piper2/11 Issue

2 Q&A w i t h A d r i e n T r e u i l l e O n E t e RNA: A G a m e S c o r e d B y N at u r e Fitting Fitness In 3 P ay i n g I t F o r wa r d : A l u m n i N a m e H i s t o r y F e l l o w s h i p i n T a r r ’ s H o n o r

4 CMU P o l i c e E a r n R e - a c c r e d i tat i o n

12 R e s e a r c h e r s , W at so n F e at u r e d o n NOVA

Reefbot Lets Kids Explore Giant Aquarium CMU Technology Eventually Could Be Used To Study Deep Coral Reefs

n Byron Spice The two-story Open Oceans tank at the Zoo & PPG Aquarium contains

100,000 gallons of salt water, 30 species y ken andreyo b of sea life and one submersible robot, or

Reefbot, named CLEO. Photo Young visitors to the exhibit use a control station to remotely pilot CLEO N i s h a S h u k l a , a s y s t e m s s c i e n t i s t f o r t h e I n s t i t u t e f o r C o m p l e x E n g i n e e r e d S y s t e m s , i s o n e o f around the tank and use its high-definition t h e m a n y f a c u l t y a n d s t a f f w h o p a r t i c i p a t e i n g r o u p f i t n e s s c l a s s e s o f f e r e d b y t h e D e p a r t m e n t o f video camera to track fish and snap photos. A t h l e t i c s . A b o v e , S h u k l a s t r i k e s a W a r r i o r I I p o s e i n a n a f t e r n o o n y o g a c l a s s . R e a d m o r e a b o u t By comparing the images from CLEO h o w p e o p l e a r e e x e r c i s i n g h e a l t h i e r o p t i o n s o n p a g e 1 0 . with reference photos, visitors can identify the type of fish. In the process, the young explorers are helping researchers at the Robotics Institute develop software that Interactions a New Focus of Diversity Initiative might someday be used by scientists to n Bruce Gerson — President Cohon writes that “a “It is taking the time to learn and un- automatically detect, classify and count meaningful engagement goes beyond derstand, to invest a little of yourself, in fish in natural habitats. Let the diverse converse. a quick greeting, but rather, it is a order to grow as a person,” Cohon says. Reefbot is a joint project of the zoo While efforts are still under way conversation with someone from a dif- In early December 2010, the DAC and the Robotics Institute, with funding to increase minority representation ferent country, culture, race, ethnicity, hosted a retreat to discuss how to create through Spark, a program of The Sprout among students, faculty and staff and religion, gender, etc., where you learn and support meaningful interaction, pri- Fund, a nonprofit organization that sup- to promote diversity in all respects, a something you didn’t know, maybe marily among the undergraduate student ports innovative ideas and grassroots com- new social focus has emerged to en- question your own long-held beliefs population. The retreat was attended by munity projects in Pittsburgh. gage each other in meaningful ways. or understanding about a culture or 80 individuals, including deans, faculty, Ashley Kidd, an aquarist at the zoo, The “Guiding Principle for University religion. C o n t i n u e d o n p a g e s e v e n developed the idea and Justine Kasznica, Culture,” authored last year by the a local business consultant for high-tech Diversity Advisory Council (DAC), start-ups, managed the project. David aims to foster opportunities for inter- Wettergreen, associate research professor action. of robotics, oversaw the project at the “It’s good to be diverse,” said Robotics Institute, where Ph.D. students CMU President Jared L. Cohon in his Mark Desnoyer, Michael Furlong and annual State of Diversity address on Scott Moreland and senior research Martin Luther King Jr. Day, “but we engineer John Thornton built the robot also need meaningful engagements.” and developed the software. In the DAC’s 2011 Annual Report — accessible online at

C o n t i n u e d o n p a g e f i v e www.cmu.edu/diversity-guide/ O n e Q&A With Adrien Treuille On EteRNA: A Game Scored By Nature

n Byron S