Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar Announces Academic Symposium Qatar Foundation hosts inaugural celebrations DOHA, QATAR—Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar is pleased to announce an academic symposium as part of inaugural celebrations being hosted by Qatar Foundation March 9th and 10th, 2005. The symposium, scheduled for March 9, brings together a panel of distinguished Carnegie Mellon experts in computer science and business. The inaugural celebrations honor the opening of Carnegie Mellon Qatar, the first international branch campus of one of the world’s top-ranking universities. The symposium will be followed on March 10th by an evening gala, graced by the presence of HH Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missnad, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation. “The inaugural gala pays tribute to the far-sighted vision of HH Sheikha Mozah and recognizes the honor bestowed on Carnegie Mellon University in being invited by Her Highness to join with other highly respected academic institutions at Education City to create a world-class center for education and learning,” said Charles E.Thorpe, Ph.D., Dean of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar. “Carnegie Mellon shares with Qatar Foundation the firm belief that knowledge can bridge cultures and promote peace and prosperity.” Founded in 1900, by industrialist Andrew Carnegie, Carnegie Mellon’s international initiatives are designed to enhance education on the world stage, and specifically at Education City, by bringing to Doha its distinctive programs in computer science and business. Regularly ranked among the world’s leading universities in independent surveys (such The Wall Street Journal, Forbes Magazine and Business Week) Carnegie Mellon’s campus in Qatar offers students the same education as in the U.S., equipping them to make a positive contribution to this country’s development, specifically by empowering them to create and implement solutions to today’s complex, real-world problems. The delegates at the Symposium, all world leaders in their fields, will share with colleagues and students in Qatar their latest research papers and insights in a series of lectures and discussions that will give Qatar’s academics unparalleled access to the latest thinking and developments in business management and computer science. “Being able to share knowledge in this way is a key component of Carnegie Mellon University’s continuing mission to provide students around the globe access to the highest levels of academic excellence,” said Mohamed Dobashi, Associate Dean and Chief Operating Officer of Carnegie Mellon Qatar. During the symposium, two concurrent sessions will feature Carnegie Mellon experts in IT and business. The sessions are: Tepper School of Business Academic Panel: “Managing In A Global Market” R. Ravi, Professor of Operations Research and Computer Science – Director, Center for Analytical Research in Technology (CART) Title: The Intersection of Business and Technology The mission of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon is to own the space where business and technology intersect. I will attempt to describe what this might mean, specifically in the context of the research carried out by the faculty. I will describe the formation and activities of the new Center for Analytical Research in Technology (CART) of which I am the founding director. Time permitting, I will describe ongoing research in Optimization at Carnegie Mellon, specifically by the faculty in the Operations Research group at Tepper, and more broadly across campus. Lester Lave, Harry B. and James H. Higgins Professor of Economics and University Professor – Director, Green Design Institute Title: Tools for Estimating the Life Cycle Resource and Environmental Implications of Products and Services Analysts and governments have come to realize that an analysis of the life cycle use of the materials and energy going into a product or service is necessary to understand how to improve environmental quality and make the product or service more sustainable. I review the two standard methods for life cycle analysis, as well as a hybrid method and show examples of the analysis for various products and services. Sunder Kekre, Professor of Operations Management and Manufacturing – Director, Center for E-Business Innovation   Title: Decision Technologies for Network -Centric Global Operations Value chains for several commodities and industrial products are becoming increasingly global and driven by technology. Activities such as development, manufacturing, logistics and sales functions have to be integrated across multiple partners and countries leveraging technology enabled processes. Research at the Tepper School addresses competencies at both strategic and tactical levels to bridge demand and supply chain management in such network-centric enterprises. These predictive analytics approaches to create business intelligence architectures should help develop strategies and execution systems for network mastery in the emerging Qatar LNG supply chains. Linda Argote, David M. Kirr and Barbara A. Kirr Professor of Organizational Behavior Title: Knowledge Transfer across Organizations Knowledge transfer is the process through which one group or organization learns from the experience of others. For example, a manufacturing establishment might benefit from knowledge acquired at its sister plant or a surgical team might improve its performance by adopting practices developed by other teams. Knowledge transfer contributes significantly to the performance and competitiveness of groups and organizations. Recent results on knowledge transfer, with particular