A November to Remember Calendar of Events

3.0 spring/summer 2008

All events to be held at the Carnegie Mellon University

campus in Pittsburgh unless otherwise noted. news from the school of computer science at carnegie mellon university

April 9 June 24-27 The Link provides a mosaic of the School of Robot Hall of Fame CS4HS: Weekend workshop for high Computer Science: presenting issues, analyzing 2008 Inductions school computer science teachers > Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh > Throughout campus problems, offering occasional answers, giving exposure to faculty, students, researchers, staff and April 10 interdisciplinary partners. The Link strives to June 28 encourage better understanding of, and involve- Katayanagi Prize Lectures SCS/ECE Alumni Luncheon Research Excellence: Christos Papadimitriou, UCBerkeley > Museum of Science, Boston ment in, the computer science community. Emerging Leadership: Erik Demaine, MIT Editor-in-Chief > Wean Hall, 7500 Randal E. Bryant July 4 SCS/ECE Alumni Fourth of July Managing Editor/Writer May 18 Dinner Cruise and Fireworks Joanna Steward SCS Breakfast > Town Lake, Austin, Texas Contributing Writers > Perlis Atrium Tina Carr, Byron Spice, Anne Watzman July 18 Photography Carnegie Mellon Commencement SCS/ECE Alumni Picnic Ken Andreyo, James Bell, Glenn Brookes, > Geisling Stadium > Rengstorff House, Tartan Racing, Brian Staszel, Adam Weintraub Mountain View, California Design Adaptation SCS Diploma Ceremony Photography & Graphic Services > Carnegie Music Hall, Pittsburgh July 26 SCS/ECE Alumni Picnic Office of the Dean May 24-27 > Lincoln Park, Seattle 4305 Newell-Simon Hall RoboCup Carnegie Mellon University > Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh 5000 Forbes Avenue August 2 Pittsburgh PA 15213 SCS/ECE Alumni Brunch Randal E. Bryant, dean June 6-8 > Tavern on the Green, New York Tina Carr, director of alumni relations Volunteer Forum for Alumni Cindy Chemsak, administrative assistant > Throughout campus Byron Spice, co-director of public relations October 24-26 Joanna Steward, publications writer/editor June 21 Homecoming 2008 Anne Watzman, director of public relations Turing Award Presentation > Throughout campus ACM Awards Banquet > San Francisco 412-268-7884 [email protected] Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate and Carnegie Mellon University is required not to discriminate in admission, employment, or administration of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex or handicap in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 or other federal, state, or local laws or executive orders. In addition, Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate in admission, Contact Tina Carr, SCS alumni director, at [email protected] for employment or administration of its programs on the basis of religion, creed, ancestry, belief, age, veteran status, sexual orientation or in more information on these events. Visit www.alumni.cmu.edu and violation of federal, state, or local laws or executive orders. However, click on “Upcoming Events” for details on other Carnegie Mellon in the judgment of the Carnegie Mellon Human Relations Commission, the Presidential Executive Order directing the Department of Defense to alumni events around the country. follow a policy of “Don’t ask, don’t tell, don’t pursue” excludes openly gay, lesbian and bisexual students from receiving ROTC scholarships or serving in the military. Nevertheless, all ROTC classes at Carnegie Mellon University are available to all students. Inquiries concerning application of these statements should be di- rected to the Provost or the Vice President for Enrollment, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, telephone 412-268-2000.

Carnegie Mellon University publishes an annual campus security report de- scribing the university’s security, alcohol and drug, and sexual assault policies and containing statistics about the number and type of crimes committed on the campus during the preceding three years. You can obtain a copy by contacting the Carnegie Mellon Police Department at 412-268-2323. The security report is available through the World Wide Web at www.cmu.edu/police/statistics.htm.

) From the Dean / Boss Wins Urban Grand Challenge * Creating the Revisit Tartan Racing’s historic achievement New SCS Complex in the California desert. An update on the construction of the newest buildings on campus. + On Campus Personal robots, the Cascades algorithm and CMU lectures () Universal Digital online. Library & the . In the Loop Million Book Spend a few moments with Mary Shaw, the Alan J. Perlis professor Project of computer science. The one that started it all. (+SCS Alumni Relations (,Alumni Snapshots (-SCS in the News

Cover Image: Boss crosses the ﬁnish line at the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge in Victorville, California. From the Dean

I continue to be amazed by the pace of activities and achievements by members of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. So much has happened and so many of our faculty have been honored for their achievements over this past academic year that it’s diffi cult to know where to begin. Fall highlights include the launch of the GigaPan robotic camera and software, fi eld testing of the “Anti-phishing Phil” online teaching game, and, of course, the winning performance by Tartan Racing’s Boss in the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge. The top vehicles in this competition were all quite impressive and if it weren’t for the empty driver seats, one could easily believe they were being driven by humans. When Boss didn’t leave the starting line in the pole position it had earned, a sinking feeling came over those of us watching from the sidelines. Hats off to the Tartan team for quickly identifying the source of the sensor interference problem and getting Boss out on the course. A special thanks also goes out to our corporate sponsors for their support. Each of them brought unique strengths to the endeavor—strengths such as Continental’s puncture-sealing run-fl at tires, which likely saved Boss from a disastrous fl at tire (at the end of the race, the team discovered a screw still embedded in one of the tires). Turn to page eight to read more about Tartan Racing and Boss’s tremendous achievement. Over the winter months of 2007-08, SCS computer scientists published pioneering research results on two algorithms, one used to identify specifi c brain activity in MRI images and another that helped discover the genes that control human cell division, and the Hillman Foundation made a generous gift towards the construction of the new SCS research building. It is an honor and privilege to have such a prominent Pittsburgh name associated with our new complex. During the spring season, the general public enjoyed a “hands-on” demonstration of a haptic interface using magnetic levitation, the Robot Hall of Fame inducted its fourth class of both fi ctional and functional robots, and the Universal Digital Library portal opened its virtual doors with over 1.2 million books (see the story on page 12). The most exciting development of the academic year, however, may have been the announcement of Ed Clarke winning the Turing Award. He and two other researchers were recognized for their pioneering work on model checking, an automated method for fi nding subtle design errors in both computer hardware and software. Summer is now in full swing. The plethora of internships, sabbaticals and other collaborations that this time of year affords will further strengthen the SCS community and serve us well for the coming year.

> Randal E. Bryant, dean

2 > THE LINK Creating the New SCS Complex

The second building in the new SCS Complex now has a name, thanks to a generous $10 million gift from the Henry L. Hillman Foundation.

“This magnificent gift exemplifies Henry Hillman’s personal and lifelong interest in science and technology,” said Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. Cohon. “Some of the most important and “ Research and technology developed at forward-looking research at the university—and in the world—is Carnegie Mellon that at one time seemed going to take place in this building.” like science fiction have created essential The Hillman Center for Future-Generation Technologies will everyday tools for business, medicine and face Forbes Avenue and serve as the main entrance to the School of Computer Science. It will be a place where research groups working countless other applications that we now on some of the field’s most challenging projects can collaborate almost take for granted. Our hope is that in state-of-the-art flexible lab spaces and where the SCS commun- the Center for Future-Generation Technolo- ity can come together in the 250-seat Rashid Auditorium. The gies will seed new efforts to continue building will be connected on all four levels to the Gates Center for Computer Science, the other half of the new SCS Complex. and accelerate this cycle of innovation The footers for the Hillman Center have been poured and the and progress.” foundation should be complete soon. The complex is scheduled to —Henry Hillman open in the summer of 2009. Visit SCScomplex.blog.cs.cmu.edu to view the live Web cam or click on the daily movies link to watch a time-lapse recap of the entire day’s progress.

