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Dietrich College News
Marianna Brown Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Carnegie Mellon University

September 2015
  
 Philosophy and "The 100"
Science fiction will meet philosophical scrutiny in a CMU classroom this semester.

Students taking the freshman seminar Philosophy and "The 100"will examine issues the popular television show raises. 
"The 100," which airs on the CW, is set decades after most life is eliminated from earth, and survivors on space stations decide to send 100 juvenile delinquents back to the planet to see if it is habitable.

And, it's just one of the courses introducing students to Dietrich College faculty members' diverse research areas.

Learning Is Not a Spectator Sport 
Free - or very inexpensive - online courses have become quite a trend in education. 

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) providers currently offer thousands of courses and have enticed millions of students to enroll. 

The emphasis in MOOCs is often on lecture videos that students watch and learn from.
 
However, a recent study shows that the central approach of MOOCs - having students watch to learn - is ineffective.
 
Instead, the emphasis on interactive activities as advocated by CMU's Simon Initiative helps students learn about six times more.

Moneyball Throws a Curve
What does medicine share with baseball and the law? 

According to Christopher J. Phillips, a new assistant history professor, the answer may be Moneyball.
 
In a new course next spring, Phillips will dig deep into the history of topics including baseball, medicine and the law, while exploring how and why Americans have come to believe that mathematical and computational methods can solve complicated problems, even in seemingly unrelated subject areas.
Researchers Determine How Groups Make Decisions 
From Beats headphones' rise to prominence or a political candidate's surge in the polls to how ants and bees select a new nest site, decisions emerging from groups frequently occur without a leader.
 
Researchers from the Department of Social and Decision Sciences have developed a model that explains how groups make collective decisions when no single member of the group has access to all possible information or the ability to make and communicate a final decision.

I Never Learned To Spell "Successful"
Javier Soltero (DC'98) attended CMU at the dawn of the Internet era. Since then, Soltero - an information systems major - has climbed to the top of the technology industry.
 
However, Soltero's path to becoming the corporate vice president of Outlook Program Management at Microsoft was not without hurdles. 

He will share his experiences with the CMU community on Wednesday, Oct. 7 from 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. in the College of Fine Arts' Kresge Theater.

More Dietrich College News 
Celebrating 20 Years Black Urban Life Scholarship

Robert Kass Named Interim Co-director of CNBC

Andrew Carnegie Society Scholars Announced

Psychology Department Turns 100

Voter Turnoff & Deliberative Democracy

Beyond the Obvious: Poetry and Photography by Jim Daniels and Charlee Brodsky

Department of Education Renews PIER Grant

Celebrating Hilary Masters' Work, Oct. 2

Bright Minds, Big Ideas: Psychology's Laurie Heller Wins Google Research Award

How an Aspiring Med Student Is Using Her English Degree

Statistics Professor Puts Talents on Ice

Philosophy, the Real World & a 30th Anniversary

#LoveWins: LGBTQ History, Gender Studies and More

Patricia Maurides Receives CNBC Friend of the Year Award

Confirmed: Lack of Sleep Connected To Getting Sick

Presidential Fellowships & Scholarships Announced

Proposals Due for Dietrich Undergraduate Colloquium
Multimedia 
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Class Notes

 

Find out what's new with Michael Dwyer (DC'03), Emily Kennedy (DC'12), Melanie Diaz (DC'18) and others in Class Notes

 

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Dietrich College
in the News
New York Times:
Mecca Stampede Shows How Crowds, Usually Calm in Crisis, Can Panic

 
History News Network:
Things Historians Can't Live Without


WBGH Innovation Hub:
From Robber Barons to Robots


NPR:
Sleep More, Sneeze Less: Increased Slumber Helps Prevent Colds


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
CMU grad builds cybersleuthing tool to snare sex traffickers


Save the Dates

C�ilidh Weekend Highlights
Thursday, Oct. 8
English Department Mixer

Friday, Oct. 9
"What's Gone Wrong in Washington, & Why It Doesn't Have To Be This Way" by Olympia Snowe

Dietrich College Reception

100th Year Celebration of CMU Psychology - Past, Present & Future

Saturday, Oct. 10
Dietrich College Academic Meeting

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