attention to the role of a shared identity, will be presented. Duane Seppi, Professor of Financial Economics Title: Managing Commodity Risk Fluctuations in the demand and supply for oil, natural gas, metals, and other physical commodities represent major risks in the global economy. Recent advances in option pricing theory have led to improved models for pricing and hedging both commodity-linked financial derivative securities and also real options such as pipelines and oil fields. In my comments I will describe two approaches to commodity-linked derivatives following the discussion in my survey article Seppi (2002). The first is reduced-form modeling as in Schwartz and Smith (2000). The second is a structural economics approach as in Routledge, Seppi, and Spatt (2000). Dennis Epple, Thomas Lord Professor of Economics – Head, Economics Program Title: International Economics Meets The Global Manager What makes the task of the global manager different from the task of a manager of a domestic enterprise? It is surely the case that many of the talents that make for success in one undertaking are required for success in the other. Being an economist, I also found myself thinking about what makes international economics different from other branches of economics. The principles that guide thinking about the international marketplace are precisely the same principles that guide thinking about markets within a given country. The difference lies not in fundamental principles but rather in the differences in the conditions that govern trade within a nation as compared to conditions that govern trade among nations. In my comments, I will touch on a few basic lessons from international economics and then venture some observations about how these basic lessons relate to the tasks confronting the global manager. Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science Academic Panel: “The Future of IT” Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science has been at the forefront of computer science research and education for the past 50 years. This session will define the coming trends in cyber security, software engineering and technology transfer. Raj Reddy, The Herbert A. Simon University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics, School of Computer Science Title: Grand Challenges in IT for the Emerging Economies The Grand Challenges in IT for the Emerging Economies are universal availability, accessibility, and affordability of information and communication technologies to the four billion people who subsist on less than $2000 per year income. This talk will review why the world's poor have more to gain in relative terms from this technology than the affluent nations of the world and review the barriers that make it difficult to realize the potential benefits. Universal availability, accessibility, and affordability will in turn require solutions to the 4 "Cs" of the Information Society: "Connectivity, Computer-access, Capacity-building and Content." Pradeep Khosla, dean of the Carnegie Institute of Technology, Philip and Marsha Dowd Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Robotics, and co-director, Carnegie Mellon CyLab. Title: "Trustworthy and Secure Computing" Advances in computer and communications technologies have formed the basis for global economic growth and an increase in our standard of living for more than two decades. We rely on information technology in all aspects of our daily life more than we ever have in the past, and this reliance will continue to grow. With this increased reliance comes the need to make information systems more secure, trustworthy, sustainable, and available. Randy Bryant, Dean of the School of Computer Science, Professor of Computer Science Title: Moderator Bryant is the dean of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. He is the Robert Mehrabian Professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. Charles Thorpe, Dean, Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar and faculty member and former director of the university's Robotics Institute. Title: "Robotics and Intelligent Machines." Robotics technology is helping solve real-world practical problems, such as search and rescue in dangerous places, or control of complex mechanisms. It also is a platform for studying deep scientific problems of perception, motion, and artificial intelligence. This talk will draw on the 25 year history of The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon to illustrate both practical and scientific challenges of robotics. Mark Kamlet, Provost, Carnegie Mellon University Title: "IT in Education" Mark will talk generally on the topic, to be expanded upon by Ken and Joel, below. Kenneth R. Koedinger, associate professor, Human Computer Interaction Institute, School of Computer Science. Title: The Pittsburgh Science of Learning Center Koedinger will discuss this center, funded by a $25 million grant from the National Science Foundation, which will sponsor rigorous research into how people learn and, based on what they find, develop technologies and approaches to teaching that will foster consistently high achievement in the classroom. Joel Smith, Vice Provost and Chief Information Officer Title: "Open Learning Initiative - Creating a new Paradigm for Online Education" The Open Learning Initiative (OLI) is creating a new generation of online courses that teach more effectively and appeal to students more powerfully than anything in existence today. The project adds to online education the crucial elements of instructional design grounded in cognitive theory, formative evaluation for students and faculty, and iterative course improvement based on empirical evidence.