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Annual Newsletter • 2012-2013
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By the Numbers Graduation Global Updates Scholarship Recipients and more
Director's Message | Page 3 | Alumni Highlights | Page 9 | Faculty Updates | Page 10 1
contents:
2012-2013
features:
INI by the Numbers 6-7
\/\/3L(0/\/\3 Class of 2014! The INI greeted over 120 students entering the twenty-fourth class (MS24) of the Pittsburgh programs, fifth class of the bicoastal programs and seventh class of the Kobe program. The newcomers hail from diverse nations: Benin, China, India, Japan, Nigeria, Peru, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the U.S.
Graduation: Celebrating the MS22 8 Alumni Highlights 9
more: Message from the Director 3 Close-knit 4 Global Updates 5 Department News 10 Keeping in Touch 11
Pictured at right: The orientation activities featured a new campus-wide scavenger hunt. The winning team (top) followed clues, took pictures of landmarks and made it back to home base first for Scotty blanket prizes. The MS24 collaborated on motto writing (center and bottom), resulting in "Inspiring Network of Intellects"—with a graphic!
Orientation photos: Glenn Brookes
Cover photo: Mila Gorodetsky (MS22)
Message From The Director Orientation marks the beginning of a student's journey to pursue his or her academic and career goals through graduate study at the INI. Our orientation event every fall is one of my first interactions with the newest members of the INI community. Each year, I'm excited by the enthusiasm and anticipation that students express about the new and challenging experiences that await them. This year, our incoming students Dr. Dena Haritos Tsamitis, participated in the firstDirector of the INI and Director of ever "Great Race" scavenger Education Training and Outreach for hunt that offered them the Carnegie Mellon CyLab opportunity to learn more about the institution, the campus and its history. What a pleasure it was to see so many new faces working together on teams, despite having just traveled from various locations in the U.S. and a dozen countries! I look forward to watching these students approach new challenges. Graduation is both a time of celebration and bittersweet farewells. In May, we celebrated the Class of 2012 and, in December, honored graduates of the Kobe MSIT-IS, the first class from Japan since our new collaboration and dual degree option offered in partnership with the University of Hyogo. Also, CMU's first class of five students completed the requirements of the Master of Information Technology Strategy (MITS) offered through the INI in collaboration with the School of Computer Science and the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. I'm happy to report that the INI continues to attract individuals and organizations that are interested in sponsoring students and providing support to advance our programs. Alumni gifts are increasing too. I extend special thanks to those of you who have contributed! The continued growth of these gifts in the future is important to the success of the INI. I invite you all to join our online communities, so you can share your news, follow the INI's news throughout the year and see recent updates through our many photos. Please continue to keep in touch.
New Stats, page 6-7
Celebrate Grads, page 8
The INI offers Master of Science degrees in the following areas: Information Networking (MSIN) Information Security Technology and Management (MSISTM) Information Technology–Mobility (MSIT-MOB) Information Technology– Information Security (MSIT-IS) Information Technology–Software Management (MSIT-SM)
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Win! Student Teams Ace Hackathons Some of the INI's bicoastal students at the Silicon Valley campus participated in several developer competitions in the fall. Several of the teams came away as winners. espnW Hackthon Pooja Gada, Ditaya Das and Divya Natesan (MS23), pictured at left with Wendy Fong from CMU-Silicon Valley (CMU-SV), won the espnW Hack Day for female developers, Nov. 9-10. The women won prizes and were featured on the Wired Magazine website for their success. Sprint Hackathon Shrikant Adhikarla, Ditaya Das and Sanjay Parab (MS23), pictured with Ramprasad Koya from the Sprint Application Developers Program, came out on top in the Sprint Hackathon, Oct 23. The team tied for first place in the category for the best use of the Sprint API. PayPal Hackathon Shrikant Adhikarla, Arno Lenin Malyala, Ashwin Das and Divya Natesan (MS23) earned second place in an event by PayPal, September 21-22. They are pictured at left with Nick Peddy, Sr. Manager of Architecture, and Nik Sathe, VP Architecture and Infrastructure, Paypal.
