NEWS
& ANNOUNCEMENTS
New ICES Graduate Students
Do you have a new graduate student working on an ICES project this fall?
If so, please contact Tiffany Booth at tbooth@andrew.cmu.edu.
We are currently organizing our fall graduate student orientation and
we want to make sure we include all new students affiliated with ICES.
More information regarding the orientation will be made available in coming
weeks.
Ballista
OS Robustness Test Suite
On
May 30, 2001 the Ballista team released the initial version of the Ballista
OS Robustness Test Suite. The test suite provides an easy way for
non-specialists to test a POSIX operating system for robustness failures.
Specifically, the test suite characterizes the exception handling effectiveness
of 250 POSIX functions with a single command.
Incorporated in this release are several enhancements over the original Ballista testing service:
- Stand-alone: the test suite runs entirely on the user's computer, and no longer requires an Internet connection to the web server at Carnegie Mellon.
- Open Source: the test suite code is released under GNU's General Public License to improve accessibility.
- Datatypes: the test cases have been significantly expanded and perform more thorough testing.
- Program Generation: stand-alone code to reproduce failures can be generated on a function basis as well as per failure.
- Results: improved off-the-shelf analysis and reporting of results.
- Ease of Use: executes via a single command and is designed to require minimal user interaction.
- Database of Results: a database of customer-supplied results is available for benchmarking.
The
Ballista OS Robustness Test Suite can be accessed at
http://ballista.ece.cmu.edu/ostest
CASOS
2001 Summer Institute a Success
During the week of July 9-14, 2001, thirty students from all over
the world came together to participate in an intense hands-on introduction
to computational social and organizational science at Carnegie Mellon's
2nd annual CASOS Summer Institute. Through out the week, students took
part in lectures and labs to learn how to design, analyze, and validate
computational models of complex social and organizational systems. Special
attention was given to state of the art computer modeling tools, social
network analysis techniques, and optimization techniques. A wide range
of students attended the program including Ph.D. candidates, faculty from
various universities and industry and government employees.
The following faculty participated in the program: Richard Burton (Duke University - Fuqua Business School), Kathleen Carley (CMU - SDS, Heinz, EPP), Tsuhan Chen (CMU - ECE), Michael Prietula (Emory University), Doug Fridsma (University of Pittsburgh), David Krackhardt (CMU - Heinz), and Joel Levine (Dartmouth University). Support for the Summer Institute was provided in part by the National Science Foundation Integrated Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program and the CASOS Advisory Board. The College of Engineering, Heinz School, and ICES at Carnegie Mellon provided infrastructure support as well.
The
idea to create the Summer Institute came from a brainstorming session
between Richard Burton, Michael Cohen, Kathleen Carley, and Raymond Levitt.
As noted by Carley, "We saw the need for an inter-university venue
for teaching computational modeling to social and organizational scientists.
Each of us had a number of interested students, but there was no integrated
curriculum, no textbooks, and no teaching materials on which we could
collectively draw. We were all re-inventing the wheel. This institute
has pushed us over this hurdle and created a venue for giving people insight
into the scope, depth, and promise of the field."
View
From Above
Thanks to Jeff Hansen (research faculty, ICES), we can now get
a "bird's eye view"of Carnegie Mellon's campus. Jeff's not only
an engineer but also a licensed pilot. As can be seen in the following
snapshot, Jeff combines his love for flying and photography on many of
his trips.
Click
to enlarge
POLICIES
Conference Room 1202: New Deadbolt Lock
Due to the need for increased security, a deadbolt lock has been installed
on the door to the main conference room, 1202 HbH. The room will be accessible
between the hours of 9:00a.m. and 5:00p.m., Monday through Friday by using
the master key that all ICES community members were previously issued.
After regular office hours and on weekends, conference room 1202 will
only be accessible to faculty and staff who have the new deadbolt key.
No new locks will be installed on the doors to conference rooms 2222 &
2224, and accessibility to those rooms will remain the same. Although
this new policy has been imposed, special after-hour meeting situations
will be accommodated. For more information, or to obtain a new 1202 deadbolt
key, please contact Christina Cowan at ccowan@andrew.cmu.edu.
HONORS
& AWARDS
Rhonda
Moyer, ICES Business Manager
Rhonda Moyer received a masters degree in Public Management from Carnegie
Mellon's Heinz School in May 2001.
Asim
Smailagic, ICES Research Faculty
Asim Smailagic was invited to attend Microsoft's Top US Faculty Summit
from July 22-24 in Redmond, Washington. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates
and Senior Vice President Rick Rashid will be attending the summit and
are scheduled to greet the participants.