The two buildings of the SCS Complex, the Hillman Center for Future-Generation Technologies (left) and the Gates Center for Computer Science, will be surrounded by a pedestrian-friendly, natural landscape.

K?<C@EB < 3 On Campus

Psst! Want a Robot? No problem. TeRK’s got the recipes to get you started.

The flower on the windowsill obviously isn’t real: the wires snaking down the stem are a dead giveaway. Its six oversized, plain white petals are spaced rather far apart, each bending sharply up- wards in the middle, a little like spatulas without handles. Senior Research Associate Emily Hamner casually tosses a crumpled up piece of paper towards the flower and, whoosh! the petals snap shut to catch the ball. A beat later, they gently open up, ready to play the game again. “We want to make robotics fun, engaging, and affordable,” said Illah Nourbakhsh, assistant professor of robotics and head of the Carnegie Mellon team of researchers who have developed a series of robot kits that are simple enough for almost anyone to build, but are actually sophisticated machines with wireless Internet connec- tivity and ingenious interactive sensors. They’re called Telepresence Robot Kits, or TeRKs. Unlike other educational robot kits, TeRKs are not sold as a complete set of parts. The “kits” are actually recipes that allow for a variety of robots to be built with many of the parts commonly available at hardware and hobbyist outlets. In addition to the flower, TeRK recipes include a small three-wheeled robot with a video camera that people might use to keep an eye on their home or pet while they are at work or school, and one for augmenting iRobot’s Roomba-based unit. Two other kits are under development; one will use environmental sensors for air quality and sound pollution and the other will be able to control a stuffed teddy bear. At the heart of each TeRK robot is a unique controller called Qwerk—a compact CPU with the software and electronics neces- sary to control the robot’s motors, cameras and other devices. Developed by Carnegie Mellon’s Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) Lab and Charmed Labs of Austin, Texas, Qwerk comes with a built-in Ethernet card. Add a low-cost USB wireless adapter and not only can TeRK robots be remotely operated anywhere with a wireless Internet connection, they can also send photos or video, respond to RSS feeds or access the Internet to find information. “We want robots that don’t just subscribe to the geeky notions of what robots should be,” said Nourbakhsh. “We’re hoping people A TeRK robot joins A TeRK Tribune-Review reporter Allison Heinrichs and

notice that the sky’s the limit.” Both a camera and a wireless adapter are plugged into the Qwerk Research Associate Emily Hamner and the ﬂower TeRKbot. Top Right: Top SCS Dean Randy Bryant during a press conference. Center: controller on this three-wheeled TeRKbot. Below:

4 > K?<C@EB On Campus

Nodes and Networks

It began in 2004 as a task to optimize sensor information for micro-climates in a Redwood forest. A year later, Carlos Guestrin was adapting his algorithm for an international “Battle of the Water Sensor Networks” competition to best detect municipal contamina- tion with a limited number of sensors. Guestrin, assistant professor of machine learning and computer science, along with graduate students Andreas Krause and Jure Leskovec, won the competition with a greedy two-pass algorithm designed to choose sensor locations based on both the highest marginal gain and the best cost-benefit ratio. Originally named CELF—the cost-effective lazy forward-selection algorithm—it is blazingly fast, provides near-optimal results and can be adjusted to deliver different sensor placements based on the desired reward function (e.g. speed of detection versus population exposed). “The approach exploits a mathematical structure called submod- ularity, which captures the notion of diminishing returns,” said Guestrin. CELF uses this property to speed up the evaluation of sensor placement by recognizing the greater benefit of adding one new sensor to a five-sensor network over adding that same sensor to a 1,000-sensor network. “When we realized this property was important, we found out it was ubiquitous and we discovered other applications.” In fact, many seemingly disparate detection networks could potentially be optimized using Guestrin’s algorithm: citywide wi-fi systems, structural sensors on critical transportation bridges, vital signs of nursing home residents, even the Internet. “One day the light in my head went off,” said Leskovec, a graduate student in machine learning. “Exactly the same principles apply to a water distribution network spreading disease and the blogosphere spreading information.”

Using the date and time stamp customary with blog postings, the algorithm crawled through more than 45,000 blogs over the course of a year, collecting data on 10 million postings and 350,000 “cascades” of information from blog to blog. Rather than detecting an outbreak to avoid, this application of the algorithm identified which blogs one might read in order stay on top of the day’s leading news stories. This type of filtering could be useful in wading through the enormous amount of information available on the Web. It also opens interesting research questions about information propaga- tion and viral marketing. CELF has been renamed the Cascade algorithm and the team is continuing to investigate real-world problems, the latest of which is a collaborative project with UCLA to monitor algal blooms in several California lakes. “It is an extremely exciting endeavor,” said Guestrin. “Our impact on the environment is not well understood, and I hope we can contribute at least a little towards improving our understanding of remediation and conservation efforts.”

Above and Right: The research team combined their results on the blog and water systems and won Best Paper at the 2007 ACM International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining with “Cost-effective Outbreak Detection in Networks” (authors C. Guestrin, A. Krause, J. Leskovec, C. Faloutsos, J. VanBriesen, all from Carnegie Mellon, and N. Glance from Nielsen Buzzmetrics)

THE LINK < 5 On Campus

Channeling Carnegie Mellon

The next time you’re browsing through the iTunes store, looking for something interesting, try entering “Carnegie Mellon University” in the search tool. You’ll find more than 150 free video and audio presentations covering subjects from all over the university. Sort by “album” to quickly scroll through the many School of Computer Science offerings: listen to Professor Bonnie John speak about improving usability, watch Bill Gates’ final tour speech in Rangos Hall, or tune in Kai-Fu Lee (MCS ’88) to learn about Google in China.

If you are more of a YouTube user, the official “carnegiemellonu” channel brings the flavor of campus right to your desktop with videos of buggy races and robots playing checkers posted alongside full-length presentations of special lectures by various professors and distinguished visitors. Carnegie Mellon debuted these Web 2.0 components in January. “While word is still getting out there about these channels, students, alumni, faculty and staff, as well as other important audiences like prospective students and parents, are reacting very positively,” said Jay Brown, associate director of marketing for Web communications. “They’re happy to see that content is available for them wherever they are on the web.” And “wherever” includes the world of social networking. With more than 1,200 friends, the Carnegie Mellon Facebook page offers a more interactive experience than YouTube. Incoming freshmen are writing on The Wall—“Any advice for a prospective computer science major trying to choose between SCS and Columbia Users can help to shape the conversation, too. Suggest a story SEAS?”—and alumni are stopping by to make connections. idea for the homepage or tag your new YouTube videos with For users who prefer a more traditional outlet, cmu.edu/ “Carnegie Mellon” to be considered as a favorite on the university’s multimedia presents the university’s audio and video highlights playlist. The clip from Johnny Chung Lee, a Ph.D. student in HCII, one easy-to-navigate page. Carnegie Mellon also offers a number of is by far the most popular of the student videos currently listed: his RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication) so that online users can “Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays Using the Wii Remote” automatically receive content that might be of interest to them. video has received nearly 5 million hits and was nominated for You- SCS is often represented in the News blog, thanks to the efforts of Tube’s second annual Best Instructional Video award. Byron Spice, SCS co-director of media relations. Visit cmu.edu/ homepage/rss.shtml to sign up.