Student Life All work? No way Taking in a game of pool at the INI and eating out at Oakland's restaurants are some of the common ways that students relax. They can also participate in a variety of activities offered throughout the year by the INI's two student-led organizations, Graduate Organization@INI (GOINI) and Women@INI (WINI). Pictured at top: The MS22 and MS23 classes took part in the 90-year-old tradition of painting The Fence in April. Since the 1920s, various student groups have made a soapbox of the humble campus structure by laying claim to it in the dark of night and slathering it in paint. Above: Yona Cali and Dolly Karaba (MS23) along with several other WINI volunteers taught an online safety workshop to middleschool girls last spring. At right: GOINI hosted a wellattended picnic in Schenley Park in May. 4
GOIN I and W IN I have Facebook g roups. Join up!
Information Networking Institute ~ www.ini.cmu.edu
glob a l u pd a t e s
Alumnae Present at Grace Hopper
Luz Jaramillo, Nandita Rao Narla and Natalie Bennett (MS22) delivered a panel discussion, titled "Addressing Real-Life Problems through Academic Projects," at the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Baltimore. Grace Hopper is one of the largest international conferences for women in technology fields. The three alumnae were advised by Patricia Collins, a CMUSV professor who also served as the moderator of the panel. The team spoke on an MSIT capstone project, for which they provided a technology solution that aids the emergency medical services community. "In the past, the INI has attracted talented prospective students to our programs as a direct result of our participation in the Grace Hopper Celebration," said Dena Haritos Tsamitis, the director of the INI. "This year, our efforts have come full circle. The INI is extremely proud to have our alumnae represented among the conference panelists."
New Chair Named for Alumni Council
Robin Zhang (MS8) was recently named chair of the INI Alumni Leadership Council, an advisory panel that meets annually during Spring Carnival. The new members of the council are Bob Mowry (MS5), Ujjwal Moitra (MS17), Prachi Wadekar (MS21) and William Wysocki (MS23). The council plans to focus on strengthening the INI alumni community. Established in 2010 under the former chair, Marullus Williams (MS6), the council has worked to reestablish alumni connections and launched a webinar series. Last April, the council met with President Cohon to provide an INI perspective on campus issues.
Safety App Ranked as a Finalist
The Pittsburgh Technology Council's 2012 Design, Art and Technology (DATA) Awards recognized BeSeen mobile app as a finalist in its annual creative technology competition. BeSeen is an educational game that teaches online safety through a simulation of a social networking site. Dena Haritos
Tsamitis led a team at the INI to create the game with Web Wise Kids, in collaboration with The Wireless Foundation and Trend Micro Internet Safety for Kids & Families and with additional support from the Verizon Foundation. More information about the app and links to the iOS and Android versions are available at playbeseen.com.
Kobe MSIT-IS Graduates Sixth Class
The INI was pleased to graduate the sixth class of the Kobe MSIT-IS in December. This class is the first batch to have completed the restructured program since a partnership was established with University of Hyogo. These students began their studies in Kobe, Japan and traveled to Pittsburgh to complete the MSIT-IS. They had the option of pursuing a dual degree track to earn a Master of Applied Informatics from the University of Hyogo in addition to the CMU degree.
Incoming Class Attracts Scholarships
The INI and Alta Associates' Executive Women's Forum (EWF) on Information Security, Risk Management and Privacy awarded Erye Hernandez (MS24) a fellowship to pursue her master's degree. Yasmine Kandissounon (MS24), from Benin, received the first Roseanne Silva Scholarship, a new award established by an INI alumna. Silva is also a member of the EWF. "I'm extremely excited about this award because it gives me an opportunity to build proficiency throughout a broad range of security arenas and issues," said Hernandez, who is from Sterling, Va. "The fellowship also gives me a chance to network with some of the world's leading security professionals within the EWF." 5
INI BY THE NUMBERS Incoming i Class Statistics Distribution of students (MS24) in the different INI programs (48 MSIN, 36 MSISTM, 37 Bicoastal MSIT, 7 Kobe MSIT = 128 total)
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US News and World Report Rankings Engineering (2013): Overall: 7
Carnegie Mellon is ranked #17 in the nation for return on investment by BusinessWeek, and #4 among private universities as well as #23 among all universities in the nation in SmartMoney‘s rankings of the most valuable colleges.
