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Inside: Q&A with John Kelly . 2 THE Awards & honors . 3 In Brief . 3 Campus Events . 4 WHISTLE FACULTY/STAFF N EWSPAPER Volume 30, Number 38 • November 14, 2005 T HE G EORGIA I NSTITUTE OF T ECHNOLOGY Music and technology merge Reshaping the globe to form a new kind of rhythm Matt Nagel to create music that has never been Institute Communications played before. It can play differently and Public Affairs from the way a human plays because the robot doesn’t have the same usic may not be the first thing physical limitations.” you think about when you Haile can play faster than a human Mthink of Georgia Tech, but and can create different sounds from technology may very well come to those a human player is able to cre- mind. Researchers in the Music ate. In addition, the precise nature of Department are developing a robot how the robot can play numerical cal- that plays the drums. Developed by culations or algorithms allows the Director of Music Technology Gil machine to play faster and slower Weinberg, the robotic percussionist is rhythms than a human normally the result of research that crosses would. several disciplines and combines Weinberg was inspired to bring Weinberg’s passions for music and robotics and music together because technology to produce new and inno- he noticed that computerized music vative music. is usually played through speakers. New York Times columnist and bestselling author Thomas Friedman visited Tech The research has created a harmo- He says that the speakers leave the last week to discuss the subject of his new book, in which he argues that techno- ny of sorts for Weinberg, who started music flat, meaning that an audience logical advances of the digital revolution have transformed countries such as India the research about a year ago. or member of the music ensemble and China, fashioning them into true competitors with the United States for eco- “I was very interested in creating can’t feel it. nomic dominance in the next century. The real winners in globalization, he says, machine musicianship,” said The Music Department, part of the will not be nations or multinational corporations, but individuals who can now Weinberg. “What we’re trying to do is College of Architecture, has also fos- compete for and perform the highest-end design and research work from any- bring together technological innova- tered some unique partnerships. where in the world. tions and artistic creativity and create Weinberg teamed up with students in new music. Haile, the robot, allows us mechanical engineering and industrial design to help create a new look for Haile that they continue to refine. Weinberg has been working on the robot for more than a year, and Haile’s new look will include a rotat- Military Week capped with visit from g r e b ing head at the end of each arm that n i e will have different surfaces that strike W l i commander leading Katrina relief G the drum. It will also have a second y s e t arm that will be able to alter the sur- r u Elizabeth Campell o c face of the drum as the first arm o Institute Communications t o strikes. h p and Public Affairs Weinberg is in the process of In addition to perfect time, the robotic preparing his robotic percussionist for s part of Military Week on the percussionist was designed to give the appearances at several upcoming day before Veterans Day, listener a more authentic experience. conferences around the world. A Lieutenant General Russel L. Honoré, Commanding General First United States Army and Commander of Joint Task Force Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, inspired an audience Charitable campaign of Georgia Tech ROTC cadets, veter- ans and other campus members with drawing to a close his forceful words and homespun sto- ries. With fewer than two weeks left in “I think the best of America is yet the annual statewide charitable to come. I think the best of America campaign, Georgia Tech’s contribu- is the future,” said Honoré. tions total $129,000. One cadet asked Honore about the 8 From now until Nov. 23, pledges issues of federalism as they related to the waters is not asking their rescuers can be made through the Techworks sending troops to Louisiana and whether they are National Guard or federal troops; they’re going to get on portal (www.techworks.gatech.edu) Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina. His response was typically apolitcal. the plane.” or in person to Carolyn Schneider “The purpose of the military in a On leadership, he said simply, in the Student Success Center (mail natural disaster is to save lives,” he “The troops will judge you by what code 0460). said. “The person being rescued from you do, not what you say.” WWW.WHISTLE.GATECH.EDU 2 November 14, 2005 “QUOTE- An interview on current affairs with John Kelly John Kelly is ambassador-in-residence at the Center for International Strategy, Technology and Policy of UNQUOTE” the School of International Affairs. He was assistant secretary of state for the Near East and South Asia from 1989 to 1991, during the Gulf War and the Madrid Middle East Peace Conference. He was American ambassador in Beirut from 1986 to 1988 and U.S. ambassador in Helsinki, Finland, from “I think a student that’s willing to 1991 to 1994. A career diplomat, Kelly has testified before committees of the U.S. Congress on more take risks — obviously the first is than two dozen occasions. He was interviewed by Alumni Association Vice President John Dunn. choosing to come study here rather than study in their own country — will find his way. It’s going to take that adventuresome attitude to get to What are terrorists seeking to Are we doing enough to defend A large number of Iraqis voted to know U.S. students.” achieve? our borders? support the new government. —Sheila Schulte, associate director Terrorism is usually associated If you look at one of the scenarios Where are the terrorists coming of the Office of International with people who are trying to extract that many people are concerned from? How would you evaluate the Education, on the type of personali- some political benefit, and they can’t about, the honest answer is probably situation there? ty traits that helps foreign students do it via the ballot box so they resort not. World trade and world shipping Most of the terrorists in Iraq are to violence, often against innocent depends on the container. There are homegrown. They are disgruntled to make a successful transition to people. Osama bin Laden’s terrorists between 14,000 and 20,000 contain- people who used to work for the United States. are not seeking a political goal, but a ers that enter the United States each Saddam, they are Sunnis who see (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) religious outcome. His number one day. We’re inspecting about 2 percent their privileged role in society is target is not the United States. It’s of that number. We try to know who being undermined by the democratic what he calls the corrupt regime in is shipping. We’re setting up pre- system, and there are obviously some “It took 50 years for the EU to the Muslim world — in the Arab inspection procedures in foreign foreign fighters. But I don’t think the expand so much that it now seems world. ports, but that is a global size prob- foreign fighters are the bulk of the to be suffering serious indigestion. There isn’t any set of outcomes lem, and we’re probably vulnerable people who are giving us problems East Asians may take a longer time that one could negotiate with Osama on that front. If we inspected every every day. to just bring their region peacefully bin Laden. He wants a totally differ- container, we’d bring trade to a I think Iraq can stagger its way together as equal partners.” ent world. He wants a world that is standstill. Sooner or later somebody toward a politically capable govern- —Fei-Lin Wang, a professor in the basically empty of western civilization is going to do some damage to us by ment. In the meantime, I believe we School of International Affairs, on a because he believes he has a God- that means or a different means. are training army and police forces proposed economic and political given recipe of how the world and vigorously so that as those numbers how countries should be organized. What about the nuclear threat? grow, they’ll be able to take more partnership similar to the European Now he’s a minority within a minority There are two aspects to that. One and more for their security. I don’t Union for nations in East Asia. in Islam. Most Muslims are peaceful. threat is that terrorists lay their hands think it’s a fast recipe, but I think (International Herald Tribune) He doesn’t speak for the billions of on an actual nuclear weapon and within two or three years we can be Muslims in the world, but he speaks smuggle it in and detonate it. That significantly out of there. for this tiny, virulent minority. takes some sophisticated compe- Unfortunately, he has a number of tence. It’s a complicated task. The What is the role America should sympathizers, and they are capable other threat is called the radiological take in the world? of wreaking terrible violence. bomb — radioactive material that Some people believe strongly that won’t produce a nuclear detonation America has a vocation to alleviate You have experienced terrorism like Hiroshima, but let’s say isotopes suffering around the world, and that’s firsthand in Beirut.

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