anyone cashing a check who does "not" maintain an account with their bank. PNC has been doing this for several months and it is anticipated other banks may follow PNC and Mellon's lead. All staff and students should anticipate how this will affect their normal routines.

SCS HELP CENTER OPENS...Having a a computer-related problem? You can now call the new SCS Help Center at x8-4231, or drop by Wean 3612, notes Clauss Strauch. The Center is open 9:00-5:00 weekdays and during these hours, "SCS Facilities staff on duty will be able to answer questions and provide direct help for many problems." SCS Operations can still be reached at x8-2607, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Problem reports or questions can still be directed to help@cs.

PLEASE MAKE A NOTE OF IT...The SCS V.34 huntgroup numbers 683-0111 and 621-3528 have been replaced with one new number: 268-9300. If you used either of these huntgroups, please begin using 268-9300. Recent postings to cmu.cs.scs and cmu.cs.facilities provide more detailed information. Stay tuned for information on a new number for the 621-3546 huntgroup!

NOT QUITE MANDATORY, BUT STRONGLY ENCOURAGED...The first in a series of SCS Senior Programs, the "Not Quite Mandatory, but Strongly Encouraged" seminar, "Taking Charge of Your Career" will be offered Thursday, September 4 and repeated on Wednesday, September 10, at 4:30 pm in Wean 4625. Discussions will focus on career services, resume preparation, calendar alerts for recruiting, and how to prepare for your future....Sponsored by the Career Center and SCS, this is an excellent opportunity for seniors to take stock of their lives :-)

RANDOM NUMBERS...or are they? Steven Rudich has received a high (4.93) rating on his FCE during the spring term...a big, semi-rquired course. Considering "he does not grade easily" notes Jim Morris, this is even more of an accomplishment. How did you do? The Spring FCEs are availble.

START PRACTICING YOUR "CHEESES"...The Annual SCS Group Photograph is coming up on Thursday, September 11 at 12:00 noon (sharp). No excuses! All members of SCS should assemble on the 5th floor Wean Hall patio and you will be guided into one magnificent, collective mass suitable for photographing. Be prepared to say "cheese", "geez", "funding approved" :-) or whatever gets you to smile.

ON THE NEWS...CNN broadcast a feature story on Nomad--the autonomous lunar rover built by researchers in Robotics--and its successful trek through the Atacama Desert on its Science Program on Saturday and Sunday, August 30-31. The program will be repeated Wednesday, September 3 at 7:00 am (for all you early birds). It's a great segment!

DEMETER KEEPS ON CUTTING...Demeter, robotics' autonomous harvester, achieved its 100 acre performance milestone in El Centro, CA in August. The goal was realized when it cut 15 acres autonomously one day and over 90 acres the following day. The site was a 100 acre alfalfa field ready for its last cut -- in farm talk, this means its 3-4 year cycle of alfalfa planting was complete and after this cutting, it would be rotated to a new crop. As noted by Kerien Fitzpatrick, "A side effect of an old field like this is that the surface is quite rough." Demeter's longest continuous run was over 14 hours (interrupted only by a fueling pause) and operated at 3.5 mph on the "land" cuts (between the irrigation borders) and at 3.0 mph on the border cuts. Numerous farmers and interested bystanders stopped by during the day/night/day ...to watch the job and were"stunned by the accuracy and quality of the cutting." Many people noticed that the cab of the harvester was driverless and stopped to see what was happening! "The entire operation was so smooth that boredom was the most significant obstacle - we were functioning as guards at the ends of the field where Demeter would perform spin turns," adds Kerien. "Given another field and more energy for us, Demeter would have been able to continue cutting....here is the situation of an autonomous machine, performing a real-life task in a true production setting - exceeding the typical manually-operated performance and quality."

EXEGESIS...is coming to SCS on Friday, September 12 at 4:00 pm at the Alumni Room in the University Center. You won't want to miss it! What is it you ask? What does it all mean? Watch for details....:-)

IN PRINT...Phoebe Senger's article, "Fabrikation der Subjekte: Verdinglichung, Schizophrenie, und Kuenstliche Intelligenz" (aka "Fabricated Subjects: Reification, Schizophrenia, and Artificial Intelligence") appears in a new publication, "Netzkritik: Materialien zur Internet-Debatte." (aka "Net Criticism: Material for the Internet Debate"). The book consists of a series of articles by technology-critics and internet-activitists, including detailed analysis of new media and what should or should not be done about them.

WORDS FOR THOUGHT:
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 4
**SPECIAL LECTURE: Chris Hansen, "Freedom of Speech on the Internet", 5:30 pm, McConomy Auditorium, University Center.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 5
**LTI SEMINAR: Sandra Carberry, Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Delaware, "Recognizing Intentions and Generating Responses In Collaborative Task-Oriented Dialogue" at 11:00 am, Cyert 279 (LTI Blue Room).

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 8
**PROGRAMMING SYSTEMS/POP SEMINAR...Paolo Traverso, "A Provably Correct Embedded Verifier for the Certification of Safety Critical Software", 9:30 am, Wean 8220.

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