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June 14, 2012 · Vol. 22, No. 47
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Secretary of Labor Visits CMU Today To Announce Grants To Help Americans Return to Work
|  U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis will visit Carnegie Mellon today to announce nearly $147 million in new grants to develop and expand innovative strategies to help Americans return to work. The grants, awarded through the Workforce Innovation Fund, will help unemployed workers get back to work more quickly by delivering employment and training services more efficiently, facilitating cooperation across programs and funding streams, and focusing on partnerships with specific employers or industry sectors to develop programs that reflect current and future skill needs.
Solis also will announce the availability of up to $20 million through the second round of grants through the Workforce Innovation Fund to help encourage an innovative "Pay for Success" approach to workforce development. Under this new model, private sector entities partner with the government to invest in programs that they believe are effective, and they are paid based on whether they deliver results. Solis will make the announcements at 12:45 p.m. in 6115 Gates Hillman Center after touring the Planetary Robotics Lab. Her second visit to Carnegie Mellon recognizes CMU's success as one of the fastest growing entrepreneurial universities, having created 300 companies and 9,000 jobs in the last 15 years. CMU's Greenlighting Startups initiative is an engine for accelerating enterprise and job creation, turning campus research into new businesses. Read more about Greenlighting Startups.
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Kelly Works To Restore Vision to the Blind
|  Shawn Kelly, a senior systems scientist in CMU's Institute for Complex Engineered Systems, has received a four-year, $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to develop a retinal prosthesis for restoring functional vision to the blind.
"My group has created a micro-fabricated thin film that is inserted behind the retina of the human eye. From this thin plastic film, the width of an eyelash, flexible electrodes send stimulating current signals to retinal nerves. A miniature microchip located in a titanium package generates these stimulating currents. That package is attached to the patient's eye, and receives image signals from specially designed glasses worn by a visually impaired patient. My device works very much like a camera, replacing the function of the rods and cones of the human eye," Kelly said.
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Inspire Innovation Campaign Update
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 As of May 31, 2012, Carnegie Mellon's Inspire Innovation campaign had reached $1.03 billion. Since April 15, 2012, the campaign raised $12,269,307.
For the latest progress, visit cmu.edu/campaign/about/progress.html.
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Who Has More Stress? Study Finds Women and Those With Lower Incomes, Less Education Do
 Who's more stressed in the U.S.? A new study by Carnegie Mellon's Sheldon Cohen and Denise Janicki-Deverts found that women, individuals with lower incomes and those with less education are. They also found that as Americans age, they experience less stress, and that retirees consistently report low stress levels.
| Cohen and Janicki-Deverts used telephone survey data from 1983 that polled 2,387 U.S. residents over the age of 18 and online surveys from 2006 and 2009 that polled 2,000 American adults each. All three surveys used the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), a measure created by Cohen to assess the degree to which situations in life are perceived as stressful.
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Say "Thank You" to Those Who've Done Their Best
 Nominating a colleague for an Andy Award is one of the best ways to recognize excellence and thank the people you value most. Nominations are due July 10.
The Andy Awards honor individual staff and teams for going above and beyond the call of duty. Awards are given in six categories: Dedication; Commitment to Students; Innovation; Culture; University Citizenship; and Community Contributions. Read more about the Andy Awards. | Nominating Tips. |
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Alumni Win Tony Awards for Best Performance
|  Two more alumni from Carnegie Mellon's prestigious School of Drama have joined the ranks of 22 other CMU Tony Award winners.
Christian Borle (A'95) won Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play for his role in "Peter and the Starcatcher." Judith Light (A'70) won for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play for her role in "Other Desert Cities."
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FMS Conducts Electricity Reduction Test Today
| Facilities Management Services (FMS) asks for your cooperation by turning off lights and equipment, such as window air conditioners and computers, from 2 to 3 p.m. today (Thursday, June 14) during its annual test of the university's capability to reduce electricity demand should there be an electricity supply emergency.
The test will affect the following main campus buildings: Baker-Porter halls, CFA, Cyert Hall, Doherty Hall, East Campus Garage, FMS Building, Gates and Hillman Centers, Gates Garage, GSIA, Hamburg Hall, Hammerschlag Hall, Hunt Library, Margaret Morrison Carnegie Hall, Newell-Simon Hall, Purnell Center for the Arts, Roberts Hall, Scaife Hall, Skibo Gym, Smith Hall, University Center, Warner Hall and Wean Hall.
Housing buildings affected will be: Boss Hall, Donner Hall, Hamerschlag House, Henderson Hall, Margaret Morrison Apartments and Plaza, McGill Hall, Resnik House, Scobell Hall, Welch Hall and West Wing.
Questions? Contact University Engineer Marty Altschul at 412-268-2529 or ma3q@andrew.cmu.edu.
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Help ensure the safety and well-being of the CMU community:
University Police: 412-268-2323
Ethics Hotline: 1-877-700-7050
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