6 > THE LINK In the Loop with SCS Faculty

Mary Shaw Alan J. Perlis Professor of Computer Science

User Context investing in more extensive research, with each new result adding an increment of I’m interested in how to handle software confidence. It’s the cumulative evidence of systems where economics or practicality whole chains of research that have yielded prevent you from pursuing complete cor- widely accepted results. This pattern of rectness. When you recognize that design cumulative confidence in research led me and analysis have cost, then you can no to think about the same thing in end users’ longer say the only reasonable thing to do confidence in software. is to completely prove everything about the system. Moving Forward Different customers care about different things; whether a component or I often tell people software system is good enough depends that my long-term on the customer’s needs. When we also objective is to help consider the cost of production and the establish an engineering values of various consumers, it becomes a basis for software. When the cost-benefit problem and we can bring phrase “software engineering” economics to the party was coined in 1968, it was an aspiration rather than a description. Building Confidence In the four decades since then, we have made substantial progress toward an engi- In computer science, we use formal neering discipline, but we aren’t there yet. verification, exhaustive testing and Most of my research is aimed in one way or expensive validated empirical data on per- another at continuing to move us to a real formance in the field as the major sources engineering discipline. of information about software quality. But end users also look at reputations and Software Architecture reviews, what their neighbors think, what vs. Software Programs it says in Consumer Reports. No one of those is particularly credible on its own, Much of my work over the past two but if you pile up enough of them, then decades has been in software architecture, users start to gain confidence. finding the abstractions and design I developed this thread of research patterns that we use to organize software while teaching a course called “What systems and focusing on overall organiza- Makes Good Software Engineering tion of systems, not the programs that Research” in which we read the classic make up individual components. If you computer science research literature and just think about the programs, you have the modern work that has evolved from it. trouble finding the forest for the trees. We examined the research paradigm, how Software architecture is about the differ- the research was organized, how the ques- ence between an apple orchard and a tion was asked, and how the answer was Christmas tree farm and a hillside full of developed and validated. Although many rhododendrons. It’s not about the trees; of the early classic works are incomplete, it’s about the terrain. they offered enough evidence to justify

K?<C@EB < 7

The rising sun hadn’t The roboticized Chevy Tahoe faced a in DARPA’s previous robot race, the grandstand filled with a couple thousand 2005 Grand Challenge. had a chance to burn anxious Defense Department officials, It wasn’t long before team members off the fall morning technology enthusiasts and reporters, as realized that the GPS problem wasn’t with well as team members and their families Boss, but with radiofrequency interference haze prior to the start and friends. In recognition of its outstand- caused by the Jumbotron television moni- of DARPA’s $2 million ing performance in qualification events tor DARPA had erected next to the launch over the previous week, Boss sat in the first chute. Shutting down the Jumbotron robot race, the Urban chute, number one of 11 robotic vehicles eliminated the interference, but it would Grand Challenge, and set to begin a 55-mile autonomous run. take 30 minutes to reset the receivers. But minutes before the 8 a.m. start, And so Boss stood motionless as the Boss, the entry of Boss’s GPS receivers had suddenly gone race began. Urmson and his crew could Carnegie Mellon’s haywire. “Not again!” thought Chris only watch as Odin, Virginia Tech’s roboti- Urmson (CS’05), the team’s director of cized Ford SUV, started the race first. All Tartan Racing team, technology, recalling the crimped fuel but one of the competitors had launched was already in trouble. line that had cost Carnegie Mellon the lead by the time Boss was ready to go at 8:25 a.m.

A8 > THE LINKNovember to Remember It was an inauspicious start on what would be a historic day in California’s high desert. But then no one knew exactly what was about to transpire. This was, after all, the first time that robots would share the road with other robots as well as with cars driven by humans. If any of the robotic vehicles was to win the $2 million prize offered by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, they would have to abide by California highway laws, safely negotiate parking lots and intersections and cover the 55 mile distance in less than six hours. “The technical challenges Boss will face in this event—running on urban streets and being governed by the rules of the

Equipment racks fill the cargo area of the Tartan Racing autonomous robot known as Boss.

