MORAVEC SELECTED NASA FELLOW...Hans Moravec has been selected as one of the first NASA Advanced Concepts Research Projects (ACRP) Fellows. From over 100 proposals submitted on innovative advanced space concepts, Hans' proposal for "Fractal-Branching Ultra-Dexterous Robots" was selected.
EDS SCHOLAR WINNERS...The School of Computer Science is proud to announce the winners of this semester's $300 Textbook Scholarships, sponsored by Electronic Data Systems Corporation. Juniors Lin-chih Hsu and Relja Ivanovic, Sophomores Christine Hui and Michael Monaco, and Freshmen Yelena Malyutina and Patrick Riley are each to be awarded $300 by EDS based on their outstanding academic performance during the Fall 1995 term.
NEW GRANTS..."What would it take to be able to train a robot the way you train a dog or a rat?" NSF will be funding David Touretzky's proposal, "A Computational Theory of Operant Conditioning with Application to Trainable Robots", in order to find out. Amelia (Xavier's roommate) is serving as their testbed. As David notes, "Sunflower seeds are the preferred reward for training gerbils in our animal navigation lab; with Amelia we use a Logitech radio trackball to deliver virtual rewards."
IN DEFENSE...Kevin Lynch wraps up his thoughts on "Nonprehensile Robotic Manipulations: Controllability and Planning" at his robotics thesis oral on Thursday, February 22 at 1:00 pm in Wean 4623. The committee seizing his ideas includes: Matt Mason (Chair), Michael Erdmann, Ralph Hollis, and Dan Koditschek (Univ. of Michigan).
SCS PROGRAMMING TEAM...The team of Zhenyu Wang (first-year grad student), Josh deCesare (senior), and Sean Cier (sophomore) competed over the weekend in the 20th ACM International Programming Contest in Philadelphia. CMU solved 5 of 7 problems and finished 15th out of 43 schools competing in the finals (out of 1001 teams which entered the 17 regional competitions held throughout the world). Four teams solved 6 problems, the winner being the University of California, Berkeley. Teams are ranked first by number of problems solved and then by fewest accumulated total minutes.
SCS INVITED SPEAKERS...Daniel Jackson was guest speaker at Cornell's Distinguished Lecture Series on Thursday, February 15. He carefully examined "Nitpick: A Specification Checker."
ALUMNI UPDATE..."In an unexpected victory of machine over man, Deep Blue, the brand new IBM chess computer, trounced the world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, Saturday in the first game of their scheduled six-game match at the Pennsylvania Convention Center" noted the NY Times on February 11. "Kasparov's Mettle Proves Too Much for Metal Challenger" notes the February 19 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Feng-Hsiung Hsu (CS'89) and Murray Campbell (CS'87) members of the IBM team, were steadily on hand at the 6-game match. Kasparov was ultimately victorious with 4 wins. Reporting live from the Philadelphia competition was Hans Berliner, whose articles have appeared daily in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. As he notes, "...Deep Blue showed much mettle, but just as clearly, there is still quite a difference between the best human chess player and a metal and silicon challenger."
MORE CHESS IN THE NEWS..."A Mean Chess-Playing Computer Tears at the Meaning of Thought" is a featured article in the Monday, February 19 NY Times. Herbert Simon, who predicted in 1957 "that a computer would be the world chess champion" is interviewed. "He notes that "Deep Blue has to be considered a thinker...because along with its colossal ability "to spin its wheels", the brute force calculation which is the traditional strength of computers, it also has a sophisticated evaluation system." All these articles are available on the SCS News Board or from scstoday@cs.
IN THE NEWS...What do Asim Smailagic, Daniel Siewiorek, Satya, David Johnson, David Maltz, and Bernd Bruegge have in common? Their research is featured in the February 1996 IEEE Personal Communications' special issue on Mobile Computing at Carnegie Mellon. "Modalities of Interaction with CMU Wearable Computers" (Smailagic/Siewiorek), "Mobile Information Access" (Satya), "Protocols for Adaptive Wireless and Mobile Networking" (John/Maltz), "A Wireless Data Network Infrastructure at CMU" (Hills/Johnson), and "Applications of Mobile Computing and Communication" (Bruegge/Bennington) are highlighted along with articles from ECE and the INI.
RAJ TALKS AT GATES BUILDING DEDICATION AT STANFORD...Stanford Computer Science Department dedicated their $24M Gates Computer Science Building on January 30. Bill Gates and Raj Reddy were the invited speakers at the technical seminar held after the dedication. As many know, Raj was a member of the first graduating class of Stanford's CS Department. An excellent choice if we say so :-)
NEW FACES...Al Rizzi has joined the Microdynamic Systems Laboratory in the Robotics Institute as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, where he is working with Ralph Hollis. Al arrived by way of the University of Michigan, having recently completed pioneering work in robotic juggling.
CS DISTINGUISHED LECTURE...Persi Diaconis, Harvard University, reflects on the "Practical Aspects of Random Number Generation" at the Gaschnig/Oakley Memorial Lecture on Thursday, February 8 at 4:00 pm in Wean 7500. Distinguished refreshments at 3:45 pm.
THE EMIGRATION COURSE..."Are you a CSD PhD graduate about to interview for a job in academic or industry?" If so, you won't want to miss "Tips on the Interview Process", a special seminar by Jeannette Wing, on Friday, February 9 at 10:00 am in Wean 5409. Discussion and questions are welcomed.
SCS STAFF RECOGNITION AWARDS...Established in 1995 to honor outstanding staff members, the SCS Staff Recognition Awards recognize members of the SCS community who "exhibit strength in the areas of job performance, dedication, positive attitude, and contribution as a team player." The award includes a $1000 gift. This year's presentation ceremony is scheduled for Tuesday, May 7. Nominations are welcomed from any CMU staff or faculty member and graudate or undergraduate student and must be submitted by Friday, February 16 to: SCS Staff Recognition Award (Wean Hall, Smith or CMT drop off sites). Check the complete nomination guidelines forms posted throughout SCS.
PITTSBURGH HIGH TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL: JOB FAIR...Local Pittsburgh employers will be available to meet with interested students to discuss internship, part-time and permanent employment opportunties from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on Tuesday, November 6 at the Drill Deck in the Student Center. Check the bboards for a complete listing of participating companies.
CAREER WEEK...Feb 5-10, 1996. Check campus calendars, bulletin boards and the Career Center for a complete schedule of Events!
SCS INVITED TALKS... **Mary Shaw was a distinguished lecturer at the Georgia Tech College of Computing Distinguished Lecture Series on January 25, where she presented "Prospects for an Engineering Discipline of Software." She was also an invited speaker at the Georgia State CIS Research Collquium on January 26, where she discussed "Abstractions for Software Architecture and Tools to Support Them". **Herbert Simon will be the February 9 distinguished speaker at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Philosophy of Science Annual Lecture Series. His topic will be, "Thinking: The Roles of Logic, Language and Pictures in Inference." (3:30 pm, 817 Cathedral of Learning).
SO WHEN IS COMMENCEMENT?...Mark Commencement on your calendars for Saturday and Sunday, May 18-19. If you anticipate attending, you should be "well" into the process of finding suitable housing/hotels for your family, friends and loved ones. Local accommodations fill rapidly! Send mail to commence@cs with general inquiries.
