News 2018

April 2018

Snakebot Named Ground Rescue Robot of the Year

Byron Spice

The Robotics Institute’s multi-jointed Snakebot robot, which searched for earthquake survivors in Mexico City last fall, has been named Ground Rescue Robot of the Year by the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR).CRASAR, an independent, not-for-profit research group, presented its first-ever Disaster Robotics Awards on April 14 as part of National Robotics Week.Howie Choset, professor of robotics, and systems scientist Matt Travers have been studying potential use of a snake-like robot for disaster search-and-rescue for years in CMU’s Biorobotics Lab. The robot can propel itself into the smallest of spaces, allowing rescuers to search for signs of life where dogs and people cannot reach, CRASAR noted in its award announcement.Travers led a small team to Mexico City last fall to search for survivors with Snakebot – its first use during the response phase of an actual disaster. The robot discovered no survivors in the collapsed apartment building where it was deployed.''Being asked to go down to Mexico City to help in the response was a really amazing experience, albeit under less than ideal circumstances,'' Travers said. ''Putting boots on the ground, even if only for a few days, showed us not only what our robot could and could not do, but allowed us to interact with first responders and to experience their world.  The insight these interactions afforded us will drive how we use technology, including those under development, to better help people in need.''In addition to Snakebot, CRASAR recognized DJI Mavic Pro, a drone that flew 78 flights in response to Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Texas, and 247 flights following Hurricane Irma in Florida, as its Aerial Rescue Robot of the Year and Hydronalix EMILY, a surfboard-size robot used by lifeguards, as its Marine Rescue Robot of the Year.''These robots enable life-saving decision making for responders and emergency managers,'' said Robin Murphy, director of CRASAR and a professor of computer science and engineering at Texas A&M University. ''Rescue decisions and critical infrastructure decisions during that response phase are made very rapidly based on the best available information at the time and these robots, well-deployed with the right teams of operators and experts, are getting key information to decision makers so they can save lives and efficiently manage risk.''''Making robots work is hard,'' Choset said. ''Making them relevant to rescue workers may be harder.'' 

Bento Browser Makes It Easier To Search On Mobile Devices

Byron Spice

Searches involving multiple websites can quickly get confusing, particularly when performed on a mobile device with a small screen. A new web browser developed at Carnegie Mellon University now brings order to complex searches in a way not possible with conventional tabbed browsing.The Bento browser, inspired by compartmentalized bento lunch boxes popular in Japan, stores each search session as a project workspace that keeps track of the most interesting or relevant parts of visited web pages. It’s not necessary for a user to keep every site open to avoid losing information.''With Bento, we’re structuring the entire experience through these projects,'' said Aniket Kittur, associate professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII). The projects are stored for later use, can be handed off to others, or can be moved to different devices. ''This is a new way to browse that eliminates the tab overload that limits the usefulness of conventional browsers.''Someone planning a trip to Alaska with a conventional browser, for instance, might create multiple tabs for each location or point of interest, as well as additional tabs for hotels, restaurants and activities. With Bento, users can identify pages they found useful, trash unhelpful pages and keep track of what they have read on each page. Bento also bundles the search result pages into task cards, such as accommodations, day trips, transportation, etc. The project could be shared with other people planning their own trips.Kittur’s research team will present a report on their mobile web browser at CHI 2018, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April 21-26 in Montreal, Canada. A research version of the Bento Browser for iPhones is available for download from the App Store.Mobile devices now initiate more web searches than do desktop computers. Yet the limitations of conventional browsers become more acute on mobile devices. Not only is screen size limited, but mobile users are more often interrupted and distracted and have more difficulty saving and organizing information, said Nathan Hahn, a Ph.D. student in HCII.In user studies that compared Bento with the Safari browser, users said they preferred Bento in cases where they wanted to continue a search later and wanted to pick up where they left off. They also said Bento kept their searches better organized. Though most participants found it easier to learn how to use Safari, they found Bento more useful for finding pages and believed that Bento made their mobile searches more effective.One goal was to design Bento to work in a way that complements the way the mind works.''If we get a lot of people using it, Bento could serve as a microscope to study how people make sense of information,'' Kittur said, noting people who use the research version are asked to consent to their searches becoming part of the research data. ''This might lead to a new type of artificial intelligence,'' he added.Bento Browser is now a search app for iPhones, but its capabilities for organizing searches and helping people resume searches also could benefit people using desktop computers. To accommodate those users, Kittur’s team is now preparing a Bento plug-in for the Chrome browser.Joseph Chee Chang, a Ph.D. student in CMU’s Language Technologies Institute, also is part of the Bento team and a co-author of the CHI paper. More information is available at https://bentobrowser.com/.            ###