In
The Spotlight
Cem
Unsal
click for
group photo
Cem Unsal has been a project scientist with ICES since 1998. Prior to
joining the institute, Cem worked elsewhere on campus with robotics and
he received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. His research interests
include controls and distributed systems, constructing small robots and
working on Cyberscout and PITA projects.
Sadly,
Cem resigned and left Carnegie Mellon on July 15, 2001 to start a new
job at Atoga Systems, Inc. in Freemont, California. He will be working
on client-server architectures for network management of fiber optic routers
six days a week, and plans to dedicate the remaining day to robotics.
In his spare time, Cem likes to watch movies and play the guitar. Before
he left, Cem wanted to let the ICES community know that if anyone travels
to the Mountain View or Freemont area, they should contact him at cemu@atoga.com.
Daghan
Acay
Daghan Acay is a visiting student from Turkey. He joined ICES in July
2001 and will be here through October of this year. Before coming to Carnegie
Mellon, Daghan studied at Bhousporus University in Turkey where he earned
a bachelors degree in electrical and electronics engineering. Daghan is
currently involved in research on the I-CUBES project. He is very interested
in researching robotics and control engineering.
Daghan
became interested in visiting the university because of its top ranking
in robotics. In the future, he would like to obtain a graduate degree
from Carnegie Mellon. In his free time, he likes to listen to hard rock
and classical music and he also enjoys reading psychology and sociology
books. When Daghan returns to Turkey he plans to spend time in his hometown
of Istanbul with his mom and sister and he would like to work in industry.
Khaled
Al-Ajmi
Khaled
Al-Ajmi has been a graduate student with ICES since August 1999. Before
he started with ICES, Khaled was in Saudi Arabia working as a graduate
assistant at the University of Petroleum and Minerals. Currently Khaled
is working on research for the Composable Simulation project. His research
interests lie in the modeling and simulation of dynamic systems. Khaled
is presently working on his masters degree in electrical and computer
engineering.
He
will be leaving ICES in mid-September to start a new job with Schlumberger
as an oil field engineer in New Orleans. In his free time Khaled enjoys
skating and running. Khaled would like to say, "Thank you everybody
at ICES for making my stay at CMU fruitful and comfortable."
Upcoming
Events -- Mark Your Calendars!
ICES
Outing at PNC Park - Tuesday, September 11th
Pittsburgh Pirates vs. New York Mets
Game Time: 7:05pm
Event
Includes:
1) Tickets to the game (left/right field grandstand seating)
2) $15.00 worth of concession stand coupons for food/beverages
3) Free shuttle service to PNC Park from CMU (If you choose to use this
option. Otherwise, parking is available near the stadium for a fee)
Cost:
a) ICES Members (all faculty, staff and grad students) = FREE
b) Guests of ICES Members = $10 each (up to 3 guests allowed for each
member of ICES)
Deadlines:
To Get Tickets:
- RSVP by Friday, August 10th
- See Dana Hilinski in 1201 HbH or send email to hilinski@andrew.cmu.edu
- All guest fees are due when reservation is made otherwise their tickets
can not be guaranteed
Shuttle Bus Sign-up:
- Sign-up sheet is available in the hallway near the 1st floor ICES kitchen
- Deadline is Monday, August 20th
- Space is limited! First come, first served!
- Bus departs CMU @ 5:30 p.m.; bus departs PNC Park @ 1:30 p.m.
For more information, please contact Dana Hilinski at hilinski@andrew.cmu.edu
HOPE
TO SEE YOU THERE!
Recent
Events
Back
to the 80's at ICES go...
This
past May, ICES held one of its memorable happy hours at Doc's Place in
Shadyside. The theme was "Totally 80s" and included lots of
good music and food. Event
Photos...
PITA
Advisory Board Meeting Recap go...
On Thursday, June 14th 2001, ICES along with Lehigh University,
held a PITA Advisory Board Meeting in the Singleton Room, Roberts Hall.
The purpose of this event was to present the research and projects being
supported by PITA to the industrial affiliates and board members. Cristina
Amon, Co-Director of PITA gave a brief overview of the current PITA related
projects here at ICES. Richard Sause, from Lehigh University who also
serves as Co-Director, gave an overview of Lehigh projects. Some faculty
members presented their research in more detail to the board. In the afternoon,
graduate students presented their posters and provided explanation about
their specific projects. The day concluded with a planning session for
the next 6-10 years of PITA funding. Event
Photos...
NEWSMAKERS
The
Observer Reporter - Kacey Marra feature story
May 21, 2001,
"Houston Polymer Chemist on Cutting Edge of Bone Research" by
Kristin Sette http://www.observer-reporter.com/276757221566177.bsp