MSIN: $96,500 MSISTM: $95,000 MSIT: $95,000
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Gradual rise of our graduates’ median starting salary over the past 5 years
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Starting Salaries
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MSIN: $90,000 MSISTM: $84,500 MSIT: $81,000
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MSIN: $92,000 MSISTM: $90,000 MSIT: $86,454
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38% MSIN 29% Bicoastal MSIT 28% MSISTM 5% Kobe MSIT
"We consider the INI students to be among the most interesting and engaging within the CMU landscape." - Jeffery Donne, Robert Bosch Corp. Information Networking Institute ~ www.ini.cmu.edu
Geo Stats Locations of our grads
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2012 65% West (CA, HI, NV) 13% Northwest: AK, CO, ID, MT, OR, UT, WA, WY) 9% Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA, WV)
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7% International
2010 49% West (CA, HI, NV) 21% Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA, WV) 10% Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT) 2% International
2008 46% West (CA, HI, NV) 33% Northeast (CT, MA, ME, NH, NY, RI, VT) 13% Mid-Atlantic (DC, DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA, WV) 0% International
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percent of the MS18 class went into consulting or finance
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of the student body is made up of women
percent of MS22’s stayed in Pittsburgh
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INI Diploma Ceremony graduation 2012
The INI honored the Class of 2012 (MS22) on Sunday, May 20 at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh with a diploma ceremony that was followed by a reception for graduates, family and friends. The class was made up of 104 graduates from 20 nations. The ceremony recognized those graduates from the Pittsburgh-based programs, the bicoastal programs, and the Portugalbased program, as well as two graduates from the programs in Japan and Greece. INI Director Dena Haritos Tsamitis led the ceremony and commended the graduates on their accomplishments. “In some sense, graduates, you all took a leap of faith in your decision to join the INI. I hope that through your INI experiences you’ve learned that a great accomplishment is preceded by a leap of faith,” she said. Marullus Williams (MS6), CEO of Limbic Systems, gave the keynote speech, speaking with a sense of humor on continuing to exercise one’s “brain muscle” in order to be prepared for future challenges. In his final words, Williams advised the graduates to “help each other along the way” and encouraged them to stay in contact with each other as they pursue new goals. The graduates moved on to join the teams of companies such as Adobe Systems, Apple, Facebook, Bloomberg, Boeing, Credit Suisse, Intel, Microsoft, NetApp, Oracle, Qualcomm, Salesforce, VMware and others. Nine recipients of federal scholarships through the CyberCorps Scholarship for Service and the Information Assurance Scholarship Program accepted full-time positions with the government and will serve to advance and protect the nation’s information infrastructure.
The Student Awards George Chamcham, Pradeep K. Khosla Leadership Award (pictured at top right) Kushal Dalmia, Outstanding Student Service Award for a Teaching Assistant (pictured at bottom right) Amal Krishnan, Outstanding Student Service Award for a Research Assistant (pictured at bottom left, right) Daniel Votipka, Outstanding Student Service Award for a Research Assistant (pictured at bottom left, left) Krystal Ying, Executive Women's Forum INI Fellowship (pictured at top left)
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Information Networking Institute ~ www.ini.cmu.edu
a lum n i h i g h l i g h t s
Virtual Worlds, A Real Facination
Victor Dibia, doctoral student
Upcoming Alumni Events Spring Carnival: April 18-20, 2013 Spring Carnival & Reunion Weekend is always a blast! Homecoming: September 26-29, 2013 Be a part of CMU’s Cèilidh Weekend, a celebration for the entire CMU family. Alumni, look for regional events in your area at: http://alumni.cmu.edu ... and send your news to ini-alumni@cmu.edu.