Screen Reader Plus Keyboard Helps Blind, Low-Vision Users Browse Modern Web Pages

Aisha Rashid (DC 2019)

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Washington have engineered a navigation tool to help people who are blind or have impaired vision navigate web pages that require clicking on photos, maps or nested lists.The new tool, the Spatial Recognition Interaction Technique (SPRITE), uses the keyboard in conjunction with current screen-reading technology to help users navigate through a website."We're not trying to replace screen readers, or the things that they do really well," said Jennifer Mankoff, a faculty member in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute who last year joined the University of Washington. "But tables are one place that it's possible to do better."With SPRITE, users can access website features that may be inaccessible or nearly so using only a screen-reader. For instance, users can now use number keys to navigate through a menu, and can double-click to open a submenu or select items from it.Mankoff, HCII Ph.D. students Rushil Khurana and Elliot Lockerman, and CMU alumnus Duncan McIsaac are developing this tool as one of many resources to help visually impaired users navigate through tasks on a two-dimensional screen.The team compared how blind/low-vision users in their study completed web-browsing tasks using their favorite screen reader technology alone and with SPRITE. Three times as many participants completed the tasks within the time limit using SPRITE than without it."This study demonstrates that we can use the keyboard to bring tangible, structured information back, and the benefits are enormous," Mankoff said. "We hope to deploy something that will make a difference in people's lives."The team will present their findings April 25 at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2018) in Montreal.

Cheap 3-D Printer Can Produce Self-Folding Materials

Byron Spice

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used an inexpensive 3-D printer to produce flat plastic items that, when heated, fold themselves into predetermined shapes, such as a rose, boat or even a bunny.Lining Yao, assistant professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute and director of the Morphing Matter Lab, said these self-folding plastic objects represent a first step toward products such as flat-pack furniture that assume their final shapes with the help of a heat gun. Emergency shelters also might be shipped flat and folded into shape under the warmth of the sun.Self-folding materials are quicker and cheaper to produce than solid 3-D objects, making it possible to replace noncritical parts or produce prototypes using structures that approximate the solid objects. Molds for boat hulls and other fiberglass products might be inexpensively produced using these materials.Yao will present her group's research on this method, which she calls Thermorph, at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2018), April 21–26 in Montreal.Other researchers have explored self-folding materials, but typically have used exotic materials or depended on sophisticated processing techniques not widely available. Yao and her research team were able to create self-folding structures by using the least expensive type of 3-D printer — an FDM printer — and by taking advantage of warpage, a common problem with these printers."We wanted to see how self-assembly could be made more democratic — accessible to many users," Yao said.FDM printers work by laying down a continuous filament of melted thermoplastic. These materials contain residual stress and, as the material cools and the stress is relieved, the thermoplastic tends to contract. This can result in warped edges and surfaces."People hate warpage," Yao said. "But we've taken this disadvantage and turned it to our advantage."To create self-folding objects, she and her team precisely control this process by varying the speed at which thermoplastic material is deposited and by combining warp-prone materials with rubber-like materials that resist contracture.The objects emerge from the 3-D printer as flat, hard plastic. When the plastic is placed in water hot enough to turn it soft and rubbery — but not hot enough to melt it — the folding process is triggered.Though they used a 3-D printer with standard hardware, the researchers replaced the machine's open source software with their own code that automatically calculates the print speed and patterns necessary to achieve particular folding angles."The software is based on new curve-folding theory representing banding motions of curved area. The software based on this theory can compile any arbitrary 3-D mesh shape to an associated thermoplastic sheet in a few seconds without human intervention," said Byoungkwon An, a research affiliate in HCII."It's hard to imagine this being done manually," Yao said.Though these early examples are at a desktop scale, making larger self-folding objects appears feasible."We believe the general algorithm and existing material systems should enable us to eventually make large, strong self-folding objects, such as chairs, boats or even satellites," said Jianzhe Gu, HCII research intern.An, Gu and Ye Tao of Yao's research group are lead authors of the research paper, collaborating with other researchers from CMU, Zhejiang University, Syracuse University, the University of Aizu and TU Wien.

