Secretary of Commerce Stresses Exports in CMU Talk

Hookah smokers should be Giants defeat Patriots in School of Drama puts on better informed • A8 Super Bowl XLVI • A10 Playground Festival • B8 FORUM SPORTS PILLBOX thetartan.org @thetartan February 6, 2012 Volume 106, Issue 17 Carnegie Mellon’s student newspaper since 1906 Secretary of Commerce stresses exports in CMU talk MICHAEL KAHN Rick McCullough also spoke Contributing Editor about the economic opportu- nities available in Pittsburgh. In a visit that reinforced the McCullough highlighted the themes of President Barack university’s success in com- Obama’s recent State of the mercializing research proj- Union address, U.S. Secretary ects, calling the Gates Center of Commerce John Bryson an “innovation engine.” spoke in the Gates Center last “Every day our students Wednesday morning to a room and faculty are creating new of about 60 invited guests. innovations here that lead to Bryson’s remarks focused on new jobs,” McCullough said. innovation in manufacturing According to the university, and restoring America’s man- Carnegie Mellon faculty and ufacturing competitiveness in students start 15–20 new com- the world economy. panies every year. Much of Bryson’s time was The event included a panel spent describing his goals of three Pittsburgh entrepre- as commerce secretary. He neurs who spoke about their stressed that, to get results, experiences creating and sup- “you prioritize and prioritize porting small businesses in ruthlessly ... you have to be western Pennsylvania. very focused.” Among the panelists was Bryson laid out his three Scott Pearson, the CEO of top priorities: advanced man- Aquion Energy, whose head- ufacturing, exporting, and quarters Bryson had toured encouraging investment in the earlier Wednesday morning. U.S. These three categories Aquion Energy is a Carnegie are complementary. Mellon spinoff that is com- Bryson said that the U.S. mercializing battery technol- must enforce trade rules in ogy based on research by Jay other countries. “When Amer- Whitacre, an assistant profes- ican businesses compete on sor of engineering and public a level playing fi eld, Ameri- policy as well as materials sci- can businesses almost always ence and engineering. win.” The other panelists were Entrepreneurship was a Rich Lunak — president and central theme of Bryson’s visit. CEO of Innovation Works, a “One of our special traits as startup incubator — and Lalit Americans that really is in con- Chordia, the president and Jonathan Carreon/Photo Editor trast to substantially all the ad- founder of Thar Technologies, U.S. Secretary of Commerce John Bryson visited Carnegie Mellon on Wednesday morning as part of a longer visit to Pittsburgh. In a brief speech in vanced ... countries elsewhere Inc., which develops supercrit- the Gates Center, Bryson stressed the need for the U.S. to increase manufacturing and exports and encourage investment. in the world is the extent to ical fl uid technology. which we are entrepreneurs,” Bryson’s visit to Carnegie the area. Secretary Bryson. He was in eral more are likely to come. Relations has invitations open he said. “We break the norm Mellon was part of a larger trip “A lot of times a Carnegie Pittsburgh focusing on manu- In 2008, the last presidential to all the Republican candi- and fi nd ways to get to new to Pittsburgh. Mellon visit will be part of facturing and focusing on election year, “we were one of dates for the 2012 nomination places, new technologies, new In addition to his time at a bigger plan and agenda export development.... The the few, if not the only, campus to come to campus. things to be done.” the university and his visit to to bring someone to the Carnegie Mellon component to have both major presiden- The last few years have Although Bryson’s remarks Aquion Energy, Bryson met region,” said Tim McNulty, was added to the agenda,” Mc- tial candidates give a policy “been a great period for hav- were the focus of Wednesday’s with members of the Pitts- Carnegie Mellon’s associate Nulty said. address — not just rallies, but ing high-profi le public visi- event, Pittsburgh Mayor Luke burgh District Export Coun- vice president for government Although Bryson’s visit is policy addresses on campus,” tors,” McNulty said. “That’s all Ravenstahl and Carnegie Mel- cil and other Department of relations. the fi rst in 2012 by a promi- McNulty said. driven by the faculty and the lon Vice President for Research Commerce representatives in “That was the case with nent government offi cial, sev- The Offi ce of Government students.” Award-winning MLK essay SquirrelMail gets an update JENNIFER COLOMA back, the email team for for the physics department. Junior Staffwriter Computing Services started However, students and fac- incites controversy, debate a project geared at updating ulty have noticed more than MADELYN GLYMOUR Computing Services gave the webmail site. According to mere aesthetic changes to the Carnegie Mellon’s webmail a Balass, the strongest aspect of site. News Editor new look over winter break. the old webmail system was One new function to