Victor Dibia (MS21) is in Hong Kong pursuing a Ph.D. on the topic of virtual worlds and online games. His current research focus is on the effects of real money trading on the design and experience of the game, as players exchange real-world currency for virtual items. Last March he won the Hong Kong Ph.D. Fellowship Scheme Award that allowed him to commence his doctoral studies in information systems at City University of Hong Kong. He was one of 165 fellows selected from a global pool of applicants every year. He also served as the Lead Technical Instructor for the MIT Accelerating Information Technology Initiative 2012 Summer Program, (co-sponsored by MIT and Google), where he taught a class of 54 undergraduate students on mobile applications development. A graduate of the Athens MSIN program, Dibia had worked at Athens Information Technolgy (AIT) research institute from the time of his graduation in May 2011 until September when he decided to return to his home country of Nigeria. “By December 2011, I still hadn't received any decent job offers after several applications, and I decided to tinker around with building a startup,” he said. Dibia started his company Denvycom to provide services such as developing applications for the Web and mobile devices and also consulting for small to medium businesses in need of IT strategies. In fall 2012, he began his doctoral program with plans to explore research in ideas that stemmed from his work at Denvycom. Now Dibia’s studies cover areas such as player behavior in massively multiplayer online games and behavioral and business aspects of mobile applications.
Pictured at top: INI hosted a regional happy hour in August in Manhattan. The event was attended by dozens of INI alumni in the New York City region. Photo credit: Ujjwal Moitra (MS17). Pictured above: Also in August, London resident Aditi Pendharker (MS19) enjoyed attending the Olympic finals in women's soccer, U.S. versus Japan. "I feel so lucky to be in London at this time. We're truly having a ball of a time!"
His research is closely tied to industry. Through a focus on applied research, he aims to be able to explain concepts clearly in relation to real-world phenomena, a goal he feels was influenced by one of his INI professors Rajeev Gandhi, as well as CMU faculty Priya Narasimhan and Jesse Schell and AIT professor Gregory Yovanof. Dibia is also enjoying the international aspects of his studies. “I look forward to exploring Hong Kong—a world financial hub and a multicultural city, allegedly where East meets West,” said Dibia. “Also, given that City University is still growing on the international scene, I look forward to the opportunity of making impactful contributions here.”
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Faculty Updates James H. Garrett Jr., the Thomas Lord Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), became dean of the College of Engineering, effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Pradeep K. Khosla, who left to be chancellor of the University of California, San Diego. Kumar Bhagavatula, professor of electrical and computer engineering, served as interim dean, August through December. Nicolas Christin, INI associate director and CyLab senior systems scientist, is the principle investigator on a new multimillion-dollar contract with the Department of Homeland Security for research into understanding and disrupting the economics of cybercrime. Virgil Gligor, co-director of CyLab and professor of electrical and computer engineering, delivered the keynote address at the 2012 Association for Computer Machinery Conference on Computer and Communications Security. Dena Haritos Tsamitis, INI director, received the prestigious Barbara Lazarus Award for Graduate Student and Junior Faculty Mentoring, through a nomination supported with letters from many members of the alumni community, at CMU’s Celebration of Education award ceremony in April. Raj Rajkumar was named to the Intelligent Systems Program Advisory Committee. Dr. Rajkumar is the George Westinghouse Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and director of the University Transportation Center, a new innovative transportation research initiative with the University of Pennsylvania's School of Engineering and Applied Science that is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Marios Savvides was featured in an article in PBS's NOVA for his work with Autonomous ID, a company that is developing the bio_sole device that measures the way in which a person's foot hits the ground in order to verify his or her identity. See: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/three-advancesforensic.html Patrick Tague, assistant research professor with the INI, CyLab and Silicon Valey, received the prestigious National Science Foundation CAREER Award for junior faculty. Pei Zhang, assistant research professor with the INI, CyLab and Silicon Valley, advised alumni Divya Vavili, Dilip Gudlur and Pallav Vyas (MS'22), with doctoral student Faisal Luqman, on a technical paper that was accepted at the fourth ACM & SIGSPATIAL International Workshop on Indoor Spatial Awareness (ISA). CMU's Silicon Valley campus celebrated its tenth anniversary. The campus has quadrupled in size since its inception in 2002 and helped launch more than a dozen startups. 10
Above: Having received the Barbara Lazarus Award, INI Director Dr. Tsamitis is shown with President Jared L. Cohon (left) and then-CEE Department Head James H. Garrett Jr. (right) at the Celebration of Education ceremony. Dr. Garrett became dean of the College of Engineering in January.