MOBOT OPEN HOUSE...On Thursday, February 15, the Mobot Committee will host an informal Open House for all potential contestants at 6:00 pm in Wean 7500. Videotapes from last year's competition, members of the Mobot Committee, and pizza will be available. Questions are welcome! Contact mobot@cs.cmu.edu for details. Plan ahead: The Preliminary competition is scheduled for Wednesday, APRIL 3; Final Competition for Friday, APRIL 19 (Spring Carnival Weekend).
IN THE NEWS..."Tiny factories may solve big problems", a featured article in the February 5 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, includes a big photograph of a large Ralph Hollis, kneeling beside a (tiny) full-size model of a miniature factory. As noted, "CMU researchers are working to create minifactories---snap-together assembly lines that could be rearranged to make a new product line during a single 8-hour shift. ...about the size of a conference room table, (the minifactories) would be composed of multiple units." But why read this tiny summary, check the SCS News Board or request a copy from scstoday@cs.
LITTON FELLOW...Garth Gibson has been appointed the Litton Junior Faculty Fellow in the Computer Science Department, in recognition of his many research achievements this past year. He was acknowledged by his colleagues and friends at the recent CS Departmental Meeting. When asked to join Jim Morris at the podium, to receive his plaque and honors, it was noted "that he couldn't make the meeting because he was working!" Enough said. Congratulations to a fine "fellow."
CS DEPARTMENTAL AWARDS...Congratulations to Michael Accetta, Jacobo Carrasquel, Martha Clarke, Joan Maddamma, Phil Miller and Jim Skees, recipients of this year's CS departmental awards, in recognition for their unerring and indispensable assistance to the department. As Jim Morris noted, their cumulative accomplishments and contributions "keep this place going." Don't we know it!
FAREWELL...Marge Profeta, who has been with CS for 6 years and at CMU for 13 years will be departing our hallowed halls on Friday, February 2 as she begins "retirement". This means she will be travelling extensively with her family, exploring all life has to offer, and never trying to schedule a conference room in Wean Hall again! We wish her well as she begins this wonderful new phase of her life. Stop by and say goodbye. Thanks Marge!
NEW FACES...Steward Buskirk has joined the HCI Institute as a Research Assistant, where he'll be working with the HomeNet Project.
CMU SLEEPING BAG WEEKEND...is scheduled for Sunday and Monday, February 4-5. SCS will host prospective undergraduates and their families, helping them to gain some insights into the organization of SCS and the academic rigors of the undergraduate program. Allan Fisher (Sunday, 3:30 pm) and Mark Stehlik (Monday, 10:30 am) will offer two information sessions for our visitors.
PITTSBURGH HIGH TECHNOLOGY COUNCIL JOB FAIR...Local Pittsburgh employers will be on campus on Tuesday, February 6, to meet with students interested in pursuing internships, part-time jobs, and permanent employment. The fair, scheduled for 10:00 am to 4:00 pm on the (newly refurbished) Drill Deck in the Student Center, is open to all students. A complete list of participating companies is available on cmu.cs.scs. Resumes are welcomed.
THE CAMPUS IS ABUZZ WITH RECRUITORS...Check the Career Center for a listing of all the recruitors who will be visiting CMU in the next 2 weeks. The list is extensive. The Center can be reached at x2064 or 2065.
SHOW BIZ...Stephanie Riso was a stand-in for the female lead in Sweeney Todd at the Pittsburgh Public Theater this past week. She performed (excellently) the role of Joanna at several performances. Her repertoire grows!
NEW HEAD OF HCI INSTITUTE...Dan Olsen, current head of the CS Department at Brigham Young, has agreed to serve as the head the HCI Institute for a three year term commencing this summer. Per Jim Morris, "...while Dan intends to return to BYU in the future, he is very enthusiastic about the possibilities ahead for the HCII." SCS looks forward to lots of human interaction with Dan. Watch for his frequent visits in the coming months.
WING APPOINTED ASSOC. DEPT HEAD...Jim Morris has announced the appointment of Jeannette Wing as Associate Department Head for the Ph.D. Program in the CS Department. "Jeannette has already gotten involved in things via the DRC and the Programming Systems faculty, and has initiated some real improvements," notes Jim. In addition to these new responsibilities, Jeannette will also continue her previous commitments as Dragon Lady :-). Congratulations!
IN DEFENSE...Vladimir Brajovic, looked at "Computational Sensors for Global Operations in Vision" at his robotics thesis oral on Monday, January 22. Despite some last ditch efforts to close down Wean Hall with leaking cylinders of hydrogen disulfide gas, the thesis took place after a quick move to Smith Hall :-) His sensor-tive committee included: Takeo Kanade (Chair), Steve Shafer, Rick Carley (CMU/ECE) and Andreas Andreou (Johns Hopkins).
CS DEPARTMENTAL MEETING...The next CS Departmental Meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 25 at 4:00 pm in Wean 7500. All faculty, staff, and students are invited.
HABERMANN COMPUTING CLASSROOMS DEDICATED...On Thursday, 18 January, the A. Nico Habermann Computing Classrooms (Wean 5419), used in teaching the Introductory Programming Courses, were formally dedicated at a special lecture, demonstration and ceremony attended by members of Habermann family and our CMU/SCS community. As noted by Phil Miller, "I can think of no better way to honor the memory of our first Dean of the School of Computer Science than to dedicate this facility in his name....This is but a small token to preserve the legacy we have received from Professor A. Nico Habermann, gentleman, scholar and friend."
NEW GRANTS...Ralph Hollis, M. Satyanarayanan [Satya], and Mark Kryder (DSSC) have received a $2.2M 4-year grant from the National Science Foundation's Multi-Disciplinary Challenge Program to develop a distributed architecture enabling the "speedy" design, set up and deployment of mini-factories operated by robots. Ralph points out that "by combining high performance computing, modular robotics, and the latest communication technologies, we hope to develop a prototype for designing, setting up and programming factories will give U.S. manufacturers an edge in responding to rapidly changing global market conditions."
SCS INVITED TALKS...Jeannette Wing recently delivered two invited talks while visiting the United Nations University/Institute of Information Science and Technology in Macau, on "A Behavioral Notion of Subtyping Using Belief to Reason About Cache Coherence."
GET MORPHED...Students in Paul Heckbert's 15-463, the undergraduate Graphics 2 course, will be morphing their faces into other people's faces to create a piece of video animation. If you'd like your face to appear in this animation (and are willing to run an x-windows program to set up correspondence between your face and another person's face), then visit Doherty Hall 4301 between 10:30 am and 12:30 pm on Tuesday, January 23 to have your picture taken.
PITTSBURGH OUTSTANDING CITIZEN...Mark Kantrowitz has been named one of six winners of the 1995 Pittsburgh Outstanding Citizens prize by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and KDKA-TV, and will be awarded the Jefferson Medal by the American Institute for Public Service in Washington DC. Featured in a recent Post-Gazette article and profiled on KDKA, the award includes a $1,000 prize, to be awarded to a charity of Mark's choice. Mark is delighted, as is SCS.
IN THE NEWS...PC Magazine has announced it's "Top 100 Web Sites", to appear in the February 6 issue of PC Magazine. Among the cited sites is Mark Kantrowitz's Financial Aid Information Page. As noted, "when...you can't dig the tuition out of your porcelain piggy bank, the Financial Aid Information home page may be your savior...[his] collection of books, phone numbers, Usenet newsgroups, services, bibliographies, and mailing lists gives you a roadmap to all the latest grants, loans, scholarships and fellowships..."