road—was beyond the capability of any No one expects perfection, said DARPA robotic vehicle just a few years ago,” said Director Tony Tether on Oct. 26 when he Tartan Racing’s team leader, William “Red” welcomed 35 semi-finalist teams to Whittaker, as the team arrived at the Victorville for the six day National Quali- former George Air Force Base (AFB) near fication Event, or NQE. The ultimate Victorville, Calif., just a week before. question of safety and predictability, he The technology had come of age, he said, was simply this: “Would we give it a insisted. “Robots that can drive themselves California driver’s license?” in traffic not only are possible, they’re inevitable.” Boss is the culmination of more than a Setting the Stage year of preparation by Whittaker and the The desert outside of Victorville, 80 other 40 members of the Tartan Racing miles northeast of Los Angeles, has long team. It is a technological marvel, bristling been one of Hollywood’s favorite back- with 19 sensors: radars, lidars, GPS receiv- drops for westerns. George AFB itself ers and the like. The ten Intel Core2Duo suggests something out of Mel Gibson’s blade computers bolted into its cargo area “Mad Max” films. The vegetation dried up can calculate more than 1,000 candidate long ago when irrigation was shut off to a trajectories for Boss every second. sprawling suburbia and urban warfare Extensive testing in Pittsburgh at the training has given its remaining houses a former LTV site in Hazelwood now known bombed-out look. as Robot City, at the General Motors Des- Earlier DARPA competitions had ert Proving Ground in Mesa, Ariz., and, attracted entrants whose vehicles also finally, at the former Cannon AFB in Mer- looked like something out of Mad Max: ced, Calif., gave the team confidence, said dune buggies, motorcycles, tricycles, Urmson, who, like Whittaker, is a veteran SUVs, pickups and even bullet-shaped of DARPA’s two previous robot challenges. cars festooned with gadgets. By contrast, “But this is a complicated system,” cau- the vehicles fielded by Urban Grand tioned Urmson. “We know it can do what Challenge competitors such as Stanford, we tested it to do, but we don’t really know MIT, Cornell, Virginia Tech and Honey- what it might encounter on the course and well displayed remarkable convergence. there’s no formal proof that it can do SUVs, station wagons and pickups everything it is supposed to do.” predominated and many sported similar A November to Remember THE LINK < 9 for aggressiveness. Unlike competitors, which often moved hesitantly as they other DARPA officials were in a chase car It was Tartan Racing’s turn to roar. where his keynote address sounded like made left turns into traffic, Boss seemed when suddenly the robot ahead of them “Boss went out there tonight or today or something Whittaker could have written: to jump into traffic. Human drivers in made a U-turn and headed toward them. whatever it was and was just awesome,” an the technology for self-driving cars is at cars fitted with NASCAR-type rollbars, “Five of us in the vehicle were all yelling exhausted but ecstatic Urmson told the hand. Wagoner predicted GM will sell provided the cross-traffic and sometimes ‘Pause!’” Tether said later, referring to the team back in the pit. them within 10 years. would sound their horns at Boss. It wasn’t pause command they could transmit to any Tether, announcing the results the next For four days, Urmson, Bittner and Jar- that Boss necessarily was making bad vehicle. The robot screeched to a halt about morning, confirmed that Boss finished rod Snider gave journalists solo rides in decisions,for aggressiveness. but that itUnlike was acting competitors, much four feet from the chase car. more than 19 minutes faster than second- Boss, delighting as celebrities such as the morewhich like often a human moved driver hesitantly than some as they of “That reminded me that this is not a place Stanford and more than 25 minutes Today Show’s Al Roker stared in disbelief at themade other left vehicles.turns into traffic, Boss seemed game,” Tether said. “That tempered, quite faster than third-place Virginia Tech. a steering wheel with a mind of its own. to jump In another into traffic.episode, Human this time drivers in Area in frankly, how many teams are getting in.” “Really a great job.” The sight of jaded journalists losing C,cars Boss fitted became with hung NASCAR-type up while making rollbars, a Though DARPA had prepared for as many But beyond mere speed, Boss and the their composure left an impression on three-pointprovided the turn. cross-traffic It turned andleft andsometimes backed as 24 vehicles in the Nov. 3 race, Tether other finishers had displayed real skill. Urmson, who plans to keep his hand in wouldup, but sound then sattheir motionless, horns at Boss. except It forwasn’t its opted for Boss and just 10 others. Every incident of suspect driving had been further development of self-driving cars. thatfront Boss wheels necessarily turning was back making and forth. bad recorded by 100 scorekeepers positioned “We have to go beyond just research and de- Finally,decisions, after but a that couple it was of minutes, acting much Boss throughout the course and Tether had velopment,” he said. “We have to get this more like a human driver than some of The Win worked late into Saturday evening review- technology to the people and allow them to pulled forward, completed the turn and Boss ranked first in performance and finishedthe other thevehicles. run without incident. ing each potential infraction. None share our excitement.” In another episode, this time in Area was given the prized pole position. Though amounted to much. One scorekeeper, for Afterward, team members poured over the 11 racers would start sequentially, the Chris Urmson, Tartan Racing’s director of technolgy, introduces Boss to report- C,the Bossonboard became video hung and upreplayed while themaking sensor a instance, suggested penalizing Boss for ers before the final Urban Grand Challenge event in Victorville, Calif. first vehicle at least would enjoy several datathree-point to puzzle turn. outIt turned what left happened. and backed It entering an intersection and then backing up, but then sat motionless, except for its minutes alone on the course before it might up. But when Tether viewed video taken Chris Urmson, Tartan Racing’s director of technolgy, introduces Boss to report- seemed Boss kicked up a cloud of dust as encounter other robots in traffic. But the assortmentsers before the of final lidars, Urban GPS Grand receivers, Challenge auto- event in Victorville, Calif. front wheels turning back and forth. from an aircraft overhead, it was apparent Making the Cut it backed up and the sensors interpreted pole proved to be anything but an motive radars and even a spinning, roof-top During the NQE, the 35 vehicles were Finally, after a couple of minutes, Boss that Boss backed up to clear the way for an the cloud as an object. Unfortunately, the advantage, thanks to the radiofrequency lidar manufactured by Velodyne. each scheduled to make two runs on three cloudpulled also forward, entered completed into Boss’s the blind turn spot. and approaching car. assortments of lidars, GPS receivers, auto- interference from the Jumbotron. With the “Software is going to be the difference,” Makingdifferent courses, the each Cut of which tested dif- Oncefinished the the dust run settled, without the incident. “object” disap- Not only was that not a penalty, Tether motive radars and even a spinning, roof-top During the NQE, the 35 vehicles were course laid out over 10 miles of road and Urmson said. It was here that Tartan ferent sets of skills; their performances peared,Afterward, but the team vehicle’s