Carley Honored With USGIF Academic Achievement Award

Josh Quicksall

Kathleen M. Carley, director of the Center for Computational Analysis of Social and Organizational Systems (CASOS) in the School of Computer Science's Institute for Software Research, received the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation's (USGIF) Academic Achievement Award at the organization's annual symposium this week in Tampa, Fla.The USGIF, which seeks to advance the geospatial intelligence tradecraft as it relates to national security, cited Carley's development of Dynamic Network Analysis (DNA) theory, her work on social network analysis techniques, and her development of the geospatial dynamic social network analysis and visualization tool ORA as watershed contributions to the field."The theory of dynamic network analysis developed by Professor Kathleen Carley has enabled the development of a whole generation of geospatial network analysis and visualization tools," the USGIF said in their award announcement."By supporting ORA and by training a vast number of researchers in the use of ORA, Carley has greatly facilitated this field. ORA allows students and researchers to explore multidimensional analysis and visualization techniques on many classes of data without having to write code."ORA is used worldwide for such tasks as assessing disaster response, for gang and drug interdiction, and by NATO for social media analytics.A fellow of the IEEE, Carley has received the Allen Newell Award for Research Excellence, the American Sociological Association (ASA) Lifetime Achievement Award and the International Network for Social Network Analysis' (INSNA) 2011 Simmel Award. She has also served as president of the North American Association for Computational and Organizational Simulation and of the Mathematical Sociology Section of the American Sociological Association.

Paint Job Transforms Walls Into Sensors, Interactive Surfaces

Byron Spice

Walls are what they are — big, dull dividers. With a few applications of conductive paint and some electronics, however, walls can become smart infrastructure that sense human touch, and detect things like gestures and when appliances are used.Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and Disney Research found that they could transform dumb walls into smart walls at relatively low cost — about $20 per square meter —using simple tools and techniques, such as a paint roller.These new capabilities might enable users to place or move light switches or other controls anywhere on a wall that's most convenient, or to control videogames by using gestures. By monitoring activity in the room, this system could adjust light levels when a TV is turned on or alert a user in another location when a laundry machine or electric kettle turns off."Walls are usually the largest surface area in a room, yet we don't make much use of them other than to separate spaces, and perhaps hold up pictures and shelves," said Chris Harrison, assistant professor in CMU's Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII). "As the internet of things and ubiquitous computing become reality, it is tempting to think that walls can become active parts of our living and work environments."Yang Zhang, a Ph.D. student in the HCII, will present a research paper on this sensing approach, called Wall++, at CHI 2018, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, April 21–26 in Montreal.The researchers found that they could use conductive paint to create electrodes across the surface of a wall, enabling it to act both as a touchpad to track users' touch and an electromagnetic sensor to detect and track electrical devices and appliances."Walls are large, so we knew that whatever technique we invented for smart walls would have to be low cost," Zhang said. He and his colleagues thus dispensed with expensive paints, such as those containing silver, and picked a water-based paint containing nickel.They also wanted to make it easy to apply the special coating with simple tools and without special skills. Using painter's tape, they found they could create a cross-hatched pattern on a wall to create a grid of diamonds, which testing showed was the most effective electrode pattern. After applying two coats of conductive paint with a roller, they removed the tape and connected the electrodes. They then finished the wall with a top coat of standard latex paint to improve durability and hide the electrodes.The electrode wall can operate in two modes — capacitive sensing and electromagnetic (EM) sensing. In capacitive sensing, the wall functions like any other capacitive touchpad: when a person touches the wall, the touch distorts the wall's electrostatic field at that point. In EM sensing mode, the electrode can detect the distinctive electromagnetic signatures of electrical or electronic devices, enabling the system to identify the devices and their locations.Similarly, if a person is wearing a device that emits an EM signature, the system can track the location of that person, Zhang said.Wall++ hasn't been optimized for energy consumption, Zhang said, but he estimated the wall-sized electrodes consume about as much power as a standard touch screen.In addition to Zhang and Harrison, the research team included HCII Professor Scott Hudson, and Alanson Sample and Chouchang (Jack) Yang of Disney Research.