PROGRAMMING CONTEST TEAM GOES FOR IT...The CMU ACM Programming Contest team has received an at-large bid to attend the International Programming Contest finals in Philadelphia in February 1996. While hearty congratulations are clearly due to team members Zhenyu Wang (1st-year Grad Student), Josh deCesare (Senior), and Sean Cier (Sophomore), Mark Stehlik's immediate reaction was, "Dam*, Philly in February; why couldn't it be Phoenix again?" Congratulations to our team!
CS IN DEFENSE... **(John) Gregory Morrisett will be "Compiling with Types" at his defense on on Tuesday, December 12 at 2:00 pm in Wean 5409. The committee compiling his ideas includes: Robert Harper (Co-Chair), Jeannette Wing (Co-Chair), Peter Lee, and Andrew Appel (Princeton).
**Scott Nettles provides "Safe and Efficient Persistent Heaps" at his thesis defense on Wednesday, December 13 at 10:30 am in Wean 5409. His committee includes: Jeannette Wing (Chair), Peter Lee, Satya, and Eliot Moss (Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst).
ROBOTICS IN DEFENSE...David Wettergreen explored "Robotic Walking in Natural Terrain" at his defense on Monday, December 11 at 1:00 pm. The committee watching his steps included: Red Whittaker (Co-Chair), Chuck Thorpe (Co-Chair), Michael Erdmann, David Miller (Institute for Practical Robotics), and Sehung Kwok (Monterey Naval PostGraduate School).
PROPOSALS...Yan-bin Jia goes "From Touch to Grasp" at his robotics thesis proposal on Wednesday, December 13 at 1:30 pm in Wean 5409. The committee latching on to his work includes: Michael Erdmann (Chair), Matthew Mason, Katushi Ikeuchi, and Bruce Donald (Cornell).
UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH POSTER SESSION...All students, faculty, and staff are invited to this semester's "SCS Undergraduate Research Poster Session" on Wednesday, December 13, beginning at 4:30 in Wean 5403. The poster session will showcase the progress of 17 students engaged in the year-long Senior Honors Thesis program, as well as another 15 students doing independent study projects this semester. Stop by to see the students' presentations and to support their research efforts!
CS BLACK FRIDAY...Thursday, December 14 and Friday, December 15!
HO, HO, HO...Come eat, drink and be very merry (unless you are a Mary, then you should be Merry Mary) at the SCS Holiday Party on Friday, December 15, from 3:00-5:00 pm in the Smith Hall, 2nd floor lounge area. We await you!
SCS INVITED TALKS: **Randy Bryant delivered a "distinguished lecture" at Cadence Design Systems, Chelmsford, MA, on December 4, entitled "Division Pentium Style: An Analysis of Intel's Mistake(s)." **Navin Chandra is presenting a position paper on "Advanced Engineering Services on the Web" at the 4th WWW Conference in Boston, on December 11.
ON DISPLAY...An exhibit of 60 origami models by Mark Kantrowitz (CS), Goran Konjevod (Math), and Doug Philips (Transarc) is on display at the Bookworm/Heads Together on Murray Avenue, Squirrel Hill, until January 15.
IN THE NEWS..."Old PCs Are 'Liability Scrap'", an article in the November 6 Investor's Business Daily, quotes Navin Chandra on his research in Green Engineering.
THESIS PROPOSALS...Karen Zita Haigh discussed her rogue ideas for "Using Planning and Execution Experiences for High-Level Robot Learning" during her proposal on Monday, December 4. The intelligent agents on her committee included: Manuela Veloso (Chair), Tom Mitchell, Reid Simmons, and Jim Firby (University of Chicago).
IN DEFENSE...David Wettergreen traverses "Walking and Natural Terrain" at his Robotics thesis defense on Monday, December 11 at 1:00 pm in Wean 4623. The committee checking his steps includes: Red Whittaker (Co-Chair), Chuck Thorpe (Co-Chair), Michael Erdmann, David Miller, and Sehung Kwok (Monterey Naval PostGraduate School).
ALMOST HERE, THE SCS HOLIDAY PARTY...is scheduled for Friday, December 15, from 3:00-5:00 pm in Smith Hall, 2nd floor lounge area. Be prepared to partake of victuals, beverages, frolicking and good cheer.
CS BLACK FRIDAY...is back! Thursday, December 14 (Computer Systems, AI, Theory and Programming Systems) and Friday, December 15 (Group Meeting starting at 10:00 am in Wean 4623. Check with Sharon Burks for particulars.
ROBOTICS BLACK FRIDAY...is back soon. It is scheduled for Friday, January 12, 1996. Contact Marce Zaragoza for details.
SCS INVITED TALKS... **Bonnie John gave an invited talk at the Krasnow Institute for Advanced Study at George Mason Univeristy near Washington DC. The title was "A Unified Theory Approach to Modeling Learning under Time-Pressure." The audience was drawn from the whole campus, including CS, Psychology, Neurobiology, and others interested in cognition. **Mel Siegel will offer a seminar on "Display System Technology and Software for 3D-TV and Computer Workstations," at the University of Pittsburgh, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, on December 4. He is also scheduled to speak to the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Optical Society of America (OSA) on "Display System Technology and Optics for 3D-TV and Computer Workstations" on February 6, 1996. In November, Mel delivered a presentation at the Kelly Air Force Base, Robotics and Automation Center of Excellence (RACE) on topics related to mobile robots for inspection of aging aircraft.
USER INTERFACE AND SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY...The UIST'95 symposium was a great success and, as noted in the November 27 Pittsburgh Business Times, was a "nod to CMU's 1-year old research organization." Per Brad Myers, chairman of the event, "The goal of the national get-together was to present the best of the new ideas" that are improving the relationship between humans and computers, while facilitating new explorations into research that will get these new tools and products into the hands of consumers.
IN THE NEWS...**"Why Robots Are In Demand Among Manufacturers Again" is an issue Red Whittaker and David Pahnos address in a November Investor's Business Daily article. As noted by Dave, "Now the technology is ready to do what was promised 20 years ago." **"Companies race to make it safer to spend on line", an article in the November 13 USA Today, briefly notes NetBill. As pointed out in the article, "Already, 2.5 million individuals have made purchases using the Internet, according to a new CommerceNet-Nielsen Media Research study...the Internet business applications are unlimited." Doug Tygar and Marvin Sirbu will be keeping pace.
WORTH(Y) NEWS..."Downloading Warren Buffett's Brain: Can a Computer Beat the Master?" is a featured article in the December/January 1996 issue of Worth Magazine. "Is your computer a smarter investor than Warren Buffett or Paul Tudor Jones?" This question is being investigated by researchers, including our own Katia Sycara. She notes, "Most of the computerized investment strategies are sophisticated analytical techniques for prediction...what we would like to do is have some more content-based ways, rather than just statistical manipulation." Her work and that of her students is discussed.
SCS INVITED TALKS...D. Navin-Chandra spoke at Auto Recyle '95 on "Life Cycle Economics and Vehicle Disassembly Analysis" on Thursday, November 16 in Dearborn Michigan. He is also an invited speaker at the International Automatic Data Collection and Identification Association (AIM) USA annual meeting in Las Vegas, November 29, where he will discuss electronic commerce and web-based engineering calculators.
IN THE NEWS..."Walking & Talking with Xavier"...notes that "researchers at Carnegie Mellon are working on a robot that can perform tasks too dangerous for people--and that can make small talk, too" in a featured article in the November 20 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Per Reid, "The hope really is that the robot will become such a part of the environment that people won't pay any attention to it." A great photo of Reid "avoiding" Xavier is included.
