2021 YEAR IN REVIEW
Our 2021 Year in Review highlights the many ways in which the Dietrich College community has contributed to improving the human condition through education, research and community outreach. While the COVID-19 pandemic has continued to impact all of us, I remain proud of how we have come together to support one another. Students are once again benefitting from in-person academic experiences, and we remain flexible as we find creative approaches to resume our work and time-honored campus traditions. In this Year in Review, you’ll learn more about Dietrich College faculty who are working within and beyond their own disciplinary boundaries to make a positive impact on society. This past year, our experts were frequently sought after for their timely expertise on topics such as vaccine hesitancy, risk perception, race and identity and language and polarization. Our community outreach initiatives also have grown considerably. In 2021, Carnegie Mellon University launched the Center for Shared Prosperity, a significant step forward on the university’s commitment to deeper engagement with, and economic empowerment of, the broader Pittsburgh community. Through this center, which has an administrative home in Dietrich College, along with the Pittsburgh Summer Internship Program, Arts Greenhouse and LEAP, our students, faculty, staff and alumni are addressing real-world challenges with a focus on access, equity and self-expression. I invite you to read more about these and many other exciting developments in the pages that follow.
RICHARD SCHEINES Bess Family Dean, Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences
2 Community Outreach 5 D ietrich Deep Dives 6 Facts and Figures 8 Research and Scholarly Work 13 Academics and the Student Experience 22 New Leadership 24 Achievements 32 Recognition 36 Alumni
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Community Outreach
Carnegie Mellon, Heinz Endowments Launch Center for Shared Prosperity Carnegie Mellon University and The Heinz Endowments announced the launch of the Center for Shared Prosperity, an initiative to leverage the university’s internationally recognized strengths in applied research to address longstanding barriers to equity and foster economic empowerment in the greater Pittsburgh region. With an administrative home in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the center aims to create a sustainable and replicable model for community-university collaboration, with a focus on deploying solutions for socio-economic inequities and making measurable progress toward greater economic prosperity and overall well-being of residents. The Heinz Endowments has committed $30 million over six years to the initiative. The grant, the largest in the Endowments’ history, includes funding to develop, pilot and scale region-wide interventions to identify and address structural barriers to access and opportunity. A portion of the grant will be used to establish an endowment to support the center’s work in perpetuity. Illah Nourbakhsh , K&L Gates Professor of Ethics and Computational Technologies, serves as the center’s inaugural executive director. The center’s staff includes Marlene Williams , operations director; Jay Manning , documentarian, and Jessica Kaminski and Jordan Mroziak , community engagement specialists. Learn more about the Center for Shared Prosperity and its Community Committee.
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LEAP Gives High Schoolers Deep Dive Into Arts, Humanities LEAP is a new pilot program that connects Pittsburgh students with CMU faculty and community artists and activists. The program creates an environment where students from lower-resourced backgrounds are exposed to higher education, as well as opportunities to express themselves artistically in ways that can be directed toward social justice and social change. LEAP, which stands for Leadership, Excellence, Access and Persistence, grew out of a collaboration between Nico Slate , head of CMU’s Department of History and LEAP faculty director, and Mark Barga , a City Charter High School social studies teacher. Sarah Ceurvorst (DC 2013) is LEAP’s inaugural director. Ayana Ledford , Dietrich College associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, serves as chair of LEAP’s board of directors. Read more about the LEAP program .
Art and Community Change the Lives of Pittsburgh Youth Arts Greenhouse offers Pittsburgh middle school students the opportunity to speak up, speak out and change their lives through creative forms like writing, performance, visual arts and technological arts. Housed in the Dietrich College, the program began as an on-campus, hip hop-based education program that brought students from the greater Pittsburgh area to campus to create and record music. It has since expanded to offer programming to educators and students directly in their schools, meeting the community where its needs lie and fostering deeper social understanding and personal achievement of students who have a lot to say. Richard Purcell , associate professor of English, is the Arts Greenhouse’s director. Shun-Sho Carmack , who is currently pursuing a Master of Arts Management at CMU, is the program manager. Read more about the Arts Greenhouse program.
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Community Outreach
Pittsburgh Interns: Lend a Hand, Gain Experience The Pittsburgh Summer Internship Program (PSIP) provides financial support and resources to connect Dietrich College undergraduate students to their first internship experience at a nonprofit, startup or small business in the city. In 2021, 58 students completed remote, hybrid or in-person internships. Kim Piatt , Dietrich College’s director of experiential learning, leads program logistics and enriches the experience for students by expanding professional development workshops, enhancing relationships with host sites and improving program assessment efforts. Tim Wang , a junior majoring in information systems with minors in computer science, game design and physics, spent his summer working for EKTO VR, a startup creating virtual reality boots. Emma Reed , a senior global studies major with minors in engineering and Hispanic studies, spent her summer working at Smart Futures, a company that creates online career plans and portfolios for students from kindergarten to high school. Jordan Gilbert , a junior statistics and machine learning major, spent his summer working for Lifeware Labs, which develops wearable electronics to track people’s health. Learn more about PSIP .