Satellite Views Show Humans Rapidly Changing the Planet

Byron Spice

 A new website, EarthTime, draws on the technical expertise of Carnegie Mellon University and the vast data sets and proficiency of the World Economic Forum to provide graphic evidence of how humans are rapidly changing the planet. Launching publicly on Earth Day, April 22, EarthTime.org enables users to view the entire world, or focus in on just a corner of it, to visualize the effects over time of air pollution, trade, deforestation, economic inequality and other powerful forces. ''EarthTime is a means to tell stories'' said Illah Nourbakhsh, a CMU professor of robotics whose lab has spent more than a decade developing EarthTime’s technology. ''The impact of humanity can be seen globally and in individual communities — and at every scale in between. ''You really can’t understand climate change, migration or major social and political trends without examining their connections across time, across space and between each other'' added Nourbakhsh, who serves as a WEF Global Steward. ''EarthTime enables you to do that.'' Since 2015, EarthTime has been a staple at the WEF’s annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland, and Dalian, China, helping businesses and policymakers to better explore and explain some of the most pressing and contentious issues of the day. Now it is available to everyone. The goal is to empower all people to make informed decisions about the lives they live and how they impact the planet. The platform developed by Nourbakhsh, commercialization specialist Randy Sargent and other researchers at Carnegie Mellon's CREATE Lab in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. It is constantly growing. It now draws on the World Economic Forum’s network of experts and more than 300 free, open-source geospatial data sets — an unprecedented number for data visualizations of this kind. Sources include the World Bank, the U.N. Refugee Agency, NASA, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the World Wildlife Fund, to name a few. Visitors to the site can use its global maps and images from space to explore a wide variety of phenomena on their own and create their own stories. Or, they can take advantage of some of the site’s existing stories on deforestation, glaciers, coral bleaching, renewables, city growth, urban fragility, sea level rise, fires at night, and surface water gains and losses. The EarthTime project is sponsored by foundations and corporations that wish to forge common ground between citizens, businesses and governments, including The Heinz Endowments, JPMorgan Chase and S&P Global.   

Satellite Views Show Humans Rapidly Changing the Planet

Byron Spice

 A new website, EarthTime, draws on the technical expertise of Carnegie Mellon University and the vast data sets and proficiency of the World Economic Forum to provide graphic evidence of how humans are rapidly changing the planet. Launching publicly on Earth Day, April 22, EarthTime.org enables users to view the entire world, or focus in on just a corner of it, to visualize the effects over time of air pollution, trade, deforestation, economic inequality and other powerful forces. ''EarthTime is a means to tell stories'' said Illah Nourbakhsh, a CMU professor of robotics whose lab has spent more than a decade developing EarthTime’s technology. ''The impact of humanity can be seen globally and in individual communities — and at every scale in between. ''You really can’t understand climate change, migration or major social and political trends without examining their connections across time, across space and between each other'' added Nourbakhsh, who serves as a WEF Global Steward. ''EarthTime enables you to do that.'' Since 2015, EarthTime has been a staple at the WEF’s annual meetings in Davos, Switzerland, and Dalian, China, helping businesses and policymakers to better explore and explain some of the most pressing and contentious issues of the day. Now it is available to everyone. The goal is to empower all people to make informed decisions about the lives they live and how they impact the planet. The platform developed by Nourbakhsh, commercialization specialist Randy Sargent and other researchers at Carnegie Mellon's CREATE Lab in collaboration with the World Economic Forum. It is constantly growing. It now draws on the World Economic Forum’s network of experts and more than 300 free, open-source geospatial data sets — an unprecedented number for data visualizations of this kind. Sources include the World Bank, the U.N. Refugee Agency, NASA, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the International Renewable Energy Agency and the World Wildlife Fund, to name a few. Visitors to the site can use its global maps and images from space to explore a wide variety of phenomena on their own and create their own stories. Or, they can take advantage of some of the site’s existing stories on deforestation, glaciers, coral bleaching, renewables, city growth, urban fragility, sea level rise, fires at night, and surface water gains and losses. The EarthTime project is sponsored by foundations and corporations that wish to forge common ground between citizens, businesses and governments, including The Heinz Endowments, JPMorgan Chase and S&P Global.   