THANKS FOR GIVING...us a 4-day weekend. The University will be closed Thursday through Sunday, November 23-26, 1995 in observance of Thanksgiving. There will be no classes on Wednesday, November 22, as students head for wherever students go on holidays :-) Normal office hours and class schedules will resume Monday, November 27. As turkeys are fond of saying: Gobble, Gobble, Gobble...which using the JANUS system's new and improved speech-to-speech translation system, means: Have a great weekend!
CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR PROGRAMMING CONTEST TEAM...A hearty round of applause to CMU's team at the East Central Regional Programming Contest (part of the annual ACM Programming Contest) this past weekend. Undergrads Josh deCesare and Sean Cier, and first-year grad student Zhenyu Wang, formed our team and placed 4th among 70 teams, solving 6 out of 7 problems. 1st and 2nd place positions went to two teams from the University of Waterloo and 3rd place went to the Univ. of Toronto-St. George. All solved 7 problems. "Gee, these Canadians take hacking seriously!" noted Mark Stehlik, team advisor (and team driver :-) "The top two teams automatically advance to the finals, but since a school can send only one team, and our region routinely draws a large number of participating schools, we may receive an at-large bid to the finals. We'll know for sure in December." Stay tuned!
PROPOSALS...Richard McDaniel offers "Improving Programming-by-Demonstration With Better Semantic Expression" at his thesis proposal on Tuesday, November 14 at 10:30 am in Wean 4623. His committee includes: Brad Myers (Co-Chair), David Garlan (Co-Chair), Roger Dannenberg, and David Canfield Smith (Apple Computer).
IN DEFENSE...Frederick "Fritz" Knabe defends (or verteidigen-s when in Germany or defender-s if in Chile) "Language Support for Mobile Agents" at his thesis oral on Thursday, November 16 at 10:00 am in Wean 4623. The essential properties on his committee include: Jeannette Wing (Chair), Peter Lee, Doug Tygar, and Alessandro Giacalone (European Computer-Industry Research Centre).
FINISHING YOUR PH.D...Fritz Knabe is offering a special seminar on "Finishing Your Ph.D. Away from CMU: Tips and Advice" on Friday, November 17 at 10:00 am in Wean 5403. He'll discuss the risks, rewards and motivations to finish based on his own very interesting path from CMU, to Germany, to Chile!
JOINT SCS/ECE DISTINGUISHED LECTURE...Bob Colwell, Intel Corporation, examines "The P6 Microprocessor" at this special lecture on Thursday, November 16 at 4:00 pm in Wean 7500. Bob, an ECE alumnus, is the chief architect of the Pentium Pro Processor (P6). A reception will follow the talk in Hamerschlag Hall 1112.
SCS INVITED TALKS... **Mary Shaw presented "A Sightseeing Tour of the Information Superhighway" to the Woman's Club of Sewickley Valley on Monday, November 6, as a way to help the local community more fully understand the implications of the "net." The talk was greatly appreciated.
**Daniel Jackson will give to invited talks at Rice University on Wednesday and Thursday, November 15 and 16. His topics include: "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About SE* but Were Afraid to Ask" (*Software Engineering); and "Nitpick: An Automatic Specification Checker."
PHI BETA KAPPA...the honors continue! Congratulations to the following SCS students(alumni/ae) who were inducted into Upsilon of Pennsylvania, CMU's Phi Beta Kappa Chapter, on Sunday, October 15: Alon Brown, Franklin Chang*, Scott Colville*, Adam Klivans, Andrew Ng, Daniel Richards*, and Jordan Tsvetskoff* (*graduated May 1995).
NEW HONORS...Congratulations to Mary Shaw, who has been designated an "ACM Fellow", an honor awarded to those "who have distinguished themselves by outstanding technical and professional achievements in information technology" by the ACM through their Fellows Program. Alan Perlis would be pleased, as is all of SCS.
NEW GRANTS...David Johnson received a grant from the AT&T Foundation, under their Special Purpose Grants in Science and Engineering Program, for work on "Routing in Wireless Ad Hoc Networks." Dave was honored at an award luncheon on October 30.
SCS DISTINGUISHED LECTURE...Tomaso Poggio, UNCAS and Helen Whitaker Professor at the AI Laboratory and Center for Biological Information Processing at MIT, reviews his efforts in the domains of vision and graphics on "Networks that Learn and How the Brain Works", at the SCS Distinguished Lecture on Thursday, November 9 at 4:00 pm in Wean 7500. Distinguished refreshments at 3:45 pm.
LITA NELSEN...irector, Technology Licensing Office, MIT, reviews "Technology Transfer from University to Industry: The MIT Experience" at the next Technology Transfer Distinguished Lecture on Thursday, November 9 at 2:30 pm in Wean 7500. Light refreshments will be available before the presentation.
IN DEFENSE...Amy Moorman Zaremski successfully completed her work on "Signature and Specification Matching" at her thesis defense on November 1. The committee whose signatures she received included: Jeannette Wing (Chair), David Garlan, Peter Lee, and Steve Garland (MIT).
SCS INVITED SPEAKERS... **Katia Sycara will deliver an invited lecture on "Intelligent Agents and the Information Revolution" at the Symposium on Intelligent Agents and their Business Applications, on November 9th, in London, U.K. On November 13, she will present an invited talk on "Distributed Agent Coordination in Job Shop Scheduling" at the Research Center of Daimler-Benz in Berlin, Germany. **Steve Cross gave an invited talk entitled "The Future of Intelligent Systems" to the Air Force 2025 Technology Symposium at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama on October 18, 1995. **Gary Miller was the Keynote Speaker at the Opening Session of the Seventh IEEE Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Processing on October 25 in San Antonio, Texas. He discussed "Algorithm Design for Parallel Scientific Computation."
IN THE NEWS...UIST'95, The User Interface Software and Technology Symposium is scheduled for November 14-17, 1995 at the Westin William Penn Hotel (Pittsburgh!). The Symposium, chaired by Brad Myers, is fully detailed in http:/www.cc.gatech.edu/gvu/UIST95. As noted by Brad in the November 2 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "It's basically a researchers' conference, where all the kinds of people who are trying to invent the next generation talk to other researchers about what they're thinking about...so they can work out the problems early." Among the local speakers are Jim Morris (Banquet Speaker), Steve Roth, Mei Chuah, Joe Mattis and John Kolojejchick, CMU will host an evening of demonstrations and a reception on Wednesday, November 15. Copies of the article are available on the SCS News Board or from scstoday@cs. Contact bam@cs.cmu.edu for additional details on registration.
ZACK BUTLER IS 4TH IN WORLD...WoW! Congratulations to Zack Butler, who placed 4th individually at the 1995 World Puzzle Championships in Poiana Brasov, Romania on October 23-26. The U.S. Team, of which he was a member, placed 1st in the entire competition. What types of puzzles you ask? "Language and culture neutral puzzles including mazes, visual logic and other much more devious items...many this year involved the use of the Latin alphabet in puzzles such as fill-ins (a word list and a grid where the solver must determine how the words fit in the grid)." It's an a"maze"-ing competition, so read more about it in http://gs171.sp.cs.cmu.edu/brasov.html
IN CELEBRATION...On Friday, November 3, all of SCS is invited to celebrate Jaime Carbonell's appointment to the Allen Newell Professorship in Computer Science at a special reception in Wean 4623 at 3:00 pm. Join us in wishing Jaime many new successes.
