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Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences  ›  News  ›  News Stories  ›  2015  ›  April
Wednesday, April 29, 2015

IS Conference Room Dedicated to Archit Kumar (DC’12) and Family

To recognize Archit Kumar and his family's endowment and generous gift to the Information Systems (IS) Program, Porter Hall 222 has been renamed the Kumar Conference Room."We are truly grateful for this support," said Randy Weinberg, director of the program. "The funds will be used basically exclusively to enhance undergraduate educational opportunities for individual research, participation in the larger IS community and for service learning experience abroad."
Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Distinguished Teaching Award Goes To Yasufumi Iwasaki

Two adjectives frequently used to describe Yasufumi Iwasaki are tirelessly committed and generous.For Iwasaki's extraordinary dedication to his students and his impact as a teacher, advisor, mentor and curriculum developer, he has won the 2014-15 Elliott Dunlap Smith Award for Distinguished Teaching and Educational Service in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Marlene Behrmann Elected To National Academy of Sciences

Behrmann, the George A. and Helen Dunham Cowan Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience and CMU co-director of the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC), has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). She is the first female scientist from CMU to be elected to the NAS.Behrmann joined the CMU faculty in 1993 and is widely considered to be one of the foremost experts in the cognitive neuroscience of visual perception. Her research combines behavioral investigations and brain imaging techniques with both normal and impaired individuals to identify the functional architecture of the human brain that enables our visual experiences.
Big Data, Humanities & the Social Sciences
Monday, April 27, 2015

Big Data, Humanities & the Social Sciences

Katie Bergman-Bock (DC'09, HNZ'10) and Mario Nuñez (DC'10) both credit their experience in classes at Carnegie Mellon University with their jobs today in the Big Data field. Bergman-Bock, a senior consultant at Deloitte, and Nuñez, a senior data scientist at Glassdoor, praise CMU's emphasis on quantitative skills, statistical rigor, and structured curriculum for giving them the skills they needed to rise in their job market.
Passion for Teaching
Monday, April 27, 2015

Passion for Teaching

Marie Avilez did not realize how spending one semester abroad two years ago would influence the trajectory of her future plans.It was during CMU's first Social Change Semester that Avilez discovered her passion: teaching. Now, to recognize her academic distinction, demonstrated accomplishment and potential as a rising educator, she is the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences' 2015 recipient of the Gretchen Lankford Prize.
Born to Teach
Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Born to Teach

Dan Walter did not always plan on a career as a teacher. But, when he taught as an undergraduate German major at Dickinson College, he fell in love with it.Fast-forward to just a few years later, and Walter is not only teaching, but he is winning awards for it. Walter is the 2015 recipient of the Dietrich College's Graduate Student Teaching Award.
Revisiting Geoffrey Chaucer During National Poetry Month
Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Revisiting Geoffrey Chaucer During National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month is the perfect opportunity to revisit Geoffrey Chaucer - the father of English literature who is also considered to be one of the greatest poets of the Middle Ages - and one of his most significant poems - the Prologue to the "Canterbury Tales."
Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Taps CMU Statistician For Leadership Role
Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Large Synoptic Survey Telescope Taps CMU Statistician For Leadership Role

Starting in 2022, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will digitally image the sky every night for a decade. The massive camera will gather roughly 30 terabytes - or 30,000 gigabytes - each night, creating "big data" for astronomy like never before.To help prepare for the data challenges, Carnegie Mellon's Chad Schafer has been elected co-chair of the LSST Informatics and Statistics Science Collaboration.
Eighteen Dietrich College Students Inducted Into Phi Kappa Phi
Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Eighteen Dietrich College Students Inducted Into Phi Kappa Phi

Starting in 2022, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will digitally image the sky every night for a decade. The massive camera will gather roughly 30 terabytes - or 30,000 gigabytes - each night, creating "big data" for astronomy like never before.To help prepare for the data challenges, Carnegie Mellon's Chad Schafer has been elected co-chair of the LSST Informatics and Statistics Science Collaboration.
“The Myth of Seneca Falls” Named 2015 Most Original Book in U.S. Women’s History
Monday, April 20, 2015