Understanding The Cybersecurity Grapevine

Daniel Tkacik

When people get word of an online data breach, men are far more likely to share that news with their colleagues and women are much more likely to share it with family and significant others, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University report. And people who are relatively well-informed about security and privacy risks are more likely to share the news than are people who are less-informed. These findings, to be presented next week at CHI 2018, the Conference on Human Factors in Computing, in Montreal, Canada, come from a two-year study of almost 2,000 people, who were asked whether they had heard about or shared information following events such as the Panama Papers leak or the Yahoo! email hack. ''One obvious way of disseminating cybersecurity news and best practices is through people’s social networks,'' said Jason Hong, associate professor in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII) and a member of CMU’s CyLab Security and Privacy Institute. ''Security is sort of a solo sport – you only look out for yourself,'' said lead author Sauvik Das, a Ph.D. alumnus of HCII, now an assistant professor of interactive computing at Georgia Tech. ''But our findings suggest that it may be time to make it more of a team sport.'' Four types of news events came up over these two years: financial data breaches, high-sensitivity data breaches, corporate data breaches, and politicized or activist cybersecurity. Of those, news about financial data breaches was the most likely type to be shared. ''If you know some of your friends use a certain bank, and then you see news involving a financial data breach with that bank, you’ll probably share it with them,'' Hong said. The study is an initial step to improve understanding of how cybersecurity news and information is disseminated within the general population. Once you have a robust understanding of that, Hong explained, you can begin to optimize ways to increase awareness and improve security. ''If you look at all these data breaches, they tend to be fairly basic things. You could have prevented this by using a better password or by using 2-factor authentication,'' Hong said. ''How do we get more of these best practices disseminated among the population so they’re more likely to be used?'' Other authors on the study included Social and Decision Sciences student Joanne Lo and HCII associate professor Laura Dabbish.  

Sony, Carnegie Mellon Sign Research Agreement on Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Byron Spice (CMU) and Lisa Gephardt (Sony)

The School of Computer Science has entered into an agreement with Sony Corporation through its U.S. subsidiary, Sony Corporation of America, to collaborate on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics research, the company announced today.Initial research and development efforts will focus on optimizing food preparation, cooking and delivery. This area of research and development was selected because the technology necessary for a robot to handle the complex and varied task of food preparation and delivery could be applied to a broader set of skills and industries. Applications could include those where machines must handle fragile and irregularly shaped materials and carry out complex household and small business tasks. Additionally, robots developed for food preparation and delivery must operate in small areas — an ability that could be valuable for many other industries.For this project, researchers will focus on defining the domain of food ordering, preparation and delivery. Initially, they will build upon existing manipulation robots and mobile robots, and will plan on developing new domain-specific robots for predefined food preparation items and for mobility in a limited confined space. Depending on the needs of the consumer, food offerings and preparation methods could be adjusted based on personal dietary restrictions and the availability of certain ingredients. Food could be delivered to the home or office, and dining tables could be set elegantly prior to food being served. In addition to this current project, Sony plans to continue supporting CMU's AI and robotics-related R&D efforts and startups through its Seed Acceleration Program (SAP), Sony's business incubation platform, as well as the Sony Innovation Fund, a corporate venture capital fund.This research will take place primarily at SCS, engaging a focused group of robotics, artificial intelligence and machine learning faculty members and students. For Sony, Hiroaki Kitano, corporate executive, will serve as project lead."Making and serving food is an immense challenge for automation, so we're excited about the types of machines and software that might emerge as we jointly explore a variety of approaches and solutions," said SCS Dean Andrew Moore. "Both Sony and CMU aim high, so we are confident this research will produce technologies that impact robotics across a broad number of applications.""This project has the potential to make the vast possibilities of AI and robotics more familiar and accessible to the general public," Kitano said. "Additionally, it could also assist those for whom daily tasks, such as food preparation, are challenging. I am very excited to be working with the talented scientists at CMU to make this vision a reality." 