members brain poured assumed over said, “I thought that was pretty cool.” lidar manufactured by Velodyne. each scheduled to make two runs on three safety concerns limiting access to the course, Racing had an advantage. When it came to would determine who would be invited to thatthe onboard the obstacle video in and its blindreplayed spot the was sensor still Two months later, Boss was still taking “Software is going to be the difference,” different courses, each of which tested dif- team members would catch only glimpses combining and analyzing all of that sensor the start line on race day. On the first day of datathere. toThinking puzzle the out way what was blocked, happened. Boss It victory laps, this time in the parking lot of Urmson said. It was here that Tartan ferent sets of skills; their performances of Boss during the race, when Boss passed data and determining how the vehicle the NQE, Saturday, Oct. 27, Boss made a satseemed still. BossIt would kicked have up remained a cloud ofthere dust had as the Las Vegas Convention Center. GM Racing had an advantage. When it came to would determine who would be invited to through one of the handful of areas should behave, the team could tap not only run in Area B, a route to test its ability to it notbacked been up for and a bit the of sensors good fortune, interpreted Fer- CEO Rick Wagoner had brought Boss combining and analyzing all of that sensor the start line on race day. On the first day of set aside for spectators or when it its previous race experience but decades of navigate roads and parking lots. Boss moved theguson cloud said. as The an motionobject. Unfortunately,of the front wheels the along to the Consumer Electronics Show, data and determining how the vehicle the NQE, Saturday, Oct. 27, Boss made a appeared periodically in the live Webcast autonomous navigation research at the smartly out of the grandstand area, circled cloudturning also left entered and right into must Boss’s have blind shifted spot. should behave, the team could tap not only run in Area B, a route to test its ability to DARPA produced. Robotics Institute. Dave Ferguson (CS’04, an adjacent loop road and was soon out of OnceBoss just the adust tiny settled,bit, enough the “object” to reveal disap- part its previous race experience but decades of navigate roads and parking lots. Boss moved Each vehicle was to complete three ’06), who helped develop autonomous sight. Losing sight of the robots was com- ofpeared, the blind but thespot. vehicle’s Boss then brain realized assumed the autonomous navigation research at the smartly out of the grandstand area, circled simulated supply missions during the race, navigation software for NASA’s Mars mon at the NQE and especially during the obstaclethat the wasobstacle indeed in gone,its blind so itspot went was ahead still Robotics Institute. Dave Ferguson (CS’04, an adjacent loop road and was soon out of but the teams had no idea what routes their Exploration Rovers, was the planning lead, final race because of safety restrictions and there.and completed Thinking the the turn.way was blocked, Boss ’06), who helped develop autonomous sight. Losing sight of the robots was com- vehicles would take. It was more than two while Bryan Salesky, a commercialization the sheer size of the course. Boss returned sat still.Other It wouldteams hadhave their remained own problems.there had navigation software for NASA’s Mars mon at the NQE and especially during the hours after its launch before Boss specialist at Carnegie Mellon’s National 15 minutes later, carrying the story of its Areait not A been flustered for a bitmany of competitors.good fortune, It Ferwas- Exploration Rovers, was the planning lead, final race because of safety restrictions and completed the first mission, raising con- Robotics Engineering Center, served as journey in the onboard data banks. Team gusonhere that said. Georgia The motion Tech’s ofvehicle, the front instead wheels of while Bryan Salesky, a commercialization the sheer size of the course. Boss returned cerns if it could complete all three within software lead. Other key team members in- members gathered in the pits to view Boss’s turning left into and traffic, right must T-boned have shifteda jersey specialist at Carnegie Mellon’s National 15 minutes later, carrying the story of its the mandated six-hour window. cluded vehicle lead Nick Miller, a research onboard video and were impressed as they Bossbarrier just on a thetiny first bit, enoughday of the to revealNQE; part that Robotics Engineering Center, served as journey in the onboard data banks. Team Whether it was because later missions engineer with the Robotics Institute, and saw the robot steer clear of cars parked ofevening, the blind the spot.two GM Boss research then realized engineers the software lead. Other key team members in- members gathered in the pits to view Boss’s were shorter or because slower robots fell Bob Bittner, a seasoned manufacturing along the streets and slide smoothly into a obstacleon the Tartan was indeed Racing gone, team so it helped went ahead weld cluded vehicle lead Nick Miller, a research onboard video and were impressed as they out of the competition and out of the way, engineer who led the testing program. spot in a parking lot. “That was an awe- theand vehicle’scompleted sensor the barturn. back in place. engineer with the Robotics Institute, and saw the robot steer clear of cars parked Boss finished the second mission in about The team also had strong support from some performance,” Urmson said. OtherOne incidentteams had in their Area own B ultimatelyproblems. Bob Bittner, a seasoned manufacturing along the streets and slide smoothly into a an hour. It was making up time against its sponsors. General Motors embedded Boss displayed its share of idiosyncra- Areaaffected A flustered the final many competition. competitors. Tether It wasand engineer who led the testing program. spot in a parking lot. “That was an awe- the field. two engineers, Hong Bae and Wende cies during the trials, too. Area A, which otherhere that DARPA Georgia officials Tech’s vehicle,were in insteada chase ofcar The team also had strong support from some performance,” Urmson said. At 1:40 p.m., Stanford’s entry, Junior, Zhang, while Caterpillar and Continental tested the robots’ ability to negotiate turningwhen suddenly left into the traffic, robot T-boned ahead ofa jerseythem its sponsors. General Motors embedded Boss displayed its share of idiosyncra- was the first robot to take the checkered AG embedded one each, Michael Taylor traffic and turns across traffic, was the only madebarrier a onU-turn the first and day headed of the toward NQE; them. that two engineers, Hong Bae and Wende cies during the trials, too. Area A, which flag and a roar arose from the Stanford team and Michael Darms, respectively. Ferguson one entirely visible to observers and was the “Fiveevening, of us the in two the GM vehicle research were allengineers yelling Zhang, while Caterpillar and Continental tested the robots’ ability to negotiate in the grandstands. But that joy was short- joined the team courtesy of Intel. place where Boss developed a reputation ‘Pause!’”on the Tartan Tether Racingsaid later, team referring helped to weld the AG embedded one each, Michael Taylor traffic and turns across traffic, was the only the vehicle’s sensor bar back in place. lived. Just a couple of minutes later, Boss and Michael Darms, respectively. Ferguson one entirely visible to observers and was the One incident in Area B ultimately appeared at the finish, despite having start- joined the team courtesy of Intel. place where Boss developed a reputation affected the final competition. Tether and ed more than 20 minutes behind Junior.

