President Cohon Attends White House Meeting Truckin' to the Food Bank
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CMU’S NEWS SOURCE FOR FACULTY & STAFF 12/11 ISSUE 2 A NITA B A RKIN S H A RE S H E A LT H C ON C ERN S O VER M A R C ELLU S S H A LE D RILLING 4 R U B IN , P E ÑA R E C OGNIZE D as A RTI S T S Truckin’ to the Food Bank OF THE Y E A R 6 G R ad U ATE S TU D ENT C HRI S H A RRI S ON F IN ds E LEG A NT S OLUTION S TO E VER yday E X P ERIEN C E S 7 K IRON S KINNER P ROVI D E S R A RE O pp ORTUNITIE S W ITH W ORL D L E ad ER S CMU Partners With Chinese University Collaboration To Develop Graduate Engineering Programs n Chriss Swaney Carnegie Mellon will extend its global reach to China, as the first private institution to offer graduate engineering degree programs with Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU). Carnegie Mellon and SYSU will establish a joint Institute of Engineering E GERSON in Guangzhou, China, initially offering C master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical Y BRU B and computing engineering beginning in HOTO 2013. SYSU is located in southern China in P Guangzhou along the Pearl River Delta, an C A RNEGIE M ELLON ’ S 1 8 T H A NNU A L FOOD DRIVE , S P ONSORED BY S T A FF C OUNCIL , DON A TED 8 , 6 6 7 P OUNDS OF FOOD A ND $3,982.90 TO T H E G RE A TER P ITTSBURG H A RE A F OOD B A NK . T H E FOOD B A NK STORES A ND DISTRIBUTES FOOD A ND C ONTINUED ON pa GE T H REE H OUSE H OLD P RODUCTS TO NE A RLY 3 5 0 C ha RIT A BLE A GENCIES IN SOUT H WESTERN P ENNSYLV A NI A . H EL P ING TO LO A D T H E TRUCK BEFORE TR A VELING TO T H E FOOD B A NK WERE ( L - R ) E RIC A A NDERSON , M ELISS A K A LEY , K A TIE L A MBROU ( FOOD SEI STAFFER DRIVE CO - C ha IR ) , N ICCOLE A TWELL ( KNEELING ) , M A RK B A NISTER , D ENIS C O A N A ND M A TT H EW F ORREST . N OT P IC - GOES HOLLYWooD TURED IS C A ROLE P A NNO , FOOD DRIVE CO - C ha IR . IN PittsBURgh President Cohon Attends White House Meeting n Piper Staff success of the Open Learning Initia- open “gatekeeper” courses to help Carnegie Mellon President Jared L. tive (OLI) and launch the Community more community college students Cohon was called to the White House College Open Learning Initiative. achieve success. The White House Dec. 5 to attend a meeting with U.S. The grants are dedicated to has recognized OLI as a possible President Barack Obama and sev- creating a partnership with faculty model for gatekeeper courses that eral other university presidents and at an array of community colleges enable students to get into colleges. chancellors to discuss making college around the United States to create C ONTINUED ON pa GE TWELVE more affordable for students. President Cohon was invited because of CMU’s expertise in devel- Jeff Balmert (center) is taking an oping online learning tools, including online classes that provide instructors unusual approach to break into the with real-time information about each film industry. Balmert has been a student’s progress. These courses are paid extra in seven major motion now being used in pilot programs in pictures since 2008, including “My statewide university systems in Bloody Valentine,” seen here. Read Maryland, New York and Texas. more about Balmert on page 9. In 2009, the university received $4 million in grants to build on the O NE Low Cost, High Expense? Barkin Shares Health Concerns Over Marcellus Shale Drilling n Bruce Gerson when you mix nitrous oxide with volatile Anita Barkin is on a mission for public organic compounds and add sunlight. It’s health. happening in areas where there is a lot of That’s not surprising for Carnegie drilling. We only need to look at air qual- Mellon’s director of Health Services, but ity issues in areas where heavy drilling this effort stretches far beyond the univer- has occurred like Dallas-Fort Worth and sity’s Pittsburgh campus. And far below. Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to appreciate Barkin’s mission is to educate the the impact. public about the process and impacts of “We already have bad air in Western drilling into the Marcellus Shale for natu- Pennsylvania — we have one of the worst ral gas and to advocate for safeguards. asthma rates in the country — and this just Her message to the industry and govern- adds insult to injury,” Barkin said. N ment officials is to slow down and weigh I Technologies, such as a vapor recov- all of the factors involved. ery system, can mitigate the air pollution, TA BARK TA I N Barkin says, but drilling companies are A While drilling companies and politi- cians boast about the positive effects F hesitant to use them and the DEP has not of drilling, such as the low-cost clean required them to do so. She says company OURTESY O OURTESY representatives have told her that it’s not a energy it provides and the economic C E G widely adopted practice in the industry be- boost it gives to residents and commu- A M nities, Barkin argues that the negative I cause “vapor recovery systems are costly.” T H E M A RCELLUS S ha LE REGION COVERS MOST OF P ENNSYLV A NI A A ND pa RTS OF environmental and health impacts may SEVER A L OT H ER NEIG H BORING ST A TES . far outweigh the positives. She notes Boom and Bust that the economic boost it fosters may be Commission in Harrisburg as a member cancer, birth defects, fertility problems With regard to the positive influence the exaggerated as well. of the Marcellus Shale Task Force in her and brain function problems. Marcellus Shale drilling has on people’s In a Learning & Development suburban community of Jefferson Hills. A recent study led by CMU Civil livelihoods, Barkin argues it’s temporary. session this semester titled “Health “I have had the opportunity to speak and Environmental Engineering Profes- “They move into an area, they take Concerns Related to Marcellus Shale with people who have been affected sor Jeanne VanBriesen, director of the the gas and they move out. This is not Drilling,” Barkin, who currently serves as by drilling ... and I was struck by their Center for Water Quality in Urban sustained growth; this is boom and bust,” president of the American College Health stories of what they were experiencing Environmental Systems, showed high she said. Association, discussed some of the nega- from a health perspective and what their levels of bromide in the Monongahela She also notes that property values tives, the need for a closer examination children were experiencing. River near a water treatment facility. may decline in drilling areas as a result of the impacts and greater regulation and “Unfortunately, since many of “The bromide combines with the of water and air pollution and as the oversight of the industry. the health complaints are nonspecific, chlorine and forms carcinogens,” Bar- quality of life is affected. “The more I learned, the more including nosebleeds, headaches, rashes kin explained. “This results in a direct concerned I became,” said Barkin, who and fatigue, the relationship between the negative impact to our drinking water Too Good To Be True? has testified before the Marcellus Shale complaints and drilling are sometimes but there is a lot of money involved Barkin says she’s in favor of low-cost, not immediately recognized or are dis- which is trumping the public good.” clean energy and a robust economy, but missed,” she said. Although earlier this year the feels the industry needs to be regulated Barkin says the drilling causes air state’s Department of Environmental and health factors need to be fully pollution and the “fracking” process, Protection (DEP) requested that drill- investigated. which injects water, sand and toxic ing companies stop sending residual “I don’t think there has been an chemicals into wells to allow the capture waste to municipal treatment plants, the adequate examination of the cost/benefit PIPER of natural gas, can result in water con- Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority of the drilling in terms of the total picture. 12/11 Issue tamination. A recent study by the EPA continues to find increasing bromide The industry is spending a lot of money P UBL ish ER found the presence of a cancer-causing levels in the Allegheny River as well. on a marketing campaign that presents Teresa Thomas compound used in fracking in the drilling as the answer to our dependence E D ito R M ANA gi N G E D ito R Wyoming aquifer in an area where a lot Low-lying Ozone on foreign oil, low unemployment, terror- Bruce Gerson Heidi Opdyke of drilling has occurred. Air pollution is another major concern. ism and other economic woes. Concerns W R it ER S Tiffany Benson Abby Simmons She also sights problems with the “Diesel engines run 24/7 while about negative impacts are minimized or Bruce Gerson Byron Spice water in Dimock, Pa., in Susquehanna they are fracking, there is evaporation dismissed, ” she said.