SOME FAB-ULOUS WORK...Capping off five years of research by David Bourne and his group on generative planning for the production of sheet metal parts, was its announcement as a product at the FABTECH show in Chicago in October. The work will also be previewed/announced in Japan in November. The goal of the project has been to "design a new sheet metal part and in 30 minutes have it in your hand." Not bad :-)
PDL GOES INTO RETREAT...The Parallel Data Laboratory is holding its annual workshop on October 30-November 1 at WISP Resort. The whole group is gone! Contact leann@cs for any specifics.
SCS INVITED TALKS... **Jim Tomayko delivered an invited talk on "Things That *Should* Go Right in Software Project Management, But Rarely Do" at the annual Manager's Technical Conference of Andersen Consulting on October 17 in Chicago. He followed this with an October 23 presentation at the Air Force Technology Symposium at Andrews Air Force Base on "The Air Force and the Development of Fly-by-Wire Technology." **Manuela Veloso gave an invited lecture on "Planning and Learning in Intelligent Agents" at EPIA-95, the Portuguese Conference on AI, on October 6 in Madeira, Portugal. EPIA, an international conference, attracted over 320 participants from around the world.
UPCOMING SPEAKERS...Lita L. Nelsen, Director, Technology Licensing Office, MIT, offers insights into "Technology Transfer from University to Industry: The MIT Experience" at the next Office of Technology Transfer Distinguished Lecture, on Thursday, November 9 at 2:30 pm in Wean 7500.
THESIS PROPOSALS...**MARGARET REID-MILLER looks dynamically at "Experiments with Parallel Pointer Based Algorithms" during her thesis proposal on Monday, October 9 at 1:30 pm in Wean 7220. Her high performance committee includes: Guy Blelloch (Chair), Randy Bryant, Bruce Maggs, Daniel Sleator, and Vijaya Ramachandran (University of Texas). **SHUMEET BALUJA focuses on "Expectation and Selective Attention for Adaptive Approaches to Scene Analysis and Anomaly Detection" at his proposal on Friday, October 13 at 3:30 pm in Wean 5409. The committee examining his input features includes: Dean Pomerleau (Chair), Tom Mitchell, Takeo Kanade, and Tomaso Poggio (MIT). **DEEPAK BAPNA's work pays off as he examines "A Payload Tracking Strategy for Mobile Robots" at his robotics thesis proposal on Friday, October 13 at 1:00 pm in FRC 100. The committee measuring his precision includes: John Bares (Chair), William Whittaker (Co-Chair), Eric Krotkov and Yangsheng Xu.
NEW FACES...Mark Smith, formerly of the University of Durham in England, has joined CS as a Post-Doctoral Fellow. He will be working with Jill Fain Lehman, with a focus on NL-Soar.
SCS DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI LECTURE...Ed Frank will "Follow the Money: A Look at Past and Future Trends in the Computer Industry" at 4:00 pm in Wean 7500. Distinguished donuts (from 1985 ;-) will be available at 3:45 pm outside the room.
SO LONG STEVE...Come say your farewells to Steve Shafer on Tuesday, October 10 at 3:30 pm in the Smith Hall, 2nd Floor Lounge Area.
AN SCS HOMECOMING-TG...is scheduled for Friday, October 13 at 4:00 pm in Wean 4623, kicking off a weekend of special programming and events. Dean Pomerleau will navigate NavLab5 up to the Baker Hall tent for display on Saturday, October 14, giving all visitors an opportunity to see the vehicle up close. Many of the weekend events will commemorate the 50th anniversary of of the end of World War II, capped off by a presentation by U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry at 9:00 am on Sunday, October 15. Contact the alumni office at x8/2060 for a complete schedule of events.
SCS INVITED TALKS...Jeannette Wing offered "Specifications and Their Use in Defining Subtypes" as an Invited Speaker at ZUM'95, the Z Users Group, in Limerick, Ireland on 8 September 1995. She also discussed "Teaching Mathematics to Software Engineers" as an Invited Speaker for Education Day at this conference on 9 September 1995.
ALLEGHENY SINGER RESEARCH INSTITUTE SUBCONTRACTS TO CMU...Expertise in video indexing, developed as part of the Informedia Digital Video Library project, has earned CMU a key subcontractor role in a $51M effort to develop a national multimedia database network for doctors. The National Medical Practice Knowledge Banks will develop digital libraries enabling doctors to have access to the latest medical information and technology from experts 24 hours a day--via the Internet or private medical networks. CMU will work with Allegheny Singer Research Institute (ASRI), the applied research arm of Allegheny General Hospital, AT&T's Human Interface Technology Center, its Enterprise Solutions and Business Communication Services divisions, and InSoft Inc. of Mechanicsburg, PA. These partners will provide funds and services in support of the Knowledge Bank project, a 5-year effort addressing the development of a multimedia repository to archive, browse, retrieve and index and search data in still image, video, audio, and text form. The Knowledge Banks will provide centralized repositories for complex medical information--dignostic indicators, details of preferred treatments or surgical procedures--information a doctor would usually get from an expert consultant. The prototype knowledge bank will specialize in neurosurgery. Based on its success, other prototypes will be developed in oncology and cardiology. Per Stephen Cross, Director of the ITC and Acting Director of Information Technology Research for ASRI. "The project extends CMU's nationally recognized multimedia digital library technology into the medical field..."
CS/CNBC FACULTY CANDIDATE...Geoffrey J. Goodhill, Salk Institute, thinks over "Computational Models of Brain Development" at a Joint CS/Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition seminar (faculty candidate) on Thursday, October 12 at 2:00 m in Wean 4623.
TAKE A BREAK...Mid-semester break is scheduled for Monday, October 16. No classes will be held, although business offices will remain open. Normal class schedules resume Tuesday, October 17.
IN THE FARM NEWS..."Down on the Farm With R2D2: Mobile Robots Leaving Factory Cousins in Dust" was a featured article in the October 7 New York Times. A driverless, red harvesting machine "cuts through fields of alfalfa, using satellite signals, artificial vision and a computer to sense its location and adjust the steering to keep cutting a straight line over the rolling hills of western Pennsylvania." Per Red Whittaker, "the work has crossed the line from black magic and mystery to engineering." A very interesting article on this effort and other autonomous projects.
ROBOTICS PROPOSALS...Yoichi Sato generated "3D Reflectance Analysis from Color Image Sequence for Computer Graphics" at his thesis proposal on Monday, October 2. His colorful committee included: Katsushi Ikeuchi (Chair), Steve Shafer, Martial Hebert, and Shree Nayar (Columbia University).
SCS ADVISORY BOARD...The Research Directions Committee of the SCS Advisory Board will be meeting October 2-3. Contact copetas@cs for details.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN...Steve Shafer will head off to Microsoft on November 1, after 18 glorious :-) years at CMU. Please join us in extending him "good luck and best wishes" on Tuesday, October 10, before he embarks on this new "windows" of opportunity. Feting begins at 3:30 pm in the lounge area, 2nd floor, Smith Hall.
ALUMNI UPDATE...James Gosling was featured in a September 25 New York Times article, "Making the PC Come Alive: A Software Language That Puts You in the Picture."
SCS INVITED TALKS...Ed Clarke presented an invited lecture on "Verification of the Futurebus+ Cache Coherence Protocol" at Euro-DAC/Euro-VHDL on Tuesday, September 19, in Brighton, England.