Above: The Tartan Racing team celebrates winning the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge.

Below: Prior to the NQE and ﬁnal race, Boss and the team spent several weeks testing all of the components in the arid landscape of central California.

10 > THEK?<C@EB LINK pause command they could transmit to any Tether, announcing the results the next where his keynote address sounded like vehicle. The robot screeched to a halt about morning, confirmed that Boss finished something Whittaker could have written: four feet from the chase car. more than 19 minutes faster than second- the technology for self-driving cars is at other“That DARPA reminded officials me were that in this a chase is not car a placeIt Stanford was Tartan and Racing’smore than turn 25 minutes to roar. wherehand. Wagonerhis keynote predicted address GM sounded will like sell game,”when suddenly Tether said. the “That robot tempered, ahead of themquite “Bossfaster went than out third-place there tonight Virginia or today Tech. or themsomething within Whittaker 10 years. could have written: madefrankly, a U-turnhow many and teams headed are toward getting them. in.” “Reallywhatever a great it was job.” and was just awesome,” an the For technology four days, for Urmson, self-driving Bittner cars and is Jar- at “FiveThough of usDARPA in the had vehicle prepared were for all as yelling many exhaustedBut beyond but ecstaticmere speed, Urmson Boss toldand the rodhand. Snider Wagoner gave predicted journalists GM solo will rides sell in ‘Pause!’”as 24 vehicles Tether insaid the later, Nov. referring 3 race, Tether to the otherteam back finishers in the pit. had displayed real skill. Boss,them within delighting 10 years. as celebrities such as the optedpause commandfor Boss and they just could 10 others. transmit to any EveryTether, incident announcing of suspect the driving results had the beennext TodayFor Show’s four days, Al Roker Urmson, stared Bittner in disbelief and Jar- at vehicle. The robot screeched to a halt about recordedmorning, by confirmed 100 scorekeepers that Boss positioned finished roda steering Snider wheel gave with journalists a mind of solo its ridesown. in for aggressiveness. Unlike competitors, four feet from the chase car. throughoutmore than 19 the minutes course faster and than Tether second- had Boss,The delighting sight of as jaded celebrities journalists such aslosing the which often moved hesitantly as they The“That Win reminded me that this is not a workedplace Stanford late into and Saturday more than evening 25 minutes review- Todaytheir composureShow’s Al Roker left stared an impression in disbelief on at made left turns into traffic, Boss seemed game,”Boss Tether ranked said. first “That in tempered, performance quite and ingfaster each than potential third-place infraction. Virginia None Tech. Urmson,a steering whowheel plans with a to mind keep of his its handown. in to jump into traffic. Human drivers in wasfrankly, given how the prized many pole teams position. are getting Though in.” “Reallyamounted a great to job.” much. One scorekeeper, for furtherThe development sight of jaded of journalists self-driving losing cars. cars fitted with NASCAR-type rollbars, Thoughthe 11 racers DARPA would had startprepared sequentially, for as many the instance,But beyond suggested mere penalizingspeed, Boss Boss and the for “Wetheir have composure to go beyond left just an research impression and onde- provided the cross-traffic and sometimes firstas 24 vehicle vehicles at in theleast Nov. would 3 race, enjoy Tether several enteringother finishers an intersection had displayed and then real backing skill. Urmson,velopment,” who he planssaid. to“We keep have his to handget this in would sound their horns at Boss. It wasn’t optedminutes for alone Boss onand the just course 10 others. before it might Everyup. But incident when ofTether suspect viewed driving video had takenbeen technologyfurther development to the people of and self-driving allow them cars. to that Boss necessarily was making bad encounter other robots in traffic. But the recordedfrom an aircraft by 100 overhead, scorekeepers it was positioned apparent “Weshare have our to excitement.” go beyond just research and de- decisions, but that it was acting much pole proved to be anything but an The Win thatthroughout Boss backed the up course to clear and the Tether way for had an velopment,” he said. “We have to get this more like a human driver than some of advantage, thanks to the radiofrequency workedapproaching late intocar. Saturday evening review- technology to the people and allow them to Boss ranked first in performance and the other vehicles. interference from the Jumbotron. With the ing Not each only potentialwas that not infraction. a penalty, Tether None share our excitement.” was given the prized pole position. Though In another episode, this time in Area course laid out over 10 miles of road and amountedsaid, “I thought to much. that was One pretty scorekeeper, cool.” for the 11 racers would start sequentially, the C, Boss became hung up while making a safety concerns limiting access to the course, instance,Two months suggested later, penalizingBoss was still Boss taking for first vehicle at least would enjoy several three-point turn. It turned left and backed team members would catch only glimpses enteringvictory laps, an intersectionthis time in andthe parkingthen backing lot of minutes alone on the course before it might up, but then sat motionless, except for its of Boss during the race, when Boss passed theup. But Las when Vegas Tether Convention viewed Center. video taken GM Chris Urmson, Tartan Racing’s director of technolgy, introduces Boss to report- encounter other robots in traffic. But the ers before the final Urban Grand Challenge event in Victorville, Calif. front wheels turning back and forth. through one of the handful of areas CEOfrom an Rick aircraft Wagoner overhead, had it broughtwas apparent Boss pole proved to be anything but an Finally, after a couple of minutes, Boss set aside for spectators or when it thatalong Boss to thebacked Consumer up to clear Electronics the way for Show, an pulled forward, completed the turn and appearedadvantage, periodically thanks to in the the radiofrequency live Webcast approaching car. assortments of lidars, GPS receivers, auto- Making the Cut finished the run without incident. DARPAinterference produced. from the Jumbotron. With the Not only was that not a penalty, Tether motive radars and even a spinning, roof-top During the NQE, the 35 vehicles were Afterward, team members poured over courseEach laid vehicle out over was 10 to miles complete of road three and said, “I thought that was pretty cool.” lidar manufactured by Velodyne. each scheduled to make two runs on three the onboard video and replayed the sensor safetysimulated concerns supply limiting missions access during to the the course, race, Two months later, Boss was still taking “Software is going to be the difference,” different courses, each of which tested dif- data to puzzle out what happened. It teambut the members teams had would no idea catch what only routes glimpses their victory laps, this time in the parking lot of Urmson said. It was here that Tartan ferent sets of skills; their performances seemed Boss kicked up a cloud of dust as ofvehicles Boss duringwould take.the race, It was when more Boss than passed two the Las Vegas Convention Center. GM Racing had an advantage. When it came to would determine who would be invited to it backed up and the sensors interpreted throughhours after one its of the launch handful before of areas Boss CEO Rick Wagoner had brought Boss combining and analyzing all of that sensor the start line on race day. On the first day of the cloud as an object. Unfortunately, the completedset aside the for first spectators mission, or raising when it con- along to the Consumer Electronics Show, data and determining how the vehicle the NQE, Saturday, Oct. 27, Boss made a cloud also entered into Boss’s blind spot. cernsappeared if it periodicallycould complete in the all livethree Webcast within should behave, the team could tap not only run in Area B, a route to test its ability to Once the dust settled, the “object” disap- DARPAthe mandated produced. six-hour window. its previous race experience but decades of navigate roads and parking lots. Boss moved peared, but the vehicle’s brain assumed WhetherEach vehicle it was was because to complete later missions three autonomous navigation research at the smartly out of the grandstand area, circled that the obstacle in its blind spot was still weresimulated shorter supply or because missions slower during robots the race, fell Robotics Institute. Dave Ferguson (CS’04, an adjacent loop road and was soon out of there. Thinking the way was blocked, Boss outbut theof the teams competition had no idea and what out routes of the their way, ’06), who helped develop autonomous sight. Losing sight of the robots was com- sat still. It would have remained there had Bossvehicles finished would thetake. second It was moremission than in about two navigation software for NASA’s Mars mon at the NQE and especially during the it not been for a bit of good fortune, Fer- anhours hour. after It was its making launch up before time against Boss Exploration Rovers, was the planning lead, final race because of safety restrictions and guson said. The motion of the front wheels completedthe field. the first mission, raising con- while Bryan Salesky, a commercialization the sheer size of the course. Boss returned turning left and right must have shifted cernsAt if 1:40 it could p.m., complete Stanford’s all entry,three within Junior, specialist at Carnegie Mellon’s National 15 minutes later, carrying the story of its Boss just a tiny bit, enough to reveal part thewas mandated the first six-hour robot to window. take the checkered Robotics Engineering Center, served as journey in the onboard data banks. Team of the blind spot. Boss then realized the flagWhether and a roar it arose was becausefrom the laterStanford missions team software lead. Other key team members in- members gathered in the pits to view Boss’s obstacle was indeed gone, so it went ahead inwere the shorter grandstands. or because But that slower joy robotswas short- fell cluded vehicle lead Nick Miller, a research onboard video and were impressed as they and completed the turn. outlived. of Justthe competitiona couple of minutesand out oflater, the Boss way, engineer with the Robotics Institute, and saw the robot steer clear of cars parked Other teams had their own problems. Bossappeared finished at the the finish, second despite mission having in about start- Bob Bittner, a seasoned manufacturing along the streets and slide smoothly into a Area A flustered many competitors. It was edan more hour. than It was 20 minutes making behind up time Junior. against engineer who led the testing program. spot in a parking lot. “That was an awe- here that Georgia Tech’s vehicle, instead of the Itfield. was Tartan Racing’s turn to roar. The team also had strong support from some performance,” Urmson said. turning left into traffic, T-boned a jersey “BossAt went 1:40 out p.m., there Stanford’s tonight entry, or today Junior, or its sponsors. General Motors embedded Boss displayed its share of idiosyncra- barrier on the first day of the NQE; that waswhatever the firstit was robot and towas take just theawesome,” checkered an Above: The Tartan Racing team celebrates winning the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge. flag and a roar arose from the Stanford team two engineers, Hong Bae and Wende cies during the trials, too. Area A, which evening, the two GM research engineers exhausted but ecstatic Urmson told the Below: Prior to the NQE and final race, Boss and the team spent several weeks testing Zhang, while Caterpillar and Continental tested the robots’ ability to negotiate on the Tartan Racing team helped weld inteam the back grandstands. in the pit. But that joy was short- all of the components in the arid landscape of central California. AG embedded one each, Michael Taylor traffic and turns across traffic, was the only the vehicle’s sensor bar back in place. lived. Just a couple of minutes later, Boss and Michael Darms, respectively. Ferguson one entirely visible to observers and was the One incident in Area B ultimately appeared at the finish, despite having start- joined the team courtesy of Intel. place where Boss developed a reputation affected the final competition. Tether and ed more than 20 minutes behind Junior.