Announcing the Innocent Habiyaremye Fellowship A strong member of the CMU and INI alumni community, Innocent Habiyaremye (MS20) passed away from a pulmonary embolism on June 20, 2012. He was laid to rest in his hometown of Kigali, Rwanda at a service among family and friends. Since his passing, it has become clear that Innocent made an impact on the lives of many at CMU at both Pittsburgh and Silicon Valley. He kept in touch with classmates and remained involved with the university across several channels. Innocent dedicated his efforts and resources to a variety of organizations, with Carnegie Mellon being just one example. He was a tutor and a choir member. He read to children and worked on teams to build houses. In New Jersey he supported Jersey Cares and Rotaract. Despite having to take up residence in several locales throughout his short adult life, Innocent applied himself to serve his community, wherever he was living at the time. He was a lifelong volunteer. In reaction to his early death and for the reasons mentioned above, the INI is establishing a new fund. The new Innocent Habiyaremye Fellowship will be awarded at the INI diploma ceremony to a student who embodies a sense of community spirit in his or her everyday actions. To make the fellowship an endowed fund that can continue year after year, the INI must raise over $10,000. You can make your gift by visiting CMU’s secure site at cmu.edu/give and specify that your gift is to be designated to the Innocent Habiyaremye Fellowship. Or, when you receive an appeal from the university, please note that you can respond to the mailing with a gift to the Innocent Habiyaremye Fellowship. Information Networking Institute ~ www.ini.cmu.edu
k eep i n g i n t o u c h
Giving Back With your donation, we can further advance our programs, delve deeper into research and provide tuition support to more students. orientation 2012
Your gift can be applied toward the Innocent Habiyaremye Fund, Carnegie Institute of Technology or Carnegie Mellon University. How to Make a Gift: Online, using the secure form at www.cmu.edu/give Over the phone, at (412) 268-2021 Through the mail, by sending a check or money order made payable to Carnegie Mellon University, and noting "Annual Gift" along with your designation to a specific fund if you desire on the memo line, to: Carnegie Mellon University PO Box 371525 Pittsburgh, PA 15251-7525
Are You a Loyal Scot?
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Are you plaid to the bone? Just take the following four steps to join the CMU Alumni Association's Loyal Scot program: 1. Stay informed. Loyal Scots provide up-to-date contact information to stay connected with CMU. 2. Get involved. Loyal Scots volunteer or attend university events. 3. Give back. Loyal Scots make a cash gift of any amount each year.
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4. Show your pride. Loyal Scots show their Tartan pride, anytime, anywhere. www.cmu.edu/loyalscot
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Information Networking Institute Carnegie Mellon University 4616 Henry Street Pittsburgh, PA 15213
Community Connections facebook.com/inicmu plus.google.com > Information Networking Institute twitter.com/inicmu youtube.com/user/inicmu flickr.com/photos/ini_cmu linkedin.com > groups Carnegie Mellon Information Networking Institute
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Annual Newsletter, 2012-2013 Information Networking Institute www.ini.cmu.edu
About Our Organization The Information Networking Institute (INI) was established by CMU in 1989 as the nation’s first research and education center devoted to information networking. As an integral department of the College of Engineering (CIT) and a collaboration of the School of Computer Science, the Tepper School of Business and the Heinz College, the INI’s professional graduate degree programs represent an exceptional fusion of technologies, economics and policies of secure communication networks and systems. The INI also promotes safe and responsible online behavior to citizens at all levels and extends educational and training programs to the broad audience of people using information networking as part of their daily lives. The INI has over 1,300 alumni who occupy leadership positions at organizations in various sectors.
Information Networking Institute ~ www.ini.cmu.edu