Tim Wang
Emma Reed
Jordan Gilbert
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Dietrich Deep Dives
Dietrich College Takes a Deep Dive into Politics The Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences began exploring some of the major social issues of our time in greater detail in a new virtual series, “Dietrich Deep Dives.” The engaging sessions offered in-depth presentations about critical political and societal issues through the lens of the humanities, social sciences and related fields to students, staff, faculty and alumni. The 2021 series explored voting machine security, social media and cable news misinformation, conspiracy theories and voter suppression. The presentations are available on the Dietrich College website .
Electronic Voting Machine Security Michael Shamos , Distinguished Career Professor, School of Computer Science
Social Media and Misinformation Kathleen Carley, director, Center for Informed Democracy & Social- cybersecurity (IDeaS); professor, School of Computer Science and College of Engineering The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories Simon DeDeo , assistant professor, Dietrich College’s Department of Social and Decision Sciences
Voter Suppression and Voter Fraud Lisa Tetrault , associate professor, Dietrich College’s Department of History
Cable News and Misinformation Mark Kamlet , University Professor of Economics and Public Policy, Dietrich College’s Department of Social and Decision Sciences and the Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy
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Facts and Figures
Members of Prestigious Professional Academies and Associations among current Dietrich College faculty and alumni
12 AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 9 AMERICAN ACADEMY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
6 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 2 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF MEDICINE 1 NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
1,477
363
45
215
42
12
1
154
26
Seeking 5%
Career Success Class of 2021
Other 3%
Continuing Education 21%
347 UNDERGRADUATES
71% Employed
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Student and Alumna Represent Dietrich College at Commencement
Four distinguished guests participated virtually in Carnegie Mellon University’s Class of 2021 Commencement exercises. Among them was CMU alumna Jewell P. Rhodes (DC 1975, 1976, 1979), the Piper Endowed Chair and founding artistic director of the Virginia G. Piper Center for Creative Writing at Arizona State University, who received a Doctor of Humane Letters. In addition, Maria Cristina Pullen , a recent graduate in professional writing and international relations and politics, spoke during the ceremony.
Jewell P. Rhode
Maria Cristina Pullen
Undergraduate degrees conferred 390
16 Science and Humanities Scholars with Dietrich College Majors
81 Master’s degrees conferred
34 Doctoral degrees conferred
Class of 2021 Job Outcomes Among the 90.6% of the Dietrich College class of 2021 reporting, 95% found employment, entered graduate school or pursued other interests, like volunteering or military service.
More than 150 organizations employed our graduates, including:
• Twilio • U.S. Department of Defense • U nited Way of Greater New Haven • Valnet
• Pixar • The Museum of Science • The Walt Disney Company • The Washington Post
• Accenture • Adobe • Brigham and Women’s Hospital
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Research and Scholarly Work
How Statisticians Write and Why
David Brown , associate teaching professor of English, and Michael Laudenbach , a rhetoric Ph.D. candidate, investigated how statistics students write by compiling a corpus of over 900 student papers. The pair used DocuScope — a text analysis tool created by Department of English professors David Kaufer and Suguru Ishizaki — to tag rhetorical and lexicogrammatical patterns in each paper. The statistical analyses identified differences between novice versus expert papers and client-facing versus academic papers. The researchers hope to translate their discoveries into training materials for teaching assistants. Read more about Brown and Laudenbach’s study .
Henry Posner III , chairman of Railroad Development Corporation (RDC) and adjunct professor in the Department of History, demonstrated his vision for a rail-based mass transit system in the United States. For the pilot project, Pop-Up Metro, an RDC affiliate, imported remanufactured passenger railcars from Britain to Rockhill Furnace in Pennsylvania. For the demonstration, Posner assembled a team of CMU affiliates involved in his course, “The American Railroad-Decline and Renaissance in the Era of Deregulation,” led by
Posner Lays Track for Future of Rail Transit
his teaching assistant Meg Richards . Watch a video of the battery train .
(from left) Meg Richards, Owen Sahnow and Henry Posner III.
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Leveraging Twitter to Understand Natural Disasters Gabriela Gongora-Svartzman , assistant teaching professor in Information Systems, a joint program of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy, performed an analysis of more than 6 million Twitter posts spanning three major hurricanes that made landfall in 2017: Harvey (Texas), Irma (Florida) and Maria (Puerto Rico). Communities, participants and types of needs from citizens were then identified from these tweets. Their study developed a new method for measuring social cohesion, an important factor in a community’s resilience. Read more about the method .
Presidents’ Personalities and Democratic Erosion in Latin America, 1945–2012 Ignacio Arana , assistant teaching professor in the Institute for Politics and Strategy, examined overreaching presidential behavior common in Latin America between 1945 and 2012. During this time, 25 presidents from 14 countries tried to change their respective constitutions to increase their powers. Arana’s results demonstrate that presidents’ personalities offer a strong force behind their attempts to consolidate their authority. These findings challenge current approaches in presidential studies and have implications for the study of all types of political elites. Read more about the study .