IN THE VISIONARY NEWS..."Computer Visionary: Robotics genius Takeo Kanade wants computers to really see" is featured in the Science Section of the Monday, October 2, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Takeo is at the Robotics Industries Association's International symposium this week, receiving the Joseph Engelberger Robotics Award in acknowledgement of his numerous contributions to robotics technology. This article pays equal tribute to his achievements in and devotion to computer vision. "A decade ago, computer graphics were as rudimentary as computer vision is now. Sophisticated computer graphics have since become commonplace, found in even the lowliest video game", the article notes "I think vision is sort of on the verge of that", Takeo notes. Copies of the article are available from scstoday@cs
ED FRANK RETURNS...as our SCS Distinguished Alumni Lecturer on Thursday, October 12 at 4:00 pm in Wean 7500. He'll be frank about how to "Follow the Money: A Look at Past and Future Trends in the Computer Industry," Check the bboards for details.
HOMECOMING TG AND MORE...CMU Homecoming will be celebrated Friday/ Saturday, October 13-14. To commemorate the return of SCS'ers to our hallowed concrete halls, a TG-T will be held on Friday, October 13 in Wean 4623, beginning at 4:00 pm. As part of the weekend festivities, Dean Pomerleau will have NavLab5 by the Baker Hall tent on Saturday, October 14, providing an opportunity for members of SCS and visitors to see this accomplished vehicle up close.
EDS BOOK SCHOLARSHIP AWARD...The School of Computer Science is delighted to announce the winners of this semester's $300 Textbook Scholarships, sponsored by Electronic Data Systems Corporation (EDS). Seniors Brian McBarron and Doug Wiegley, Juniors Michael Bowling and Brian Chemel, and Sophomores David Mitzel and Scott Raymond were each awarded $300 by EDS based on their outstanding academic performance during the Spring 1995 term. Nice job!
CS PROPOSALS...David Redish steers his way through "Rodent Navigation: A Theory and Computational Model" at his thesis proposal on Wednesday, September 27, at 3:30 pm in Wean 4623. The committee assessing his learning mechanisms includes: David Touretzky (Chair), James McClelland, David Plaut, and Bruce McNaughton (University of Arizona, Tucson).
SCS DISTINGUISHED ALUMNI LECTURE...is coming soon. Ed Frank, NetPower Corporation, will "Follow the Money: A Look at Past and Future Trends in the Computer Industry" on Thursday, October 12 at 4:00 pm, Wean 7500. Watch the bboards for details.
SCS INVITED TALKS...Mary Shaw will deliver a keynote address on "Software and Some Lessons from Engineering" at the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference on Thursday, September 28, 1995.
IN THE NEWS..."Developing GEMS: An Environmental Modeling System", by Bernd Bruegge, Erik Riedel, Armistead Russell and Gregory McRae is a featured article in the Fall 1995 Computational Science & Engineering of IEEE. It summarizes the "Geographic Enviornmental Modeling System (GEMS), which began as a project in the Advanced Software Engineering taught by Bernd in 1992. "GEMS, which has been used by CMU researchers to study the potential impact of alternative fuel regulations in California...will be used in a forthcoming study of ozone in the northwestern U.S. The experiences gained are being absorved by modeling groups at the EPA and an industry consortium that are developing the next generation of regulatory tools." As noted, this is a great example of what is termed "From Classroom to Public Policy"!
NEWS FROM BUSINESS WEEK..."Is There Money on the Moon?" could be one approach to exploring space. David Gump, President of LunaCorp," wants to send a pair of Dante's offspring to the moon in 1998 and cover the $150 million cost [$80M for the launch, $43M for four rovers, 2 being spares] with information fees--from network exclusives to live video feeds into theme parks..." Based on the "half-million hits on Dante II's Web page" during its descent and ascent from a volcano, the interest just might be there. Read on yourself. Both Red Whittaker and Eric Krotkov are quoted in the article.
ROBOTICS PHD PROGRAM CHAIRPERSON...Takeo Kanade has announced the appointment of Matt Mason as the Program Chairperson of the Robotics PhD Program, effective September 15, noting "Matt's world-class reputation in robotics research and his vision and enthusiasm in education will ensure the continued success and further enhance the Program." As many know, Steve Shafer, the Program Chair for the past three years, will leave CMU at the end of October. Per Takeo, "with his endless energy and deep insight, Steve made a critical contribution to establish this unique program in robotic education and to ensure its high quality." Congratulations to Matt and copious good wishes for continuing new successes to Steve---from all of SCS.
IN DEFENSE...Anja Feldmann bursts with information regarding "On-Line Call Admission for High-Speed Networks" on Friday, September 22 at 10:00 am in Wean 5304. Her robust committee includes: Daniel Sleator (Co-Chair), Bruce Maggs (Co-Chair), Allan Fisher, and Tom Leighton (MIT).
CS DISTINGUISHED LECTURE...Laszlo Lovasz, MIT, will stroll through the "Mixing of Random Walks and Avalanches on Graphs" at the CS Distinguished Lecture on Thursday, September 21 at 4:00 pm in Wean 7500. Distinguished donuts at 3:45 pm, outside the lecture hall.
TOC CONFERENCE...The CMU Technical Opportunities Conference is scheduled for Thursday, September 21, beginning at 10:00 am in the gymnasium. Representatives from over 60 companies will be present to accept resumes, discuss career opportunities, and overview their company activities with YOU. Take a moment and visit the TOC. Can't hurt and can almost certainly help.
SPECIAL HP SEMINAR...Dr. Mary Loomis, Director, Software Technology Lab, Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, will assess "The Future of Database Technologies" at a special HP Lecture on Tuesday, September 19 at 2:30 pm in Scaife Hall 125.
ANDREW TECHNICAL CONFERENCE...Thursday and Friday, September 21-22, are the dates for the 1995 Andrew Technical Conference and Annual Meeting, "Andrew and the Web," featuring the Andrew User Interface System (AUIS) software package developed at CMU. On Thursday, the Andrew Consortium staff offers informal consulting and demonstrations to their members and other attendees. The Annual Meeting begins at 4 pm (100 FRC). Technical presentations on a Web browser, HTML editors, and Widgets for Andrew take place on Friday from 9 am to 12:30 pm (100 FRC). The SCS community is welcome to attend. Additional information is available from: Andrew Consortium, x8-6710 or http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~AUIS.
THEY'RE BACK---MOBOTS!...The 2nd Annual Mobot (MObile Robot) Slalom Race is scheduled for Spring Carnival, Friday, April 19. Preliminaries will take place Wednesday, April 3. Open to all full-time members of the CMU undergraduate community, entrants (teams encouraged) will race home-made autonomous vehicles along the course on the paved walk in front of Wean Hall. Cash prizes galore await the winners. NOTE: A new, special, "Open" category for members of the CMU community (ie, non-undergraduates) is being initiated. If you would like to participate in the race(s) or need additional information/ clarification, please send mail to: mobot@cs.cmu.edu.
PRETTY GOOD RACE RESULTS ARE GOOD...Congratulations to Yury Smirnov, winner of the 1995 Pretty Good Race for the third year in a row! He retains the course record of 16:03 minutes. Elizabeth Stuck captured the first place female title. A new course record of 37:00 minutes, for running backwards, was awarded to Dirk Kalp. This well-breaks the old record of 45+ minutes. A complete listing of competitor standings will appear on cmu.cs.general in the next few days. To our ragged warriors, congratulations on a race well run :-)
MANAGING A WEALTH OF DIGITIZED INFORMATION...Nobel laureate economist Herbert Simon points out in the September Scientific American, "What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention, and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it." In the same article, Univ. of California, Berkeley Dean, Hal Varian, predicts the emergence of "information managers" who provide a value-added filtering process in sifting and managing information to make it meaningful to the rest of society. Read on...