Sara Kiesler Elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Byron Spice

Sara Kiesler, Hillman Chair Emerita of Computer Science and Human-Computer Interaction in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, has been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences — joining the world's most accomplished scholars, scientists, writers, artists and civic leaders.Kiesler has served as a program manager in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate of the National Science Foundation's Social and Economic Sciences Division since 2016.Her research has revolutionized the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). She has focused on many of computing's most significant social impacts, including open communication, information sharing and distributed collaboration. She also has brought concepts from social psychology and HCI to robotics, helping to create the new interdisciplinary field of human-robot interaction. She joins 212 other notables in the Academy's Class of 2018, including former President Barack Obama, journalist and social commentator Ta-Nehisi Coates, actor Tom Hanks, Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and computational linguist Julia Hirschberg. Twenty-two Carnegie Mellon University faculty members — including 11 from the School of Computer Science — have previously been elected to the 238-year-old Academy. The Class of 2018 will be inducted during a ceremony this October in Cambridge, Mass."This class of 2018 is a testament to the Academy's ability to both uphold our 238-year commitment to honor exceptional individuals and to recognize new expertise," said Nancy C. Andrews, chair of the Board of the American Academy." John Adams, James Bowdoin, and other founders did not imagine climatology, econometrics, gene regulation, nanostructures, or Netflix. They did, however, have a vision that the Academy would be dedicated to new knowledge — and these new members help us achieve that goal."Kiesler's previous awards include the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group in Computer-Human Interaction (SIGCHI), the International Communication Association Williams Prize, and the Joseph E. McGrath Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Study of Groups from the Interdisciplinary Network for Group Research (INGRoup).The American Academy is one of the country's oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers, convening leaders from the academic, business, and government sectors to respond to the challenges facing the nation and the world.

Procaccia Named 2018 Guggenheim Fellow

Aisha Rashid (DC 2019)

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation has named Associate Professor of Computer Science Ariel Procaccia a recipient of its 2018 Guggenheim Fellowship.The fellowship recognizes Procaccia for his research in artificial intelligence and algorithmic economics, specifically in algorithms for participatory democracy, and will support his work on mechanisms that would enable voters to participate in the process of allocating a city's budget. The prestigious award, currently in its 94th year, allows an exceptionally promising and diverse group of scholars, artists and scientists to further their research and contribute to their respective fields. This year, the institution recognized 175 fellows across 69 different academic institutions in the U.S. and Canada."It's exceptionally satisfying to name 175 new Guggenheim Fellows," said Edward Hirsch, president of the foundation. "These artists and writers, scholars and scientists, represent the best of the best. It's an honor to be able to support these individuals to do the work they were meant to do."Procaccia's contributions to artificial intelligence have been recognized with a number of past awards, including the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence's Computers and Thought Award. He also received the Sloan Research Fellowship in 2015.For more information, visit the Guggenheim Fellowship website.