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Research and Scholarly Work
A Touch Of Japan in Pittsburgh
In 1912, cherry trees were planted in Washington D.C. as a symbol of friendship and camaraderie between the United States and Japan. This magnificent, flowering tree, called “Sakura” in Japanese, has a meaning that extends far beyond pink and white petals. The tiny flowers urge introspection and inward reflections on the beauty of transience, along with the expansive enjoyment of spring. Barbara Litt , a senior lecturer of Japanese studies and a long- time board member of the Pittsburgh Sakura Project, discussed her scholarly pursuit of the Japanese language and culture at CMU. Read more about the cherry blossom talk .
When Drinking Alone Becomes A Problem Kasey Creswell , associate professor of psychology, has focused her career on understanding the mechanisms that lead to addiction. According to Creswell, understanding the social context in which drinking occurs has important implications for understanding who may be at risk for developing alcohol use disorder and the underlying mechanisms that increase risk. By focusing on the social context of alcohol use, Creswell aims to facilitate the research community’s understanding of the development of alcohol problems in adolescents and young adults. Read more about Creswell’s research .
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Charles C. Hoskinson and Jeremy Avigad
Philosophy Receives $20 Million to Establish Hoskinson Center for Formal Mathematics
“Carnegie Mellon has the resources and experts to take the study of formal mathematics and disseminate it in a meaningful way. We can bring together
Entrepreneur Charles C. Hoskinson has made a $20 million gift to Carnegie Mellon University to establish the Hoskinson Center for Formal Mathematics to advance mathematical research by improving global access to knowledge and resources for mathematics researchers, educators and learners. The Hoskinson Center will develop the technology and techniques needed to increase world-wide access to the power of formal mathematics. Jeremy Avigad , professor of philosophy in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and professor of mathematical sciences in the Mellon College of Science, will lead the center and provide mentorship and guidance to direct research contributions and collaboration. Read about the new center .
the best minds in mathematics, computer science and machine
learning to create an infrastructure for using formal mathematics as a core educational tool. I am honored to be part of the creation of such an important center where collaboration, exploration and discovery opens the door to incentivizing and supporting mathematical activity and giving it the resources for advanced methods of automation.” — CHARLES C. HOSKINSON
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Research and Scholarly Work
Social and Decision Sciences Explores Complexities of COVID-19 Silvia Saccardo , assistant professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, and colleagues conducted several studies to evaluate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on students and society. They combined biometric and survey data from several groups of college students from spring 2019 to spring 2021 and found marked declines in both physical and emotional health of the students in the study. Read more about their studies about mental health and physical activity and well-being.
Statistics and Data Science Tackles COVID-19 Robin Mejia , director of the Statistics and Human Rights Program at the Center for Human Rights Science, and her colleagues at the Delphi Group at CMU and Wendy C. King , associate professor of epidemiology at University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public Health, conducted several studies on vaccine hesitancy. They found that vaccine hesitancy decreased among U.S. adults between January and May 2021, with variation by occupation, race and other characteristics. While tentative people are concerned about COVID-19 vaccine safety and potential side effects, those with stronger views tend to distrust the government. Read more about vaccine hesitancy and hesitant groups .
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Academics and the Student Experience
Grand Challenge Seminar: Leveraging Unreality for Good
Augmented reality is an interactive experience where objects in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information. In spring 2021, CMU faculty members Lauren Herckis and Tom Corbett , along with CP Moreau , a doctoral student in the Department of English, offered a Grand Challenge Seminar titled “Unreality: Immersive and Spatial Media.” The on-going pandemic offered a powerful moment to explore how immersive media and technology can be used to reduce isolation by supporting feelings of togetherness and co-presence even at a distance. Dietrich College helped students gain confidence with new technology by providing students with kits that included cardboard virtual reality (VR) viewers and Oculus Quest IIs.
Dietrich College Offers Two New Additional Majors
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences introduced two new additional majors that CMU students can pair with any primary major. The Health Humanities major allows students to build on their understanding of scientific foundations by looking at the impact of sociocultural factors, like gender and race, in health equity, and how those factors influence a person’s relationship to their health. The college also offers an Environmental and Sustainability Studies additional major jointly with the Mellon College of Science. The Steinbrenner Institute for Environmental Education and Research advises students in the new additional major and a complementary minor, which was introduced in 2018.
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Academics and the Student Experience
Summer Research Produces Results
Augustus Saalfel
Ping-Ya Cha
Madison Williamson
Alice Russell
Augustus Saalfeld , a senior majoring in creative writing and information systems, received a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) from CMU’s Office of Undergraduate Research to analyze the “Cosmicomics” of Italo Calvino, a literary writer who specialized in accessible science fiction. He used this opportunity to implement some of the same themes and techniques in his own work. Ping-Ya Chao , a double major in policy and management and chemistry, applied science to improve the art of negotiation. Her SURF project could potentially uncover influential conversation tactics and strategies. For her SURF project, Madison Williamson , a psychology major, examined the impact of the pandemic on K–12 special education. Alice Russell , a neuroscience major, combined her interest in neuroscience and architecture to examine how to design urban environments to reduce stress for her SURF project.