Above: The Tartan Racing team celebrates winning the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge.

Below: Prior to the NQE and ﬁnal race, Boss and the team spent several weeks testing all of the components in the arid landscape of central California.

10 > K?<C@EB (#,-*#0-,

Xe[:flek`e^

Founded in the third century B.C., the ancient Royal Library of under the auspices of Raj Reddy, the Mozah Bint Nasser university Alexandria was a center of great research and scholarly pursuits. It was professor of computer science and then dean of the School of here that Euclid taught his rules of geometry and Eratosthenes first Computer Science. His mission was to preserve mankind’s written measured the circumference of the Earth. Modern scholars estimate history by creating an online digital archive and to foster creativity that, at its largest, the library housed nearly half a million handwritten by making the contents freely available to anyone, anywhere, scrolls from Assyria, Egypt, Greece, Persia, India and many other without regard to nationality or socioeconomic background. nations. It isn’t known exactly when or how, but historians agree that With this ‘what’ established, Reddy and a team of colleagues by 900 A.D., the library and its contents were gone, most likely con- began on the ‘how.’ First on the list was to find the best way to sumed by the ravages of war, fire and time itself. digitize all the books of the world. “Scholars everywhere regret the destruction of the Alexandria “We figured if we could nail down the process for doing a thou- Library at various points in history,” said Michael Shamos, career dis- sand books, it would scale upward,” explained Shamos, who has tinguished professor of computer science. “We’re willing to go to great served as a director of the Universal Library since 1998. lengths to see that no such destruction is ever possible in the future.” It took more than two years to get it right. In an effort to keep While it may seem almost like ancient history today, the idea of costs down, the first 100 test books were digitized using an inexpen- creating a digital library is only a little more than a decade old. The sive duplex scanner. Unfortunately, the books had to be disbound Universal Digital Library (UDL) began at Carnegie Mellon in 1995 and the pages trimmed straight on all sides before scanning. Dust, the expense of trimming and other difficulties made this method The UDL’s next goal is ten million books. There are still many ineffective. Books 200 through 1,000 were successfully digitized issues to be addressed—copyright permissions, multi-lingual using a more expensive overhead scanner combined with image searchability, terabyte storage solutions and, probably most processing software for curvature correction, deskewing and importantly, funding—but Shamos is optimistic. “Once books are despeckling. This model also allowed bound books to be scanned on the Internet, they become immortal.” from an angled cradle which reduced wear on the spine, an important factor for older, more fragile books. In 2002, the process was ready and Carnegie Mellon launched the Million Book Project “to create a free-to-read, searchable collection of one million books” available to anyone over the Internet. Interesting Facts & Figures Armed with a National Science Foundation seed grant and substantial in-kind contributions from hardware and software manufacturers, the UDL sought partners to help build the world’s Carnegie Mellon University first digital library. At first, the specter of copyright issues and concerns over losing the exclusivity of their collections kept many Physical volumes in the Hunt Library: 622,355 American entities from participating. Shamos and his UDL Total University Libraries holdings: 1,098,014 co-directors, Gloriana St. Clair, dean of university libraries, and Jaime Carbonell, professor of computer science and director of the Language Technologies Institute, were not deterred. After all, there Universal Digital Library are well over 100 million books in existence around the world. Soon partners in India, Egypt and China had signed on to provide labor Books currently freely available: 1.2 million and join Carnegie Mellon in acquiring books. The high quality output and high volume throughput of the Total digital holdings: 1,563,965 and counting digitization process began to pay off almost immediately. With Oldest book: “The Diall of Princes” by Sir Thomas North, 1535 scanning centers sprinkled around the world, the UDL blossomed into a virtual library with books of all shapes and sizes. Books Languages: more than 20 written not just in English, but also in Hindi and Chinese, Tegulu, Sanskrit and more. The non-destructive scanning process and the Scanning sites: 50 ability for the end user to be able to see the pages as they were originally printed showcased the unique preservation aspect offered Cumulative pages scanned per day: 7,000 by the UDL; soon rare and out-of-print books began making their way into the digital archives. Directors’ digital favorites: Among the most unique books to become part of the UDL are the palm leaf manuscripts. Palm leaves were the paper of the Michael Shamos: “Good Manners for All Occasions” ancient world and many volumes of Indian literature, philosophy by Margaret Sangster, 1910 and science still exist. Despite the success of the input process for modern paper books, these delicate, irreplaceable works of knowl- Gloriana St. Clair: “Pride and Prejudice” edge must be photographed with high-resolution digital color by Jane Austen, 1813 cameras until image processing algorithms can be developed to Raj Reddy: “A Child’s History of England” handle the heavy noise of tears and cuts in the brittle leaves and to by Charles Dickens, 1907 accurately separate the uneven, dark brown background of the leaf from the black ink used for the words. Another big challenge for the Million Book Project was how to make the tens of terabytes of information easily available to users all over the world. Carnegie Mellon researchers developed a seamless, globally distributed database that can be accessed via the www.ulib.org portal. Mirroring of the database in several countries “The goal to create a free-to-read, searchable ensures security and availability. collection of one million books set off a Over the years, the UDL has also fostered innovative research in cascade of other digitization projects. optical character recognition, machine summarization, information mining and metadata software that can automatically discern Google’s ebook project acknowledges the the structure of a document to create navigation hyperlinks for Million Book Project as one of its inspirations, individual chapters. and, together, the big scanning projects are In late 2007, Shamos thought they were getting close to the transforming the landscape of information million-book goal; he was wrong. By the start of the third annual search and retrieval.” Universal Digital Library conference in November, the official count was 50 percent higher: 1,534,058 books in more than 20 —Gloriana St. Clair, dean of university libraries languages. “I was surprised, since the data we had been getting from and co-director of the Universal Digital Library our partners indicated that we were inching up toward one million, but the Chinese really put on a burst in 2007,” he said.

K?<C@EB < 13 SCS Alumni Relations

From the Director

As our SCS alumni community contin- I love seeing companies step up to ues to grow, so do our efforts to increase our provide funding for key research activities, alumni outreach activities. Alumni involve- critical programs and infrastructure. But ment is crucial to the school’s continued many of the deepest relationships begin success; their contribution of ideas, with alumni discussions about how to experience and time are invaluable to the improve corporate involvements with school’s research and education mission. Carnegie Mellon. Another area our alumni play an impor- Dan goes on to say, “Our alumni tant role in is corporate relations. Dan enhance and enable a multitude of forward- Jenkins, associate director of SCS corporate looking relationships by staying involved relations, says, “Alumni are the key to with the School of Computer Science at successful outreach efforts with our best Carnegie Mellon. Without alumni, corporate partners. It’s not just the fact that corporate relationships would starve.” SCS and other Carnegie Mellon alumni If you would like to talk to Dan hold signiﬁ cant positions in industry, it directly, he invites you to write to him at goes well beyond that.” [email protected]. Carnegie Mellon alumni in computing- Also, don’t forget to check out the SCS/ related professions tend to be a fairly unique ECE summer event schedule (see inside breed. As a group, they are more responsive front cover). to relevant technical discussions and are I hope you will be able to join us! eager to talk to SCS faculty and staff about ﬁ nding solutions to hard problems. This Sincerely, creates immediate and natural overlaps between industry, academics and research. > Tina M. Carr (HNZ’02), SCS director of alumni relations

@ SCS Alumni Events

Left: Brian Grunkemeyer (CS’98) greets a fellow Carnegie Mellon alumnus at the second annual Network Night Seattle.

Above: Proud parents Grazyna and Zbigniew Krieger, center, join their sons, Marcin (CS’00), left, and Andrew (CS’11), at the SCS Spring Carnival reception in Newell-Simon Hall.

Right: Peter Lee, CSD department head, presented a “pecha kucha” view of what’s happening at Carnegie Mellon to the 100 alumni and friends gathered at the Microsoft campus in Redmond for Network Night Seattle.

14 > THE LINK Alumni Snapshots

It was Murray Campbell’s early inter- learned while studying at Carnegie est in chess that brought him into the field Mellon. He remained with IBM after of computer science. A human vs. com- Deep Blue and is currently a senior puter demonstration game at a University manager in the mathematical sciences of Alberta open house hooked him “right department at the T.J. Watson Research then and there” and led eventually to his Center. He has led research in areas such work on Carnegie Mellon’s Deep as oil well monitoring systems and large- Thought and IBM’s Deep Blue, the first population biosurveillance. More recently, computers to win against a Grandmas- he and his team have been investigating ter and the world chess champion, the application of optimization and fore- respectively. casting approaches to the field of human resources and workforce management. “The Deep Thought and Deep Blue projects illustrated to the general “Today, with more and more data public in a clear and understand- being collected on practically able way the steady progress in everything, there are huge opportu- the capabilities of computers.” nities for analytics and optimization Murray Campbell to have a significant benefit in our Murray is the author of “How HAL daily lives.” Plays Chess” (a chapter in the book “Hal’s B.S., Computing Science Legacy”) and still gives interviews about Murray lives his daily life in Yorktown University of Alberta, 1979 Deep Blue’s historic achievement. In 2002, Heights, New York, with his wife, Gina, the Smithsonian acquired part and their two children, Colson and Scott. M.S., Computing Science of the Deep Blue computer for its He’s begun to play jazz piano, favoring University of Alberta, 1981 permanent American history collection. songs by Cole Porter, Jerome Kern and Ph.D., Computer Science Throughout his career, Murray has used Winter Grosper. He is also a member of the Carnegie Mellon University, 1987 the collaborative research practices he IEEE, ACM and AAAI.

