April 3, Vol. 24, No. 36                           

Today's Spotlight: "Education Reimagined"
A free high-quality education for anyone, anywhere? 

Hear all about it from Sal Khan in a Simon Initiative Distinguished Lecture at 10:30 a.m., today (Thursday, April 3) in the HIllman Center's Rashid Auditorium.

Khan is the founder of the Khan Academy, a nonprofit that provides online classes to more than 10 million students each month on topics ranging from basic arithmetic to college level calculus and the French Revolution. He recently struck a partnership with the College Board to develop free online tutorials for the SAT.

Khan's talk, titled "Education Reimagined," will trace his rapid transformation from rising young hedge fund analyst to perhaps the world's most well-known teacher. A Q&A will follow the talk.

Later this evening, Khan will receive a Heinz Award from the Heinz Family Foundation for his work to improve the human condition. Khan has been profiled on "60 Minutes," featured on the cover of Forbes magazine and recognized as one of TIME magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World."

Learn more about Khan.
Learn more about the Simon Initiative.
Watch the lecture webcast.

Founder's Day Honors SCS Faculty and Staff        
The School of Computer Science (SCS) honored outstanding faculty and staff members March 27 during the annual Founder's Day ceremony in Rashid Auditorium.

Faculty award winners were:

David Eckhardt, associate teaching professor of computer science, was the winner of the inaugural Joel and Ruth Spira Teaching Award.

      

Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics, was the winner of the inaugural Alan Perlis Award for Imagination in Computer Science.

       

James Herbsleb (above) and Kathleen Carley, professors in the Institute for Software Research, along with former Ph.D. students Patrick Wagstrom and Marcelo Cataldo (now an adjunct professor), won the Allen Newell Award for Research Excellence.        


Michael Erdmann
(right), professor of computer science and robotics, won the Herbert Simon Award for Teaching Excellence in Computer Science.   


Staff award winners were:


Sharon Cavlovich (left), assistant to the director, Machine Learning Department, won the Outstanding Staff Award.  

       

Mary Widom, program coordinator in the Computer Science Department (CSD), won the Citizenship Award.

            

Martha Clarke, CSD admissions coordinator, and Sylvia Berry (below), manager of SCS business services, won awards for Sustained Excellence.   

Kate Schaich, program coordinator, Language Technologies Institute, was named Rookie of the Year.

        

Jordan Harrison, SCS assistant director for Internet communications, won the Outstanding Teamwork Award.

      

Rachel Burcin, global programs manager, Robotics Institute, won for Individual Dedication.


"Mathletes" Place 2nd in Premier Competition     
A team of three Carnegie Mellon students placed second in the Mathematical Association of America's 74th William Lowell Putnam Competition, the premier mathematics contest for undergraduate students. Additionally, CMU had 35 students who scored among the top 10 percent, the second most of any university.

This is the third consecutive year that the CMU team has placed among the top five teams. Only 11 other universities have placed in the top five more than twice since 1990.

In December 2013, 4,113 American and Canadian undergraduates from 557 institutions participated in the competition. The students were given six hours to solve 12 complex math problems. Results were sent to participating schools the first week of April.

The three students on the second-place team were sophomore Science and Humanities Scholar Linus Hamilton, first-year math major Thomas Swayze and junior math major Michael Druggan, who are all Knaster-McWilliams Scholars.

"Repeated success in the Putnam Competition makes Carnegie Mellon shine like a beacon, showing the extreme talent that gathers here," said Po-Shen Loh, assistant professor of mathematical sciences and the team's coach. "It is our hope that by bringing ambitious students together, they can work with each other to achieve success for themselves, the university and the region."

Learn more.

Charge It! Electric Garage Adds More Power    
A high-power wall connector for Tesla electric cars has been installed for public use at Carnegie Mellon's Electric Garage, joining eight existing vehicle recharging stations on the PIttsburgh campus.

The garage at 4621 Forbes Ave. will host an open house to celebrate the addition from 4 to 7 p.m. tomorrow (Friday, April 4).

"This is definitely the largest charging infrastructure of any institution in this half of Pennsylvania, and likely anywhere in the state," said Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics. "And the Tesla charger is the only one available to the public locally."

All of the charging stations are available at no cost 24 hours a day on a first-come, first-served basis. The Electric Garage, a former gas station, houses ChargeCar, an electric vehicle research project directed by Nourbakhsh.

Learn more about ChargeCar.

See something? Say something. Help ensure the safety and well-being of the CMU community:
University Police: 412-268-2323
Ethics Hotline: 1-877-700-7050

Calendar Highlights 

 Personal Mention
 

Larry Biegler
Kathy Newman
Jay Kadane

David Klahr, Audrey Kittredge, Ran Liu and Derek Lomas

Josh Centor
Rich Erdelyi and Joe Rudman
Jack Serbin
Lisa Murphy
Thomas Vandenberg
Will Crichton

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