Guerrero Adds to Family Legacy for First Generation Students Growing up in New York City, Arianna Garcia Guerrero and her sister helped their mother translate English into Spanish in order to explain academic and other opportunities for the family. Today, Guerrero continues to communicate and share educational opportunities for others as president of First Together, CMU’s student organization that supports students, like Guerrero, who are the first generation in their family to go to college or whose parents received an associate degree or attended a four-year college/university but did not graduate. Guerrero, a junior studying international relations and politics with a minor in cybersecurity, was inspired by her sister, Graciela Garcia, who co-founded First Together and graduated from CMU in 2019 with a bachelor’s degree in information systems. Learn more about First Together .
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Face Masks
Do Not Muddle Speech Perception
A Department of Modern Languages course sparked an opportunity for four CMU students to publish and present research at the 2021 Richard Macksey National Undergraduate Humanities Research Symposium at Johns Hopkins University. Ananya Vasudev , a senior majoring in statistics and machine learning; Sophia Hill , a junior majoring in statistics and machine learning; and Anyah Stempien-Smith and Lindsay Zhang , both juniors majoring in psychology, examined how face masks affect speech perception. They found facial coverings did not have a significant impact on how native and non-native speakers perceive English speech.
Podcasting 101: Watching HBO’s ‘Watchmen’ Giant squids, blue men, crime fighting vigilantes and a podcast! Professor of English Kathy M. Newman is covering it all in her course “Watching HBO’s ‘Watchmen.’” The show addresses violence against African Americans, the legacy of the Vietnam war and even the wearing of masks — all topics which seemed newly relevant when Newman watched the series during the pandemic summer of 2020, amid Black Lives Matter protests that were erupting across the U.S. Newman’s class produced a podcast called “Tartans Watch the ‘Watchmen,’” an opportunity for critical reflection that served as an alternative to the traditional literary essay. After viewing the television series and learning visual analysis techniques, students in the class began to research everything from the music used in the show to its depictions of race and gender. The class was split into production groups to help create, design and market the podcast.
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Academics and the Student Experience
Finding the Hidden Gems of the Modern Photography World
Our Childhood Swimming Pool Credit: Vikesh Kapoor, 2016
James Wang, a senior majoring in statistics and machine learning, decided to merge two passions — machine learning and photography — for his Quantitative Social Science Scholars project. The outcome was the Silver List, which raises the visibility of diverse, high-quality and otherwise-overlooked photographers. It consists of 47 young and emerging artists who have been identified by 125 nonprofit organizations, photography curators, educators, scholars and critics. Read a February 2021 Vanity Fair article featuring the Silver List.
Fifty-nine students have been initiated into Carnegie Mellon University’s chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society (PBK), including 35 students affiliated with the Dietrich College. PBK is the nation’s oldest honor society and celebrates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences.
Dietrich Seniors Inducted Into Phi Beta Kappa
CONGRATULATIONS TO Nicholas Bellante Jose Chacon Lavanya Chawla Anirban Chowdhury Julia Conti
Sarah Kim Ananya Krishnan Zhi-Wei Leon Katherine Liu Nathan Moss Jean Namgoong Roshni Nischal Olivia Olshevki Aditya Pillai
Emma Cordray Fiona Dubrosa
Carlo Duffy Evan Feder Mikayla Gawarecki Maxine Graves
Joshua Pinckney Ana-Maria Poole Vasily Potanin Samantha Ramsey Jay Rao, Maxwell Robbins Emily Schneider
Kayla Griffin Aden Halpern
Muling He Krati Jain
Shiv Sethi Myat Sint Millie Zhang
Andrew Joyner Matthew Kern
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Five Dietrich College Alumni Named Fulbright Scholars The Fulbright U.S. Student Program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, awarded grants to eight recent CMU alumni, five of whom are from the Dietrich College. The program aims to improve cultural diplomacy and allow Fulbright scholars and their international hosts to gain an appreciation of different viewpoints and beliefs though engagement in the community.
Kyra Balenzano , a 2021 graduate with a bachelor’s of science degree in statistics and machine learning and an additional major in Hispanic studies, is teaching in Spain.
Lilian Chin , a 2018 graduate with bachelor’s of science degrees in statistics and international relations and politics, is participating in the English Teaching Assistantship in Taiwan.
Emma Cordray , a 2021 graduate with a bachelor’s degree of Humanities and Arts in Hispanic studies and drama (directing), is teaching in Spain.
Shannon Lu , a 2020 graduate with bachelor’s of science degrees in information systems and statistics and machine learning and a minor in human-computer interaction, is participating in the English Teaching Assistantship in Taiwan.