“The Myth of Seneca Falls” Named 2015 Most Original Book in U.S. Women’s History

History Professor Lisa Tetrault's book has won the Organization of American Historians' (OAH) inaugural Mary Jurich Nickliss Prize in U.S. Women's History.The award is given for the previous calendar year's most original book - one that is path-breaking work or challenges and changes widely accepted scholarly interpretations in the field.
Carnegie Mellon Scientists Appear in “Fastball”
Monday, April 20, 2015

Carnegie Mellon Scientists Appear in “Fastball”

Psychology Professors Michael J. Tarr and Timothy Verstynen are making their silver screen debut in Fastball, a baseball documentary produced by CMU Trustee Thomas Tull and directed by eight-time Emmy winner Jonathan Hock. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.In the film, Tarr and Verstynen discuss the brain's cognitive processes involved in hitting a fastball.
New Grant Supports Simon Initiative Activities
Monday, April 20, 2015

New Grant Supports Simon Initiative Activities

The Carnegie Corporation of New York has awarded Carnegie Mellon University a $1 million, two-year grant, to demonstrate and help promote the use of technology-enhanced learning techniques in higher education.The grant - Carnegie Corporation's largest ever to CMU - will allow the university to better understand and develop strategies to overcome the roadblocks to using technology-enhanced learning (TEL) resources.
Eight Juniors Named Dietrich College Honors Fellows
Friday, April 17, 2015

Eight Juniors Named Dietrich College Honors Fellows

Eight juniors have been selected to be 2015-16 Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences Honors Fellows. The Honors Fellowship Program is part of the college's Senior Honors Program and is designed to give students a head start on their thesis development.
Sending a Message to the Future
Monday, April 13, 2015

Sending a Message to the Future

If you were to leave a message for someone in the far distant future about what you think is important about Earth, what would your message say? How would you communicate a story about our world to future Earthlings, or even to extraterrestrial intelligences?William Alba has been pondering these questions for years, and he's devised a practical plan to create such a message and put it on the moon.
Students: Gain An Early Edge in Research
Monday, April 13, 2015

Students: Gain An Early Edge in Research

When it comes to preparing its students for the future, few universities can match the opportunities that Carnegie Mellon University offers its undergraduates for research and training. Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences undergraduate students are actively engaged in groundbreaking research. A great way for freshman and sophomores to get real research experience is through the Dietrich College's Research Training Program.
Scientists Question Representation of Women in International Journal
Friday, April 10, 2015

Scientists Question Representation of Women in International Journal

Three leading cognitive scientists from the Dietrich College are questioning the gender representation of invited contributors in the special February 2015 issue, "The Changing Face of Cognition," published by the international journal Cognition.Cognition, a highly regarded scientific journal, publishes theoretical and experimental papers on the study of the mind - a topic that has been a research strength of CMU for decades and that is receiving intense focus through the federal government's BRAIN Initiative. In an opinion piece, Roberta Klatzky, Lori Holt and Marlene Behrmann write that they were "struck by the fact that among the 19 authors listed for the 12 articles, only one female author was present."
Dietrich College Students Shine at Putnam Mathematics Competition
Tuesday, April 07, 2015

Dietrich College Students Shine at Putnam Mathematics Competition

CMU placed fifth in the Mathematical Association of America's 75th William Lowell Putnam Competition, the premier mathematics contest for undergraduate students. The fifth-place ranking reflects the scores of the three students selected to be on the Carnegie Mellon team, including Dietrich College's Linus Hamilton.Additionally, Carnegie Mellon had 55 students who scored among the top 507, the second most of any university. Seven of those students are from the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences or the college's affiliated Science and Humanities Scholars Program.
CMU To Create New Institute for Politics and Strategy
Thursday, April 02, 2015

CMU To Create New Institute for Politics and Strategy

The Dietrich College will open a new Institute for Politics and Strategy (IPS), effective July 1. Under the direction of Kiron K. Skinner, the IPS will serve as a center for research, undergraduate and graduate education, and university-wide initiatives in the fields of political science, international relations, national security policy and grand strategy.
Autism: Making Progress
Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Autism: Making Progress

According to a 2014 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report, autism - a complex developmental disease - will affect one out of every 68 children born in the United States. The lifetime cost to care for a child with autism is estimated to be as great as $2.4 million.But, while no single cause or cure has yet to be found, there is optimism as researchers - including several at Carnegie Mellon University - are making significant progress with groundbreaking discoveries that are being highlighted this April during National Autism Awareness Month.
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