ALLEN NEWELL CHAIR...Our congratulations to Jaime Carbonell, recipient of the Allen Newell Chair in Computer Science. Per Jim Morris, "...[Jaime] has made many significant contributions to AI and was the founder of the Center for Machine Translation, a flourishing laboratory devoted to natural language problems." Members of SCS also know him as a keen scientist, excellent teacher, committed advisor, avid early-Friday evening chess player, and above all, good friend. As Allen once noted, "beginnings are full of promise and potential." This new appointment, to a new chair, is a great beginning.
NEW FACES...Zuzana Bodikova has joined Facilities as a Systems Programmer, taking the position that was held by Charles Silvers (who headed off to California to seek fame and fortune). Originally from Slovakia, Zuzana has her M.S. in Computer Science from the Technical University in Kosice, Slovakia. Her husband is a Mellon Fellow doctoral student in CS at the University of Pittsburgh.
SOAR WORKSHOP...The 15th North American Soar Workshop will be held
Friday through Sunday, September 15-17 at CMU. Faculty, scientists, graduate
students and technical staff, drawn from a wide geographic community of users,
will converge for a weekend of personal interactions, dialogue on various Soar
research efforts, and discussion of future initiatives. Complete details are
in: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs/project/soar/public/www/workshop95.html or
contact Jill Fain Lehman
BE SHOT IN 3-D...Jon Webb is going to make 3-D photographs -- suitable
for viewing on an SGI using Inventor or conversion into VRML files that can be
viewed on the World Wide Web[b] -- of new grad students and whomever else
wants one, using a new stereo vision algorithm he developed with Larry
Zitnick. The algorithm is far faster, more accurate and more reliable than
any previous. The demo sessions will be held on Tuesday, September 12 and
Thursday, September 14 from 3:00-4:00 pm in Wean 1324.
PRETTY GOOD TIME FOR A PRETTY GOOD RACE...The Phil Miller 15th Annual
SCS Pretty Good Race is scheduled for Friday, September 15 at 4:30 pm in
Schenley Park. All members of the SCS community (and SEI) are welcome to
run, walk, or hobble through the race. Admiring masses and cheering crowds
are always invited. Get your registration forms in this week to Ellen Saxon
or the SEI Message Center by Noon, Thursday, September 14.
IN THE NEWS..."this story is only about radical new ways to tell
stories, only about the nascent medium called 'interactive storytelling'--a
yarn-spinning process that taps new technologies to let the audience
participate in the tale...", begins "The Future of the Story", an article
that appeared in the July Los Angeles Time Magazine. Special note is made
of the Woggles and Joseph Bates.
JOSEPH F. ENGELBERGER AWARDEE...Congratulations to Takeo Kanade,
recipient of a 1995 Joseph F. Engelberger Award. Considered the most
prestigious robotics honor in the world since its inception in 1977, the
awards program recognizes excellence in the areas of robotic development,
application and education by outstanding individuals from all corners of
the globe. The awards are accompanied by an honorarium and commemorative
medal. Takeo's award will be conferred at the "International Conference on
Robotic Systems", at a ceremony on October 4 in Singapore. Engelberger, who
founded both Transitions Research Corporation and Unimation, is known as a
major force behind industrial robotics and a leader in pursuing innovative
applications of robots "in services beyound just manufacturing, including
mobility, sensory perception,and intelligence enabling robots to interact
with people in uncontrolled environments." Takeo's efforts have contributed
greatly to the enhancement and dissemination of robotics technologies. A
hearty congratulations from all of SCS!
CMU EDUCATION AWARDS CEREMONY...will be held on Wednesday, September 13
at 4:30 pm in the tent on the Baker Hall lawn. Awards will be presented to
the 1995 recipients of the Doherty Prize, Ryan Teaching Award, Undergraduate
Advising Award, Graduate Student Teaching Award (CHRIS OKASAKI), the
Graduate Student Service Award (JADE GOLDSTEIN), and honors students. Also
receiving special recognition are the college teaching award winners,
including BERND BRUEGGE, recipient of SCS's Herbert A. Simon Award for
Teaching Excellence in Computer Science.
NEW FACES...Elizabeth Stuck has joined the Robotics Institute as a
Visiting Scientist, coming to us by way of the National Research Council of
Canada in Ottawa, where she worked first in mobile robotics and then in
human-computer interaction. Liz is working with Steve Roth on the SAGE
Project, which involves the study of automatic and interactive design of
graphical presentations of information. She is especially interested in
information visualization and usability issues.
**Jane Margolis has joined CS as a Visiting Research Scientist and will be
working with Allan Fisher.
PROPOSALS...Dennis Grinberg employs his best grammatical skills to
explore "Statistical Language Modeling Using Grammatical Information" at this
CS thesis proposal on Monday, September 11 at 9:30 am in Wean 5409. His low
perplexity committee includes: Daniel Sleator (Chair), John Lafferty, Alex
Waibel, and Michael Miller (Washington University in St. Louis).
NEW CLUSTERS...Check out Wean 5419A-D, the exiciting new computing
clusters developed by Phil Miller and Jacobo Carrasquel of the Introductory
Computing Group. The facilities are experiencing their first workout with
Computer Science, Math (discrete math course) and English (using Prep Editor)
courses being offered this term.
CS VOLLEYBALL LEAGUE LIVES ON...Per Amy McGovern, "the CS Spring Volleyball league has been transformed into the CS We-love-volleyball-too-much-to-stop
League." The undergraduate Student Advisory Committee (SAC) has reserved the
small gym on Saturday nights from 8;00-10:00 pm for pursuit of this indoor
fare. Faculty are particularly welcome to attend ;-)
WHO'S IN CHARGE...of the various seminar series in SCS? Raul
Valdes-Perez (AI Seminar); Daniel Jackson (PS Seminar); Peter Steenkiste
(CS Seminar); Steve Rudich/Avrim Blue (Theory Seminar); Ken Koedinger
(HCI Seminar); and Stephen Brookes/Frank Pfenning (Logic Colloquium).
TEACHING HONORS...Congratulations to Lorin Grubb, George Necula, Brian
Noble, and Chris Okasaki, each a recipient of a 1995 SCS Graduate Student
Teaching Award. This special tribute is offered in recognition of outstanding
teaching performance and undaunted commitment to their students. This is a
very important award, for as we all know, TAs make all the difference! A short
award presentation will be held at the CS IC at 10:10 am on Tuesday, August
29.
(RE)NEWED FACES...MARKO PETKOVSEK has rejoined CS as a Fulbright
Scholar and will working closely with Dana Scott. Marko will be developing
and teaching Mathematica-based courses.
**RONI ROSENFELD is really back (sightings have been reported) from
Northwestern and has assumed a position as a Research Computer Scientist in
CS. Among his interests are statistical language modeling, human language
technology and speech recognition.
**JANE ARONSON, post-doctoral fellow, is working with Robert Kraut as the
Project Manager for HomeNet.
NEW FACES...KLAUS SUTNER has joined CS as a Senior Lecturer in the
Introductory Programming Group. He comes to SCS via Stevens Institute of
Technology in New Jersey, where he was an Associate Professor of Computer
Science. His research interests include computational aspects of dynamical
systems and symbolic computation.