Paloma Sierra , who graduated with a bachelor of humanities and arts in 2019 and a master of fine arts in dramatic writing in 2021, will be pursuing postgraduate studies in theatrical translations at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
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Academics and the Student Experience
Feldgoise Named Gaither Junior Fellow and Winner of K&L Gates Prize Jacob Feldgoise, a graduate in policy and management and science, technology and public policy, earned a place as one of 13 James C. Gaither Junior Fellows at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. He is also the recipient of the K&L Gates Prize, a $5,000 award that recognizes graduating CMU seniors who have inspired their classmates through intellect, high scholarly achievement, character and student engagement.
Renfroe Received Critical Language Scholarship Devon Renfroe, a recent graduate with a master’s degree in applied second language acquisition, has been selected for the U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship to study Korean. After completing this work, Renfroe aims to work toward a doctoral degree in second language acquisition and conduct research on learners of Korean. She hopes to contribute to making the study of Korean more prevalent in the United States.
Senior Recognized With Gretchen Goldsmith Lankford Award Alana Mittleman, a recent graduate with a bachelor of science degree in cognitive science and an additional major in statistics, was selected as the recipient of the 2021 Gretchen Goldsmith Lankford Award. The award is given to a graduating senior in Dietrich College for outstanding academic achievement who plans to attend graduate school and pursue a career in education. The prize is named after the late Gretchen Goldsmith Lankford (MM 1943, HNZ 1990).
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Dietrich Seniors Named To Andrew Carnegie Society Eight Dietrich College seniors have been named Andrew Carnegie Society (ACS) Scholars. Sydney Barlow Justin Britton Elizabeth Guo Caitlin Huang Austin Leung Zachary Novack Arjun Ramachandran Roni Sosis The ACS Scholars are CMU undergraduate students who combine high academic standards with extracurricular activities, such as volunteering, playing sports, taking on leadership roles and participating in student organizations and the arts. They are selected each year by their deans and department heads to represent their class in service and leadership.
Sydney Barlow
Justin Britton
Elizabeth Guo
Caitlin Huang
Austin Leung
Zachary Novack
Arjun Ramachandran
Roni Sosis
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Academics and the Student Experience
Shanmugaraj Selected for Dietrich Teaching Honor Nisha Shanmugaraj (DC 2013, 2022) is the 2021 recipient of the Dietrich College Graduate Student Teaching Award. Shanmugaraj, a Ph.D. candidate in the rhetoric program in the Department of English, received this honor for her dedication to her students, pedagogical innovation and exemplary commitment to professional development as an educator and a scholar.
Two Dietrich Students Named Amazon Graduate Research Fellows Nil-Jana Akpinar and Natalia Lombardi de Oliveira of the Statistics & Data Science and Machine Learning departments join three CMU classmates as Amazon Graduate Research Fellows. The fellowship program supports research in automated reasoning, computer vision, robotics, language technology, machine learning, operations research and data science.
Nil-Jana Akpinar
Natalia Lombardi de Oliveira
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Psychology Ph.D. Candidates Receive NSF Graduate Fellowships
Chisom Obasih
Sophie Robert
Chisom Obasih and Sophie Robert , Ph.D. students in the Department of Psychology, have received graduate fellowships from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The fellowship offers a $34,000 stipend along with a $12,000 cost of education allowance for three years to assist in research efforts. Obasih and Robert were selected based on the intellectual merit and broader impact of their studies.
Gao Awarded Sutherland-Merlino Fellowship The Neuroscience Institute has awarded its inaugural Sutherland-Merlino Fellowship to Emma Gao , a first year Ph.D. candidate in the systems neuroscience program. The new fellowship, generously supported by Nancie S. Merlino (MM 1964) in honor of both her father and husband who are graduates of the university, provides support for one incoming doctoral student and is intended to honor a member of the incoming class who embodies a love of learning. Gao, a graduate student rotating with Aryn Gittis , intends to study early- stage Parkinson’s disease.
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New Leadership
New Department Heads Appointed in Dietrich College
Professor Gretchen Chapman was named the head of the Department of Social and Decision Sciences. She joined the Dietrich College in 2017 and examines the psychological processes that underly how people make decisions. Chapman succeeds Linda Babcock, who headed the department from 2015 to 2020.
Rebecca Nugent , the Stephen E. and Joyce Fienberg Professor, was named head of the Department of Statistics & Data Science. Nugent, who joined Dietrich College in 2006, is the founding director of the department’s Corporate Capstone Program and has provided leadership for a number of other initiatives, including the Carnegie Mellon Sports Analytics Center, Women in Data Science Pittsburgh and the launch of executive education programs through CMU’s Tepper School of Business. Nugent succeeds Christopher Genovese, who served as department head from 2014 to 2020.
Peter Spirtes was named the Marianna Brown Dietrich Professor of Philosophy, as well as the head of the Department of Philosophy. Spirtes, who joined the Dietrich College in 1987, conducts research at the intersection of philosophy, statistics, graph theory and computer science. His work over the past several decades has focused on the TETRAD Project. Spirtes succeeded David Danks, who served as department head from 2014 to 2021.