SCS Junior Reflects on the CMU Experience

Aisha Rashid (DC 2019)

When School of Computer Science undergrad Tanvi Bajpai came to CMU from her competitive New Jersey high school, she knew she was going to be a small fish in a big pond. The intense curriculum and fast-paced culture can sometimes overwhelm incoming first-year students, and Tanvi was no stranger to that feeling. "Getting over the fear and being secure in your own intellect is difficult," she said, "but once you do, there's nothing that gets in the way of your ability to learn and flourish."While Bajpai says she hasn't gotten over that fear entirely, she's definitely learned a thing or two about managing stress, working hard and giving back to her academic community. Currently finishing her junior year, she's been nothing short of successful — from completing a summer internship with Microsoft to researching approximation algorithms and optimization with Ramamoorthi Ravi, the Andris A. Zoltners Professor of Business and Rohet Tolani Distinguished Professor in SCS and the Tepper School of Business.But with all that behind her, Bajpai says her most meaningful SCS experience is being a teaching assistant (TA). She aims to not only help students better understand complex computer science and mathematical concepts, but to further encourage them to thrive and mature in the large computer science ocean that once intimidated her."I was definitely supported in high school — I was always the kid who never understood material on the first go," Bajpai said. "I could never have material click immediately, but I had some fantastic teachers who sat down and worked with me, so it was nice coming into this school and seeing that there was already such a strong undergraduate TA culture."Bajpai has been a TA for 15-151: Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science and 21-128: Introduction to Logic and Proofs. As a head TA for 15-151— a position she'll continue next fall — Bajpai was surprised by how much she learned about teaching and the SCS undergraduate experience."I really didn't expect how close a TA staff could get to a large group of students," she said. "The students look up to you and care about your opinion. When a student tells you, 'I decided to pursue this subject because of your class or your recitation,' that's a very sobering experience. And for me, as a 19 or 20 year old, I just didn't expect it."Beyond that, Bajpai learned more about how much SCS values facilitating help between students and faculty. "Undergraduate TAs play the strongest role in creating a cycle of kids helping kids, and upperclassmen taking underclassmen under their wings," she said. "Our curriculum is challenging. We know it's hard. But we have a pack mentality, and along with a small class size, this outlook reduces the competition for jobs and facilitates the ability to help your peers."On a personal level, TAing has encouraged Bajpai to reflect on her own interests and career goals. "After a lot of discussions with professors, I'm fairly certain I'm applying to graduate schools," Bajpai said. "Two years ago, the game plan was to finish my undergrad, get a job and do that job for the rest of my life. But I'm realizing that I love teaching too much not to pursue it. When a student has an 'Aha!' moment in office hours and finally understands what I'm helping them with, it makes my entire week. Knowing I did something meaningful, even if it was just for one person, truly makes it for me."As she reflects on how much she has learned now as upperclassman, Bajpai offers some words of wisdom for the Class of 2022 — who are right now making their college decisions."Coming into a curriculum known to be very rigorous is stressful, but don't worry," she said. "If you got in, someone believed you were able to get through this curriculum. That being said, putting in as many hours as we SCS students do can be debilitating if you don't actually love it, so make sure this is exactly what you want to study. I know that's a lot to ask for an 18-year old, but just find something in this school that you love, and once you do, run with it."

Laput Wins 2018 Google Ph.D. Fellowship in Human Computer Interaction

Byron Spice

Google has named Gierad Laput, a doctoral student in the Human-Computer Interaction Institute, a 2018 Google Ph.D. Fellow in Human-Computer Interaction. Google's fellowship program recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students doing exceptional research in computer science and related disciplines throughout North America, Europe and the Middle East."We have given these students unique fellowships to acknowledge their contributions to their areas of specialty and provide funding for their education and research," Google said in a statement. "We look forward to working closely with them as they continue to become leaders in their respective fields."In addition to providing monetary support for education expenses, the fellowship matches each fellow with a Google research mentor. Laput is one of the 39 graduate students worldwide recognized as 2018 Google Ph.D. Fellows.Laput's research explores novel sensing for mobile and wearable computing, smart environments, and the internet of things. His work on novel sensing won Best Paper awards at ACM CHI and ACM UIST, and his work on EM-Sense won the prestigious Fast Company Innovation by Design Award. He is also editor-in-chief of XRDS, the Association for Computing Machinery's premiere magazine for students.Laput would like to thank his advisor, Chris Harrison; his lab mates in the Future Interfaces Group; and the students and faculty in the HCII for their guidance and support.