IN DEFENSE (CS)...The first CS thesis defense of the new term! ALON
LAVIE examines "GLR*: A Robust Grammar Focused Parser for Spontaneously Spoken
Language" on Friday, September 1 at 12:30 pm in Wean 4623. The committee
parsing his thoughts includes: Masaru Tomita (Chair), Jaime Carbonell,
Alex Waible, and Edward Gibson (MIT).
IN DEFENSE (RI)...The first Robotics defense is offered by YALIN XIONG,
who looks into "High Precision Image Matching and Shape Recovery", on Friday,
September 1 at 1:00 in Wean 4625. The comittee focusing in on his ideas
includes: Steve Shafer (Chair), Katsushi Ikeuchi, Martial Hebert, and
Narendra Ahuja (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champagne).
WELCOME TO THE SCS CLASS OF 19"99"...The SCS Undergraduate population
has increased by "99" talented new students, with the arrival of this year's
freshmen class. Great to have you!
IN THE NEWS..."The Soul of a New Machine", an article in the August 21
Newsweek, predicts "in 20 years smart cars will perform better, ride more
safely and practically drive themselves--if we're smart enough to let them."
Mentioned in the article are Dean Pomerleau, Todd Jochem and RALPH (the
Rapidly Adapting Lateral Position Handler), who recently completed their
No-Hands Across America, autonomous odyssey.
LOADS OF NEW FACES...Welcome to our incoming class of students in the
Robotics (RI) and Computer Science (CS) PhD programs, the Master of Software
Engineering students (MSE), the new Human-Computer Interaction Masters Program
(HCII), and new undergraduate class. The RI immigration course, and MSE and
Undergraduate Orientations Programs all begin this week. CS Immigration
starts to roll Monday, August 28.
LOGIN BALL...Get ready for this year's social event! The SCS Login
Ball will be held Saturday, August 26 at 8:00 pm at the the Westing William
Penn Hotel Ballroom in downtown Pittsburgh. Come join us for a rousing
evening of conversation, music (Mon Gumbo and The Bridge City String Quarter)
and food! Parking is available at the garage adjacent to the hotel.
IN DEFENSE...Alon Lavie will speak on GLR*: A Robust Grammar Focused
Parser for Spontaneously Spoken Language" at his defense on Friday,
September 1 at 12:30 pm in Wean 4623. The committee parsing his thoughts
includes: Masaru Tomita (Chair), Jaime Carbonell, Alex Waible, and Edward
Gibson (MIT).
NEW AWARDS..."Intelligent Tutoring Goes to School in the Big City",
by Ken Koedinger, John Anderson, Bill Hadley and Mary Mark, received a best
paper award (1 of 2) at the recent AI and Education Conference. The paper
documents the development, deployment and evaluation efforts of the PUMP
Algebra Tutor.
"REINVENTING THE PC"..."Twenty years after its birth, the PC is set to
disappear into the fabric of everyday life. Here are ways it might resurface"
explains a featured article in the September 95 Discover magazine. Special
note is made of Alex Waibel's research on getting" computers to understand
their human masters no matter how they express themselves." Tom Mitchell's
experience with a computer-software driven "personal secretary/scheduler" and
news weeder, are also well-noted.
JANUS IST GREAT...Janus, the neural network-based speech translation
system, has taken top honors in the Verbmobil Speech Evaluations, a German
competition that compares a large number of the world's leading speech
recognizers. Alex Waibel, project leader, reports that in spontaneous dialogues
using conversational speech, Janus registered half as many errors as other
systems and surpassed the performance of HTK (developed at Cambridge Univ.)
Verbmobil, started by the German Government in 1993 and funded at $13M
deutschmarks yearly, is a research initiative aimed at speech translation.
ANDREW CONSORTIUM ANNUAL MEETING...The 1995 Andrew Technical
Conference and Annual Meeting is scheduled for Thursday and Friday,
September 21-22. The meeting "will showcase Andrew and the WorldWideWeb,
both as exclusive entities and as mutually-evolving vehicles, which improve
your ability to process information." Check cmu.cs.scs for particulars
on scheduling and registration. Contact AnnMarie Zanger at
annmarie@cmu.edu with questions.
PROPOSALS...Arup Mukherjee is "Supporting Online Services in
Environments Constrained by Communication" at his CS thesis proposal on
Thursday, August 10 at 1:30 pm in Wean 4623. His control-oriented committee
includes: Daniel P. Siewiorek (Chair), Adam Beguelin, Jim Morris, and Jim
Mitchell (SunSoft).
THESIS DEFENSES...
**BRAD NELSON explores "Object Schemas and Port-Based Agents for Assimilating
Disparate Sensory Feedback" at his robotics thesis defense on Thursday,
August 10 at 10:00 am in Wean 4623. His dynamically configured committee
includes: Pradeep Khosla (Chair), Takeo Kanade, Chuck Thorpe, Ramesh Jain
(University of California, San Diego), and Nikos Papanikolopoulos (University
of Minnesota-Minneapolis).
**ALONZO KELLY gets rolling on "An Intelligent, Predictive Control Approach
to the High-Speed, Cross-Country, Autonomous Navigation Problem at his
robotics defense on Thursday, August 10 at 2:00 pm in Wean 4601. The
control layer of his committee includes: Anthony Stentz (Chair), Martial
Hebert, William Whittaker, and Larry Matthies (JPL).
NEW GRANTS...Norman Sadeh and Steve Smith have been awarded a grant from
Raytheon and ARPA to develop an Integrated Process Planning/Production Shell
to support Agile Manufacturing practices. The shell will make it possible to
dynamically interleave process planning and production scheduling decisions.
The system, to be demonstrated in a large and highly dynamic machine shop at
Raytheon's Andover facility, is expected to significantly enhance the ability
of the facility to adapt to changing conditions and result in significant
performance improvements. Particulars on this project can be found in:
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/project/mboss/www/IP3S-home.html.
IROS '95...The 1995 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent
Robots and Systems, focussing on "Human-Robot Interaction and Cooperative
Robots", is taking place in Pittsburgh (William Penn Hotel) from August 5-9.
Among the scheduled events is a Keynote Address on August 7 by Raj Reddy;
overview of the Robotics Institute by Takeo Kanade on August 8, with campus
tours on on August 9; and sessions/talks by CMU faculty and students
throughout the conference. Katsushi Ikeuchi and Pradeep Khosla are serving
as General Chairs for the entire conference.
IC RESEARCH MINI-SYMPOSIUM...The Third Annual IC Research Mini-Symposium
is scheduled for September 12 at 2:00 pm. Consisting of a poster session
and computer demonstrations, participation is open to grad students in the
CS or RI graduate programs who "will not yet have presented their thesis
proposal by September 15," says Reid Simmons, organizer of the event. The
symposium offers "students an opportunity to showcase their research
accomplishments, and to demonstrate to the entering class the level of
research expected of them during their first years at CMU."
IN THE NEWS..."Look Ma, No Hands" - "Business Week rides with 'Ralph',
the smartest car yet" is the featured article in the August 14 Science &
Technology section of Business Week. The author "tagged along" on a segment
of the epic journey of NavLab 5, the Pontiac Minivan, from Washington to San
Diego. Affectionately dubbed, "No Hands Across America", the van was guided
by the computer program, Ralph. Todd Jochem and Dean Pomerleau, the support
team and developers, successfully "tested and demonstrated the state of the
art in automated steering." Got to (no) hand it to these guys!
WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 4, 1995
WEEK OF AUGUST 28, 1995
WEEK OF AUGUST 21, 1995
WEEK OF AUGUST 14, 1995
WEEK OF AUGUST 7, 1995