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Ledford Named Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Ayana Ledford has been named the college’s first full-time associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). She brings her incredible energy and deep commitment to community engagement to help build a more diverse, equitable and inclusive culture at the Dietrich College. Under Ledford’s previous role as part-time director of DEI, the college released its first Strategic Plan for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in 2020. She has been instrumental in developing, supporting and enhancing programming that makes the college more accessible to low-income, first- generation and/or underrepresented students. Many of these programs have been developed in partnership with faculty and staff from within the college and around the university.
Alessandro Rinaldo Named Associate Dean for Research
Alessandro Rinaldo , a professor in the Department of Statistics & Data Science, was named associate dean for research. Rinaldo takes over from David Creswell, who served as the college’s associate dean for research from fall 2019 to summer 2021. Rinaldo’s research focuses on the theoretical properties of statistical and machine learning models for high-dimensional data under various structural assumptions, such as sparsity or intrinsic low dimensionality.
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Achievements
Babcock Named University Professor Linda Babcock , the James M. Walton Professor of Economics, has been elevated to the rank of University Professor, the highest distinction a faculty member can achieve at CMU. She received this honor along with Christos Faloutsos , the Fredkin Professor of Computer Science in the School of Computer Science, and Barbara MacKenzie-Wood , the Raymond W. Smith Professor of Drama in the College of Fine Arts.
Three Humanities Faculty Receive Endowed Professorships
Michal Rose Friedman
Andreea Ritivoi
Ed Russell
Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences faculty members, Michal Rose Friedman , Andreea Ritivoi and Ed Russell , were honored with endowed professorships. Friedman was named the Jack Buncher Professor of Jewish Studies in the Department of History. Ritivoi was named the William S. Dietrich II Professor in the Department of English. Russell was named the David M. Roderick Professor of Technology and Social Change in the Department of History. The professorships were established by gifts from the Jack G. Buncher Charitable Fund for CMU, the Dietrich Foundation and the U.S. Steel Foundation, respectively.
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Gershkovich and DeDeo Receive Dietrich Development Chairs
Tatyana Gershkovich , an assistant professor of Russian Studies in the Department of Modern Languages, and Simon DeDeo , an assistant professor in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences, have received William S. Dietrich II Career Development Chairs. The appointments, which last three years, come with $10,000 per year in discretionary research funds.
Tatyana Gershkovich
Simon DeDeo
Straub Wins Dietrich College’s Elliott Dunlap Smith Award
Kristina Straub , professor of English, won the 2020–2021 Elliott Dunlap Smith Award for Distinguished Teaching and Educational Service in the Dietrich College. Straub’s teaching and research areas include the study of gender, sexuality, theater and 18th century British literature and culture. She joined Carnegie Mellon in 1988 and was integral in the development of the gender studies minor.
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Achievements
Hagan Named Dean’s Innovation Scholar Susan Hagan , associate teaching professor in information systems, is the 2021 recipient of the Dean’s Innovation Scholar award. Hagan was honored for her teaching approach, which brings together design, rhetoric and technology. Her students engage with information as a collaboration of unique elements.
CMU-Q Faculty Receive Inclusive Teaching Fellowships
Deepa Nair
Patrick Walsh
Ihab Younis
Deepa Nair , Patrick Walsh and Ihab Younis , faculty at CMU Qatar, were awarded the Provost’s Inclusive Teaching Fellowships for the 2021-2022 academic year. Nair, an assistant teaching professor of history, will be redesigning the course, “Gender in South Asia.” Walsh, assistant teaching professor of philosophy, will focus on the course, “AI, Society and Humanity.” Younis, associate teaching professor in biological sciences and the associate area head for the program, will redesign elements of the advanced elective molecular biology course.
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Amazon Honors Two Dietrich Faculty with Research Awards
David Danks and Sivaraman Balakrishnan in the Dietrich College joined Katerina Fragkiadaki, Ruben Martins and Heather Miller in the School of Computer Science in receiving Amazon Research Awards, which provide one year of funding, access to Amazon public datasets and the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning services and tools.
David Danks
Sivaraman Balakrishnan
Delphi Research Group, Collaborators Honored for COVIDcast
The American Statistical Association (ASA) presented the 2021 Statistical Partnerships Among Academe, Industry and Government (SPAIG) Award to Roni Rosenfeld and Ryan Tibshirani with CMU’s Delphi Research Group, as well as their COVIDcast partners. The team was recognized for its “commitment to the theory and practice of epidemic tracking and forecasting through building and modeling unique public health data streams.”
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Achievements
Fischhoff Wins the 2021 Sigma Xi William Proctor Prize for Scientific Achievement Baruch Fischhoff, Howard Heinz University Professor in the Institute for Politics and Strategy and the Department of Engineering and Public Policy, received the 2021 Sigma Xi William Procter Prize for his work in risk perception, risk communication and decision science research. In acceptance of the award, he presented “Science Communication for the Masses of Scientists” at the 2021 Sigma Xi Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference.