Lenore Blum Among 2018's "Women of Spirit"

Byron Spice

Lenore Blum, Distinguished Career Professor of Computer Science, was one of six women honored at the 2018 Women of Spirit Awards Gala April 5 at Carnegie Music Hall.Established by Carlow University in 1993, the Women of Spirit Awards recognize outstanding women who exemplify the university's mission of providing access to under-represented groups and closing educational, socioeconomic and leadership gaps, particularly those that disproportionately affect women. Blum has long been a champion of greater representation of women in computer science. She helped transform the culture of Carnegie Mellon, creating the Women @ SCS program to provide support for women in what was once a male-dominated computer science program. CMU's School of Computer Science has since become a leader in gender diversity, with the last two incoming undergraduate computer science classes comprising nearly half women.In addition to Blum, this year's honorees included Deborah Acklin, president and CEO of WQED; Diane Holder, UPMC executive vice president; Margaret Rosenzweig, associate professor of nursing at the University of Pittsburgh; Dr. Jeannette South-Paul, professor in the Pitt School of Medicine; and Teresa Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia.Proceeds from the gala support need-based scholarships to Carlow students and summer career exploration workshops for high school girls, with scholarships for those from underrepresented populations.

Nourbakhsh Receives K&L Gates Professorship

Byron Spice

Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics and director of the CREATE Lab, will be one of two recipients of new Carnegie Mellon University professorships created with funding from the K&L Gates Endowment for Ethics and Computational Technologies.Nourbakhsh will receive the inaugural K&L Gates Professorship in Ethics and Computational Technologies. Molly Wright Steenson, associate professor of design, will be the first recipient of the K&L Gates Career Development Professorship in Ethics and Computational Technologies.The professorships will enable CMU to continue its leadership in the ethical, social and policy issues that arise as artificial intelligence and other computing technologies increasingly reshape society and daily life.“We are pleased to honor Illah and Molly for their groundbreaking work at the intersection of technology and the human experience,” said CMU President Farnam Jahanian. “Their work helps put CMU at the center of some of the most pressing conversations facing society, now and in decades to come.”Nourbakhsh and Steensonwill be honored at the Carnegie Mellon University – K&L Gates Conference on Ethics and AI, to be held April 9–10. The conference, also supported by the K&L Gates Endowment for Ethics and Computational Technologies, will gather thought leaders from industry, academia, government and the media for panel discussions and lectures addressing issues of equity, trust, policy and governance, and agency and empowerment. Nourbakhsh and David Danks, head of CMU's Philosophy Department and the L.L. Thurstone Professor of Philosophy and Psychology, will co-chair the event.“K&L Gates is proud to support Illah and Molly in this notable recognition,” said James R. Segerdahl, global managing partner of K&L Gates. “They are outstanding individuals who exemplify the characteristics of the new CMU professorships.”Notable conference speakers include Eric Horvitz, technical fellow and director of Microsoft Research Labs, who will deliver the K&L Gates Distinguished Lecture; and Alexandra Chouldechova, assistant professor of statistics and public policy at CMU, who will speak on the “Equity of Access and Equity of Impact” panel.Illah Nourbakhsh, K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational TechnologiesNourbakhsh, a CMU faculty member since 1997, is director of the Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) Lab and associate director for robotics faculty in the School of Computer Science. His research projects explore community-based robotics, including educational and social robotics and ways to use robotic technology to empower individuals and communities. Under Nourbakhsh’s guidance, the CREATE Lab’s programs have already engaged more than 40,000 people globally. While on leave from Carnegie Mellon in 2004, he served as Robotics Group lead at the NASA/Ames Research Center. He is also a World Economic Forum Global Steward, a member of the Global Future Council on the Future of AI and Robotics, the IEEE Global Initiative for the Ethical Considerations in the Design of Autonomous Systems and the Global Innovation Council of the Varkey Foundation, and Senior Adviser to The Future Society at Harvard Kennedy School.

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