An- Student Affairs held an When students and faculty its custom theme selection. drew Webmail is the auto- open forum last Wednesday logged into their SquirrelMail The team decided to focus on complete feature in the email to discuss the controversy accounts after the break, this part of the site. address bar, which automati- over one of the winning es- they saw a more modern “We did some research cally detects who users are says of the annual Martin layout and some changes in and found a company that trying to email when they Luther King Jr. Day writing functionality. provided a number of mod- type in names or Andrew IDs. contest. Computing Services email ern themes at an affordable Though faculty and stu- The essay, written by Win- team manager Shlomo Balass price,” Balass said. dents alike appreciate the chester Thurston High School said via email, “Computing When students and fac- changes, they have found a junior Jesse Lieberfeld, is Services heard the feedback ulty returned from break few fl aws. titled “Fighting a Forbidden from the community that and opened up the webmail “There are clunky parts Battle: How I Stopped Cover- the existing webmail service site, they were greeted by and things that are better,” ing Up for a Hidden Wrong.” was not meeting their needs, a brand new interface. “I Turnshek said. The essay tells the story of and frankly rather ugly, was surprised. I didn’t know She noted the auto-com- how Lieberfeld came to be- especially given how the state the changes were coming. I plete function in the address lieve that Israel is an oppres- of webmail has changed over opened it up, and ‘Oh! That’s bar as one occasional source the past years.” a new look!’ ” said Diane Turn- sor in the Israeli-Palestinian WEBMAIL confl ict, and of how that After hearing this feed- shek, outreach coordinator See , A3 Jonathan Carreon/Photo Editor belief has affected his life. It English professor Terrance Hayes stressed the need to pay attention to draws parallels between the what the essay actually said, rather than people’s memories of it. struggle of Palestinians and that of black Americans dur- bate actually occurred. Critics fessor Yona Harvey, who has ing the civil rights movement. of the essay did not provide served on the selection com- Since the winners were much evidence to back up mittee in prior years, the es- announced on Jan. 15, many their claims about its tone, says are chosen as winners members of the local and nor were they offi cially en- based on several factors. national Jewish community couraged to. “Essentially, we’re looking have protested the selection Opponents of the essay for people who can tie their of what they claim is an ill-in- argued that it was so fi lled topic to the legacy of Dr. King. formed and hate-fi lled essay with hatred against the Jew- Craft has also been cited — as a winner of a contest de- ish people that Carnegie how well it’s actually written. signed to honor the memory Mellon had a responsibility I guess it can be subjective, of Martin Luther King Jr. not to condone it by giving it just like any submission to About two dozen people an award. Eliana Weiner, a a national journal,” Harvey attended the forum, which sophomore Bachelor of Hu- said. was facilitated by Donner manities and Arts student in The essay does have many housefellow and coordinator architecture and psychology supporters. Dr. Naftali Kamin- of spirituality and meaning- and member of the Carnegie ski, an Israeli professor at the making programs Kenneth Mellon group Tartans for Is- University of Pittsburgh, said Lawson. Among the attendees rael, said that she went into that he believes Lieberfeld’s were Carnegie Mellon stu- the forum looking less to cri- essay was, in many ways, true dents, several members of the tique the essay, and more to to King’s spirit. Carnegie Mellon English de- fi nd out why it was chosen as Kaminski pointed to Li- partment, and several mem- a winner. eberfeld’s reference to King’s bers of the local community. “I was more offended by letter from Birmingham jail, Before the forum began, the institution’s choice of the and called the letter a “guid- facilitators stressed that the essay — to elevate it — rath- ing document for people who emphasis of the forum was er than the kid’s writing it,” want to change reality.” on dialogue, not debate — Weiner said. DISCUSSION although little traditional de- According to English pro- See , A3 Juan Fernandez/Staff A2 « thetartan.org/news The Tartan » February 6, 2012 CAMPUS NEWS IN BRIEF Statistically Some tweets are not worth Local journalists to discuss reading, researchers say new media in CAS panel Speaking Researchers at Carnegie colleagues — Michael Bern- Carnegie Mellon’s Center editor; Deanna Garcia, an Mellon, the Massachusetts stein and Kurt Luther, doctor- for the Arts in Society (CAS), Essential Pittsburgh Radio The nationwide “Occupy” movements seemed to Institute of Technology, and al students at MIT and Geor- a research center within the reporter; Maria Lupinacci, have died down within the past few months.

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