Gonzalez Named 2021 Fellow of Cognitive Science Society, receives MURI grant
The Cognitive Science Society announced seven research scientists, including the Department of Social and Decision Sciences’ Cleotilde Gonzalez , as a 2021 Fellow of Cognitive Science Society. Gonzalez’s research focuses on how people and machines make multiple, interdependent, real-time decisions while adapting to external changes and using past experience. In addition, Gonzalez and colleagues Lujo Bauer and Matt Fredrikson , received a prestigious U.S. Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative Award. Their project will address the challenge of human- bot cybersecurity teams, which are commonly deployed to combat cybersecurity threats and attacks but are not yet well understood.
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Laemmli Receives Honor from Institute for Advanced Study
Liu Publishes Children’s Book Series Gang Liu , associate teaching professor of Chinese studies, wrote the book, “Luoluo Ting’s Adventure into Chinese Mythology,” to help non- native learners with some proficiency with the learning Chinese. With cover art featuring bright colors, dancing flowers and other natural elements, the series explores myths related to animals and nature. Whitney Laemmli , an assistant professor in the Department of History, will spend the 2021-2022 academic year as a member of the Institute for Advanced Study’s School of Historical Studies, which offers a space focused on intellectual inquiry and building a community of scholars. A historian of modern science and technology, Laemmli will spend her time at the Institute finishing a book titled “Measured Movements: The Human Body and the Choreography of Modern Life,” which explores how human bodily movement became a central object of scientific, political and popular concern over the course of the 20th century.
Dietrich College joined the School of Computer Science in fundamental and cutting-edge research in a government-led push to bring about life-changing advances through artificial intelligence. Alex London , the Clara L. West Professor of Ethics and Philosophy, joins Henny Admoni, Jodi Forlizzi, Aaron Steinfeld, Dave Touretzky and Anita Woolley at CMU on this endeavor. Each institute will receive $20 million over five years. More than a third of that funding will support research efforts that will involve dozens of faculty, students and staff.
Dietrich Joins in NSF- Funded AI Research Institute
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Achievements
Nozari Receives Early Career Award The American Psychological Association has honored Nazbanou (Bonnie) Nozari with its award for Distinguished Scientific Early Career Contributions to Psychology. Nozari, associate professor of psychology, conducts research in the area of human cognition and learning.
Nugent Honored by National Academies Rebecca Nugent, the Stephen E. and Joyce Fienberg Professor in Statistics & Data Science, was selected as one of 25 winners of the Big Idea competition held by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. The competition asked, “What should undergraduate science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education look like in 2040 and beyond?”
Ramdas Named to Leadership Academy Aaditya Ramdas, assistant professor in the Statistics & Data Science and Machine Learning departments, has earned a place in the inaugural cohort of the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies Leadership Academy, which recognizes the increasingly important role that early career statistical scientists are playing in shaping the future of the discipline.
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Roeder Named Among World’s Most Highly Cited Researchers Kathryn Roeder, UPMC University Professor of Statistics and Life Sciences, was named as one of the world’s most highly cited in the sciences by Clarivate Analytics.
Shinn-Cunningham Among Winners of Misha Mahowald Prize Barbara Shinn-Cunningham, director of the Neuroscience Institute and George A. and Helen Dunham Cowan Professor of Auditory Neuroscience, is part of an interdisciplinary team that won the 2021 Misha Mahowald Prize for Neuromorphic Engineering. The team used technology to find new ways to help hearing-impaired persons focus attention on individual speakers in a noisy environment, such as a cocktail party.
Verstynen Joins Team to Explore How to Make AI More Human Associate Professor of Psychology Timothy Verstynen, along with colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins University, received a $500,000 grant from the National Artificial Intelligence Research Institutes program to design a new class of Turing Tests that assess both biological intelligence and artificial intelligence.
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Recognition
Dietrich College Welcomes New Faculty, Postdoctoral Fellows
Situated at the intersection of humanity and technology, our shared passion for improving the human condition is woven throughout our education and research. The Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences embodies one of the most varied groups of students, faculty, staff and alumni in the Carnegie Mellon University community, all united by a common goal: confronting and solving society’s most complex problems. We learn through experience, and we work without silos or walls. Our students and faculty work across traditional boundaries, collaborating with other disciplines to pursue the thrill of discovery. Dietrich College is a place to explore different points of view. And a place to do work that matters.