Andrew Widdowson describes his job developing their uMusic technology, an at Google as “part firefighter, part paramed- artificial intelligence approach to music ic, part software engineer.” He’s a site playlist generation. reliability engineer and thoroughly enjoys being part of the team that keeps the “The more experience you have company’s complex Web search systems working with people of different running smoothly. disciplines, the more you’ll learn about different ways of approach- “I credit my time working at Comput- ing problems. By branching out ing Services, administering servers at and truly doing interdisciplinary WRCT and classes such as Database things like art or drama, you can Systems, Operating Systems and work both sides of your brain and Internet Services with giving me the you’ll be all the better for it.” background needed to appreciate the complexity of the systems that Lured to the West Coast by the I’m currently working with.” sunny weather (and legendary Google food), Andrew now lives in Mountain Andrew Widdowson Andrew became a Fifth Year Scholar View, California. His left-brain inter- after completing his bachelor’s degree and ests include Cuban salsa dancing and spent his extra year designing a radio studio DJ-ing at KZSU Stanford. In 2007, he for the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh completed the Chicago marathon as well as B.S., Computer Science and Mathematics which links to the Carnegie Mellon the California International marathon. Carnegie Mellon University, 2005 campus radio station, WRCT. In 2006, he Andrew is also one of the newest members left Pittsburgh and headed north to join of the SCS Alumni Advisory Board. Bose Research in Boston. His broad experience with music at Carnegie Mellon provided him with a keen advantage in

K?<C@EB < 15 SCS in the News

To the Moon Finding Genes That Don’t Work Carnegie Mellon and William “Red” Whittaker, university A team of U.S., Israeli and German scientists, using computa- professor of robotics, now have their sights on the moon. Whit- tional biology techniques, discovered 480 genes that play a role in taker was the first person to announce creation of a team that will human cell division. They also learned that more than 100 of compete for the $20-million Google Lunar X-Prize, the richest them have abnormal patterns of activation in cancer cells. Malig- international competition in history. nant cells have lost control of the replication process, so detecting Contenders must build a rover and land it on the moon by differences in cell cycle gene activation in normal and malignant 2012, where it must travel 500 meters and transmit images back cells provides important clues about how cancers develop, said to Earth. Other achievements such as imaging Apollo or other study leader Ziv Bar-Joseph, a Carnegie Mellon computational manmade artifacts, driving for more than five kilometers, surviv- biologist and assistant professor in the Machine Learning Depart- ing a lunar night or discovering water ice, could raise the winnings ment. While many studies identify missing genes that might cause to as much as $30 million. Whittaker’s stellar team will use Carn- cancer, this study focused on genes that were present and caused egie Mellon researchers to build the robot (they already have a cancer because they were improperly activated or not activated at prototype), technology from Raytheon Corp. will pinpoint the all. The team’s work was published in the online Early Edition of landing site and the University of Arizona will build the cameras the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science the week of that will record the event. Whittaker also has recruited the retired January 7, 2008. The story also appeared on WTAE-TV, in the head of NASA’s Mars Sojourner and Pathfinder program, Carne- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, U.S. News & World Report, and online gie Mellon alumnus Tony Spear (E’62), to manage the project. at Forbes.com and AmericanHealthLine.com. The announcement drew attention from the likes of the New York Times, L.A. Times, Associated Press, CNET News, USA Today, MSNBC and many others. Multi-Billion Pixel Panoramas SCS researchers Illah Nourbakhsh and Randy Sargent, collaborating with scientists at NASA’s Ames Research Center, ARTSI Alliance have developed a low-cost robotic device that enables any digital A collaboration between faculty at Carnegie Mellon and camera to produce breathtaking gigapixel (billions of pixels) pan- Spelman College in Atlanta has spawned a national alliance to oramas. Called GigaPan, it combines a tripod-like robotic camera promote robotics and computer science education at eight mount with special software to take and stitch together hundreds historically black colleges and universities (HBCU). Known as of overlapping images into a single multi-billion-pixel image. The Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact, or ARTSI, Pennsylvania Department of Tourism is using GigaPan images the program will provide professional development activities for that let virtual visitors explore the commonwealth’s Civil War sites HBCU faculty and mentoring programs for undergraduates, as and there is a GigaPan layer on Google Earth. Anyone can upload well as develop outreach programs to encourage African American and interactively explore panoramic images of any format at www. students of all ages to pursue careers in computer science and gigapan.org. In March, this Web site hosted a virtual egg hunt robotics. Currently African Americans represent just 4.8 percent with panoramas sent in from all over the U.S. Then in April, Sport of the nation’s nearly two million computer and information Illustrated and Golf.com used GigaPan technology to give their scientists, a job category that the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics readers a closer look at the Augusta National golf course, just in projects will be among the fastest growing occupations over the time for the Masters tournament. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review, next decade. News of ARTSI and its three-year $2-million Wired Science, the Canadian Television Network and Engineer National Science Foundation grant appeared in the Chronicle of Online were just a few of the news outlets to report on this Higher Education, Inside Higher Education and the New Pitts- eye-opening innovation. burgh Courier. Andrew Williams, an associate professor of computer and information science at Spelman, is the principal investigator and David Touretzky, a Carnegie Mellon computer Below: Online users can zoom in on this Gigapan image of The Waffle from the 2006 Burning Man event in Nevada and read the “no climbing” signs science research professor, will serve as director of robotics education. taped to the 2 x 4s that make up the structure.

16 > THE LINK Bovik’s Blog AM I A MAD FOOL IF I SPEND MY LIFE IN GRAD SCHOOL FOREVER SEARCHING FOR THE LONGEST PATH

18 MAY 2008 MY PROFILE HARRY Q. BOVIK PITTSBURGH, PA

Commencement 2008 Hi there, I’m Harry Bovik. For over three Keynote #1 decades now people The graduates at this year’s main Carnegie Mellon commence- have been sending me opinions ment ceremony knew they were going to be offered words of on all sorts of local topics. I’m wisdom from a man internationally known for his vision. What grateful for any information you they didn’t know was that man would all but upstage the might have, so please pass it on! keynote speaker, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore. VIEW MY COMPLETE PROFILE When President Cohon introduced professor Randy Pausch

(CS’88), the audience rose to its feet, cheering his unexpected RECENT POSTS appearance. In his ﬁve minutes at the podium, Randy gave the traditional “charge to the graduates:” May 18, 2008 Commencement 2008

Live your life well; October 1, 2007 Find your passion and follow it; Of Brick Walls and Synthetic Life Ground your passion in people, not money or things. February 27, 2007 To underscore this last point, Randy surprised his wife, Jai, with What do origami, gum boot a passionate kiss and then quite literally swept her off her feet dancing and bicycle repair have and carried her back to their seats near the rear of the stage. in common?

It was an emotional moment that was surpassed only by February 27, 2007 Randy’s appearance on a second stage several hours later at the The Monroeville Codex and SCS diploma ceremony, where he urged the school’s graduates Antediluvian Computer Scientists to think of themselves as humans ﬁrst and then as computer scientists. March 25, 2006 It’s not about computers... what you can do with computers Keynote #2 March 15, 2006 The SCS ceremony had its own man of vision scheduled to Tell the Link what you think: speak: Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. With his love of [email protected] Star Trek in mind, and his tongue ﬁrmly planted in his cheek, Bezos’ encouraged the new grads to “boldly fail where no one has failed before.” Good advice, really. LINKS

Lyrics to the “Longest Path” New SCS Alumni www.blazemonger.com For the record, the SCS graduating class of 2008 included 153 bachelor’s degrees (including the ﬁrst 12 SCS degrees awarded School of Computer Science at the Qatar campus), 227 master’s degrees and 73 newly www.cs.cmu.edu minted doctorates.

POSTED BY BOVIK AT 11:52 PM A Turing and Two More

< Edmund M. Clarke Fore Systems professor of computer science and professor of electrical and computer engineering

April Named as a university professor, a Carnegie Mellon honor for “professional achievement as well as breadth of interest and competence.”

June 2007 ACM Turing Award ceremony, San Francisco For contributions to the 1981 development of model checking, an automated method for finding design errors in computer hardware and software. An honor shared with two other researchers: E. Allen Emerson, who worked with Clarke as a graduate student at Harvard University; and Joseph Sifakis, who independently developed a similar technique at the University of Grenoble.

August 2008 Herbrand Award for Distinguished Contributions to Automated Reasoning ceremony, Sydney, Australia.

4305 Newell-Simon Hall Carnegie Mellon University 5000 Forbes Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15213