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Carnegie Mellon University’s Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences welcomed 21 new faculty, postdoctoral fellows and visiting lecturers in the fall 2021 term. The new faculty, fellows and lecturers joining the college will provide cutting-edge research and world-class pedagogy. Department of English Don Holmes, lecturer in English Writing and Communication Alan Kohler, visiting lecturer in English Writing and Communication Courtney Novosat, visiting lecturer in English Writing and Communication Department of History Ezelle Sanford, assistant professor Titilola Halimat Somotan, Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow
Institute for Politics and Strategy John Chin, assistant teaching professor
Pearce Edwards, postdoctoral fellow Daniel Silverman, assistant professor Department of Modern Languages Uju Anya, associate professor in Second Language Acquisition Catalina Arango Correa, visiting assistant professor in Hispanic Studies David Parker, assistant teaching professor in Russian Studies
Department of Psychology Nilsu Atilgan, postdoctoral fellow Jyotika Bahuguna, postdoctoral fellow
Sahil Luthra, postdoctoral fellow Michael Trujillo, assistant professor Department of Social and Decision Science Kevin Jarbo, assistant professor Andrea Kiss, postdoctoral fellow Peter Schwardmann, assistant professor Department of Statistics and Data Science Zhanrui Cai, postdoctoral fellow Peng Liu, postdoctoral fellow Shubhanshu Shekhar, postdoctoral fellow
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Recognition
5 YEARS OF SERVICE Grace Dzina Madelyn Glymour Mary Grace Joseph Ana Ulloa-Shields Jaehyeok Shin 10 YEARS OF SERVICE Jeffrey Flagg Scott Kurdilla Kristine Opferman Michael Ringenberg Deborah Viszlay
15 YEARS OF SERVICE Eyona Bivins Mary Anne Hunter Marc Siskin 20 YEARS OF SERVICE Tisha Frisoli Leslie Levine Maggie Rosenblum 25 YEARS OF SERVICE Sue Connelly Carl Skipper
30 YEARS OF SERVICE Barbara Dorney Walter Hawthorne Mari Alice Mcshane
35 YEARS OF SERVICE Susan Kinchelow
40 YEARS OF SERVICE Jacqueline Defazio Margaret Smykla
Faculty, Staff Retire The five members of the Dietrich College who have retired at the conclusion of the 2020-2021 academic year and have made significant, long-lasting contributions to their fields, mentoring countless students over the course of their careers. Recent retirees include four faculty members: Jim Daniels , David Kaufer and Kristina Straub from the Department of English and Michael Scheier from the Department of Psychology. In addition, staff member Jan Puhl retired from the Department of Philosophy.
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Teraya White , an academic and career advisor in the Department of Statistics & Data Science, has been named among the New Pittsburgh Courier’s Women of Excellence Award honorees. The Women of Excellence Awards celebrates local African American women who inspire others through their vision and leadership, exceptional achievements and participation in community service. Women of Excellence are champions of economic empowerment and diversity, provide the backbone of religious and educational organizations and are the driving force in politics and community service in Pittsburgh. White Named Woman of Excellence
Dietrich College Staff Nominated for 2021 Andy Awards
Gary DiLisio
Amy Patterson
Paulette Williams
Gary DiLisio , associate director of undergraduate education for the Information Systems Program, received CMU’s 2021 Andy Award for Commitment to Students. This award honors staff who put in the extra effort in satisfying student needs and expectations, identifying opportunities that support student needs and involving students in campus life beyond the classroom to emphasize their value as members of the university community. Amy Patterson , Dean’s Office, and Paulette Williams , Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging, also received nominations for their Commitment to Excellence, which honors staff members who take great pride in producing excellent work.
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Alumni
Dear alumni, parents, friends and fellow Dietrich College community members, Each year, I read through these stories and am moved by the amazing work being done right here at Dietrich College. It is important to recognize that much of this work would not be possible without the support of our Dietrich alumni, parents, friends and community members. In that spirit, I am pleased to share a few of the many ways that your support has made an impact on the college this past year. • You enabled us to grow the Pittsburgh Summer Internship Program , increasing total support by 22%. We saw a record number of applications in 2021 and were able to help meet that demand by providing 58 of our students with crucial experiential learning opportunities. • We saw an increase of donors (44%) and dollars raised (16%) to Dietrich’s general support funds. The Parents Fund, H&SS Fund and the Dean’s Innovation Fund help to strengthen the fabric of the college, allowing us to create new opportunities and address areas of immediate need. • On Giving CMU Day, you showed your commitment to the college and the programs that meant the most to you, increasing the number of donors to Dietrich College funds by 71%. I am continually inspired to see your commitment to the college and to helping us grow the programs that are shaping our students and the communities we live in. On behalf of the college’s students, faculty and staff, thank you for all that you help to make possible.
Sincerely, Liz Cooper Associate Dean for Advancement and External Relations
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Dietrich Board Welcomes Jennifer Kratt Frascella The Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences welcomes Jennifer Kratt Frascella (DC 1992) as the newest member to the Board of Advisors. A native of Pittsburgh, Jennifer attended Shady Side Academy before graduating from CMU with a bachelor’s degree in history and European studies. Today, Jennifer is the president of the Frascella Family Foundation. She is a devoted mother to her three children and volunteer in her community. Her husband, Tony, a graduate of University of Pennsylvania, is a co-founder, managing partner and co-chief investment officer of Aristeia Capital, LLC, a hedge fund with over $5 billion in assets under management.
Susie Lee Among 2021 Alumni Achievement Award Honorees Representative Susie (Kelly) Lee (DC 1989, HNZ 1990) has been named one of Carnegie Mellon University’s 2021 Alumni Achievement Award honorees. She joins eight CMU alumni in this honor.
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